Big East Tournament Champs

Louisville won the Big East championship last night in Madison Square Garden.  They beat Syracuse 76-66 to win it all.  This means Louisville won the regular season championship and the tournament championship in the hardest conference in the country, the Big East.  This is the first of both titles for the Cards who joined the Big East four years ago.  The Cards were losing by 8 at halftime and used a run early in the second half to take over the game.  They never gave up the lead after that and shut down Syracuse’s offense.  The orangemen looked tired in the second half from Louisville’s relentless pressure and also from playing their past two games into overtime (6 OT’s against UConn and 1 OT with West Virginia).  The Cards celebrated cutting down the nets and chanting “NUMBER ONE SEED.”

BE tourney cont.

The Big East tourney is producing the best games of the Conference tournament week.  Yes, Louisville winning was the highlight of yesterday, but the other games were more exciting to basketball fans.  Villanova beat Marquette on a last second lay-up in a tough battle.  Pittsburgh, believed to be a top contender for a NCAA #1 seed, lost to West Virginia.  Oh yeah, and Syracuse beat UConn in the LONGEST college basketball game of the year.  The game went into 6 OT periods and Syracuse finally won 124-114.  Whatever you have planned this weekend, cancel it.  Watching the Big East tournament is the thing to do with the semi’s tonight at 7 and 9 p.m. and the final Saturday night at 9 p.m.  Heed my words and watch the Big East tournament.  I GURANTEE you will not be disappointed. 

Big East Tournament

The Cards won their first game in the Big East tournament.  They beat Providence by a score of 73 to 55.  Earl Clark led all scorers with 24 points.  This takes the Cards to the semi-final game Friday night at 7 p.m. against Villanova.  Many analyst have said that if U of L makes it to the Finals on Saturday they are almost a sure lock for a #1 seed for the NCAA tournament.  The Cards already believe they should get a #1 seed because they won the Big East regular season title.  Many of the players as well as coach Pitino were quoted saying they thought they deserved it.

BIG EAST CHAMPS!!

I return from Spring Break to find the University of Louisville Cardinals the Big East regular season Champions.  Could it be any better?  The Cards squeaked by West Virginia Saturday night despite being the visitors for the College Gameday Game.  Earlier on Saturday Pitt beat UConn giving U of L the outright championship if they won Satruday night (and they did).  This is critical because it give U of L the #1 seed in the Big East tournament and they won’t have to face Pitt or UConn until the finals on Saturday.  The Big East tournament gets underway today at Madison Square Garden, but U of L won’t have to play until Thursday because of the #1 seed.  GO CARDS!

Pitino Rumor Not True

A rumor was started in an online chat about Rick Pitino buying a house in Arizona.  This was speculated to mean he was going to leave U of L and take a job at Arizona ( Lute Olson retired before this year).  This is false and Pitino does not plan to leave U of L.  His current contract has him at Louisville until 2013 earning 2.25 million and he has no reason to go.  Back when Pitino was hired he made it clear that he wanted to end his coaching career at the University of Louisville.  Being a Big East coach, he is in good company with some of the best long-tenured and young stud coaches including:  Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, Mick Cronin,  Mike Brey, Jay Wright, Keno Davis, Jamie Dixon, and John Thompson III.  If anyone heard wind of this rumor and was worried, don’t be,  Pitino isn’t going anywhere.

 

Good Day for Cards

Monday proved to be a very good start of the week for U of L.  First, they moved up in both polls to 6th in the nation.  Second, they defeated Georgetown 76-58 tonight.  I was only able to see the last 5 minutes because I was in class.  I turned the game on right as Samardo Samuels blocked a shot that led to Earl Clark passing to Terrance Williams for a dunk as he got fouled, pretty sweet.  Louisville only has one more game against a ranked opponent, Marquette on Sunday.  I will be in Las Vegas during this game and will make sure I am at a casino’s sportsbook to watch the game and possibly place a bet on the Cards.   They are currently tied with UConn for first place in the Big East.

U of L Gaining Confidence

U of L is gaining confidence with each game they play.  You can see the Cards do everything better from passing to shooting to defense.  This is good as they prepare to play at Georgetown Monday night at 7 pm. 

-Added info-

Bellarmine University a Division II school in Louisville won at home last night defeating the University of Indianapolis.  This was the final home game for the Knights and helped them go the entire season undefeated at home.  Bellarmine is currently 2nd in the GLVC behind Northern Kentucky.