Jan. 12, 2011 issue

VOLUME XV • NUMBER 21JANUARY 12, 2011

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LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT JANUARY 12, 2011

JANUARY 12, 2011 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT PAGE 3

E D I T O R I A L S T A F F

GENERAL MANAGER - Jack Coffee

SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR - Russ Brown

OPERATIONS MANAGER - Howie Lindsey

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES - Mickey Clark, Betty Olsen and Blanche Kitchen

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS - Dave Klotz, Shelley Feller, Gail Kamenish,

Howie Lindsey and Chuck Feist

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS - Matt Willinger, Jeff Wafford,

Jason Puckett and Rick Cushing

DESIGNER - Scott Stortz

COPY EDITOR - Rick Cushing

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19 CARDS KNOCK OFF ANOTHER TOP 25For the third time this season Louisville upset a top-25

team. This time, the Cardinals beat No. 17 St. John’s with the help of 18 points and 10 rebounds from

Louisville native Tia Gibbs.

Louisville quarterback recruit Teddy Bridgewater celebrated with an East teammate after he threw a touchdown pass in the U.S. Army All-American game in San Antonio, Texas Saturday. - photo by Rivals.com

W H A T ’ S I N S I D E

4 MEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW - VILLANOVA By Rick Cushing5 VAN TREESE BECOMING THE BRUISER ON THE BOARDS THE

CARDS NEED By Russ Brown6 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULES, STATS7 MEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW - MARQUETTE By Rick Cushing8 UOFL ATHLETICS HAVE MADE GROWING OLD A MUCH MORE

PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCE By Jack Coffee9 CARDS WILL HAVE TO HAVE THEIR GUARDS UP AT VILLANOVA By Russ Brown10 THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY By Howie Lindsey11 PIRATES NO MATCH FOR GOODE, VAN TREESE AND CO. By Russ Brown

12 LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL PHOTO GALLERY13 NEW BAT REGULATIONS WILL AFFECT COLLEGE BASEBALL By Russ Brown15-16 STRONG LANDS A PAIR OF FOUR-STAR DEFENSIVE BACKS By Jeff Wafford17 RIVALS TOP 50 FOOTBALL RECRUITING CLASSES18 BIG EAST NOTEBOOK: HOYAS IN A TAILSPIN; UC, ST. JOHN’S

COME BACK TO EARTH By Russ Brown19 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: WALZ’S CARDS KNOCK OFF THEIR

THIRD RANKED TEAM By Howie Lindsey21 UOFL HIRES FAMILIAR NAME TO LEAD VOLLEYBALL FORWARD By Howie Lindsey22 VOLLEYBALL: YELIN RETIRES AFTER 15 SUCCESSFUL SEASONS By Howie Lindsey24 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PHOTO GALLERY

FEATURES AND CONTENT:

9 TOUGH ROAD TRIP NEXTSophomore Mike Marra and the Cardinals will face

No. 7 Villanova Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The Cardinals have a 2-0 Big East record, but the road

ahead looks brutally tough.

21 NEW COACH HAS BIG GOALSAnne Kordes was officially announced as Louisville’s

new volleyball coach Friday. The Louisville native and former UofL player is one of the best young coaches in

collegiate volleyball.

WANT MORE RECRUITING NEWS? CHECK OUT CARDINALSPORTS.COMWANT MORE RECRUITING NEWS? CHECK OUT CARDINALSPORTS.COM


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL PREVIEW - VILLANOVA

By Rick CushingVillanova ended last season in disappointment, with the sec-

ond-seeded Wildcats falling to the 10th-seeded St. Mary’s Gaels in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They fi nished 25-8 af-ter starting the season 20-1. A major reason for the collapse was Nova’s lack of a dominating inside presence. The 6-10, 250-pound Mouphtaou Yarou was supposed to fi ll that role, but Hepatitis B caused him to miss half of his freshman season, and he was just regaining strength when the season ended. His return to health, and the return of three senior starters, gave coach Jay Wright opti-mism heading into this season. The Wildcats were picked to fi nish second in the Big East in a preseason poll of coaches.

So far, the Wildcats have lived up to their billing, going 14-1, their only loss coming to Tennessee in the fi nal of the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament in Madison Square Garden. Since then Villano-va has won nine straight, including a 72-61 victory over previously undefeated Cincinnati last Sunday.

The No. 7 Wildcats seem to have better team chemistry this season. Scotty Reynolds has graduated, and although he is the school’s No. 2 scorer all-time, he had a habit of hogging the ball. This season the Wildcats aren’t relying on one player. All fi ve start-ers have led the team in scoring in a game this season.

COACHWright has re-established Villanova as a national power. When

he took over in 2001 the Wildcats had missed the NCAA Tourna-ment three of the previous four seasons. Now they have made it the past six seasons, four times advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, twice to the Elite Eight, and to the Final Four in 2009. The Wildcats have averaged 25 victories the past six seasons.

Now in his 10th season at Villanova, Wright is 217-100 there through last Sunday. Overall he is 339-185 in 16-plus seasons. He also rivals UofL coach Rick Pitino in sartorial splendor.

GUARDSThe Wildcats employ a three-guard lineup, and all three are av-

eraging in double fi gures. Corey Stokes, a 6-5 senior, leads at 17.3 ppg, fourth in the Big East, followed by 6-1 senior Corey Fisher (14.7 ppg) and 6-1 sophomore Maalik Wayns (13.0 ppg).

Stokes, a bruising 220-pounder, has really blossomed now that Reynolds is gone. Stokes was known previously for his ability to drive, but he has shown this season that there’s more to his game. After averaging 9.5 ppg last season, he’s almost doubled that this season, and he’s shooting 47 percent from three-point range, third in the Big East. He leads the Big East in three-pointers a game at 3.36. He’s also deadly from the free-throw line, averaging 94.2 percent, fi rst in the Big East and sixth in the country. He scored a career-high 34 points against Penn on Dec. 8, and he scored 19 of his game-high 22 points in the second half in a victory at South Florida last week.

Fisher, although he’s second on the team in scoring, has been

somewhat of a disappointment. The preseason All-Big East pick scored an astounding 105 points last summer in a New York-area league game against both college and pro players, and it was ex-pected that he’d be lighting it up this season. But his shooting has been off. Last season he shot 39.6 percent from three-point range and averaged 13.3 ppg. This season he’s shooting just 24.1 per-cent on treys and 38.4 percent overall. His assists are up, from 3.9 per game to 4.9, and he leads the team in steals at 1.9 a game. He’s very capable of lighting it up at any time, however. He had a team-high 21 points against Cincinnati.

Wayns, who mans the point, was named to the Big East All-Rookie team last season, when he averaged 6.8 ppg and 1.3 apg. This season he leads the team at 5.6 apg, fourth in the Big East and tied for 35th in the country. He’s not much of a long-range threat, however, shooting just 19.6 percent from beyond the arc. He had 15 points against Cincinnati, 13 of them in the second half.

Dominic Cheek, a slender 6-6 sophomore, is the top reserve in the backcourt, averaging 7.9 ppg. He’s dangerous from long range, shooting 38.6 percent on treys.

All four of the above are decent rebounders, led by Cheek at 4.4 rpg. Stokes averages 3.9 rpg, Wayns 3.6 and Fisher 3.0.

BIG MENAntonio Pena, a 6-8, 235-pound senior, had to play out of posi-

tion at center much of last season. Now much more comfortable at power forward, he’s averaging 9.9 ppg and a team-leading 7.5 rpg. He’s shooting 57.6 percent, third in the Big East. He’s 0 for 1 from three-point range.

Yarou, though still green, is beginning to validate the hype that accompanied him to Villanova. He’s averaging 8.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 1.2 blocks per game. He’s seventh in the Big East in offensive rebounding at 2.7 a game. He’s shooting 49.4 percent. He hasn’t tried a three-point shot.

Maurice Sutton, a 6-11 sophomore, is the top interior sub. He averages 3.5 ppg and 2.8 rpg. Also seeing playing time up front is 6-7 sophomore Isaiah Armwood (1.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg).

MISC.Villanova is eighth in the country in fi eld-goal defense at 37.3

percent, and 19th in three-point defense at 28.4 percent. The Wildcats held Cincinnati to 3-of-20 three-point shooting. They are third in the Big East in scoring defense at 60.9 ppg. They lead the league in free-throw shooting at 76.3 percent. They also do a good job of holding onto the ball, averaging just 11.8 turnovers a game, tied for 34th in the country.

ALL-TIME SERIESUofL and Villanova have played 15 times in a series that dates

to 1950, with the Cards holding an 8-7 advantage. The Cards lost last season, 92-84 in Freedom Hall, after leading by 20 points in the fi rst half, but they won the previous three meetings.

NO NAME POS YR EXP HT/WT HOMETOWN 0 ANTONIO PENA F SR. 3V 6-8/235 BROOKLYN, NY (ST. THOMAS MOORE)

1 JAYVAUGHN PINKSTON F FR. HS 6-7/235 BROOKLYN, NY (BISHOP LOUGHLIN HS)

2 MAALIK WAYNS G SO. 1V 6-1/185 PHILADELPHIA, PA (ROMAN CATHOLIC)

4 DALLAS OUANO G JR. HS 6-0/190 HOLMDEL, NJ (CHRISTIAN BROTHERS ACADEMY)

10 COREY FISHER G SR. 3V 6-1/200 BRONX, NY (ST. PATRICK’S )

13 MOUPHTAOU YAROU F-C SO. 1V 6-10/250 NATITINGOU, BENIN (MONTROSE CHRISTIAN)

23 DOMINIC CHEEK G SO. 1V 6-6/185 JERSEY CITY, NJ (ST. ANTHONY’S)

24 COREY STOKES G SR. 3V 6-5/220 BAYONNE, NJ (ST. BENEDICT’S)

25 MAURICE SUTTON F-C SO. 1V 6-11/215 LARGO, MD (LARGO)

32 JAMES BELL G FR. HS 6-5/225 ORLANDO, FL (MONTVERDE ACADEMY)

34 ISAIAH ARMWOOD F SO. 1V 6-7/205 BALTIMORE, MD (MONTROSE CHRISTIAN)

2010-11 VILLANOVA BASKETBALL ROSTERVILL

ANOV

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ATS

Wednesday, Jan. 12Louisville at Villanova

7 PM

2010-11 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONENT TIME NOVEMBER Nov. 12, 2010 Bucknell (ESPN360) W, 68-52 Nov. 16, 2010 Marist1 (ESPNU) W, 84-47 Nov. 20, 2010 Lafayette (ESPN360) W, 82-66 Nov. 24, 2010 UCLA W, 82-70 Nov. 26, 2010 TENNESSEE L, 78-68

DECEMBER Dec. 3, 2010 St. Joseph’s (ESPNU) W, 71-60 Dec. 8, 2010 at Pennsylvania W, 65-53 Dec. 12, 2010 at LaSalle W, 84-81 Dec. 18, 2010 Delaware (ESPN360) W, 78-59 Dec. 22, 2010 at Monmouth W, 76-36 Dec. 30, 2010 Temple (ESPN2) W, 78-74

JANUARY Jan. 2, 2011 Rutgers (ESPNU) W, 81-65 Jan. 6, 2011 at South Florida (ESPNU) W, 83-71 Jan. 9, 2011 Cincinnati W, 72-61 Jan. 12, 2011 Louisville (ESPN2) 7:00 pm ET Jan. 15, 2011 Maryland (CBS) 1:00 pm ET Jan. 17, 2011 at Connecticut (ESPN) 3:30 pm ET Jan. 22, 2011 at Syracuse (ESPN) 12:00 pm ET Jan. 26, 2011 at Providence 7:00 pm ET Jan. 29, 2011 Georgetown (ESPN) 12:00 pm ET

FEBRUARY Feb. 2, 2011 Marquette (ESPNU) 7:00 pm ET Feb. 5, 2011 West Virginia (ESPN2) 12:00 pm ET Feb. 9, 2011 at Rutgers 8:00 pm ET Feb. 12, 2011 Pittsburgh (ESPN) 9:00 pm ET Feb. 15, 2011 at Seton Hall 8:00 pm ET Feb. 19, 2011 at DePaul 12:00 pm ET Feb. 21, 2011 Syracuse (ESPN) 7:00 pm ET Feb. 26, 2011 St. John’s (ESPN) 2:00 pm ET Feb. 28, 2011 at Notre Dame (ESPN) 7:00 pm ET

MARCH Mar. 5, 2011 at Pittsburgh (CBS) 4:00 pm ET

VILLANOVACoach: Jay Wright

Last season: 25-8, 13-5 Big EastOverall record: 339-185 (17th season)

At Villanova: 217-100 (10th season)Reynolds is gone, but the Coreys return

COREY STOKESCOREY STOKES

‘NOVA WILL PRESENT A STIFF CHALLENGE


RECRUITING NOTEBOOK10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

By Russ BrownTAMPA, Fla. -- South Florida forward

Augustus Gilchrist called Louisville’s Steph-an Van Treese the “X factor” in the Cardi-nals’ 86-77 victory over the Bulls Sunday af-ternoon in the Sun Dome, while Van Treese described himself as a “bruiser.”

To USF coach Stan Heath, Van Treese was “the Mystery Man.”

“Who is Van Treese?” Heath asked after the game.

Whatever you choose to call him, there’s no question that the 6-foot-9, 235-pound

sophomore was the dif-ference in the game as No. 23 UofL (13-2) fought off a feisty USF (6-11, 0-4) squad and kept its record unblemished in the Big East at 2-0 head-ing into Wednesday’s game at No. 7 Villanova (14-1, 3-0).

Van Treese recorded his fi rst collegiate double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, leading the Cards to their 11th straight win over USF and handing the Bulls their sixth loss in a row. Averaging 11.4 minutes per game, with a previous high of 27 in last Wednesday’s 73-54 win over Seton Hall, he played 33 min-utes Sunday. No one on either team was on the court longer than him.

“He was a real surprise,” said Gilchrist, who notched his own double-double of 25 points and 10 boards. “He came in with a lot of energy and really hustled. He got easy buckets and tough rebounds on us. I think he was the X factor in them winning the game.”

Said Heath: “He had a great game. The guy’s averaging about 11 minutes per game, four points, three rebounds, some-thing like that, and he was good. He was on the boards, making a lot of things happen. You play percentages as a coach.”

Van Treese wreaked havoc on those per-centages. His previous best for points was eight against Marshall, and his previous high in rebounds was 10 against Seton Hall. He went into the game averaging a mod-est 2.3 points and 3.4 rebounds. Think you caught the Bulls off guard, Stephan?

“Obviously, I haven’t scored many points, so I probably surprised then a little bit,” he said. “Coming in, I had the mindset that I just had to rebound, but my teammates found me and I got some points.”

Van Treese started for only the second time in his career because Pitino felt he had to abandon the small lineup he had used lately and go to a bigger group because of USF’s rugged rebounding. The Indianapolis product’s aggressiveness on the glass helped UofL keep the Bulls’ rebounding edge to a minimum -- 38-35 -- with a 17-10 advan-tage in second-chance points.

Van Treese, who hit 6 of 10 shots, would have looked right at home wearing a hard hat because he was a blue-collar worker all afternoon, cutting hard to the basket to turn passes from alert teammates into points, attacking the glass and setting hard

screens.“He has some liabilities, but he stayed

with his strengths,” UofL coach Rick Pitino said. “He knew his role today of cutting back door, rebounding and setting good screens, and he did that. His IQ is very good. He didn’t try to do things he’s not capable of doing, and that really helped us.”

“Every Big East team is ready to bang,” Van Treese said. “USF has big, athletic guys, so I knew I had to get in there and push them around a little bit.”

Pitino said a player has to like contact to be a great rebounder, adding: “Van Treese really enjoys being hit and he enjoys hitting people, and that’s what all good rebound-ers are like. There’s never been a fi nesse re-bounder.”

Van Treese said he has never backed away from mixing it up underneath and that, even as a freshman at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, he had to be physical in practice to survive because he was going against former Ohio State star and current NBA player Greg Oden every day.

“That’s always been my mentality,” Van Treese said. “I’ve always had to be the bruis-er. On all my other teams, high school and AAU, we had other guys who could score, so I had to fi gure out other ways to contrib-ute. I was the rebounder and the guy who did the dirty work.”

Under Pitino, if you don’t rebound, you don’t play. And you’ll also log a lot of time on the treadmill instead of on the court dur-ing practice.

“If you don’t do a lot of things, you run, but rebounding is defi nitely one of them,” guard Preston Knowles said.

And with rebounding being an extremely important issue for the Cards now that Big East play has started, Pitino has shrunk the margin of error for his players. These days, it takes only a relatively minor infraction to earn treadmill time.

“You have to rebound to win in the Big East, and Coach Pitino has kind of a hair-trigger now when it comes to blocking out and those kind of things,” Van Treese said. “If you don’t rebound, you’re going to be

running on the treadmill. At the beginningof practice, sometimes I’ll be lazy and bequick to the treadmill. It’s not even just forrebounding, but little mistakes.”

Van Treese’s performance against USF was a timely one because it helped theCards overcome limited playing time byleading scorer Knowles due to foul trou-ble. Knowles picked up three fouls in justfour minutes in the fi rst half and woundup playing only 16 minutes, equaling hisseason-low in the blowout against Chat-tanooga when he wasn’t needed.

Knowles still cracked double fi gures with 12 points, nine of them coming inthe second half when he when he hit twobig back-to-back baskets in the fi nal 3:35.Despite spending the last 13:47 of thefi rst half on the bench, he also was UofL’ssecond-leading rebounder with six to goalong with three assists and two steals.

“I guess I’m reaching in too much,” Knowles said. “I’ve got to be more carefulso I can stay out of foul trouble and playmore because I know down the stretch,especially on the road, my teammates aregoing to need me out there.”

Said Pitino, “I don’t think we’re going to win a whole lot of games with Prestonspending too much time on the bench.”

Others came to the rescue, though, in addition to Van Treese. Five Cardinalsscored in double fi gures, and two oth-ers, Peyton Siva and Chris Smith, barelymissed with nine points apiece. Siva alsohad six assists.

Although Louisville has dominated this series, now leading it 25-3, this game wasmuch more diffi cult than most of the oth-er matchups.

The fi rst half was a back-and-forth af-fair that ended with USF on top 48-45. Inthe second half, sparked by eight straightpoints by Terrence Jennings off the bench,the Cards threatened to pull away whenthey used a 10-0 run to build a 64-55 leadwith 11:41 remaining.

But USF responded with a 10-0 run of its own to grab a 65-64 lead at the 9:43mark.

“Thought we were going to steal one,” Heath said.

Nope. Chris Smith put UofL ahead to stay moments later with a driving layup.Mike Marra hit a three-pointer and GorguiDieng made two free throws for a 71-65lead, and the Cards maintained a lead of5-8 points the rest of the way.

After Knowles’ trey boosted Louis-ville’s lead to 76-68, the Cards didn’t getanother fi eld goal but sank 9 of 12 freethrows.

Pitino tweaked UofL’s 2-3 zone defense in the second half after USF shot 51.7percent in the fi rst 20 minutes (15 of 29).The Cards then alternated the 2-3 with amatchup and held the Bulls to 34.9 per-cent (10 of 29) in the second half.

“It was an excellent basketball game,” Pitino said. “We had a good run, theydidn’t quit, came back and had their run,then we had another run. So we’re realhappy to get out of here with a victory.”

Sophomore Stephan Van Treese had 12 points and 14 rebounds

against South Florida. “He was a real surprise,” USF’s

Augustus Gilchrist said. - photo by Dave Klotz

RUSS BROWNRUSS BROWN

H E L P S U O F L T U R N B A C K U S F 8 6 - 7 7

VAN TREESE BECOMING BRUISER ON THE BOARDS CARDS NEED


RECRUITING NOTEBOOK10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALLLOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

2010-11 WOMEN’S SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME RECORD OCTOBER 30 Indiana Wesleyan (Exh) KFC Yum! Center W, 67-42 NOVEMBER 12 Then-No. 2 TENNESSEE KFC Yum! Center L, 63-50 0-114 at Ohio University Athens, Ohio W, 84-47 1-117 HOUSTON BAPTIST KFC Yum! Center W, 100-34 2-1 19 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 97-43 3-123 at Then-No. 4 Xavier Cincinnati, Ohio L, 71-59 3-226 at Old Dominion Norfolk, Va. L, 69-65 3-329 at IPFW Fort Wayne, Ind. W, 100-74 4-3DECEMBER 2 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 96-37 5-35 Then-No. 8 KENTUCKY KFC Yum! Center W, 78-52 6-311 DAYTON KFC Yum! Center W, 69-55 7-315 at Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio W, 78-40 8-3 1-018-20 Dual in the Desert Las Vegas, Nev. 18 vs. Marist Las Vegas, Nev. L, 68-74 8-419 vs. Houston Las Vegas, Nev. L, 80-92 8-5 20 vs. No. 21 Nebraska Las Vegas, Nev. W, 65-51 9-528 UT-MARTIN KFC Yum! Center W, 92-67 10-5 JANUARY 4 Then-No. 17 ST. JOHN’S KFC Yum! Center W, 84-73 11-5 2-09 PITTSBURGH KFC Yum! Center W, 79-68 12-5 3-012 at No. 12 Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. 7 p.m. 15 at Connecticut Hartford, Conn NOON22 CINCINNATI KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m. 26 at Marquette Milwaukee, Wis. 8 p.m. 29 RUTGERS KFC Yum! Center 6 p.m. FEBRUARY 1 GEORGETOWN KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m.6 at Villanova Philadelphia, Pa. 2 p.m. 13 WEST VIRGINIA KFC Yum! Center 5 p.m. 16 at Syracuse Syracuse, NY 7 p.m. 19 at USF Tampa, Fla. 2 p.m.23 DEPAUL KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 26 SETON HALL KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m.28 at Providence Providence, RI 7 p.m.MARCH 4-8 BIG EAST Tournament Hartford, Conn. TBA

2010-11 MEN’S SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT (TELEVISION) SITE TIME/RES RECORDOCTOBER Sun. 31 NORTHERN KENTUCKY / exhibition KFC Yum! Center W, 83-66 -- NOVEMBER Thur. 11 KENTUCKY WESLEYAN / exhibition KFC Yum! Center W, 96-54 -- Tues. 16 BUTLER (ESPN) KFC Yum! Center W, 88-73 1-0 GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUTSat. 20 JACKSON STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 62-45 2-0Mon. 22 CHATTANOOGA KFC Yum! Center W, 106-65 3-0Sat. 27 MARSHALL (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 80-66 4-0 DECEMBER Wed. 1 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 92-55 5-0 in GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUT Sat. 4 SOUTH ALABAMA KFC Yum! Center W, 97-70 6-0 Wed. 8 SAN FRANCISCO (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 61-35 7-0Sat. 11 UNLV (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center W, 77-69 8-0 in BILLY MINARDI CLASSIC Tues. 14 DREXEL (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center L, 52-46 8-1Sat. 18 GARDNER-WEBB (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 78-49 9-1 Wed. 22 at Western Kentucky Bowling Green, Ky. W, 114-82 10-1Mon. 27 MORGAN STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 104-74 11-1 Fri. 31 KENTUCKY (CBS) KFC Yum! Center L, 78-63 11-2JANUARY Wed. 5 SETON HALL (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center W, 73-54 12-2 1-0 Sun. 9 at USF Tampa, Fla. W, 86-77 13-2 2-0Wed. 12 at Villanova (ESPN/2) Philadelphia, Pa. 7 p.m. 25-8 NCAA Sat. 15 MARQUETTE (ESPN2) KFC Yum! Center 11 a.m. 22-12 NCAA Wed. 19 ST. JOHN’S KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 17-16 NIT Sat. 22 at Providence (ESPNU) Providence, R.I. 5 p.m. 12-19 Wed. 26 WEST VIRGINIA (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 31-7 NCAA Sat. 29 at Connecticut Storrs, Conn. Noon 18-16 NIT Mon. 31 at Georgetown (ESPN) Washington, D.C. 7 p.m. 23-11 NCAA FEBRUARY Sat. 5 DEPAUL KFC Yum! Center 8 p.m. 8-23 Wed. 9 at Notre Dame (ESPNU) South Bend, Ind. 7 p.m. 23-12 NCAA Sat. 12 SYRACUSE (ESPN/2) KFC Yum! Center Noon 30-5 NCAA Wed. 16 at Cincinnati (ESPN/2) Cincinnati, Ohio 7 p.m. 19-16 NIT Fri. 18 CONNECTICUT (ESPN) KFC Yum! Center 9 p.m. 18-16 NIT Tues. 22 at Rutgers (ESPNU) Piscataway, N.J. 9 p.m. 15-17 Sun. 27 PITTSBURGH (CBS) KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m. 25-9 NCAA MARCH Wed. 2 PROVIDENCE KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 12-19 Sat. 5 at West Virginia (ESPN/2) Morgantown, W. Va. Noon 31-7 NCAA Tues. 8-Sat. 12 Big East Championship at Madison Square Garden New York City

## SUMMARY GP GS Min/G FG% 3PT% FT% Reb/G Ast/G Stl Blk Pts/G 02 Knowles, Preston 15 14 26.1 .417 .404 .889 4.1 2.5 29 4 14.9 03 Siva, Peyton 15 15 24.7 .486 .273 .729 3.1 4.8 32 1 11.1 23 Jennings, Terrence 15 9 20.9 .535 .000 .627 4.7 1.0 10 32 9.2 05 Smith, Chris 15 6 21.6 .560 .519 .677 3.9 2.0 10 2 9.1 33 Marra, Mike 13 9 23.6 .351 .295 .824 2.4 2.7 14 5 9.1 04 Buckles, Rakeem 11 8 21.3 .485 .476 .571 7.5 1.9 11 3 8.2 14 Kuric, Kyle 13 6 21.8 .467 .412 1.000 2.6 1.2 11 3 7.3 10 Dieng, Gorgui 14 5 15.4 .667 .000 .633 4.7 0.6 5 37 6.2 22 Justice, Elisha 11 0 14.4 .364 .278 .621 1.7 1.7 4 0 4.3 24 Smith, Russ 8 0 8.0 .423 .545 .600 0.3 1.5 7 0 3.9 44 Van Treese, Stephan 15 2 12.9 .645 .000 .222 4.1 0.3 11 3 2.9 00 Goode, George 13 1 7.5 .516 .400 .667 1.2 0.2 5 6 2.8 15 Henderson, Tim 11 0 4.3 .417 .400 .500 0.6 0.5 4 0 1.2 TM TEAM 15 0 0.0 .000 .000 .000 1.7 0.0 0 0 0.0 Total.......... 15 .476 .373 .670 38.7 18.4 153 96 81.8 Opponents...... 15 .380 .306 .668 35.4 11.1 94 36 62.9

SCORING GP FG FGA FG% 3FG FGA 3PT% FT FTA FT% PTS PTS/G KNOWLES, Preston 15 75 180 .417 42 104 .404 32 36 .889 224 14.9 SIVA, Peyton 15 52 107 .486 12 44 .273 51 70 .729 167 11.1 JENNINGS, Terrence 15 53 99 .535 0 0 .000 32 51 .627 138 9.2 SMITH, Chris 15 51 91 .560 14 27 .519 21 31 .677 137 9.1 MARRA, Mike 13 39 111 .351 26 88 .295 14 17 .824 118 9.1 BUCKLES, Rakeem 11 32 66 .485 10 21 .476 16 28 .571 90 8.2 KURIC, Kyle 13 35 75 .467 21 51 .412 4 4 1.000 95 7.3 DIENG, Gorgui 14 34 51 .667 0 1 .000 19 30 .633 87 6.2 JUSTICE, Elisha 11 12 33 .364 5 18 .278 18 29 .621 47 4.3 SMITH, Russ 8 11 26 .423 6 11 .545 3 5 .600 31 3.9 VAN TREESE, Stephan 15 20 31 .645 0 0 .000 4 18 .222 44 2.9 GOODE, George 13 16 31 .516 2 5 .400 2 3 .667 36 2.8 HENDERSON, Tim 11 5 12 .417 2 5 .400 1 2 .500 13 1.2 Total.......... 15 435 913 .476 140 375 .373 217 324 .670 1227 81.8 Opponents...... 15 315 828 .380 87 284 .306 227 340 .668 944 62.9

TOTALS GP Min O-Reb D-Reb Tot Reb PF DQ Ast TO Ast/TO Hi Pts KNOWLES, Preston 15 391 10 51 61 39 2 37 26 1.42 31 SIVA, Peyton 15 371 6 40 46 40 2 72 44 1.64 29 JENNINGS, Terrence 15 314 32 39 71 40 1 15 17 0.88 15 SMITH, Chris 15 324 23 36 59 18 0 30 22 1.36 18 MARRA, Mike 13 307 6 25 31 18 0 35 18 1.94 23 BUCKLES, Rakeem 11 234 29 53 82 28 0 21 24 0.88 17 KURIC, Kyle 13 284 13 21 34 23 0 15 10 1.50 25 DIENG, Gorgui 14 215 31 35 66 27 2 8 16 0.50 15 JUSTICE, Elisha 11 158 2 17 19 19 0 19 5 3.80 12 SMITH, Russ 8 64 0 2 2 10 0 12 7 1.71 9 VAN TREESE, Stephan 15 193 33 29 62 20 0 4 8 0.50 12 GOODE, George 13 98 7 8 15 11 0 2 4 0.50 8 HENDERSON, Tim 11 47 0 7 7 7 0 6 2 3.00 4 Total.......... 15 3000 202 379 581 300 7 276 205 1.35 114 Opponents...... 15 3000 197 334 531 292 - 167 269 0.62 82

## SUMMARY GP-GS Min FG% 3PT% FT% R/G A/G STL BLK PTS/G 33 Reid, Monique 17-8 25.8 .588 .200 .707 5.5 1.8 30 7 17.3 23 Schimmel, Shoni 17-17 29.2 .457 .388 .778 3.2 6.0 41 3 16.4 11 Burke, Becky 17-11 25.3 .463 .415 .875 3.1 1.3 17 0 9.1 25 Gibbs, Tia 17-17 25.9 .430 .387 .722 4.5 1.4 46 7 9.0 45 Hines, Keshia 17-17 21.2 .580 .000 .529 6.5 1.3 31 26 7.6 03 Vails, Sheronne 17-9 19.8 .457 .000 .667 3.0 0.6 18 30 7.1 04 Slaughter, Antonita 16-0 11.0 .407 .422 .667 2.6 0.4 10 1 4.3 05 Tay, Charmaine 15-0 15.3 .340 .333 .514 2.9 1.9 10 1 3.6 31 Taylor, Asia 13-6 13.3 .375 .000 .529 4.2 1.2 8 2 3.5 20 Harrington, Polly 9-0 5.7 .375 .200 .667 0.8 0.0 5 1 2.3 10 Johnson, LaToya 5-0 7.2 .800 1.000 1.000 1.2 0.6 1 0 2.2 01 Harper, Shelby 14-0 10.4 .130 .063 .750 0.9 1.1 8 0 0.7 30 Story, Rachel 13-0 6.6 .167 .000 .750 0.9 1.1 3 0 0.4 TM TEAM 17-0 0.0 .000 .000 .000 3.1 0.0 0 0 0.0 Total 17 .468 .374 .665 39.4 17.2 228 78 79.1 Opponents 17 .375 .308 .652 36.1 11.5 136 42 59.7

SCORING GP FG-FGA FG% 3FG-FGA 3PT% FT-FTA FT% PTS PTS/G Reid, Monique 17 114-194 .588 1-5 .200 65-92 .707 294 17.3 Schimmel, Shoni 17 106-232 .457 45-116 .388 21-27 .778 278 16.4 Burke, Becky 17 50-108 .463 34-82 .415 21-24 .875 155 9.1 Gibbs, Tia 17 58-135 .430 24-62 .387 13-18 .722 153 9.0 Hines, Keshia 17 51-88 .580 0-0 .000 27-51 .529 129 7.6 Vails, Sheronne 17 48-105 .457 0-1 .000 24-36 .667 120 7.1 Slaughter, Antonita 16 22-54 .407 19-45 .422 6-9 .667 69 4.3 Tay, Charmaine 15 16-47 .340 4-12 .333 18-35 .514 54 3.6 Taylor, Asia 13 18-48 .375 0-0 .000 9-17 .529 45 3.5 Harrington, Polly 9 6-16 .375 1-5 .200 8-12 .667 21 2.3 Johnson, LaToya 5 4-5 .800 1-1 1.000 2-2 1.000 11 2.2 Harper, Shelby 14 3-23 .130 1-16 .063 3-4 .750 10 0.7 Story, Rachel 13 1-6 .167 0-3 .000 3-4 .750 5 0.4 Total 17 497-1061 .468 130-348 .374 220-331 .665 1344 79.1 Opponents 17 354-944 .375 99-321 .308 208-319 .652 1015 59.7

TOTALS GP MIN OFF DEF TOT PF FO A TO A/TO HI Reid, Monique 17 439 37 57 94 29 0 31 37 0.8 29 Schimmel, Shoni 17 496 17 38 55 34 0 102 69 1.5 26 Burke, Becky 17 430 7 45 52 14 0 22 19 1.2 21 Gibbs, Tia 17 441 17 60 77 34 1 24 25 1.0 18 Hines, Keshia 17 361 48 63 111 64 5 22 46 0.5 15 Vails, Sheronne 17 336 24 27 51 40 1 10 27 0.4 22 Slaughter, Antonita 16 176 15 26 41 13 0 7 8 0.9 11 Tay, Charmaine 15 230 15 29 44 23 0 28 20 1.4 9 Taylor, Asia 13 173 26 28 54 26 0 15 19 0.8 9 Harrington, Polly 9 51 5 2 7 9 1 0 5 0.0 10 Johnson, LaToya 5 36 1 5 6 3 0 3 2 1.5 9 Harper, Shelby 14 145 0 13 13 24 0 15 12 1.3 4 Story, Rachel 13 86 1 11 12 7 0 14 8 1.8 2 Total 17 3400 240 430 670 321 8 293 305 1.0 100 Opponents 17 3382 224 390 614 302 - 195 410 0.5 92

MEN’S BASKETBALL INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATS


10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASON10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALL PREVIEW - MARQUETTE

By Rick CushingThe University of Louisville, with its “small lineup,” will

find itself seriously outsized in most of its Big East games this season. Not so when it plays host to Marquette Satur-day, because the Golden Eagles aren’t much bigger than the Cards. They have a 6-11 center who isn’t dominating, 6-2 and 6-3 guards and 6-6 and 6-7 forwards.

Marquette was picked to finish in a tie for eighth with UofL in the Big East in a preseason poll of coaches. The Golden Eagles lost leading scorer and rebounder Lazar Hay-ward (18.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg), a first-round selection in the NBA Draft last spring, but they returned their second- and third-leading scorers, and they added a highly ranked recruiting class. So far this season the Golden Eagles have shown both promise and inconsistency. They are 11-5, 2-1 in the Big East. All their losses have come to good teams, however – No. 1 Duke, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, No. 22 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Pitt. They lost 89-81 to the host Panthers last Saturday.

Marquette will play host to No. 14 Notre Dame Monday before taking on the Cards.

COACHBuzz Williams took over three seasons ago when Tom

Crean left for Indiana University, despite the fact that Wil-liams had just one year of head coaching experience, going 14-17 at Tulane. But he has continued Marquette’s proud tradition, averaging 23.5 victories his two seasons at the school.

GUARDSDarius Johnson-Odom, a 6-2 senior who transferred from

junior college last season (he was a JUCO All-American) and averaged 13 ppg, leads the team at 15.9 ppg this season, although he’s averaging 23.3 ppg in three Big East games. UofL fans will remember him because he got 22 points and seven rebounds (both game highs) in a 69-48 Marquette victory in Milwaukee last March 2, hitting 4 of 6 three-point shots. This season he’s shooting 44.5 percent overall (53.2 percent in Big East games), 35 percent on treys (42.1 per-cent Big East). He’s third on the team at 2.6 assists per game.

Dwight Buycks, a 6-3 senior, runs the show. He is fourth on the team at 9.9 ppg and leads at 4.3 assists per game. He’s shooting 51.9 percent overall, 37.5 percent on treys.

The top backcourt sub is Vander Blue, a 6-4 freshman who’s averaging 9.3 ppg and 3.4 rpg. He’s shooting 47.9 percent overall but just 22.2 percent on treys.

BIG MENJimmy Butler, a 6-7 senior, is second on the team in scoring

(15.1 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg) and is especially dangerous on the drive. He’s shooting 48.1 percent overall, 36.4 percent on treys, although he doesn’t shoot them often (8 of 22).

Jae Crowder, a 6-6 junior who was the Junior College Player of the Year last season, has been a very pleasant surprise. He’s averaging 12.7 ppg overall but 18.0 ppg in Big East play, and a team-leading 6.6 rpg. He’s shooting 54.5 percent overall, 42.6 percent on treys. He moved into the starting lineup six games ago.

“It’s been the quickest transition of any junior college trans-fer I’ve ever seen,” said Williams. “…We’re really happy to have him. He’s an unbelievable person, and I think that’s translated to his success on the fl oor. He has great instincts. Even though he’s only played 15 games with our program, we rely on him on both ends of the fl oor on every possession.”

The starting center is 6-11 sophomore Chris Otule, who’s averaging 5.2 ppg, seventh on the team, and just 2.7 rpg. He doesn’t shoot much but is averaging 68.6 percent.

The top sub up front is 6-8 freshman Davante Gardner, a wide body at 290 pounds. He’s averaging 5.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg and is shooting 59.6 percent, mostly from in close. He has not tried a three-point shot.

MISC.Marquette, which likes to get out and run, ranks second

in the Big East in shooting at 50.4 percent and second in scoring at 80.8 ppg, third in assists at 18.1 a game, fourth in assist/turnover ratio at 1.39 and fifth in steals at 8.7 a game. The Golden Eagles’ weakness has been their defense. They are last in three-point defense at 37.5 percent, 15th in overall defense at 42.7 percent and 13th in scoring defense at 67.1 ppg. Pitt shot 60 percent against them. They rank in the middle in most other Big East team statistics.

Marquette and Pitt are the only two schools to win at least 10 Big East games the past five seasons.

ALL-TIME SERIESUofL and Marquette have met 63 times in a series that

dates to 1951, with the Cardinals holding a 38-25 advan-tage. Marquette won 69-48 last season, but UofL won the previous four meetings and seven of the previous eight. The former Conference USA rivals have played some memo-rable games, with six ending in overtime, including one in double overtime and one in triple overtime. They are 3-3 in OT games.

NO NAME POS YR EXP HT/WT HOMETOWN 0 JAMIL WILSON F SO. 1V 6-7/210 RACINE, WI (HORLICK)1 DARIUS JOHNSON-ODOM G JR. JC 6-2/215 RALEIGH, NC (HUTCHINSON J.C.)2 VANDER BLUE G FR. HS 6-4/190 MADISON, WI (MEMORIAL HS)4 REGGIE SMITH G FR. HS 6-0/175 CHICAGO, IL (THORNTON TOWNSHIP HS)5 JUNIOR CADOUGAN G SO. 1V 6-1/205 TORONTO, ON (CHRISTIAN LIFE ACADEMY)12 ERIK WILLIAMS F SO. 1V 6-7/210 HOUSTON, TX (CYPRESS SPRINGS)21 JOSEPH FULCE F SR. 1V 6-7/205 PHILADEPHIA, TX (TYLER J.C.)22 JAMAIL JONES F FR. HS 6-6/210 ATLANTA, GA (MONTVERDE ACADEMY)23 DWIGHT BUYCKS G SR. 1V 6-3/190 MILWAUKEE, WI (INDIAN HILLS J.C.)25 DAVID SINGLETON G JR. 2V 6-4/190 COATESVILLE, PA (HILL SCHOOL, N.J.)32 JAE CROWDER F JR. 2V 6-6/225 VILLA RICA, GA (VILLA RICA HS)33 JIMMY BUTLER G-F SR. 1V 6-7/220 TOMBALL, TX (TYLER J.C.)42 CHRIS OTULE C SO. 1V 6-11/260 RICHMOND, TX (FT. BEND BUSH)45 ROBERT FROZENA G SR. 3V 6-1/190 SHERWOOD, WI (ST. MARY CENTRAL)54 DAVANTE GARDNER G FR. HS 6-8/290 SUFFOLK, VA (KING’S FORK HS)

2010-11 MARQUETTE BASKETBALL ROSTER

2010-11 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONENT TIME NOVEMBER Nov. 12, 2010 Prairie View W, 97-58Nov. 14, 2010 Bucknell W, 72-61 Nov. 17, 2010 Wisconsin-GB W, 89-69 Nov. 20, 2010 SOUTH DAKOTA W, 82-69 Nov. 22, 2010 at Duke L, 82-77 Nov. 23, 2010 GONZAGA L, 66-63 Nov. 27, 2010 at Wisconsin-Milw. W, 75-72

DECEMBER Dec. 4, 2010 LONGWOOD W, 96-65 Dec. 7, 2010 TAMU C.C. W, 86-50 Dec. 11, 2010 Wisconsin L, 69-64 Dec. 18, 2010 Centenary W, 81-52 Dec. 21, 2010 Mississippi Valley W, 102-77 Dec. 29, 2010 at Vanderbilt L, 77-76

JANUARY Jan. 1, 2011 West Virginia W, 79-74 Jan. 5, 2011 at Rutgers W, 73-65 Jan. 8, 2011 at Pittsburgh L, 89-81 Jan. 10, 2011 Notre Dame 7:00 pm ET Jan. 15, 2011 at Louisville 11:00 am ET Jan. 18, 2011 DePaul 9:00 pm ET Jan. 22, 2011 at Notre Dame 7:00 pm ET Jan. 25, 2011 Connecticut 9:00 pm ET Jan. 29, 2011 Syracuse 3:00 pm ET

FEBRUARY Feb. 2, 2011 at Villanova 7:00 pm ET Feb. 9, 2011 at South Florida 7:00 pm ET Feb. 13, 2011 at Georgetown 1:00 pm ET Feb. 15, 2011 St. John’s 9:00 pm ET Feb. 19, 2011 Seton Hall 9:00 pm ET Feb. 24, 2011 at Connecticut 7:00 pm ET Feb. 27, 2011 Providence 4:00 pm ET

MARCH Mar. 2, 2011 Cincinnati 7:00 pm ET Mar. 5, 2011 at Seton Hall 6:00 pm ET

Coach: Buzz WilliamsLast season: 22-12, 11-7 Big EastOverall record: 72-44 (4th season)At Marquette: 58-29 (3rd season)

Marquette dealing with a team full of new players in a tough league

VANDER BLUEVANDER BLUE

MAR

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Saturday, Jan. 15Marquette at Louisville

11:00 AM

GOLDEN EAGLES PRESENT INTRIGUING MATCHUP


Only President’s Award Winner in Greater Louisville 10 out of 11 years!

448-2802www.bobmontgomery.com

Top 10 Certified Used Car Dealer in the Nation

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5340 Wide Wide Dixie Highway

BOB MONTGOM E RY HAS BE E N S E RVI NG TH E COM M U N IT Y S I NCE 1960 .

I received my Medicare card recently.It’s hard to believe. Not that I’m actually getting Medicare after paying in all these years

(I expected the politicians to fritter it away somehow), but the fact that I’m old enough to qualify. I used to think that people 65 years old were over the hill, fi nished, ready for the rock-ing chair. Now I know that like everything else I thought when I was 25, I was wrong.

Being 65 and retired is wonderful, especially if you are a Cardinals fan. My old age and retirement coincided wondrously with the ascendancy of UofL athletics. I’m in the perfect position to take it all in and enjoy the marvelous success of the winning teams at UofL.

These days I don’t have to worry about how to get into games by sneaking in through the broken fence at Parkway Field or the back entrance through the stables at Cardinal Stadium or the circuitous route into Freedom Hall after checking the entire Fairgrounds facility for an open door. Instead of relying on the benevolence of a friend or my company, I can actually afford to pay my way after a lifetime of saving and investing. Besides, when you’re 65 it’s impossible to climb a fence or slip through a small opening on your hands and knees.

When I was a young man I had kids to consider. I didn’t go anywhere without taking the kids. That meant that not only did I have to buy extra tickets but also shell out for popcorn, hot dogs and pop. No way could I afford all that on a regular basis when I was raising a family. Nor do I have to worry about my kids getting in trouble while I watch the game as my 12-year old did at old Cardinal Stadium when he ran into an I-beam while playing football under the bleachers and I had to leave the game for my son to get stitched up.

Being old and retired makes it easier to get away from the house. Unlike my working years, my wife is glad to get rid of me for those extra three or four hours. As a matter of fact, she even wants to go sometimes, especially to football games. She is not “stuck at home with the kids” like our younger days.

I also have friends to accompany me to the games. They are retired also and in the same situation that I am concerning “getting out.”

I enjoy the games a lot more also. Losing doesn’t bother me the way it once did. Lower testosterone I guess. Also, I know there will be a next time and pay-backs are always sweeter. I’m not on a high when the Cards win and not on a low if they lose. I don’t get worked up over non-issues like the Freedom Hall fl oor being painted blue. After spending more than 50 years there I’m glad to pass on the uncomfortable show horse arena to a needy team, much like our used clothes to the DAV. Every time I enter the KFC Yum! Center I can’t imagine that I actually was disappointed to leave the aging Freedom Hall with its uncomfortable seats and ring road.

Going to the games is a lot more fun because I don’t have to go to work the next morn-ing. I can sleep in if I want. Every day is Saturday when you’re retired. If necessary I can be spontaneous and get on a plane tomorrow and head to an away game or a bowl game with no thought to work responsibilities. Especially during the holidays when my job at UPS meant that I worked the hardest before Christmas while all my friends were gearing down from their jobs. Now my friends and I can jump in a car and, with plenty of restroom stops on the way, go to an away game within two or three hundred miles.

But most of all I and my contemporaries appreciate the emergence of UofL athletics. We remember the “good old days” and the “bad old days” when Louisville was good in basket-ball and that was about it. Sure, there were occasional good times in football, but without support from the school administrators it was impossible to sustain success. Dedicated men like Clark Wood, John Heldman, Bill Olsen, Peck Hickman and Frank Camp kept things go-ing on a shoestring budget, sometimes paying for equipment and supplies out of their own pockets. Even ‘The Coach’ gave it a try but couldn’t keep it going because we were in the non-BCS Conference-USA then. But things have changed, and I and my old friends have witnessed it all.

No. 1 in soccer – unthinkable; baseball team to the College World Series – UofL had good teams before, but that type of success was not even considered; women’s basketball in the national championship game – who are you kidding?; football in a major bowl – humph, no way; national champions in track and fi eld – did you get hit in the head with a shot put?; a UofL tennis player in the singles national championship – this isn’t UCLA; best facilities in the country – you must be thinking of Ohio State with its $120 million budget, or Texas, maybe Florida; Big East (that’s Big East, not MVC, Metro or C-USA) champions in golf, tennis, volley-ball, track and fi eld, swimming and diving and cross country – the old timers who’ve passed on wouldn’t believe it.

But it’s all true. The University of Louisville is a national powerhouse in athletics. And I and many of my contemporaries and especially some of those old geezers who have the best seats have seen it all. When football practice was at the Shelby Campus or basketball practice in Crawford Gym and all of the other sports made do the best they could at high school facilities or anything on campus that resembled an athletic venue, it seemed winning was impossible. Thanks to all who persevered during the diffi cult days but believed UofL athletics was worth saving.

I don’t know what I would do in my old age if they hadn’t.

UOFL SPORTS HAVE MADE GROWING OLD A MUCH MORE PLEASURABLE

EXPERIENCE

COMMENTARY BY JACK COFFEE [email protected]

Louisville coach Rick Pitino counseled freshman post Gorgui Dieng after a referee’s call. Dieng, a 6-foot-11 shot-blocking machine, has been starting for the Cardinals in the post. - photo by Shelley Feller


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

By Russ BrownTAMPA, Fla. -- Moving from the balmy

climate in Florida to the frigid site for Lou-isville’s next game against Villanova in Phil-adelphia isn’t the only thing that will be a drastic change for the Cardinals.

Having defeated a team (South Florida) whose strength is its rugged front line, No. 23 UofL (13-2, 2-0 Big East) will have to switch gears and contend with the pe-rimeter-oriented No. 7 Wildcats (14-1, 3-0) Wednesday night in the Wachovia Center.

Although Villanova, which is locked in a three-way tie for fi rst place in the Big East with Pittsburgh and Syra-cuse, has more size at its disposal than in recent years, coach Jay Wright still starts a three-guard lineup and sometimes has

four guards on the court at the same time. Villanova’s main inside threats are 6-10

Mouphtaou Yarou and 6-81/2 Antonio Pena, but four of the Wildcats’ top six scorers are backcourt players -- 6-1 Corey Fisher, 6-5 Corey Stokes, 6-2 Maalik Wayns and 6-6 Dominic Cheeks.

UofL senior guard Preston Knowles said he, Peyton Siva and Chris Smith will face the kind of pressure against Villanova that the Cards’ front line players encountered against USF.

“In the South Florida game our big men got tested,” Knowles said. “In this game, we’re (the guards) going to be tested. They have three great guards, so me, Peyton and Chris will have to have our game faces on. We need to stop them in transition, ball containment, and play great Louisville de-fense.”

“It will be a different kind of game,” Mike Marra said. “You never know what to expect in the Big East. It’s something different every night. It’s going to take a team effort, slap-ping down, not getting blow-bys, contain-ing the ball.”

UofL coach Rick Pitino said his team will have to adjust on the run.

“Against Villanova, there’ll be a lot of dif-ferent matchups because they go big, then they go small, then they go big, and we’ll have to play with that quite a bit,” he said.

Villanova is coming off a 72-61 victory on Sunday over previously undefeated No. 24 Cincinnati in The Pavilion on campus. Win-ners of nine straight, the Wildcats haven’t lost since falling 78-68 to Tennessee on Nov. 26 in the fi nals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden.

Villanova held Cincinnati to 23 points in the fi rst half, its fewest of the season, and harassed the Bearcats into 3-of-20 three-point shooting.

Three days before UofL beat USF 86-77, visiting Villanova defeated the Bulls by a similar margin, 83-71, hitting 9 of 12 three-point shots as guards accounted for 67 of the Wildcats’ points. Stokes, who is shoot-ing nearly 50 percent from behind the arc, was 5 of 5 and Cheek was 4 of 4.

“We have a lot of shooters,” Cheek said, but coach Jay Wright disagrees -- for now

at least.“I think we have one guy making shots

right now,” Wright said. “The other two (Fisher and Wayns) aren’t. Stokes is our go-to guy, our leader in every way. And Cheek is his protege’.”

This shapes up as a big week for Louis-ville, among many to come. The Cards had the luxury of starting the conference season with two teams destined to fi nish in the lower echelons, but almost every game from here on out fi gures to be tougher.

After Villanova, UofL will host dangerous Marquette (11-5, 2-1) Saturday, followed by St. John’s (10-4, 3-1) on Jan. 19.

Pitino began a press conference last week by displaying an easel pad with the RPIs of Big East teams written on it. The pad showed eight conference teams in the top 20. The league began this week with eight teams in the ESPN/USA Today top-25 poll -- including four in the top 10 -- and ended 2010 with fi ve in the top 10.

“I’ve been coaching a long time, and I’ve never quite seen this,” Pitino said of the RPIs. “It’s mind-boggling for me to look at this and see it in what we all thought would be somewhat of a rebuilding year in the league. It’s really an incredible conference, and the strength of schedule will only keep getting stronger and stronger and stronger. It doesn’t matter who you play, you just have to fi ght for a victory.”

The Big East has earned eight NCAA Tour-nament bids three times in the past fi ve sea-sons and put fi ve different teams in the Final Four the past six years.

“This league is just so tough,” Villanova’s Wright said. “Big East games are so intense. What is going to the Final Four? It’s not al-ways the most talented teams. It’s who can get through four games against different styles. That’s one thing about this league, it does prepare you for that.”

Pitino has told his players that their goal

should be at least 10 conference wins, be-cause he thinks it may take that many to be assured of an NCAA Tournament bid.

“Before the injuries we’ve had, before any of this, I never thought of making the NCAA this year,” Pitino said. “I told you all the excuses that we come up with, all the cliches -- it was a bridge year and we’ve got to get through it, we’ve got to recruit -- all the things coaches come up with to save their ass.

“But then we just had an incredible at-titude and I saw something different. I told the guys, my opinion is it’s going to take 14 wins to win the Big East, 12 to fi nish in the top four and 10-11 to be in the top half. So that’s the challenge that lies ahead of us.”

After this week it gets even rougher for the Cards, who will play three of their next four games on the road -- at Providence, No. 8/9 Connecticut and No. 12 Georgetown.

VAN TREESE GETS MORE CLOCKIn a New Year’s Eve loss to Kentucky, UofL

sophomore forward Stephan Van Treese barely got off the bench, playing just one minute. But he said he accepted that fate and continued to go all-out in practice, and it has paid off.

Van Treese logged what was then a ca-reer-high 27 minutes in the Cards’ opening Big East win against Seton Hall last Wednes-day, getting 10 rebounds and four points. Then in Sunday’s win over USF he exploded for 12 points and 14 boards in a game-high 33 minutes.

“Honestly, it was Coach Pitino’s decision and I just have to go with whatever he says,” Van Treese said of his hiatus against UK. “That’s all I can do.”

Marra, Van Treese’s closest friend on the team, said Van Treese didn’t hang his head for long after Kentucky.

“Slightly. Nothing big,” Marra said. “Any-body who only plays one minute in any game, it isn’t fun. So you’ve just got to have the at-

titude that you’ve got to move on and workhard in practice. We all have confi dence inStephan. Sometimes he doesn’t really haveconfi dence in himself, but if he plays withconfi dence, that’s the kind of stuff he cando.”

KNOWLES COMES THROUGH LATEGoing into the fi nal 3:35 against USF,

Knowles had scored only seven points dueto foul trouble that severely limited his play-ing time, and he had hit just one of his fi rstseven shots.

But that didn’t keep him from launching (and making) a couple of clutch shots whilethe Bulls still had pressure on the Cards.With UofL leading 71-66, Knowles hit a15-footer from the foul line, then drilled athree-pointer from the left of the key to givehis team some breathing room.

“I think everybody on the team wants me to take those type of shots,” he said. “That’swhat leaders do. Down the stretch when weneed a bucket, the fi rst thing on my mind is,‘OK, I’ve got to get my teammates going.’It’s more of my teammates wanting me tomake shots as opposed to me wanting todo it.”

Knowles picked up two fouls in the fi rst 3:46 and went to the bench. He re-enteredat the 13:59 mark but drew his third per-sonal just 12 seconds later and retired forthe rest of the half. But Pitino absolved himof much of the blame for the third foul.

“He got his third foul because Russ Smith didn’t get on the fl oor for a loose ball,” Pi-tino said. “Russ was the fi rst one there. Russgets on the fl oor, Preston doesn’t get histhird foul. So there’s a reason sometimes.Now, it wasn’t a smart play by Preston ... butif Russ got on the fl oor, that play never hap-pens.”

Did Knowles lobby to get back onto the court with two fouls?

“He could have. I don’t pay any attention to Preston,” Pitino said.

Louisville players huddled up before the Cardinals’ win over Seton Hall to start Big East play. The Cardinals

started conference play 2-0 and will face No. 7 Villanova Wednesday night. - photo by Dave Klotz


CARDS WILL HAVE TO HAVE THEIR GUARDS UP AT ’NOVA


CARDINAL FOOTBALL VS. RUTGERS PHOTO GALLERY

Wow, Saturday turned out to be a GOOD - no, GREAT - day for Louisville fans despite not having a basketball or football game. The Cardinals picked up two four-star football commits -- Miami Southridge

defensive backs Andrew Johnson and Gerod Holliman. Holliman made his commitment known during the U.S. All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, marking the fi rst time UofL has gained a commitment during the nationally televised game. Cards fans also got to watch prior commit Teddy Bridgewater, the dual-threat quarterback from Miami Northwestern High, play for the East squad in the Army All-American Bowl. He threw a TD pass. Then UofL fans were treated to a double-dip as archrival Kentucky lost twice. First, the Cats lost to the Big East’s Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl. Then the Cats lost to Georgia to open SEC basketball play 0-1.

Charlie Strong and his coaching staff can’t be commended enough for the work they are getting done on the recruiting trail. The Cardinals currently have the highest-ranked class in the Big East and the No.

23 class in America, according to Rivals.com. Certainly other schools will add recruits between now and National Signing Day on Feb. 2, but the Cardinals appear to be headed for their fi rst top-25 class. Louisville has been a real force on the recruiting trail in South Florida. The Cardinals started with commitments from Miami Central wide receiver Charles Gaines Jr. and offensive lineman John Miller. Then they got commitments from Port Saint Lucie teammates Mike Romano (OL) and athlete Terrell Floyd. Then they picked up two former Miami commits from Miami Northwestern H.S. in Bridgewater and wide receiver Eli Rogers. Then their Northwestern teammate, cornerback Jermaine Reve, visited last week and committed to the Cardinals. They continued their push with Holliman’s commitment on national TV on Saturday. Moments later, Johnson committed. That makes seven prospects from the 120-mile stretch of coastline from south Miami to Port Saint Lucie.

Speaking of Rogers, we like what we saw of him during his appearance in the Under-Armour All-American Bowl last Wednesday. The Under-Armour Bowl and the workouts in the days leading up to

the game were televised on ESPN, and Rogers came out shining. Each time he was pictured on screen the ESPN analysts talked about how good his hands and route-running were and how effective he would be as a college receiver. Rogers, who is ranked a three-star recruit by Rivals.com at press time, could be moving up the rankings soon. He won the Best Hands Award at the Under-Armour combine and, even though his measurable 40-yard dash time wasn’t blazing, he was one of the toughest receivers to guard throughout the week.

With Pittsburgh’s 27-10 victcory over Kentucky in Saturday’s BBVA Compass Bowl, the Big East fi nished 4-2 in bowl games this season. That means the conference can boast a winning record in bowl games

all six seasons since the league was re-confi gured in 2005. After the Big East was declared dead that year (and all the years since then), the conference keeps on trucking. And really, given West Virginia’s terrible performance despite being the better team, the league should have been 5-1 this season.

We all can recall instances when Kentucky fans have been an embarrassment to their school. Anyone who was watching the BBVA Compass Bowl has a new instance to add to the list. Kentucky fans

carried signs, painted their chests and chanted during the game. Why is that so bad, you ask? Well, the trouble is they weren’t chanting and carrying signs for their school much of the time, they were touting their conference affi liation. Several times during the game broadcast fans could be heard chanting “S-E-C, S-E-C.” Several times during the game broadcast the cameras found fans with signs that proclaimed their conference affi liation. And another time, the ESPN cameras found a group of UK fans who actually had painted their chests - one as an S, one as an E and a third as the C. We’re all for conference pride (read the next item if you don’t believe us), but painting your chest with your conference affi liation? That’s just dumb.

It continues to be a mystery to us why the Big East football conference gets blasted every season and other conferences escape such wrath. In most years since the switch (you know, when Miami,

Boston College and Virginia Tech bolted to the ACC), the Big East has out-performed the ACC. This year, if you look at the way the Big 10 fl oundered in bowl games (3-5) and the way the Pac-10 sent only four of 10 teams bowling (USC was ineligible and the others were just lousy), the Big East really doesn’t look that bad. Yes, we know bowl records don’t tell the whole tale (because the Big East has easier bowl opponents on average), but we also know the league’s champion has typically performed well in the BCS bowl as well. And just think, TCU will be added to the league lineup next year and Louisville won’t be down for long. And for those wondering, prior to the national championship game Monday night, the SEC is 3-6 in bowls.

All Louisville fans owe a big debt of gratitude to Leonid Yelin for the work he did with the Cardinals’ volleyball program. During his 15 seasons at UofL Yelin led the Cards to more wins than any other

coach, had 12 20-plus win seasons and two 30-plus win seasons. UofL went to NCAA Tournaments and had success prior to Yelin, but he took the program to new heights and successfully navigated the transition from Conference USA to the Big East. He led the Cardinals to four Sweet 16 appearances, the most recent coming in 2005. He was also responsible for helping the Cardinals win at least a share of the Big East Tournament or regular-season title in each of UofL’s fi ve seasons in the league. With one of the youngest teams in the league this season, Yelin’s team fi nished 23-8 and won the Big East Tournament title, keeping their streak of conference titles going. “First, we are all thankful for the determined work Leonid has performed in the advancement of our volleyball program,” said UofL Vice President for Athletics Tom Jurich. “He consistently guided our teams to league championships and was simply a winner during his terrifi c career at UofL. We sincerely appreciate his efforts and wish him the best in his retirement.”

With that said, several people we spoke to in the local volleyball community believe the Cardinals’ best days are ahead of them when it comes to volleyball success. New coach Anne Kordes, a former

Assumption High and UofL star in the early and mid-1990s, is young, motivated and extremely talented. Having moved quickly into the coaching ranks after college, she spent the past seven seasons as the head coach at Saint Louis and has had the Billikens competing among the nation’s best in the NCAA Tournament. Kordes has already made a name for herself nationally, but she still has a ways to go to match the success of her famous father, Ron. He was elected to the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 after his Assumption High program won 13 of 15 Kentucky state championships and four national championships in volleyball.

We agree with Rick Pitino. This Big East season could be absolutely UGLY. Pitino opened his pre-Seton Hall press conference with a quick lesson about the RPI. He wrote out the RPI rankings for all 16 teams

in the Big East and showed reporters what the Cardinals were in for. At the time of his demonstration, eight of the Big East’s 16 teams were ranked in the top 18 in the nation. No other conference had more than two teams in the top 20. The most amazing (and scary) thing about this is that three likely NCAA Tournament teams - Louisville, Marquette and Cincinnati - weren’t among those eight teams in the top 18. We could see 10 or 11 BIg East teams making the NCAA Tournament this season.

Pitino explained that he believes the conference champion will need to win 14 of its 18 league games. While nothing is out of the question, that seems extremely unlikely for this Louisville team (ranked

No. 47 in the RPI). As of press time, the Cardinals’ future schedule includes nine games against teams ranked in the top 15 in the RPI, with four of those nine being road games. The GOOD news for UofL fans is that Pitino also believes a more-achievable 10 wins will get a team into the NCAA Tournament. We admire his goal of 10 league wins, but it is likely that even a 9-9 or 8-10 league record this year will get a team into the tournament with an at-large bid. Hopefully, the Cardinals will get their 10 wins and not have to worry about that, though.

GOOD

GOOD

UGLY

BAD

UGLY

BAD

GOOD GOOD

GOOD

GOOD

C O M M E N T A R Y B Y H O W I E L I N D S E Y


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

By Russ BrownGiven the number of injuries that have

plagued the University of Louisville basketball

team, coupled with the vast array of styles and

challenges on its schedule -- especially now

that Big East time has arrived -- you never

know which players might be on the court at

a particular time or who might provide an un-

expected boost.

In last Wednesday’s Big

East opener against Seton

Hall in the KFC Yum! Cen-

ter, it was senior center

George Goode and soph-

omore forward Stephan

Van Treese who stepped

up as the No. 23 Cardinals

(12-2) rolled to an easy

73-54 victory.

Goode, who hadn’t gotten out of his war-

mups in the loss to Kentucky fi ve days earlier,

drew his fi rst start of the season. He got UofL

off to a fast start by hitting a pair of 15-foot

jumpers to open the game, and his team-

mates took it from there.

With Van Treese coming off the bench to

provide rebounding and defense less than 3

1/2 minutes into the game, the Cards raced

to a 24-2 lead in the fi rst 9 1/2 minutes and

could have called it a night then because the

undermanned Pirates (7-8, 1-2) were in no

shape to catch them.

Van Treese, who had played just one min-

ute against UK and a total of only 17 minutes

in the previous three games, led all rebound-

ers with a career-best 10 and also had four

points in a career-high 27 minutes.

Mike Marra broke out of a shooting slump

and he and Peyton Siva scored 14 points

apiece to lead UofL, but it was Goode and

Van Treese who their teammates were talking

about after the Cards won their third straight

conference opener.

“It started off with George,” Siva said.

“George brought in some good minutes. He

knocked down the fi rst two shots, and from

there we went on a run.”

Goode, whose only previous start as a Card

came last year against Charlotte, said it was

“kind of shocking” to fi nd himself in the line-

up after languishing on the bench against the

Wildcats.

“But that’s Coach’s decision, and whenever

my number’s called I’ve just got to be ready,”

he said. “It’s a matter of being prepared

whenever. With Coach P, you’ve always got to

be ready, no matter what. I could be sitting at

the end of the bench with my sweat pants on

and everything and I’ve still got to be ready.”

Goode fi nished with six points, three re-

bounds and two steals in 10 minutes.

“He got us off to a good start. He’s a good

shooter,” UofL coach Rick Pitino said. “I want-

ed to see if he could rebound tonight. I think

he’s a step behind reacting to the ball.”

As for Van Treese, he said he fi gured his

playing time would increase after Rakeem

Buckles suffered a broken fi nger prior to the

Kentucky game.

“I knew once Big East play came around

he was going to need to use me,” Van Treese

said. “We weren’t rebounding well, especially

after Kentucky. Defensively, I’m a big man

who can move pretty well. We’re trying to

work on our zone right now, and I can get

out on the wing and try to bother people with

my length.”

Marra said the Cards are looking for the In-

dianapolis native to turn in the same kind of

performance on the boards against other Big

East opponents.

“Van Treese came off the bench and gave

us a big lift rebounding, and that’s what we

need him to do night in and night out,” Marra

said. “We really need somebody who’s going

to crash the boards like that.”

However, Pitino tempered his praise of Van

Treese, saying he didn’t play particularly well

but didn’t play poorly either and could have

had as many as 18 rebounds.

“He’s got to hold onto the ball,” Pitino

said. “He’s got to chase the ball on the back-

board. In a running game, he can outrun

anybody and do some good things. He just

couldn’t match up with Terrence Jones in the

Kentucky game. A one-on-one situation is not

his forte.”

Told about Pitino’s 18-rebound comment,

Van Treese smiled. “It’s never good enough,”

he said. “But honestly, he’s right. I had a couple

I fumbled and I really need to snag them.”

UofL’s leading scorer, Preston Knowles, hit

just 3 of 12 shots and scored eight points,

but he matched his career-high with nine

rebounds and notched a season-best fi ve as-

sists. Center Gorgui Dieng, who was slowed

by a slightly sprained ankle against UK, looked

to be back to full strength, coming off the

bench to get nine points, six rebounds and

fi ve blocked shots in 19 minutes.

After its opening 24-2 burst, UofL enjoyed

a 36-21 halftime lead and led by as many

as 28 points, 56-28, in the second half. The

Cards held Seton Hall to 29 percent shoot-

ing and blocked nine shots while handing the

Pirates their fourth loss in fi ve games. The Pi-

rates missed their fi rst 10 shots, 15 of their

fi rst 16 and had only one fi eld goal in the fi rst

10 1/2 minutes.

The Cards didn’t mind that the lopsided

win won’t turn any heads because Seton Hall

is probably headed for a bottom-three fi n-

ish in the league.

“Any win in the Big East is big, and we

need to get as many as possible,” Marra said.

“So no matter who it’s against -- George-

town, Seton Hall, South Florida -- it’s a good

win.”

Said Siva: “It’s a great win to start the Big

East. In the Big East, everybody is capable of

giving you a good game, so we weren’t go-

ing to take Seton Hall lightly or anything. We

knew if we didn’t come out and play hard

they’d take advantage of it.”

Louisville’s win spoiled a homecoming of

sorts for Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard, who

was a UofL assistant under Pitino from 2001-

07 and whose father, Ralph, is the Cards’ di-

rector of basketball operations.

Kevin says he has enjoyed watching the

Cards this season.

“I love this team,” he said. “I’ve watched

them all year because my father coaches

them. Obviously, they’re not the most tal-

ented group. They don’t have the superstars,

but they play hard and unselfi shly. When they

are hitting their shots they can beat anybody.

We knew coming in after the Kentucky game

that they would be ready to go, and they did

a good job of jumping on us and taking ad-

vantage of mistakes we made.”

The victory was No. 584 of Pitino’s career,

leaving him just three wins shy of tying former

Louisville coach Denny Crum for most victo-

ries in the fi rst 25 seasons as a head coach in

Division I.

C A R D S R O L L 7 3 - 5 4 I N B I G E A S T D E B U T

PIRATES NO MATCH FOR GOODE, VAN TREESE AND CO.


George Goode started against Seton Hall Wednesday night.

He fi nished with six points, three rebounds and two steals in 10 minutes of playing time. He hit two big threes against

South Florida Sunday. - photo by Shelley Feller


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL PHOTOS

Junior Chris Smith looked to pass over Seton Hall’s Jordan Theodore during Louisville’s 73-54 win over the Pirates Wednesday night. Smith fi nished with nine points, fi ve rebounds, two assists, two turnovers and a steal. - photo by Dave Klotz

Senior Preston Knowles was fouled by Seton Hall big man Herb Pope. Knowles had eight points, nine rebounds and fi ve assists against the Pirates. - photo by Dave Klotz

CARDINAL BASEBALL


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KEEP UP ON ALL THE LATEST CARDINAL NEWS!AMERICA’S FOREMOST AUTHORITY ON UofL ATHLETICS

By Russ BrownJim Patterson Stadium won’t look or feel

any different when the University of Louisville opens its 2011 home schedule against Toledo on Feb. 25. But it will sound a lot different than college baseball fans are used to hear-ing.

Starting this season, new bat standards are expected to change the game, maybe dra-matically, maybe not. Nobody knows for sure at this point. One thing is certain, though -- the ringing “ping” of aluminum bats will be replaced by the crack of bats that are engi-neered to react like a wooden bat in contact with the baseball.

Several years ago the NCAA announced plans to introduce the Ball-Bat Coeffi cient of Restitution (BBCR). Effective Jan. 1 of this year, all bats must meet this standard, which replaces the old standard called Ball Exit Speed Ration (BESR).

According to Baseball America’s Bat Guide, the BESR standard was the fi rst major stan-dard used to make metal bats perform more like wood bats. It is based on testing that measures the speed of the baseball coming off the barrel of the bat.

The new BBCOR standard aims to im-prove the testing methodology. The new test will account for the inertia of the bat and a term called ABI, which stands for accelerated break-in. Over recent years bats performed better the more they were used. The new test-ing will artifi cially accelerate the break-in pro-cess in the laboratory to ensure the bat never performs beyond the BBCOR standard once it leaves the lab.

Coaches around the country are split on the subject regarding how it will affect the game. Some feel that the old bats led to increased offense, which was exciting for fans. Others feel that it took away from the development of players and produced offensive numbers that were not representative of the skill level of the hitters, thus working against pitchers.

Some think the changes could be the fi rst step toward moving college baseball to use the wooden bat in future years.

UofL coach Dan McDonnell believes there won’t be as many home runs but said he doesn’t believe the new bats will change the game drastically.

“You’ve still got to throw strikes, make routine plays and get timely hits to score runs,” he said. “Yeah, I think some coaches, myself included, might not rely on the three-run homer as much as I have in the past, so we might have to be a little more creative in bunting, and I love to steal as it is. In simple terms, the sweet spot is a little bit smaller. Wood bats have a small sweet spot, alumi-num bats have a larger sweet spot, this is kind of in between.

“So we’ve just got to be able to manufac-ture runs. But at the end of the day I don’t think the game changes a whole lot. Maybe the scores might change a little bit. It’s basi-cally the exit speed coming off the bat. What they really did was clean up the game be-cause there were bats out there that passed the specs to start, but as the life of the bat went on the bat performed at a higher level. It’s something within the metal, the physics of the bat where the exit velocity would increase as the bats got older.”

McDonnell said he has no objection to the change as long as it’s a level playing fi eld for everyone.

“The biggest concern as coaches is we just want equal bats -- whatever bat I use I just want your bat to be equal. If we’ve got to play with whiffl e-ball bats, let’s play with whiffl e-ball bats. It’s not that big a deal to me as long as we’re all using the same product.”

Some coaches don’t agree, however. One of the outspoken critics of the move is LSU coach Paul Mainieri, who told Rivals.com baseball expert Kendall Rogers that he strong-ly opposes using different bats.

“My honest opinion is that I think chang-ing the bats again is ridiculous,” Mainieri said. “I’m not sure why we need them to act like wood. Why should we, as college baseball, have to be like professional baseball? I think it’s something that is going to dramatically change the face of the game.

”Players are getting plenty of time with wood during the summer. If a scout can’t determine the value of a player with an alu-minum bat versus a wooden bat, who really cares? That would be an excuse and quite frankly isn’t something that we should worry about.”

CARDS PICKED THIRDUofL was picked to fi nish third in the Big

East this year by the league’s 12 head coach-es, just two points behind second-place St. John’s, with the Cardinals’ Ryan Wright, a junior second baseman, and junior outfi elder Stewart Ijames being named to the preseason All-Big East team.

Connecticut, which won a school-record 48 games and fi nished second to UofL by a half-game in the regular season last spring, then was runner-up to St. John’s in the conference tournament, was selected as the favorite to win the championship this season. The Hus-kies received nine of a possible 11 fi rst-place votes and a total of 117 points. St. John’s had 107, UofL 105 with one fi rst-place vote.

UConn was McDonnell’s choice, too.“Just like last year when we had all those

returners and star power and we were picked to win the league, rightfully so,” he said. “UConn deserves to be picked to win the league. They’re an older team, they’ve played with a lot of young kids the past couple of years, so they have a lot of star power. They’re going to have fi ve or six guys drafted off this team. They fi nished a half-game out of fi rst and lost in tournament fi nals, so you would think they’re very hungry with a lot of tal-ent.”

Having lost six seniors to graduation and six juniors to the Major League Baseball Draft, McDonnell will rely heavily on freshmen and sophomores, but he isn’t lowering his expec-tations. He compares his team’s situation with 2008, the year following the Cardinals’ Col-lege World Series appearance. UofL started fi ve rookies in the Big East championship game, played seven and won the title.

“We took our lumps early on,” he said. “I’m hoping we’re better coaches and our program is in a better place now where we’re going to be able to handle that adjustment in the fi rst half of the season.”

Besides Wright and James, the veterans who will be called on to carry the club early include catcher J.J. Ethel, outfi elder Drew Haynes and preseason All-America right-handed pitcher Tony Zych.

“We do have some star power, not as much as last year or a team like UConn, but a lot of guys who’ve had experience in the last year or so,” McDonnell said. “Maybe they weren’t counted on every day, but they got a lot of experience and then we have a very talented freshman class.”

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’UofL will open its season against Michigan,

Ohio State and Minnesota in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge in St. Petersburg and Clear-water, Fla. The Cardinals’ demanding sched-ule also includes a fi ve-game trip to the West Coast, where the Cards will play three at Pep-perdine March 11-13 and two at Southern Cal March 14-16. Both teams will make a return

visit to UofL in the near future.“We always try to go to an exciting atmo-

sphere,” McDonnell said. “When a young man plays here he gets experience in the Big East, which is neat because you go to a lot of major cities. You get to experience Florida with USF and the Big Ten Challenge and we play in other good facilities.

“For the benefi t of our program we like to go to California every three or four years because our kids need to know what it’s like to go out there and play NCAA Regional-type teams. It’s a different style of baseball, the sun shines differently there and it helps us get ready to face the kind of teams we’ll see in

the NCAA Tournament. Those kids are goodbecause they play baseball 12 months a year.I always like to face tough, non-conferencecompetition, especially on the road. You wantyour kids to be ready, having already playedtough road games.”

Other schedule highlights, in addition to the Big East, are home games against Purdue,Xavier, Kentucky, Indiana and Vanderbilt. TheCards will open defense of their Big East titlewith a three-game series at Rutgers March 25-27.

McDONNELL LIKES ADDITION OF TCUTCU, a perennial baseball power that is

ranked No. 1 nationally in the CollegiateBaseball preseason poll, will join the Big Eastfor the 2012 season, and McDonnell -- whoseclub is No. 20 in the same poll -- said he islooking forward to the Horned Frogs’ addi-tion because he feels it will help the confer-ence’s NCAA Tournament seedings.

“It’s great for our league,” he said. “It makes it harder to win the Big East, but ourgoals run bigger than winning the Big East.Our ultimate goal is to get to Omaha and wina national championship, so for our leaguethe better teams you add the better off weare.

“For example, now when the 10th-place team is playing TCU their RPI is going to in-crease because they’re playing a top-10 team.So within the league everybody’s RPI is goingto get better. Once conference play starts, it’shard for your RPI to go down unless you justlose. If you win in a league that has a goodRPI, then everyone is going to benefi t fromit.”

M C D O N N E L L S E E S H O M E R U N S D E C R E A S I N G

NEW BAT REGULATIONS WILL AFFECT COLLEGE BASEBALL

Shortstop Ryan Wright is a preseason All-America pick for Louisville. Wright spent his summer playing for the USA National Team and was the top everyday hitter with a .361 average. - photo by Dave Klotz


RECRUITING NOTEBOOK - FOOTBALL

By Jeff WaffordCharlie Strong and the Louisville coaching

staff are off to an impressive start to the New Year. Last week may have been one of the big-gest recruiting weeks in UofL football history as the Cardinals landed a pair of four-star pros-pects, one of whom made his decision on na-tional television during the U.S. Army All-Amer-ican Bowl last Saturday in San Antonio,Texas, a game that annually features some of the top high school players in the nation.

Gerod Holliman (6-0, 180, DB), a four-star play-er from Southridge H.S. in Miami, announced his college choice live at half-time, saying that he plans to sign a letter of intent with the Cards in Febru-ary.

He had an Ole Miss hat, a West Virginia hat and a Louisville hat sitting on a table in front of him. With his family gathered around him and Army men and women sitting behind them on bleachers, Holliman played his de-cision up a little - asking his sister where he should pick.

“Louisville,” she said, grabbing the black Cardinals hat on the table and putting it on his head.

“I’m going to Louisville,” Holliman confi rmed.

Rated as the No. 4 safety and No. 93 play-er overall in the class of 2011, Holliman said he told the UofL coaches earlier in the week that he would commit during the game, then made good on his word.

“It feels great to be a Cardinal now,” Hol-liman said after the game. “I feel Louisville is going to be an up-and-coming program this year, and I feel I have a special spot on the depth chart waiting for me when I get there. I love the coaches, and we have a great chem-istry together. I feel real comfortable being there for the next three or four years.”

After originally committing to Ole Miss, Holliman de-committed from the Rebels and eventually chose the Cards.

Picking up a player the caliber of Holliman is big news for any program, but particularly for Louisville, a school not used to having play-ers announce commitments to it on national television. The Cardinals have had U.S. Army All-Americans in the past – Michael Bush and Brian Brohm – but picking up an out-of-state commitment like Holliman is a huge state-ment in the recruiting world.

“(He is) a very instinctual player that reads run/pass very quickly,” Rivals.com analyst Bar-ry Every said of Holliman. “His ball skills are excellent, and he always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He is not afraid to come up and lower the boom.

STRONG LANDS A PAIR OF FOUR-STAR DEFENSIVE BACKS

2011 FOOTBALL COMMITMENTS2011 FOOTBALL COMMITMENTSPROSPECT POS HOMETOWN HIGH SCHOOL HT. WT. 40

Teddy Bridgewater QB Miami, Fla. Northwestern 6-2 180 4.5The No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in America and No. 70 overall recruit in the nation. Bridgewater picked Louisville over Miami, LSU, Ten-nessee, Florida and others.

Jamon Brown DT Louisville Fern Creek 6-3 305 --Big-framed DT with strength and power in his lower body. Top DT in Kentucky for 2011. No. 58 DT in the nation according to Rivals.com.

Chris Dukes DB Cincinnati Colerain 5-10 184 4.43Three-star cornerback with a 4.43 electronic 40, a 315 max bench and a 35 inch vertical. Also has offers from Colorado, Boston College and Pitt.

Aaron Epps OL Tucker, Ga. Tucker 6-6 238 4.9Sleeper offensive tackle with a big body, wide shoulders and room to grow. Epps is a three-star prospect who will need a redshirt to gain weight.

Terrell Floyd DB Port St. Lucie, Fla. Port St. Lucie 5-10 186 4.5No. 71 multi-position athlete in America. Floyd picked Louisville over offers from Purdue, Rutgers, Kentucky, South Carolina, Syracuse, Wisconsin and others.

Charles Gaines WR Miami Miami Central 6-1 190 4.42Possibly the biggest sleeper in the class. No. 35 wide receiver in America. No. 70 overall prospect in Florida. Gaines has big play ability.

Jalen Harrington SS/LB Louisville Fern Creek 6-3 215 4.7Tall, long-armed linebacker prospect. Top safety in Kentucky for 2011. Picked Louisville over offers from Illinois and Kentucky.

Gerod Holliman DB Miami, Fla. Southridge 6-0 180 4.5No. 4 safety in America. No. 20 player in Florida. No. 93 player in the nation. Holliman was a U.S. Army All-American, an honor for the best of the best.

Andrew Johnson DB MIami, Fla. Southridge 5-10 170 4.4A Miami-Dade All-Star, Johnson is the No. 19 cornerback in America. No. 41 overall prospect in Florida. Picked Louisville over Ole Miss, WVU, Nebraska, others.

Eddie Johnson LB Selma, Ala. Selma 6-2 218 4.6No. 25 overall player in Alabama for 2011. Moved to Georgia for senior season. No. 63 outside linebacker in the nation.

Jacquese Kirk DB Jasper, Ala. Walker 5-11 160 4.4No. 5 defensive back in Alabama. No. 28 overall player in Alabama for 2011. No. 53 cornerback in the nation. Picked Louisville over Arkan-sas, Stanford, Mississippi State.

Ryan Mack OL Memphis, Tn. Wooddale 6-4 310 --No. 9 player in Tennessee for 2011. No. 61 offensive tackle in the nation. Picked Louisville over offers from Kentucky, Memphis, Southern Miss and others.

John Miller OL/DL Miami, Fla. Miami Central 6-2 295 --Short but ox-strong offensive guard that can absolutely dominate an opponent. Picked Louisville over offers from Kansas State, USF, UCF, Marshall, FIU and others.

Jerrell Moore RB Louisville Fern Creek 5-11 175 4.4Fast, shifty all-purpose back. Excellent speed and quickness. Top RB in the state of Kentucky in 2011.

Deiontrez Mount DE Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. FWB High 6-6 202 4.7No. 31 defensive end in America for 2011. Picked Louisville over offers from Maryland, Iowa State, Minnesota, Southern Miss, USF, UCF and others.

DeVante Parker WR Louisville Ballard 6-2 180 4.49Kentucky’s top WR for 2011. No. 66 wide receiver in the nation. One of the best multi-sport athletes to come out of Jefferson County since Michael Bush.

Calvin Pryor DB Port St. Joe, Fla. Port St. Joe 6-1 190 4.5No. 29 safety in the nation. No. 64 overall prospect in Florida for 2011. Picked Louisville over offers from Florida State, Arkansas, Maryland, Stanford and others.

Jermaine Reve DB Miami, Fla. Northwestern 6-0 175 4.45Speedy safety/corner picked Louisville over offers from USF, Syracuse, UCF, FIU and others. Enrolling for spring semester at UofL.

Eric Robinson-Berry DB Indianapolis Warren Central 6-1 175 4.45No. 2 cornerback in Indiana for 2011. No. 17 overall prospect in Indiana. Picked Louisville early in the process and has stuck with it.

Eli Rogers WR/DB Miami, Fla. Northwestern 5-10 180 4.4Won Best Hands award at Under-Armour All-American Combine. No. 67 WR in America. No. 96 overall prospect in Florida. On ESPN’s Top 150 national list.

Mike Romano OL Pt. St. Lucie, Fla. Treasure Coast 6-4 269 5.1Tall guard prospect also had offers from Memphis, Southern Miss, Marshall, Central Michigan and others.

DaMarcus Smith QB Louisville Seneca 6-1 180 4.5Top quarterback in Kentucky for 2011. No. 11 dual-threat quarterback in America. Four-star prospect was invited to Elite 11 QB camp.

Robert Terrell LB Russellvile, Ala. Russellville 6-1 249 4.6Highlight videos show him crushing QBs and RBs. Huge for his height. Extremely strong.

John Wallace K Cecilia, Ky. Central Hardin 6-1 175 --Top kicker in Kentucky for 2011. Committed to Louisville last April. Booted 50 yarder in high school.

JEFF WAFFORDJEFF WAFFORD

Continued on page 16

Miami Northwestern star Teddy Bridgewater celebrated with East teammate Miles Shuler after Bridgewater hit Shuler for a touchdown in the U.S. Army All-American game Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. Like the McDonald’s All-America game for basketball, the game pits the best high school stars against each other. - photo by Rivals.com


RECRUITING NOTEBOOK - FOOTBALL

“He defi nitely has room to add another 15 pounds. His long arms allow him to make plays on balls most players can’t. He’ll need to add some size and strength in order to hold up against power running games. Holliman needs to stay lower in his backpedal, and he could improve his recovery speed.”

UofL defensive line coach Clint Hurtt was Holliman’s main recruiter, and Hurtt has been on a tear of late, building relationships and winning some big recruiting battles in the Mi-ami area.

“I talked to Coach Hurtt and he sounded pretty comfortable about me coming,” Holli-man said. “He factored in a lot because he’s from my town, so he knows where I come from, and we’ve been through the same things.”

Less than an hour after Holliman made his decision known on national television, his teammate and fellow four-star defensive back Andrew Johnson announced his intention to sign with the Cards.

Johnson (5-10, 170), who is rated as the No. 19 cornerback in the class of 2011, also narrowed his list to West Virginia, Ole Miss and Louisville before committing to UofL.

``We felt we had a better opportunity to play for an up-and-coming program at Louisville,” Johnson told the Miami-Herald. ``We loved the atmosphere up there, and we thought it was a better situation for us since they don’t have a lot of defensive backs com-ing back next season.”

“He’s a great player and I love playing with him,” Holliman said of Johnson. “It makes my job a lot easier knowing I have a lock-down corner on the other side of the fi eld.”

Prior to getting the good news from Hol-liman and Johnson, the Cardinals also got a pledge from Miami Northwestern H.S. safety Jermaine Reve (6-0, 170), who decided to de-commit from Central Florida and commit to UofL last week. A two-star player, Reve has graduated early and plans to enroll at Louis-ville this week to get a head start and be able to practice with the Cardinals this spring.

Two of Reve’s Northwestern teammates, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and wide re-ceiver Eli Rogers, previously committed to the Cardinals.

“My teammates committed already, but that was never a factor,” Reve said. “I just had to make the best decision for me. Lou-isville has strong defensive coaches, and as a defensive player I’d like to play for coaches like that. I know the background of Coach Strong. He coached at the Florida Gators, and I always wanted to play for him even before I got recruited. I always knew about Coach Strong. When Louisville offered me, I pulled the trigger on that one. That’s a bigger op-portunity to play in a better conference and to play for a coach like that.”

The addition of Holliman, Johnson and

Reve to the Cards’ recruiting list boosted UofL’s Rivals.com ranking. As of Sunday UofL has the No. 23-rated recruiting class in the nation, which is more than a dozen spots higher than the Cards have ever fi nished. While the recruiting rankings change daily, it looks as though the Cards have a good chance to solidify that top-25 ranking or even improve upon it with signing day still a month away.

The Cards’ current ranking sits between South Carolina and Oklahoma State, and it is the highest in the Big East, with Rutgers being the next-closest conference foe at No. 31. The No. 23 ranking is also 19 spots higher than archrival Kentucky. While the Wildcats and Joker Philips have touted their banner haul in recruiting this year, they still sit only at No. 42, which is good for next to last in the SEC.

Holliman wasn’t the only future Cardinal on display in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. The afore-mentioned Bridgewater (6-3, 185), a four-star player, looked impressive in the game, throwing a 22-yard touchdown pass in the second half.

Rogers (5-10, 180) got plenty of action earlier last week at the Under Armour All-Star game in Orlando, Fla. A three-star player who committed to the Cardinals in Decem-ber, Rogers won the “Best Hands” award at the Under Armour game, beating out a tal-ented group of receivers for the honor.

Louisville fans could have fun watching Bridgewater and fellow commitment DaMa-rcus Smith (6-1, 180) battle it out at the quarterback spot this spring. Both hope to enroll at UofL this week, which means they

can begin working out and practicing with the Cardinals immediately. Like Bridgewater, Smith, a Louisville Seneca H.S. product, is a four-star player who is known as a dual-threat signal caller. He fi nished up classes at Jefferson County H.S. last week and is await-ing offi cial word from the NCAA on his im-mediate eligibility.

The next several weeks could produce more good news for the Cards, who are ex-pected to host several talented players lead-ing up to National Signing Day on Feb. 2.

One of those players who is hoping to visit is Brandon Golson (6-2, 200), a three-star linebacker from Hargrave Military Academy (Va.) who is currently committed to South Carolina. Golson has been rumored to be considering changing his pledge from the Gamecocks to the Cardinals, and he could enroll early and begin practicing this spring.

This weekend the Cardinals are expected to host at least four prospects, and one of them is a four-star player -- running back An-drew Buie (5-9, 188). He is rated as the No. 4 all-purpose running back in the class of 2011 and No. 103 player overall in the class. The Trinity Christian H.S. (Jacksonville, Fla.) prod-uct will visit Louisville and Auburn over the next two weekends. He also is considering Tennessee, Arkansas and Ole Miss, but the Tigers and Cardinals seem to be the front-runners.

“The way recruiting has been going for the past couple of months during the season I have to say those are the two top schools that I feel like have shown consistent inter-est throughout the season,” Buie said. “I like both programs a lot. I really want to get out

on an offi cial and see what they have; thatis why they were scheduled fi rst. Nothingmakes one of them stand out more than theother at this point.”

For Louisville, it is Buie’s close tie to Strong that has helped the Cardinals.

“Coach Strong, I have known him since he was back at Florida,” Buie said. “I knowhim from going to football camps since I wasyounger and he was my group coach, so I gotto interact with him at a young age. I got agood impression with how I feel about him.He has taken a program in one year and hada winning season, won a bowl game, afterthey won just three games. I think he willbe doing something big in the next coupleyears.”

The biggest visitor on campus will likely be offensive lineman Spencer Region (6-6,330), who at one point had committed toAlabama. But the three-star recruit now sayshe is “done” with the Crimson Tide and isnow considering Auburn, LSU, Louisville,Florida, Miami and Wisconsin. The CullmanH.S. (Ala.) product is rated as the No. 20 of-fensive guard in the class of 2011.

Three-star defensive lineman Bryant Du-bose also is scheduled to make a visit thisweekend.

Dubose (6-4, 240) is rated as the No. 24 strongside defensive end in the class of2011. The product of Northeast H.S. in Oak-land Park, Fla., also is considering Texas Tech,Florida State, LSU and Miami.

The Cardinals currently have 24 players on their list of verbal commitments. They are ex-pected to sign between 26 and 28 players inthe 2011 class.

Continued from page 15

Louisville defensive line coach Clint Hurtt was Miami’s recruiting coordinator prior to coming to the Cardinals in January of 2010.

Hurtt has helped UofL land fi ve recruits in Miami so far. - photo by Dave Klotz


RIVALS.COM’S TOP 50 FOOTBALL RECRUITING CLASSES (JAN. 10)


KFC Yum! Center OPENING PHOTO GALLERYSELECTED FALL SPORTS SCHEDULESBIG EAST NOTEBOOK

By Russ BrownCincinnati, St. John’s and Georgetown --

especially Georgetown -- are fi nding out how brutal the Big East basketball wars can be.

The Hoyas had climbed into the top 10 be-fore the conference season started, but now they’re in a freefall, having dropped three of their fi rst four league games. And UC and St. John’s, which were off to impressive starts, were brought crashing to earth by decisive de-feats on the road.

Of the three, Georgetown is the hardest to fathom. The Hoyas’ losses at Notre Dame and St. John’s are understandable, but Satur-day they tumbled at home to unranked West Virginia, 64-59.

And, oh yeah, No. 5 Pittsburgh (15-1, 3-0) comes to town Wednesday.

We’re four games into an 18-game sea-son,” Hoyas coach John Thompson III said, somberly. “The bad news is we’ve lost three of those games. This is the Big East, so no game gets any easier. Does that put a heightened sense of urgency on the Pittsburgh game? Ab-solutely.”

In Big East play, the Hoyas have gotten to the line just 63 times, compared with 98 by their opponents. Referees miss an occasional call, but not that many. What explains the dis-parity?

“I don’t know the answer; ‘we’re fouling more’ is the easy answer to that question,” Thompson said.

After West Virginia beat Georgetown, WVU coach Bob Huggins called Georgetown guards Jason Clark, Austin Freeman and Chris Wright “the three best perimeter guys in the country. I don’t think there’s anyone who’s even close to those guys.”

That may be the case, but the trio was a combined 4 of 15 from behind the arc against the Mountaineers. In four Big East games, the Hoyas as a team are shooting just 26 percent from three-point range.

“It would be easy to sit here and say that’s just how the ball bounces,” Thompson said. “We’re in a place where we don’t want to be right now. Everyone in that locker room from myself on down has to fi gure out how to get us out of this place.”

And they’ll need to fi gure it out by Wednes-day or else see Georgetown’s worst Big East start under the junior Thompson is extended.

CRONIN TAKES BLAME FOR LOSSCincinnati went to Villanova Sunday in-

tent on proving those wrong who had pooh-poohed the No. 24 Bearcats’ 15-0 start as a product of a cupcake-soft, non-conference schedule. Didn’t happen.

UC entered the game with an average vic-tory margin of 20.7 points, but the Bearcats had not learned during those games how to react against better competition. They found out in a hurry against the Wildcats that they weren’t playing the Savannah States of the college basketball world any more.

They fell behind 16 at halftime and by 21 early in the second half, rallied to cut the defi -cit to seven, and eventually succumbed 72-61 after 15 relatively easy wins.

“I told our guys I take the blame for the loss,” said UC coach Mick Cronin. “Much has been made of our schedule, but I really thought two of those games, in particular, be-cause of the rivalry situations, would be dog-fi ghts. In retrospect, it affected us not being in a dogfi ght until today.”

The Bearcats appeared overwhelmed by the Wildcats’ stifl ing defense in the fi rst half and became frustrated by the offi ciating, but they played much looser in the second half, using their full-court press to get back in the game.

“We got more focused on talking to the refs instead of dealing with it,” said junior forward Yancy Gates. “After we got more fo-

cused on just actually playing ball, that’s when we started to pick up our game.”

Cincinnati (2-1 Big East) should rebound Wednesday at home against USF, but then comes consecutive road trips to No. 4 Syra-cuse, No. 14 Notre Dame and St. John’s, who have a combined record of 40-6.

RED STORM CALMED BY IRISHSpeaking of St. John’s.... The Red Storm was one of the most surpris-

ing teams in the Big East -- until Saturday, that is. After winning its fi rst three league games, including road trips to West Virginia and Provi-dence, St. John’s was drubbed 76-61 at Notre Dame as Irish guard Ben Hansbrough scored a career-high 26 points.

The loss, which snapped a fi ve-game win-ning streak, was the fi rst of eight straight games for St. John’s against top-25 teams. That stretch concludes with a trip to top-ranked Duke on Jan. 30.

The murderer’s row schedule continues against Syracuse Wednesday, followed by a rematch with Notre Dame in Madison Square Garden Sunday, three days before the Red Storm visits Louisville.

“You look back long enough so you can learn and then move forward,” coach Steve Lavin said. “Stay in the present, stay in the moment and get ready for Syracuse. In this league, you can’t allow one loss to bleed into two or three.”

After the game, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said he can’t think of anyone playing bet-ter in the Big East right now than Hansbrough, who helped slow Kemba Walker in an upset of UConn four days earlier.

“He sets a great tone for us because of his strong personality of defending, and he truly takes pride in that,” Brey said. “He’s not only typically playing the whole game for us, but he’s scoring and going for the jugular on teams to put them away. And then he uses a lot of energy to lead and set the tone and get us focused. I don’t think you can ignore what he’s been doing.”

Justin Brownlee led St. John’s (10-4, 3-1) with 17 points and seven rebounds. But unlike the last fi ve games, when four players aver-aged double fi gures, he didn’t get much help. Dwayne Polee II (12 points) was the only other player in double fi gures, and St. John’s shot just 38 percent, well below the 52 percent it

shot during its winning streak.Dwight Hardy, who scored 20 or more

points in St. John’s previous four games and had 16 against the Irish last year, was held to just eight points.

“(Hardy) beat us here last year and hit some big-time threes,” Hansbrough said. “This year it’s a different team, and we came out throw-ing the fi rst punches. We just kept the lead the whole game and imposed our will on them.”

“We made a lot of mistakes on offense, a lot of quick shots,” Brownlee said. “We just weren’t ourselves tonight.”

PITT WHIPS UK IN BOWLPittsburgh’s football program may be in

disarray, but it didn’t show in last Saturday’s BBVA Compass Bowl as the Panthers (8-5) manhandled Kentucky (6-7) at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.

Pitt, ignited by a melee, shook off the Wild-cats with a series of big plays on defense and special teams en route to a 27-10 victory in a game the Panthers dedicated to fi red coach Dave Wannstedt.

“I thought they handled a tough situation really well,” said interim coach Phil Bennett, who took over when Wannstedt decided against coaching the game. “If you can write a script, this would be it. Defensively, we were erratic at times. But we made plays when we had to.”

After the offi cials restored order following several fi ghts, placekicker Dan Hutchins boot-ed a 33-yard fi eld goal with 3:30 remaining in the second quarter to give Pitt a 6-3 lead.

Then the pumped-up Panthers delivered a crippling blow when Andrew Taglianetti blocked a Ryan Tydlacka punt and Kolby Gray recovered at the UK 10. After tailback Dion Lewis carried the ball inches shy of the goal line, quarterback Tino Sunseri stumbled into the end zone with 34 seconds left to give the Panthers a 13-3 lead at halftime. Pitt took a 20-3 lead early in the third quarter on Sun-seri’s 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brock DeCicco and controlled the rest of the game.

“We didn’t play with a lot of confi dence and poise,” said Kentucky coach Joker Phil-lips. “We weren’t the most physical team out there. One of my fears was that special teams could hurt us.”

“As a team, we’ve been through a lot,”

said Pitt strong safety Dom DeCicco. “So itwas special to get this win.”

The Panthers, winning back-to-back bowl games for the fi rst time since 2002, ran theball straight at the Wildcats, just as Bennettpromised.

“It was no-nonsense approach,” said Lew-is, who rushed for a game-high 105 yards on22 carries to reach the 1,000-yard plateau forthe second straight season. “We had a take-it-to-them mentality.”

“(Pitt) looked like an SEC team when they lined up,” said Kentucky linebacker RickyLumpkin. “We let them get into our heads.We were calling out what they were going todo, but we couldn’t stop it.”

STANFORD COACH ON PITT LISTMeanwhile, Pitt’s coaching search contin-

ues.Stanford associate head coach Greg Ro-man interviewed with Pitt offi cials Sunday, buthe also reportedly is a candidate to replace JimHarbaugh at Stanford.

Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby wants to interview three members of Har-baugh’s staff, ESPN reported. Roman is one.The others are offensive coordinator DavidShaw and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

It’s possible that Harbaugh, who accepted the head coaching job with the San Francisco49ers, could take assistants with him.

Cardinal players reportedly are lobbying for Shaw.

“All the players want David Shaw as the head coach,” senior Doug Baldwin, the Cardi-nal’s leading receiver this season, told the SanJose Mercury News.

Former Florida defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who has been linked to the Pitt job,could be a candidate to fi ll the DC positionwith the Arizona Cardinals

Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Brad-ley, who interviewed for the Pitt job last week,interviewed with UConn offi cials Sunday, theHartford Courant reported.

SAVAGE LEAVES RUTGERSRutgers quarterback Tom Savage, who was

a starter as a freshman, has decided to trans-fer after an injury-plagued sophomore seasonin which he lost his starting position to fresh-man Chas Dodd.

“We felt it was best to get a fresh start,” said Savage, who insisted that there was nofriction between himself and coach GregSchiano.

“Coach Schiano and I have a good relation-ship, and he has been like a father to me,”Savage said. “It’s just that my family and I feelthat a fresh start is best for my career.”

Savage said he was wide open as to what his next destination will be.

Prior to Savage’s departure, Schiano hired the sixth offensive coordinator of his Rutgerstenure, plucking Frank Cignetti Jr., 45, out ofthe mess that is the Pittsburgh coaching de-bacle.

Pitt’s offense fi nished a so-so 72nd in Divi-sion I. But Schiano’s Scarlet Knights will settlefor so-so after co-coordinators Kirk Ciarroccaand Kyle Flood oversaw a disastrous unit thatranked 114th out of 120 teams last seasonand was a big reason Rutgers fi nished just 4-8,missing a bowl for the fi rst time since 2004.

In Cignetti’s fi rst season with Pitt in 2009 the Panthers’ 32.1-point scoring average wasone of the fi ve best in school history. The yearbefore, he coordinated a Cal attack that aver-aged 33 points en route to a 9-4 mark.

Cignetti also has been the offensive coor-dinator at North Carolina (2006) and FresnoState (2002-05), leading the latter to fourstraight bowl games and top-10 offensive fi n-ishes in his last two campaigns. He also hada pair of stints as an NFL quarterbacks coachwith the Saints (2000-01) and 49ers (2007).

Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard and Louisville coach Rick Pitino met and

shared a laugh prior to the Cardinals’ win over the Pirates last Wednesday. Willard

was on Pitino’s coaching staff at UofL for seven seasons. - photo by Shelley Feller

HOYAS IN A TAILSPIN; UC, ST. JOHN’S BACK TO EARTH


2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALLWOMEN’S BASKETBALL

By Howie LindseyThe University of Louisville women’s bas-

ketball team knocked off a top-25 team for the third time this season last Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals got 24 points from junior Monique Reid, 21 from ju-nior Becky Burke, 18 points and 10 rebounds from sophomore Tia Gibbs and 11 points and 11 assists from freshman Shoni Schimmel in dispatching No. 17 St. John’s 84-73.

“You have to pick your poison with who is going to hurt you behind the arc with us, because one of us is bound to hit,” Burke said. “Usually it’s all three of us hitting at one point during the game. It’s a great thing to have these two (Gibbs and Schimmel) playing with us.”

The Cardinals (12-5, 3-0 Big East) hit 10 of 23 threes against St. John’s. Despite Schim-mel struggling at 1 of 6, Burke hit 5 of 9 and Gibbs 4 of 6. The combination proved too much for the Red Storm to handle.

It was a breakout game for Gibbs. Her 18 points were a season high, and her 10 re-bounds matched her previous best (against Xavier on Nov. 23). The former Kentucky Miss Basketball from Butler H.S., who transferred in from Vanderbilt, looked more at home than she has at any point this season.

“She played really, really well,” coach Jeff Walz said. “Tia shoots the ball well, she al-ways has. What I was most impressed with was how she took the ball off the dribble. She made a couple pull-up jump shots, which we work on every day in practice. We start our practice every day with the same thing -- three jump shots and a layup. We fi nally are start-ing to carry over what we work on in practice every day in the games. I was really pleased with, offensively, how well she played. She did a great job rebounding the basketball for us.”

Gibbs said her performance was a product of hard work.

“Some day I knew it would come,” she said. “I’ve been practicing hard, and I’ve been in the gym extra hours just putting up shots. Be-tween the three of us (Burke, Schimmel and Gibbs) somebody is going to hit.”

The Cardinals started the game missing seven of their fi rst nine shots but were still competitive because St. John’s had fi ve early turnovers. Schimmel had fi ve assists in the fi rst six minutes, but she was ice cold from the fl oor, missing her fi rst fi ve shots. She strug-gled for much of the game, fi nishing 3 of 15 shooting.

“It was frustrating, but I had my team to back me up,” she said. “They got me go-ing.”

Louisville hit just 15 of 38 shots in the fi rst half (38 percent), but the Cardinals built a 36-27 halftime lead on the strength of stellar defensive pressure, limiting St. John’s to just 20 fi eld-goal attempts in the half.

“The fi rst half, I thought we played ex-tremely well,” Walz said. “We defended well. I thought we boxed out, I thought we took care of the basketball. The only thing we didn’t do very well was convert turnovers into points. We turned them over 17 times in the fi rst half and got eight points off their 17 turnovers. That’s not a very good number. You really want a one-to-one ratio. If you’re turn-ing them over 17 times, you want to get at least 17 points. That’s something we have to work on and try to improve. St. John’s is a very talented team.”

Louisville led by double digits for much of the second half, but the Red Storm would not go away. Each time Louisville appeared ready to increase its lead to the 12-15 point range, St. John’s would close within single digits.

“We have got to get better,” Walz said. “We’ve got to fi gure out a way to make a

stop in the last four minutes of the game. All we needed was one or two stops and the game’s over with two minutes left and we’re up 16 or 18. We hit a three and they drive the ball right down our throats. We have to fi gure out a way to get that accomplished. Then I’ll feel better about our defensive effort.”

St. John’s cut Louisville’s lead to 71-65 with 1:47 left, but a fast-break bucket by Sher-onne Vails on a nifty pass from Schimmel put Louisville back ahead by eight. A pair of free throws by Nadira McKenith cut the lead to 73-67 with 1:22 left.

Reid was fouled with 1:04 left, and she hit both free throws to make it 75-67. A three by Eugenia McPherson cut the Cardinals’ lead to fi ve, but a pair of free throws by Schimmel made it 77-70 at 0:45.8.

St. John’s air-balled a trey on its next pos-session, and Schimmel was fouled on the rebound. She hit both free throws to make it 79-70. Another empty possession by the Red Storm and a three-point play by Reid made it 82-70 with 18 seconds left.

McPherson hit another three and St. John’s fouled Burke with 7.2 seconds left. Burke hit both free throws to make the fi nal score.

“We never really felt like we had them put away the entire game,” Burke said. “At the end, we all looked up and realized we were only up by fi ve - but I think it’s going to be like this every game in the Big East. The Big East is just that good this year. It was a great game to get us prepared, and it was a great win against a top-25 team here at home.”

KEEP SHOOTING SHONIDespite her struggles from the fi eld, Schim-

mel had the green light to shoot from Walz. In fact, during one timeout he told her if she didn’t shoot the next time she was open he was going to put her on the bench.

Schimmel launched a 26 foot three-point shot on Louisville’s next possession - and made it. That brought a smile to both Walz and Schimmel’s face.

“I told her she better shoot it when she was open, and she was open,” Walz said. “Of course, she was 30 feet away from the basket, so she better be open.”

Schimmel is Louisville’s second-leading scorer at 16.4 ppg. Still, she’s learning what she is capable of.

“They’ve got to trust each other, they’ve got to really get to know each other,” Walz said. “If Shoni Schimmel is out there, she knows not one single player on that team wants her to pass up an open shot. They’ll all tell you that. She throws up some stuff I don’t know how it goes in. But she’s done it over 16 games, so they believe in her. She’s got to know that. I think she does now.”

CARDS HANDLE PITTWhile beating a top-25 team like St. John’s

will grab the headline, Sunday’s game against

Pittsburgh was just as crucial for Louisville’s post-season hopes. The Panthers, struggling at 8-6 coming in, weren’t a must-win, but rather a can’t-lose in league play. And for much of the second half, the Cardinals appeared to be in trouble.

“Pitt’s a good basketball team,” Walz said. “There are really not any bad basketball teams in our league. You’ve got to be prepared to play. It’s one game at a time.”

The Cardinals came from behind to beat the Panthers 79-68 with the help of 29 points from Reid and a pair of crucial three-pointers from freshman shooting guard An-tonita Slaughter. Reid dominated the game offensively, hitting 9 of 12 shots and 11 of 13 free throws. But the Cards couldn’t have won without Slaughter’s big shots.

“We see her do that all the time in prac-tice, and I don’t know why she doesn’t do it more in games,” Reid said. “We know she can hit those, so hopefully it gives her more confi dence.”

Slaughter’s fi rst three came with the Car-dinals down 62-59 after the Panthers got a three-point play from Taneisha Harrison. Af-ter a jumper by Chelsea Cole put Pitt back in the lead, Slaughter came down and con-fi dently shot another three - and nailed it - to give the Cardinals the lead for good at 65-64.

Just three minutes earlier the Cardinals ap-peared to be in big trouble. The game took a big turn with 7:19 left when a bucket by Schimmel was wiped away on a charge. Schimmel got up cursing the referee, and he whistled her for a technical foul. That not only put Pittsburgh up 53-50 after the two free throws, it left Schimmel with four fouls.

A three by Harrison on Pitt’s next posses-sion put the Panthers up 56-50, their largest

lead of the game to that point. A bank shotby Keshia Hines cut the margin to four, but athree-point play by Chelsea Cole put Pitt up59-52. That’s when Louisville started its run.

A pair of free throws by Reid cut the mar-gin to fi ve, and a jumper by Schimmel cut itto three a possession later and brought thecrowd in the Yum! Center to its feet. Anyfans who weren’t standing after Schimmel’sjumper got up when she nailed a three onLouisville’s next possession to tie the score at59 with 4:56 left.

After Slaughter’s threes, a baseline jump-er by Gibbs put Louisville up 67-64 with 3:24left, but a jumper by Cole cut the marginto 67-66. A three-point play by Reid madeit 70-66 with just over two minutes left.

Reid drove the basket for a quick score on Louisville’s next possession to make it 72-66.Pitt got a quick basket and fouled, but Burkehit two free throws to restore UofL’s leadto six, 74-68, with under a minute left.

Pitt turned the ball over on the inbounds play, giving Louisville the ball back with 38.6seconds left. Schimmel was fouled with 36.3seconds left and hit 1 of 2 free throws.

A steal by Reid on Pitt’s next possession iced the win. Louisville closed out the winwith four free throws by Reid (Pitt fouled heron both of Louisville’s fi nal two possessions),giving her 29 points.

TOUGH ROAD AHEADLouisville’s upcoming schedule is brutal.

The Cardinals will play at No. 12 Notre DameWednesday night and at No. 2 Connecticuton Saturday.

“Coach always talks about protecting our home court, so that’s what we have to do -win every game here and try to get a coupleof steals on the road,” Burke said.

WALZ’S CARDS KNOCK OFF THEIR THIRD RANKED TEAM

Sophomore guard Tia Gibbs had 18 points and 10 rebounds to help

Louisville knock off No. 17 St. John’s 84-73 Tuesday night at the KFC Yum!

Center. - photo by Shelley Feller


BIG EAST NOTEBOOK - FOOTBALLWOMEN’S BASKETBALL2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONBIG EAST NOTEBOOK

D

MAKE YOUR PICKSLAST WEEK:

LAST WEEK:_____OVERALL:_______

KENT TAYLORWAVE TV

LAST WEEK: 8-2OVERALL: 22-8

TERRY MEINERSWHAS RADIO


GARRY GUPTONINSIGHT CH 2 TV


RUSS BROWNSPORTSREPORT


FRED COWGILLWLKY TV


TOM LANEWDRB FOX 41


MATT WILLINGERSPORTSREPORT


HOWIE LINDSEYSPORTSREPORT


DREW DEENERWHAS PLAY-BY-PLAY

WKRD RADIOLAST WEEK: 9-1OVERALL: 22-8

Each week members of our esteemed media panel will try to prove they are smarter than sportscaster Tom Lane. Longtime

Louisville SportsReport subscribers will remember that our media members used to test their basketball knowledge

against a dog, but that proved to be far too challenging. The panel will battle it out by trying to pick the winners of 10

games per week during the college basketball season to earn the honor of top dog in the LSR’s Top Tom contest.

ZACH McCRITE93.9 THE TICKET


LOUISVILLE AT #7 VILLANOVA VILLANOVA LOUISVILLE VILLANOVA#4 SYRACUSE AT ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S SYRACUSE SYRACUSE#5 PITTSBURGH AT #13 GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH#22 VANDERBILT AT TENNESSEE TENNESSEE VANDY VANDY#24 CINCINNATI AT #4 SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE#9 MISSOURI AT #16 TEXAS A&M MISSOURI MISSOURI MISSOURI#20 ILLINOIS AT WISCONSIN WISCONSIN ILLINOIS ILLINOIS#14 NOTRE DAME AT ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S NOTRE DAME ST. JOHN’S#11 PURDUE AT WEST VIRGINIA PURDUE WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIAMARQUETTE AT LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE

JACK COFFEESPORTSREPORT


U OF L PRESIDENTJAMES RAMSEY


JEFF WAFFORDSPORTSREPORT


LOUISVILLE VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVAST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S SYRACUSE ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S SYRACUSE SYRACUSE ST. JOHN’S SYRACUSE

GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN PITTSBURGH GEORGETOWN PITTSBURGH GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWNTENNESSEE VANDY TENNESSEE VANDY TENNESSEE TENNESSEE TENNESSEE TENNESSEE TENNESSEE VANDY SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE MISSOURI TEXAS A&M MISSOURI MISSOURI MISSOURI TEXAS A&M TEXAS A&M TEXAS A&M MISSOURI MISSOURI

WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S NOTRE DAME ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S NOTRE DAME ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S PURDUE WEST VIRGINIA PURDUE PURDUE PURDUE WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA PURDUE PURDUE WEST VIRGINIA

LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE

DEB HARBSMEIERWHAS TV TEAM


AL PARRISHPARRISH HOUSE

80 UNDER 80LAST WEEK: 9-1OVERALL: 23-7

TONY CRUISEWHAS RADIO


LACHLAN MCLEANWHAS RADIO


DAVE JENNINGSWHAS RADIO


PAUL ROGERSWHAS RADIO TEAM


TONY VANETTIAFTERNOON UNDERDOGS

WKRD RADIOLAST WEEK: 9-1OVERALL: 21-9

LOUISVILLE VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA LOUISVILLE VILLANOVA ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S SYRACUSE ST. JOHN’S GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN PITTSBURGH GEORGETOWN TENNESSEE TENNESSEE TENNESSEE TENNESSEE TENNESSEE VANDY TENNESSEE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE MISSOURI MISSOURI MISSOURI MISSOURI MISSOURI MISSOURI MISSOURI WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN WISCONSIN ILLINOIS WISCONSIN ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S ST. JOHN’S NOTRE DAME ST. JOHN’S PURDUE PURDUE PURDUE PURDUE PURDUE WEST VIRGINIA PURDUE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE

BIG-GAME GIBBS

Some wild Louisville fans painted their chests in celebration Some wild Louisville fans painted their chests in celebration of Bilal Powell at Louisville’s win in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl of Bilal Powell at Louisville’s win in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla. - photo by Dave Klotzin St. Petersburg, Fla. - photo by Dave Klotz

CHEST PAINT

Sophomore Tia Gibbs screamed in celebration as Louisville Sophomore Tia Gibbs screamed in celebration as Louisville beat No. 17 St. John’s Tuesday night in the KFC Yum! Center. beat No. 17 St. John’s Tuesday night in the KFC Yum! Center. Gibbs had a season-high 18 points. - photo by Shelley FellerGibbs had a season-high 18 points. - photo by Shelley Feller


BIG EAST NOTEBOOK - FOOTBALL

2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALLLOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL

By Howie LindseyAnyone who has any familiarity with vol-

leyball in the state of Kentucky recognized the name of the University of Louisville’s new volleyball coach. Maybe not the full name, but defi nitely the last name.

UofL announced Anne Kordes as its new volleyball coach last Friday. Kordes, a local prep star and former Cardinals player in the mid-1990s, is the daughter of legendary As-sumption and club coach Ron Kordes and is one of the hottest young names in col-legiate volleyball.

“We are so thrilled to welcome one of our own back.,” Louis-ville Vice President for Athletics Tom Jurich said. “She has an excellent coaching pedigree and is well-known as a tireless recruiter. She took us to a conference championship and the Sweet Sixteen as

our setter, she began her coaching career as an assistant in the Big Ten, and she has taken Saint Louis to record heights as their head coach. I’m always looking for a good fi t with any additions to our staff, and this one’s a natural.”

A natural, for sure. Given her father’s Hall of Fame status, 14 state titles and four national championships, Anne Kordes has coaching in her blood. She’s also a natural fi t for Louisville. Raised here, she was a star at Assumption High School before going off to Cincinnati for her fi rst two years of college. She transferred back to UofL and played for Leonid Yelin in 1996, helping lead the Cardinals to the Sweet 16 and a confer-ence championship that season while being named to the all-conference team.

“When I was a senior here at the Univer-sity of Louisville I had two dreams - one was to become a head coach at a nationally com-petitive volleyball program, and the second was to someday be able to work for Tom and (associate AD) Julie (Hermann),” Anne said. “To see everything that they were able to do and to see the University of Louisville completely transform under their guidance was just amazing. This is something I have dreamed about, and now that it is coming true I couldn’t be more excited.”

Many coaches proclaim their current job their “dream job” upon being hired, but Kordes means it.

“I would like to thank Tom Jurich and Julie Hermann for this opportunity to head one of the best volleyball programs in the country,” she said. “The fact that my dream job is in my hometown is just icing on the cake, because we have top-notch facilities and great administrative leadership located in a vibrant volleyball community that is in-credibly supportive of our team.”

Kordes comes to Louisville after seven

successful seasons with Saint Louis. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from UofL in 1998, she was an assistant coach at Indiana University and then at Illinois in 1999. She stayed at Illinois through 2003, helping that program move into the nation’s top 15. Then she took over at Saint Louis and built the Billikens into a nationally competi-tive program. They made the NCAA Tourna-ment three times from the Atlantic 10 while she was there and had several wins against top-25 programs, including Stanford, Wake Forest, California, Xavier and Utah. Kordes is a three-time Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year, and in 2008 she garnered Col-legiate Volleyball national and AVCA North-east Region Coach of the Year honors.

Kordes said she’s ready for her next chal-lenge.

“I’m very happy and excited to be at a program at another level,” she said. “At Saint Louis our focus in building that pro-gram from the bottom up was to become conference champions. And while we will always look to compete for conference championships here at Louisville, I think it is very important for us to start thinking of a national championship.”

Louisville will host the 2012 NCAA Fi-nal Four. That same year, Kordes will take over as president of the American Volley-ball Coaches Association. She said Louis-ville shouldn’t shy away from becoming a national-title contender.

“Louisville is a town where national championships in volleyball happen at the club level; our high school teams are also

ranked among the best in the nation as well,” she said. “Just this year Assumption, Mercy and Sacred Heart were all ranked in the top 10 nationally. We can do that same thing here at the University of Louisville. We will! That is what we expect to do now.”

The program she inherits at Louisville is a far cry from the program she was handed at Saint Louis. Louisville fi nished this sea-son 23-8 as Big East Conference Tourna-ment champions. The Cardinals won their fi rst-round NCAA Tournament game before falling in the second round to national seed Purdue. UofL’s team returns nearly intact for 2011.

“We have a tremendous foundation of players in this program, and we get to take it from an already high level and build from there,” Kordes said. “That is very exciting. I know there is a major commitment from our players and everyone on staff here to work towards winning a national championship.”

Kordes said one of her top priorities will be to increase UofL’s focus on recruiting lo-cal stars. This year, top talent from the city of Louisville played for national champion Penn State, Notre Dame, Kentucky and sev-eral other major programs.

“The MVP of the Final Four (Penn State’s Deja McClendon) played across the street at Manual and played club ball down the street at Poplar Level,” Kordes said. “There is tal-ent in this city, and there is talent on this team already. There is also rich talent in this state, rich talent in this city and rich talent just across the river and in this region.”

Kordes said she likes the talent in this

area, but she also likes the intangibles thatrecruits from this region bring to the pro-gram.

“Also, there is a great attitude among the recruits in this area,” she said. “There isa strong work ethic in Midwestern values.These kids want to work for what they get.You build on those core values with the rightkind of kids, and that is why you are goingto win.”

By focusing on recruiting the best local and Midwestern talent, Kordes said she be-lieves Louisville can take the next step fromnationally competitive program to nationalchampionship contender.

“Look at what women’s basketball and Jeff Walz did with the administration andthe support system we have here,” she said.“Look at what Ken Lolla did with the soc-cer program here. To be able to surroundmyself with word-class administrators andcoaches, I know it will be a great experiencefor me.”

Kordes ranks among the top young coaches in the game. With a career recordof 146-75 (.661), she is 41st in victoriesamong active Division I coaches. Kordes,the only volleyball coach in SLU’s history toproduce four straight 20-win seasons, wasthe 2009 recipient of the Missouri AthleticClub’s Carl O. Bauer Award, which is pre-sented annually to the top amateur sportsfi gure in the St. Louis area.

She is also very familiar with top talent. Annually she spends time working with USAVolleyball’s summer programs. She’s assistedwith the USA Junior program, USA Volley-ball High Performance Championships, theGirls Youth National Team and several othernational development programs. She haslearned from some of the best coaches inthe business. She hopes to mold the Louis-ville program in her image.

“I would say fi ery and fi esty,” Kordes said when asked what she’d want people to sayabout her team. “Aggressive. Those thingsare very important to me. We want to goout there and have a team where the otherteam just feels like they can’t beat them.”

She also has her designs set on a more aggressive home court advantage.

“I love Cardinal Arena,” she said. “I love the atmosphere there. I want to make surethat is a strong home court advantage, andthen maybe get a few games down at theYum! Center. And we want to make both ofthose places an environment that would justbe the worst place for an opposing team towalk into. And when you combine that witha team that will just get after you from point1 through 25, then I think we can make areally fun environment.”

Kordes received her bachelor’s degree in athletic administration from Louisville in1998, and she earned a master’s degree inathletic administration from UofL in 2001.

LOUISVILLE HIRES FAMILIAR NAME TO LEAD VOLLEYBALL FORWARD

HOWIE LINDSEYHOWIE LINDSEY

New Louisville volleyball coach Anne Kordes was introduced Friday afternoon.

Kordes, a former UofL player and Louisville native, was hired after a

successful run at Saint Louis the last seven seasons. - photo by Dave Klotz


BIG EAST NOTEBOOK - FOOTBALL2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALLLOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL

By Howie LindseyFriday must have been a bittersweet day

for Leonid Yelin. The 15-year veteran vol-leyball coach for the University of Louisville offi cially announced his retirement at the same time as one of his pupils took over his program.

Yelin, the most successful coach in Lou-isville volleyball history, turned the reins over to Anne Kordes, but not before UofL Vice President for Athletics Tom Jurich got a chance to thank him for his service.

“First, we are all thankful for the deter-mined work Leonid has performed in the ad-vancement of our vol-leyball program,” Jurich said. “He consistently guided our teams to league championships and was simply a winner during his terrifi c career

at UofL. We sincerely appreciate his efforts and wish him the best in his retirement.”

Jurich said he knew of Yelin’s intentions just after Christmas. The Cardinals’ athletic director said he appreciates Yelin’s work. Under Yelin’s guidance, the Cardinals won 366 games, made the NCAA Tournament 14 times, won 13 conference championship trophies and made the NCAA Sweet 16 four times.

“All of us will be endeared to him for the great job that he did here,” Jurich said. “We are going to miss him dearly and wish him all the best in his retirement. I know he is going to enjoy that because he has worked very, very hard for it.

“Leonid announced his retirement to me a couple of weeks ago. We all know what Leonid has meant to this program - what he’s done and what he has accomplished. It is evident by the number of ex-players that are here to celebrate his retirement today.”

For Yelin, the idea of retirement was something he’d considered, but not some-thing he was ready for until just recently.

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen in one night,” he said. “I had been thinking of this for a long time. I always saw other coaches retire, and I could never understand how they could do that. Now that I am in their shoes I can better understand. It never seems like the right time, but I feel this is a good time for me.”

So why now? The Cardinals fi nished 23-8 last season with one of the youngest teams in the nation. They won the conference tournament title and won their fi rst-round NCAA Tournament game before falling in the second round. With such young talent, it

would seem like an odd time to step down. “I had been thinking about it for about

two years,” Yelin said. “My son, Boris, just graduated from the University of Louisville, and he is getting ready to go to Argentina in March as a Fulbright Scholar. My daughter is in Miami, where I am from - as you can tell from my accent - and I kind of decided that this seems like it would be a good time.”

Yelin’s decision ends one of the most re-markable coaching runs in Louisville history, regardless of sport. He had 15 20-plus win seasons and ends his run ranked 11th in the nation in winning percentage (.764). He won 13 conference titles at Louisville, but he had a hefty resume even before he arrived. He won the Division II national champion-ship at Barry University in Miami in 1995. He moved to Louisville the following season and immediately took the Cardinals to the Sweet 16.

His coaching career spans continents. Yelin, a native of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in the former USSR, was a member of the Uzbekistan National Volleyball team from 1970-1975, was the USSR’s Women’s Na-tional Champion Association head coach in 1977, coached the USSR U-18 World Cup champions in 1978 and coached with the Uzbekistan national teams for several years in the late 70s and early 80s.

“I had a wonderful 15 years in Louisville,” he said. “When I came here I had no idea I would be here 15 years. I didn’t know I would stay for so long, but the people of

Louisville, especially my players, made me feel so good and blessed to be here.”

“I want to take this opportunity to thank all my players - current players and former players - and I want to thank my staff for helping me build this program,” Yelin said, naming off each of his staff members and thanking them for their service.

“I want to give a special thanks to our vice president, our athletic director and my boss - well, he’s more than a boss - he’s the best boss and my friend, Tom Jurich,” Yelin said. “He allowed me to be his friend, and that is more important than anything to me.”

Yelin said being able to have input into his successor was special to him. It also showed how much trust Jurich had in his expertise.

“As the smart AD that I am I just went straight to the source, and I asked him, ‘Who would you pick, Leonid?’” Jurich said. “And Leonid’s pick is right next to him today being announced as Louisville’s new coach, Anne Kordes. One of his pupils.”

Said Yelin: “It makes it easier when I know who is going to replace me. When I spoke about this with Tom Jurich, Anne was the first one I told him. I am absolutely sure she is going to do a great job.”

Jurich said Yelin didn’t need to sell him on his pick of Kordes, but Yelin did any-way.

“I said she would be good for a number of reasons: First, that I know her as a per-

son, she played for me and I know she’llwork hard,” Yelin said. “And she is a leader.She is a leader on the floor, she is a leaderoff the floor and she is already a provencoach. She helped build Saint Louis vol-leyball. The reason Illinois is doing a goodjob now is in part because of what she didthere (as an assistant).”

Kordes said she appreciates Yelin’s work in building the program into a nationalpower.

“I would like to thank Coach Yelin for his years of hard work and dedication toCardinal volleyball that has positioned theprogram to take a shot at a national cham-pionship, which is my dream,” Kordes said.

Yelin said he believes the foundation has been laid for Kordes to make a nationalsplash as soon as next season. And theseason after that? Yelin said the Cardinalscould be one of the teams participating inthe NCAA Final Four when it comes to theKFC Yum! Center in 2012.

“I am absolutely sure that when the 2012 Final Four comes here that she will have theUniversity of Louisville volleyball program inthe Final Four,” Yelin said.

RETIREMENT PLANSSo what does Yelin think he’ll be doing

this time next year? Good question. “I never had the opportunity to learn how

to play golf,” he said with a broad smile.“Maybe now I can take the golf coach upon his offer to give me lessons for the lastmany years.”

YELIN RETIRES AFTER 15 SUCCESSFUL SEASONS

HOWIE LINDSEYHOWIE LINDSEYLeonid Yelin retired as Louisville’s volleyball coach after 15 successful seasons that included 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament, 366 wins and four Sweet 16 appearances. - photo by Shelley Feller


2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN

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Senior post Keshia Hines grabbed a rebound and got a putback over

the out-stretched arms of St. John’s Centhya Hart. - photo by Shelley Feller

Louisville’s women’s basketball team stood hand-in-hand during the national anthem prior to Tuesday’s win over No.

17 St. John’s at the KFC Yum! Center. - photo by Shelley Feller

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin, a former assistant coach at Louisville, has the Bearcats off to a hot start. They won

their fi rst 14 games of the season and are on the cusp of the top 25 this week.

- photo courtesy of BearcatLair.com

Junior leading scorer Monique Reid hit the court scrambling for a loose ball against St. John’s. - photo by Shelley Feller

Louisville coach Jeff Walz’s team is 12-5

and 3-0 in Big East play heading into this week’s

brutal road trip at No. 12 Notre Dame Wednesday

and at No. 2 Connecticut Saturday. - photo by

Shelley Feller

Jan. 12, 2011 issue

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Transcript of Jan. 12, 2011 issue