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INSIDE THE CARDS BLOG

UofL vs. UK Preview

University of Louisville Cardinals vs. University of Kentucky Wildcats

Rupp Arena

Quick Notes

•  UK leads the all-time series 26-14 (with Louisville being 6-11 at Louisville, 6-13 in Lexington, and 2-2 on neutral courts).
• In the last meeting (how could any of us forget?), UofL won 74-71 on a game-winning deep 3 by Edgar Sosa (see beautiful artwork to the right).
• Louisville is coming off of a 73-52 victory in their Big East opener, while UK is coming off of a 104-61 victory over Hartford. UK is 14-0, their best start since the 1977-78 season, while UofL stands at 10-3, having 5 straight victories though.
• The winner of the football game between the two schools has gone on to lose the basketball game in all but one year since the rivalry was continued in 1994. The only exception was in 2003 when UofL won both games...This could be our good luck charm thanks to The Krag.

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville Cardinals

F 12 Reginald Delk

F 21 Jared Swopshire

C 15 Samardo Samuels

G 34 Jerry Smith

G 10 Edgar Sosa

Kentucky Wildcats

F 15 DeMarcus Cousins

F 54 Patrick Patterson

G 1  Darius Miller

G 11 John Wall

G 24 Eric Bledsoe

Game Preview

Truth be told, I am scared to death about this game. UK is good, in fact, they are real good; I think UofL is good as well, I just don't know if we can hang with that much talent for a full game. Now, that all being said, if the Cards lose today, I will be crushed and will probably drink myself out of the depression.

UofL vs. UK is the best rivalry in college basketball, I don't care what the worldwide leader says, Duke/UNC has nothing on this rivalry (don't believe me, ask the fine folks over at Card Chronicle). Bragging rights for a whole entire year, and I don't want to give up 24 straight months of trash talk victories against UK fans today. This is pure hatred between two fanbases, and don't doubt for a second that UK fans haven't waited all year for this game.

To the game itself, a lot of hype will be built around the fact that this is Pitino vs. Calipari, which let's face it, that is an exciting selling point to the face-value fan. The real story is about the players and the rivalry between the two schools. For those of you who would like to talk Pitino/Calipari though, allow me to remind you of what occured the last time the two coaches faced off. Ouch, poor Memphis. One last photo for good measure though, it never gets old, and it will cheer me up in the event that we lose ...

Enough about that though, this is going to be a tough game just based off of matchups. My biggest concern is not John Wall, it is the combo of Patterson & Cousins. I think we have enough talent at guard to consistently keep a fresh guy on Wall and contain him somewhat; where we lack is in the post. Samardo and Jennings will have to play the game of their lives to contain Cousins and Orton, I'm not certain they can do it for a full game. Then I look at the situation at PF, who can cover Patterson? Swop is good, but he's not nearly good enough to keep Patterson under control (that's not a knock on Swop, I think we would all agree that Patterson is much better than him). The we have Buckles, who in my opinion, is too young to play on Patterson consistently well. The combo of Swop and Buckles will have to have a hell of a day for us to stay in contention to win the game; strong defense, rebounding, and being a presence on the offensive side of the ball are all crucial.

Another concern I have is that we are a young team and we have only had one true road game this season. The UNLV game was a crazy atmosphere, but UNLV only hates us because we are playing UNLV, UK hates us because we are UofL. The atmosphere at today's game will be unlike anything the freshmen and sophomores have played in before. If we get behind we have to be sure not to get rattled, if this occurs, there is no way we keep it respectable.

My opinion, is that we'll either get blown out or it will be a close game; I'm not 100% sure we can win a close game against a team this talented, but regardless, at approximately 6 o'clock tonight we will know a lot more about this Cardinal team. My prediction, and I'm a complete homer, is UofL 87 UK 81.

Gameday Links

Official Game Notes from UofL

Official Game Notes from UK

Today is a Big Game, Even By Dream Game Standards

Speaking of The Dream Game, Hell in the Hall with Another Great Retrospective Piece

Eric Crawford's Preview

Courier-Journal's Keys to Victory

GO CARDS, BEAT UK!

And the Tickets Go To -

For everybody wondering who the winner of our tickets was, a lucky young (or middle aged, depending on how you look at it) man from the South End named James has a pair of tickets to the UK/UofL basketball game.

Could we ask for more than a Dixie Hwy resident being decked out in red in the upper deck of Corrupt Arena Rupp Arena?

James, represent us well...GO CARDS

Festivus News & Views

Before I get to some news and notes for today, I'd like to let you all know that today is Festivus, and if you have to ask what Festivus is, you don't deserve to celebrate it. With this holiday for the rest of us, there is a time honored tradition of airing your grievances; I would like to take this opportunity to air some of mine -

• Tom Izzo - I hate you, and since you ruined my March, and subsequently my April, you need to pay. By not only beating my beloved UofL Cardinals, but by embarrasing them, you ended my season of hope and crushed my dreams of a Final Four. After that, I blame you and you alone for me having the worst 2 1/2 hour car ride of the year right after that game.
• Samardo Samuels - I love you, I really do...but, you have made me very angry with your presence (or lack thereof) in the post over the past year. Really starting with how soft you were against UCONN last season, and the fact that against Charlotte & Western Carolina this season you only out-rebounded me by 4.
• Freedom Hall - We've had a great relationship for the 22 years I've been on this earth, but how will I ever enjoy a hot dog or any other food purchased at your concession stands again? My Freedom Hall diet will now only consist beer, more beer, and perhaps some German Roasted Nuts if they ever decide to sell them for less than $10/pound.
• Steve Kragthorpe - You make the list for the simple fact that you ruined football season for 3 straight years, nothing you could ever do (including a positive press conference after you were fired) will repay this debt to myself and the city.
• John Calipari, John Wall, and anybody else affiliated with UK Basketball - If you take a short stroll down memory lane to over the summer, it was the worst summer ever to be a UofL fan. You had the Pitino saga, but on top of that, there was the hiring of John Calipari at UK and the subsequent bringing in of a mega recruiting class. This brought all of the ignorant UK fans who had fallen to the wayside during the Gillispie failure experiment out of the woodwork. As for John Wall, I love to watch him play, but at the same time I hate to watch him play, for the simple fact that he is putting out the flame of resurgence at UK with kerosene. (ed. note...My January 2nd John Wall quote predicion for myself - "DAMN YOU JOHN WALL!!!" while shaking my fist towards the sky).

Enough airing of the grievances, time to get to some news, views, and things to know...

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  Terrence Jennings has been suspended for tonight's game against Louisiana-Lafayette, taking away what would have been his first regular season start for the Cards. Jennings was suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules (standard issue), and could possibly return after one game. This, of course, now leaves us limited at the Center position against the Ragin' Cajuns; here's what Pitino had to say about that -
  
  
  

“We'll make some changes, but I'm not sure how we're going to go right now, because all we've been doing the last two days is working with T.J. starting.."

• Stephan Van Treese, please make me happy, that's all I ask of you. Same goes for you, Samardo.
• Charlie Strong has announced who his offensive coordinator will be - Mike Sanford, former UNLV head coach. Sanford was the OC at Utah under now Florida head coach Urban Meyer. Known for his spread offense, in his last season at Utah as OC his offense averaged 43.5 points per game, & 499.75 yards per game (both were third best in the nation). Special thanks to Mike at CardChronicle for the following link, but as head coach at UNLV, Mike Sanford was best known for not allowing his team to leave the field, view the footage here. Along with a (hopefully) high powered offense, Mike Sanford brings the look of a politician with him -

This guy looks like he would come to your door asking for your vote, or he'd do your taxes, take your pick.

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   Speaking of Charlie Strong, follow this man on Twitter...It makes my day when I see a new tweet from my good friend Charlie, I'm sure it'd make your's too...Follow him here.
  
  
  

I'll try to have a Louisiana-Lafayette preview up later today, enjoy the holidays and be sure to sign up last minute for our UK/UofL Basketball tickets which we will be raffling off on Christmas night. Sign up in the comment box at http://www.insidethecards.com/ and leave your email address or phone number as well as your name. 2 tickets, upper level, John Wall v. Peyton Siva, Preston v. anybody in blue, Pitino v. Calipari; You need to be there, we're your connection.

Tuesday News

Okay, a new gameplan here at Inside the Cards, everyday we will have a news & views post. I know posts have been a bit spotty for the past month or so, but all of that is sure to change starting today. The best part of it, we want your help in making this a success; if you have UofL news, or would like to share your opinions send me an email here and we'll use the best one's and feature them on the blog.

Also, some things to look forward to for the end of the year from us here at Inside the Cards - We will have a post up next week of our All-Decade Team for both Football & Basketball as well as our Athlete of the Decade for UofL Sports. If you haven't seen Mike at Card Chronicle's take on the All-Decade Team for , check it out here.

Charlie Strong, New Louisville Head Football Coach

First order of business, Charlie Strong was officially introduced as the head coach of our Louisville Cardinals. All I can say about the press conference, and meeting with the fans afterward, is that Charlie Strong impressed the hell out of me and everybody I've spoken to since. Knowing that we will finally get back to hard-nosed, tough football is enough to bring a smile to my face. This man has success written all over him, and if not, well I'm not going to be the one to tell him. Have you ever seen a 49 year old man that looks younger than most of the 25 year old men that you know? Better yet, our coach is in better physical condition that 3/4 of the team he'll be coaching next year.

My favorite quote of the day -

(in reference to how the team will perform next year) "...we'll be alright, we'll be alright, when do we play the Cats? September 5th? Yeah, we'll be alright..."

Illinois Football - The New UofL

Dear Ron Zook, I hate you more now than I ever have in the past...Sincerely, Inside the Cards. News broke yesterday, and again today, that Illinois football is aiming to put an offense on the field exactly like the offenses at UofL during the Petrino era. How do they plan on doing this? By first hiring Paul Petrino as Offensive Coordinator, Greg Nord as Tight End Coach, and now hiring Jeff Brohm as the Quarterbacks Coach. I swear if Illinois has success I'm driving to Champagne and vandalizing something.

Can anybody remember a situation like this occuring anywhere when there wasn't a head coaching change to bring it on? I certainly cannot; but what I can figure out, is that the Big Ten conference finally has an intimidating offense (on paper) to prepare for.

That's all for today, remember to sign up for UofL/UK basketball tickets to be raffled off on December 25th.

Sign up as many times as you'd like here.

Also, any feedback is welcome in our comment section below, or by emailing me (justin@insidethecards.com), thank you for your support of our site.

Charlie Strong to Louisville...Officially

Today the Kragthorpe nightmare is officially 100% over, a new era of UofL football begins when Charlie Strong is announced as head coach. A press conference is being held at 4 o'clock today.

Also, come out to the Brown & Williamson room at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium at 4 and watch the press conference followed by more things at 5.

We'll have more posted after the press conference, but follow us on Twitter @insidethecards for some live tweets during the press conference and from the events at the Brown & Williamson room.

We leave you with this quote from Charlie Strong on the Louisville position -

"It's a great opportunity for me,'' he said. "I think I'm going into a situation where I have great support and great resources to win. And it's also a good chance to build a program.''

Charlie Strong the Ladies Man Tuesday News & Views

Alright, so that was a rough weekend to say the least, luckily we were able to find this picture of future UofL head football coach Charlie Strong being a ladies man. Now we can continue with some news and views on this damp, cold Tuesday -

* Tom Jurich needs to cheer us all up, after the previous 3 football seasons and an unexpectedly below-standard start to the basketball season. I, for one, love following the coaching search news and rumors; reading about Charlie Strong's recommendation from Tony Dungy made me cry a little bit as excited as I have been over football news in years. Check out the article here.

* Having Jon Gruden withdrawals? Well, our friends over at Card Game are, check out this post. It took me a while to get the link posted on our site, but it's still a great read from a very good site.

* While we're mentioning UofL blogs, I'd be out of line not to mention Hell in the Hall and the great post on Preston Knowles. While you are at the site, be sure to check out the Card Fan Hall of Fame, some great interviews and insight with some legendary fans.

* The Charlotte game is one I think we would all like to forget, but there is a lot to say about a game in which we play so poorly, despite our injuries.

• Preston, Siva, and Jerry Smith all being out due to injury hurt us in a big way, and I don't think we lose that game with those 3 in the lineup. That being said, our presence in the post was supposed to be dominant, and so far this season we haven't shown any signs of dominance in the paint. I think Mike at Card Chronicle said it best, "...Samardo Samuels' start has been, to put it mildly, a disappointment...", and following that were a few very good points about Jennings I'd recommend you all read.
• Marra has been jinxed by Pitino, what other explanation can there possibly be to his shooting failure slump.
• We are huge Swop fans, as evidenced by past posts, but my he has to step up to the plate in games like that.
• How can we look so

* BCS announcements were made on Sunday, and Cincinnati was a blown playclock decision away from playing in Pasadena for the National Championship. That all being said, Cincinnati does have the best bowl game, a Sugar Bowl matchup with Florida. On paper this game looks to be great, we'll cover more of it as the time approaches...Despite being a UofL blog, we are pro-Big East as well and will fully support the Bearcats only on this one occasion.

Charlotte Preview

Louisville Cardinals vs. Charlotte 49ers

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

7:00 PM

Freedom Hall

Louisville leads the all-time series 16-15 (10-5 in Louisville, 6-7 in Charlotte, 0-3 at neutral sites)

Why You Should Hate the Charlotte 49ers

Clay Aiken - Upon me viewing the list of alumi, I'm fairly certain that it is an open competition between Clay & Matt Hardy for most famous graduate from UNC-Charlotte. Aside from that, why would you not hate this university for giving us the gifted voice of Mr. Aiken?

The Former 49ers Logo - Tell me this creepy old logo doesn't scare you a little bit (in the mix of the Leprechaun movie and Deliverence). I kid you not, I see this and I get incredibly disturbed and I'm already in fear of having nightmares. Thanks 49ers, thanks a lot. On a side note though, the team nickname is derived from the year 1949 as a pivotal year in the history of the school. The university could've been shut down, but it was saved.

Best Name on the Team

An'Juan Wilderness - Upon searching in An'Juan's player bio here, I could find nothing really abnormal about him, seems like a good kid who plays well on the road and against big teams. Don't let that stop us though, insert any "wilderness" jokes here (creativity is at an all-time low on a Saturday morning).

GameDay Notes

* Preston Knowles, Jerry Smith, & Peyton Siva will be out for today's game. We are testing our depth early in the season, like that never happens around  here. My fingers are crossed that we can play well and get past tonight with a win, despite injuries.

The storyline tonight will be our lack of depth at guard, and the previous history from the Metro Conference & C-USA; so if you're looking for a drinking game to play, everytime any of those are mentioned take a drink, guarantee you'll be face down in the front yard by halftime.

Kragthorpe's Long Awaited Goodbye

I think we can all agree that we had waited for Saturday's events for probably the last two years (some have waited the entire three years), so when the inevitable occured following the season nobody was surprised or really saddened. Then, news came out on Sunday night, that Kragthorpe would be holding a press conference of his own on Monday; immediately I wondered why he would do this? Hearing nothing bad about the man himself in three years, I didn't necessarily expect him to speak poorly on the program or the fans, but after the fan reaction to him over the past three years I didn't think he would want to offer a goodbye.

Mr. Kragthorpe took the high road on Monday, offering up only good things to say about UofL, the fans, the administration, and the players whom he ran out on the field with weekly. Some highlights of the press conference -

• "I don't leave here bitter, I leave here better"
• Krag said he'd been offered 3 different coaching jobs, including an offensive coordinator position for a BCS conference team.
• "I'll always be a resource for them" - referring to how he'll still be there for the players, in any way they need him to be.
• Kragthorpe did mention that his best moments at Louisville were moments that nobody got to see; the practices, one on one relationships with the players, etc.
• A highlight for him was the South Florida victory last year
• Losses to UK will haunt him forever
• "I wish I would have won more games"
• Krag also mentioned that he thought 3 years wasn't enough time for a coach building a program, but that he completely understood.
• Made mention again to the "microwave society" and the fact that fans want to win now, and there is little patience.
• He also mentioned his wife was diagnosed recently with an unspecified illness, our thoughts and prayers are with her and the rest of the Kragthorpe family.
• Family will be moving back to Tulsa on Sunday.

In case you want to watch the full press conference, and I'm sure I missed a few things, check it out here on the Courier-Journal website.

Overall I was pleased to see Kragthorpe take the high road, leaving on a good note, and not taking any shots at the fans, university, or administration. Not that I expected him to do any of those things, but you never know. I still couldn't help but wonder why schedule the press conference, it was pointless and unnecessary. I get it, he wanted to say goodbye and get his side of the story across, but did any of us really care to hear it? I know I didn't, and most of the people I spoke with didn't care to hear his opinions either.

Now a press conference I would've liked to have seen - Krag getting up in front of a group of fans (not media) and fielding questions. This would never happen, but you can't fault a man for having a dream, can you? Anybody close to Krag who would like to help make this happen, contact me immediately.

You Will Never See This Man in Louisville Again, Finally

It is official, Steve Kragthorpe is out as head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. I have waited three years to hear that, as have many of you. Athletic Director Tom Jurich made the news official at a noon press conference after much speculation. Some highlights -

• Decision was made "probably mid-week"
• The new head coach will not need previous head coaching experience
• "I thought he'd be a great fit here, but, it didn't fit. It really wasn't a good fit from day one"
• Jurich - "This is 100% my responsibility"
• Kragthorpe will be paid the remainder of his contract
• New head coaching search will not interfere with anybody's regular season

This really is a day to celebrate for UofL football, and a part of me wishes it would have happened at the beginning of the week so that the seniors could've had a real senior day. The focus too much the past two seasons has been on Koach, and not the players, and not in a good way either. Some player reaction -

• Doug Beaumont - "If you would have told me 3 years ago the team would be like this, I wouldn't have believed it."
• Doug Beaumont on the future of UofL football - "...strive to get Louisville football back on the map"
• Vic Anderson on fans booing - "It really took a toll on the team"
• Vic Anderson on the future of UofL football - "I have the confidence that we can get to where we were (pre-Kragthorpe)"

More updates as more information comes in, stay posted and celebrate! This news is as good as making a BCS bowl.