The truth.
This year’s U of L Cardinals are simply a very mediocre basketball team. Whether it’s injuries (hey, a lot of teams are hurting), youth (hmmm, Kansas starts all first- and second-year guys), chemistry (this team couldn’t distinguish H20 from CO2), hoops savvy (quotient: nada) or recruiting (paging Chris Lofton), these Cards just don’t got it. And, as the season grinds on, the worser it gets. Plus, The Rick has done a lousy job discovering the team’s key. If there is one. What is that locksmith’s number?
The antidote.
Watch a tape of last season’s regional final. See the Cards’ snatch victory in a game they had no reason to win, through guile, grit and guts. Remember this, the game’s take charge guy — Larry O’Bannon — was so chained in The Rick’s doghouse after his sophomore season that he didn’t even make the traveling squad to the sub-regional in Birmingham. Which is to say, there is hope, as long as The Rick doesn’t go Roderick Rhodes on the newcomers who didn’t immediately meet his expectations and the kids are willing to stay the course and do the work.
Arrivederci, Rajon.
I’m told the “superstar” is gone, no matter what.
The Alford Report.
It says here that IU fans will get what they deserve with Steve Alford. He’s a better-than-average, but far from transcendent coach. You can’t go home again is a lesson to be learned by the Back Home Again In Indiana fans. One hopes Alford is smart enough not to take the bait. I’m hearing the second favorite homie is current Orlando Magic assistant Randy Wittman, a 13.2 ppg scorer for whatisname, former IU Coach Blowhard.
The Bird.
UConn’s Hilton Armstrong gave the finger to West Virginia fans near the end of Saturday’s game. Let’s see if any discipline ensues from taskmaster Jim Calhoun, a coach who doesn’t consider a felony an impediment to membership on his squad.
Hidden Juggernaut®, Part Deux.
If last week’s nominee, UCLA, doesn’t land in the Final Four, Ohio State, coached by rising star and former Hoopeston Cornjerker Thad Matta, will.
Hoop Nightmares.
That’s what Cardinal fans might call the heralded new documentary about former future Cardinal great Sebastian Telfair. It’s actually called “Through The Fire,” and it chronicles the wunderkind through his senior year. One telling scene, after a Telfair showpiece game, captures a shocked Rick Pitino as he realizes the kid is never going to play in college. The film opens at Showcase Stonybrook this Friday, 2/24.