The Lord works in strange ways.
In the middle of the night Friday, I was struck with one of those extremely virulent 24-hour bugs. I shall describe no more. ’Twas a nasty sight. Thus, in bed with a fever, I saw nary a second of Saturday’s game. Lucky me. It was apparently U-G-L-Y. Especially for Cardinal fans. If lucky, U of L might make it to the Final Four for the third straight year. Can we say NIT encore?

Jawing back.
The fans aren’t the only ones caterwauling in the midst of Louisville’s surprising early season meltdown. The Rick is yellin’ back. During the last TV timeout of the first half of the UMass game, a fan near the Cardinal bench yelled something the coach didn’t like. He turned around and retorted to the effect, “I don’t need your help coaching this team.” Is the honeymoon after the shotgun wedding over? Correct answer: Yes.

Money talks, nobody walks.
I had the chance to chat up Clark Francis last week. The hoops junkie always has an opinion. On the new NBA rule that eliminates draftees who haven’t been out of high school for a year, the recruiting guru opined, “It will help colleges for a few years. But the 13- and 14-year-olds are thinking prep school instead of college, then to the NBA.” Asked how John Calipari continues to recruit hotshots, Francis deadpanned, “He has no salary cap.”

Cards on the screen.
When I recently surfed to youtube.com, the featured video on the home page was of the U of L cheerleaders, who are apparently at the top of the heap. Meanwhile, the LadyBirds were introduced the other day as “preseason No. 1.” Whatever that means? How far we’ve come since the days of the Kilgore Rangerettes.
Best hoops team on Belknap campus.

Meanwhile, the U of L women continue to roll despite what’s been described by somebody close to the scene as a “team pathology.” Players are punching out teammates. And something’s down with Jazz Covington, who plays like she’s filing her nails while watching the detectives.

BY SEEDY K
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