16 BIG EAST wins is not good enough?
by adamcards on Mar 8, 2009 10:50 AM EDT
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PrintDespite winning 17 of 19 to end the season, despite going 8-1 in conference road games (and the best road record over the past three seasons), despite finishing with the best record in the best conference in Big East history and in the NCAA in the past three decades (per Dick Vitale, Bob Valvano, etc) so far zero of the national pundits have declared that UofL deserves a #1 seed and most have declared that they are "not a true champion". Doug Gottlieb I'm looking at you.
Argument against being the outright champion: Louisville did not play UCONN, Pitt or Marquette on road. UofL's three home and away matchups were USF, WVU and Notre Dame. ND was a preseason top 10 team (picked to finish ahead of Pitt). Pitt's 3 were UCONN, WVU and Depaul. Outside of the road game at UCONN these conference schedules are very comparable. UCONN's 3 games were Seton Hall, Notre Dame and Pitt. The road game at Pitt and Marquette are tough, but at the same time UofL played Syracuse and Villanova on the road. Also the road ND loss is still haunting UofL, but Pitt and UCONN also each had one loss to a team in the bottom half of the the conference (UCONN vs Georgetown at home and PItt @ Providence).
Argument against #1 seed: OU lost most of their recent games because Griffin was not playing. Doesn't matter. They still lost to Kansas at home (their only meeting), Texas on road and Missouri on road (their only meeting). What quality opponents are left in the Big 12, or on their whole schedule? Davidson and Purdue on neutral courts, Oklahoma State? Just because they have the best player does not mean they deserve the spot. Michigan State and Memphis play in the Big Ten and C-USA, they would have to be amazing to get the seeding over the Big East champion.
In the end, it doesn't really matter because that trophy, whenever the conference decides to deliver it to Louisville, is going to look nice. It is only fitting that the lack of attention paid to T-Will on the national level is being extended to the whole team. Here's hoping that these next weeks leave America with no doubt as to how good he, and the team, really are this year. GO CARDS.
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I want Gottlieb's head on a stick
watching him snarkily declare that’s UofL’s BE sked falls short of deserving a 1 seed sickened me. He came so close to using air quotes around the word champion that I almost fell out of my chair. His tone was that of an adult correcting a child.
“No, no son, Uof L is NOT a 1 seed, don’t suggest such ridiculous things.”
And as far as this great scheduling disparity goes, how exactly is the BE any different than the ACC? UNC only played Wake once, but Duke had to play them twice. Will that fact taint UNC’s conf title and 1 seed dreams??? Never. Not Ever.
In fact Gottlieb basically went so far as to say that Duke has a better chance at a 1 seed than UofL does. Gottlieb. I hope that dickless tool develops a case of anal herpes.
On the day when the pundits should be talking about what a good team we have, they are digging into their bag of excuses to find plausible reasons why we are undeserving.
Oh well, I’ve always felt that we’d need the BE tourney to cement things, it seems we’ll need to get to the finals. So I hope we can pull it off.
Go cards!
e
not to mention the fact that had UCONN won their home game with Pitt, as we did, they would have won the conference outright. We won when we had to, end of story.
This will all get settled in the next week, as I’m pretty sure we’re going to see Pitt in the finals if we get there ourselves. Should be an interesting game.
agreed
assuming seeding holds, we need to root for pitt to drop uconn again…i win by uconn (even if we go on to beat them) puts the selection cmte in a tough spot in which our non conf losses will come back to haunt big time.
We don't put on flashy performances that make people nutswing.
Simple as that. Pitt goes on and beats UConn by flipping 7 footers over their back and nailing alley oops. UNC beats Duke by having their 7 foot center go 2-3 from beyond the arc. Oklahoma beats… well, everybody except the good teams in their conference… by dunking over people and making threes. All flashy stuff.
But we don’t do things like that. We beat good teams by grinding it out, taking away the other team’s strengths (i.e. Ruoff with 0 points, Blair playing only 20 minutes), and wearing them out with a constant stream of defensively-minded bench players. That’s not highlight reel stuff.
People always point to the little stipulations. “Louisville beat Pitt because Blair only paid 20 minutes. Louisville beat West Virginia because Ruoff and Butler combined for 10 points. Louisville beat Syracuse because Johnny Flynn was having an off night. Louisville beat Villanova because they couldn’t make a layup at the end of the game.” I used to worry about those things too. What if Nova had made that layup? What if Flynn hadn’t turned it over so much? What if Blair hadn’t fouled out. But after 16-2, I’ve come to realize that we haven’t just been getting extremely lucky. That’s how we win. We don’t do it with lots of sweet jumpers and spectacular breakaways. We win by forcing the other team to play our game and then beating them at it. We win with shots when we need them and intensity and will when the going gets tough. It’s not how you make ESPN’s Top 10 plays, but it is how you win championships.
After last night I have an even stronger faith in this team’s potential. We didn’t play particularly well. We turned it over far too much, we got missed free throws that we should have made, we got outrebounded. And yet, we made the shots when we needed separation, forced the turnovers when things were getting out of hand (3 steals in 3 possessions… clutch), and we held their senior to 0 points on senior night. It wasn’t flashy but it got the job done.
There’s one team in recent memory that reminds me of this Louisville team: the 2008 New York Giants. They had a rough start to their season, had troubles occasionally at home, but won their games on the road and down the stretch. They had a mediocre record going into the postseason and ended with a not particularly pretty game. But they finished the season with the championship through hard work and toughness. They held the highest scoring offense in the NFL to 14 points in the Super Bowl and ground out the win with tough defense and forcing the Patriots to play their game.
To be honest, the so-called “experts” and “pundits” can keep their #1. I honestly don’t see us winning the BET, and I can’t say I’m sad about it. We always play better after we take a loss and a hit to the ego. That’s what this team is about: toughness and determination. If these guys win the championship, it will be all through will. And if they don’t, they’ll give it their all, and make for some great memories. That’s what this team is all about, and I’m ecstatic to be a witness.
perfectly said
The same thought dawned on me last night watching us slowly, agonizingly get the W against WVU. These close games aren’t happenstance, they are almost by design.
But I still think TWill needs to make his FTs, and Earl needs to stop traveling and trying to go behind his back in the lane. WTF was that?
Great points though, you are dead on. I want the 1 seed so I can stay away from the monsters until the final four, but we do play better with a chip.
e
excellent post
one of the best Ive read to date. Well said, man.
by twistedwedge on Mar 9, 2009 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions
Hey Card
Nice riff…and as far as “pundits and experts” they better strap you to the gurney cause get ready for the full frontal onslaught in the next days. Both lobes.
Good observation about the NY Giants, too, but one thing the Cardinal underdog status does not have going is the equivalent of an unbeatable, and up until the Superbowl, unbeaten, team like the Patriots that year.
But we’ll have motivation aplenty.
A valid point about the Patriots
It’s obviously a much rarer occasion to come across an undefeated basketball team in the National Championship than it is for football due to the sheer length of the season and number of games. The closest it’s happened in recent memory was Memphis last year, but I don’t think that anybody really pegged them as “unbeatable” in the same way the Patriots were.
There will be plenty of motivation. When we get to the end, it will likely be Pitt, UConn, or UNC, which due to our recent history with all those teams, at least 2 will be somewhat equivalent to our Patriots. The other may be closer to our Cowboys.
The End WILL Be Serious
And techinically I believe our last college hoops table run (Indiana, right Card?…I think ’75 or ’76) is more recent than the Dolphins clean break in ’72. But good return of serve.
And the end will be like World War II fotage…real…raw…no quarter will be taken. I will be nervous as hell and won’t really enjoy the game.
There will be nothing left but bare trees.
CBS will even broadcast it in black and white. It will be that serious.
Have a day, a good one.
Roz
Seeding is overrated
“I want the 1 seed so I can stay away from the monsters until the final four….”
If we get the 1 seed, who will we be likely to meet in the Elite Eight? Someone who would have been the 1 seed if we were the 2. And prior to that, you get the 4 instead of the 3, the 8 instead of the 7, and the 16 rather than the 15. There’s really not that much difference. The 1 seed is good for little more than bragging rights – and that’s only from Selection Sunday until the first round of play.
I agree with some of that
but for the most part I fear the people who would be #2 if we got #1, than the other #1s that we could possibly play.
Playing Memphis, OU, Mich State, Duke would be a lot better than playing Pitt, UConn, UNC. And our best bet of playing the first teams listed would be to get a #1 seed
exactly
of the teams you mentioned that you would rather play — all but one of them will be a 2 seed.
And the teams that you mentioned that you didn’t want to play — all but one of them will be a 1 seed.
Therefore it is better to be a 1 seed.
let’s put it this way – if we don’t get a 1 seed and Pitt & UConn & UNC do get a one seed, there is a 75% chance we’ll land in one of their brackets. If we get the 1 seed then there is only a 25% chance that we would land in a bracket with a 2 seeded Pitt/UConn. And I know these names aren’t pulled out of a hat, but even still the odds of facing a slamming 1 seed are much greater than the odds of facing a slamming 2 seed.
e
The only reason I really want a one seed
Is because I feel the drop-off from row three to row four is going to be extremely steep this year.
Give me Memphis as our two and whoever at four or five.
by Mike Rutherford on Mar 9, 2009 12:43 PM EDT reply actions
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