Those about to graduate, we salute you

Sigh.

This is probably the reaction most Cards fans had the morning after Friday night's loss to Cal. Sums up how I felt. It's over. We can relax, track the baseball team's success and let our blood pressure return to normal levels. Until the inevitable next Pitino bomb drops of course.  Oh yeah, there's that.

Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. Rick Pitino is our coach and a very good one at that. For this fan, he's welcome to stay as long as he wishes. He's played a big part in the new downtown arena being built this year and deserves a measure of patience from the fanbase to continue linking success with our community's proudest passion: Louisville basketball.  

The biggest difference I noticed between this year's team and the last couple Elite Eight teams is on defense. Speed. Instinct. Pressure. Time after time, last year's team grabbed the momentum with a key defensive stop or transition breakaway dunk spawned by a deflection or takeaway. You often hear sportswriters and coaches talk about a team's "intangibles." Well that's just coachspeak for having a roster of talented players with good basketball instincts. Unfortunately, this year's Louisville team had the instinctual savvy of an intern on defense. The blame goes round and round. Leaders on the court, leadership off the court. Coaching. Recruiting. Scouting. And yes, Louisville wasn't the only team with issues.

The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks were heavy favorites to win the tournament this year. Yet just a few hours after the 2008 National Champions lost to Northern Iowa on the first weekend of this year's tournament, an article surfaced on Yahoo! about how their team was a ticking time bomb all season due to off-the-court issues, despite only losing 3 games all year. And you already know about the perennial powers like UNC, UCLA and UCONN that failed to even make the tournament this year.

But you probably don't care for comparisons. You shouldn't have to. I have zero ill will towards a fan who wants Pitino sacked. Just consider the forum and manner in which you force your opinion upon others.

In retrospect, I'm glad so many of our returning players got PT this season. I'm ecstatic we beat Syracuse and closed out Freedom Hall with an emphatic victory. I'm proud we made it into the tournament. I dare say this season was a small step forward for the program, not backwards. After the loss to Michigan State last season and ensuing summer of scandal for Pitino, losing T-Will and Earl, everything that transpired with Calipari and his overnight worldbeater recruiting class in Lexington, starters involved in the tasing incident and increasing negativity of the fanbase fueled on and on by a guy named Kragthorpe...I was prepared for the worst. But we made it through all that crap. Yeah, we learned a lot about what losing feels like (again) in football. And suffered some humbling losses on the basketball court as well. But if this is the worst of it, I think we'll look back and realize it wasn't that bad. The future looks pretty darn good.

Finally, thanks to everyone who reads/contributes to Card Chronicle. Your recent stories about Freedom Hall reemphasized how fun and unique it is to be a Louisville fan. My handful of experiences watching Cardinal basketball in the Hall--mostly with my father--will never be forgotten. Neither will the four Seniors who graduate this summer. Edgar, Jerry, Reginald and Chris...we'll miss cheering for you. Come back as often as you can. Once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal.