FanPost

A View From the Student Section: North Florida

I said after the Hartford game that I hoped all of the early game write-ups stayed generally the same. Blowout wins are expected, though the team usually doesn't learn anything from them. There were times during Saturday's game that I wasn't sure what the tone of this article was going to take. Coach Pitino spoke out about not thinking that his team could beat North Florida because they simply shot too well. Early on, it looked like he might be right. Anytime Louisville would make a play to try to gain some momentum, UNF would hit a three to take the wind right out of the Cards sails. Fortunately, things changed in the second half, and this article gets to take a tone much like the others.

Since this series inherently offers a view at games that most people don't get to see, allow me to give you a bit of that view. Most visiting teams' fan sections, especially those of the early low-major schools, are made up of school officials and family members. Because of this, it was a bit surprising to see a group of guys that appeared to be transplanted directly from the UNF student section make their way to the seats right behind the Osprey bench. The guys carried in tow a pair of signs, the one of major note reading "I'm from Florida, treat me like a five star recruit." It didn't take long for Yum! Center officials to relieve the young man of his sign holding duties. Along with their wonderful signs, the guys brought along a load of great sportsmanship. Not only did they boo Louisville during pre-game warmups, but they attempted to solicit fights with the student section throughout the game. Once UNF trailed by about 20, they resorted to sitting down, keeping their faces in their beers, and sending middle fingers toward the student section after most baskets. It may not have been the best catalyst, but their presence got the student section and surrounding fans excited and into the game, so I'm actually not going to complain about it too much.

Saturday's game gave fans a lot to be optimistic about for the upcoming season. Even though North Florida can shoot lights out from behind the arc, making double digit three point baskets in all of their games so far, they can't do much else in terms of an offense. In the past, shooting teams like UNF have been the downfall to Louisville's matchup zone defense. While a team that can make layups in addition to shooting threes may still give the Cards some issues, it was very promising to see Louisville make efforts to defend against the shots and also to continue to play their own game, rather than trying to match North Florida's shooting efforts. Louisville scored more than half of their points in the paint, and pulled down almost as many rebounds as UNF scored points. It was a good game for Louisville's post players.

No player benefited more from the way UNF played than Ray Spalding. Spalding had a breakout game scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 boards. I believe the reason he saw so many minutes was because his speed and agility allowed him to guard anywhere on the floor, even though he still gave up a few open shots. I'm very excited to see what Ray can do in the future, and am glad to see Louisville's big men continuing to put up big numbers while staying out of foul trouble.

Speaking of fouls, Louisville did a much better job of not fouling this game. The Cards committed only 12 personal fouls with five going to freshman Donovan Mitchell. One of Mitchell's fouls was rather suspect, coming in a scrum for a loose ball, and was followed by a rather unexplained technical foul. UNF shot 10-11 from the foul line, with 4 of those shots coming on technical free throws. Louisville stayed close from the charity stripe, shooting 9-12, which was their best free throw effort of the young season. Again, Louisville shot 50% from the floor and 33% from three. If the Cards can continue to have success shooting the ball and keep making improvements on defense, this could be a very fun season.

Tomorrow night the Cards will take the floor again and we'll hope for another one sided affair in favor of Louisville. If the early tune-ups have been any indication, we fans may have quite a bit to look forward to out of this team. Here's hoping that I get to write similar articles as the opponents get tougher.

Go Cards. Beat St. Francis... And (read this one in your head with more emphasis) beat Kentucky!