I've already address the main issues from last night's debacle, so let's just quickly hit on some floaters.
Doris Burke made the comment after Peyton Siva's fifth foul that it almost looked like he did it because he wanted come out of the game. I highly doubt she meant that literally, but the implication that Siva had basically given up was clear.
Nineteen minutes, two points, one assist.
I thought the talk of him turning pro after this season was borderline ridiculous, but I would have judged anyone who predicted in October that he would be playing this poorly even more harshly.
I don't know what's wrong, but again, we're not going anywhere without him snapping out of it.
I've received several emails concerning my "the talk of firing Pitino in January or him being on the hot seat is absurd" comment from last night, so let me clarify.
I agree with several of the complaints levied over the past 15 hours or so, but none of them make the prospects of firing Pitino in January or the notion that his job is in jeopardy any less absurd.
If Tom Jurich were to fire Rick Pitino today, U of L would be crucified universally and the state of the program would re-define chaos. I mean, Pitino's friggin' son is his top assistant. Do you think Richard would take the reigns without voicing displeasure over the midseason - while ranked and with a 13-4 record, mind you - firing of his hall of fame father, the only head coach in history to take three teams to the Final Four? Probably not.
As much as many people would like to believe otherwise, even if Louisville misses the NCAA Tournament there is no way Rick Pitino will possibly be fired at the end of this season. If the Cards do wind up in the NIT (or whatever), next season will be Pitino's first at Louisville with a warm seat.
This is what I meant by that statement.
I'm upset about a lot of the same things that a large faction of you are, and I'll admit it, even before this recent slump there were plenty of things Pitino did or said that I didn't necessarily agree with. But the fact of the matter is that - unless Pitino himself chooses to walk away - he's going to be the head basketball coach at the University of Louisville for the foreseeable future.
I thought Kyle Kuric played incredibly hard every second he was on the floor last night. It's hard to be mad at him for anything took place.
Chris Smith, although he again did not play especially well, also gave exceptional effort. He mentioned this team needing to "play harder" twice during his postgame comments, which is troubling. He also implied that this would serve as a wake-up call.
This group shouldn't have needed one.
The Pitino/Russ Smith interaction was also extremely troubling. Russ legitimately looked as upset as I've ever seen a Louisville basketball player.
Again, I have no idea what the deal is there.
Bryce Cotton, the recruit who was a comical CC meme just a year and-a-half ago, went 5-of-5 from behind the 3-point line and scored 27 points.
That's just...it's just about beyond anything....I don't even know what to say.
Card Chronicle University could have a squad.
In terms of overall morale, this is probably the worst time possible for Louisville to be playing DePaul at home.
If we win, people will make sarcastic comments about "righting the ship" and so forth. If we lose, it's about the only potential loss remaining on the schedule that could make things worse than they are right now.
I'm officially on "Team Play Angel." If there's a player on the roster who can make an open 3-pointer, he needs to at least get an opportunity right now.
Rakeem Buckles cannot play the five. He can't. People will respond by saying "we don't have another viable option," but Buckles has done nothing to prove himself worthy of the "viable option" title either.
I don't know if it needs to be Zach Price, Jared Swopshire or Bullet in there playing the five when Gorgui's on the bench, but the last three weeks have proven that we are not a good basketball team with Rock at the position.
For those who continue to say otherwise, Pitino did address the media after the game, he just sent Richard to do the postgame radio interview with Bob Valvano.
Now 1-4 without Mark Jackson Jr. His dad actually re-tweeted the statistic yesterday.
This was supposed to be Pitino's deepest Louisville team ever, which makes it all the more frustrating when, for the first time in ages, I can't come up with a name when I start to think "we need ____ in the game" during difficult stretches. When this team is going through extreme offensive droughts, there's rarely someone on the bench with the potential to step right in and turn things around. That hasn't been the case in recent years.
If we don't break 65 against DePaul then I'm all for just suiting Luke Hancock up and daring the NCAA to do something. What's the worst that could happen? Nothing worse than not scoring 65 points against DePaul.
Both Gorgui and Peyton's second fouls were jokes. Maybe we only lose by 20 if they're called (or not called) correctly.
Kentucky fans are obnoxious. And, by and large, less attractive than we are.
I'll never understand why Elisha Justice gets crap from some folks. He chose to stay true to Pitino and Louisville even after John Calipari came calling, he plays incredibly hard when he's on the floor and he's much more skilled than a lot of people give him credit for.
He was really the only thing to feel good about during the final seven minutes of last night's game.
There might be a place for Kevin Ware on this team, but he's done nothing to convince me that it's at point guard. He's not a very good ballhandler, he's a complete non-shooter and he doesn't make good decisions in the halfcourt. He does, however, possess skills that no one else on the team has. How to properly utilize them is the issue.
Almost everything is upsetting right now, but let's try and remember that ultimately we all want the same thing.
Go Cards.