Hilton Head native Hayden Green wants North Carolina to know that the Cards are coming from revenge. He also wants the world to know that they shouldn't be fooled by his Carolina blue undershirt, because right after this picture was taken he somehow managed to rip it clear down the middle without damaging his U of L hoodie.
I guess that doesn't really translate in the picture, but a lot of things don't translate in pictures. Like spoken words. And Spanish.
Spread check: Louisville by 3.5.
Two weeks and two Big East Honor Roll selections for The Ted.
The official pregame story for this weekend from U of L is up.
The Cardinals and Strong are familiar with Fedora. Both Strong and Fedora spent two seasons on the Florida staff under Ron Zook. In Strong's first season at U of L, the Cardinals defeated Fedora and Southern Miss, 31-28, in the 2010 Beef ‘O' Brady's Bowl.
The two teams are also familiar with each other after Louisville traveled to Chapel Hill and left with a 14-7 defeat. The Cardinals, who had a true freshman quarterback and three freshmen on the offensive line, couldn't get on track on offense, gaining only 274 yards and missing two field goals in the first half.
"Last year, they shocked us watching them on film," said junior defensive tackle Brandon Dunn. "We didn't know that they were that big. Coach (Strong) was telling us that they were a big team. This year, we expect the type of talent they have on the offensive line and defensive line, so we should be ready."
So in the wake of last Friday's "Blog Shoutout Heard 'Round The World," I was invited to come in and tour the Yum Center practice facility and spend some 1-on-1 bro time with Coach Pitino this morning.
The facility is pretty unreal and coach was as easy to have a conversation with as any one of my actual close friends. There's no doubt in my mind that the enthusiasm he feels about the program and the group of guys that he's coaching is completely genuine. He talked at length about their success in the classroom and how comforting it is to have players who you know will stay out of trouble and who, without being told repeatedly, will put in the necessary work required of them in order to be successful.
Pitino comes close to glowing when he talks about a guy like Angel Nunez, who is in the building working on himself every morning by 6:30 or 7 (Peyton Siva falls under the same umbrella). When asked if Russ is there at 6:30 every morning too, Pitino says that Russ gets his work in, but that he's "more likely to come in here at 1:30 or 2 in the morning." Also, Russ is apparently trying to make "Rickdiculous" happen, and Pitino isn't having it.
We ended up talking for close to half an hour about an extremely wide range of topics, including but not limited to U of L football, our issues with smart phones (remarkably similar) and why Laguna Beach was superior to The Hills. Ok the last part didn't happen, but I honestly wouldn't have been that surprised if it had come up. He was that easy to talk to.
I wasn't sure it was possible, but I think right now I'm a bigger U of L basketball fan than I was when I woke up this morning.
The 2012-13 NBA season is rapidly approaching, and Terrence Williams is still a man without a team.
We're less than a month from the start of NBA training camps, and TWill remains a man without a team. He clashed with New Jersey coach Avery Johnson, which resulted in a visit to the NBA Developmental League and then a flight out of town, even though the Nets burned a first-round draft pick on Williams in 2009.
Things didn't go much better in Houston where Rockets coach Kevin McHale never seemed thrilled to play Williams. Last winter TWill made his way to Sacramento, the arm pit of the NBA. Things went better there. Williams averaged nearly 21 minutes and 9 points per game. Maybe Williams had found his spot.
Or maybe not. TWill has not been offered a contract for this season.
"He doesn't know what's going to happen," said Andre McGee, Williams' former teammate at U of L. "He's trying to work it out."
Judging solely from your emails and Twitter messages, I'd guess approximately 9,000 people got their picture taken with Gorgui in his soccer jersey on Saturday. All 9,000 were worth it.
Speaking of Soccer Gorgs:
That man has added some bulk.
The updated CBS Big East power rankings still have the Cards sitting in the top spot.
1. Louisville (2-0): The Cardinals haven't been tested in either of their first two games, and sophomore quarterback Teddy Bridgewater continues to be a model of efficiency. Bridgewater has completed 49 of 60 passes -- albeit against some not-so-strong defenses. Still, the interception-prone quarterback has made huge strides from his freshman year, and the Louisville offense still isn't at full strength. The third -- and biggest -- of its running back triumvirate, Dominique Brown, has missed both games with a knee injury. Last week's power ranking: 1. Next up: vs. North Carolina, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
JuCo point guard Chris Jones, whom Rick Pitino paid a visit on Sunday, will be returning the favor when he visits U of L this weekend. Huntington Prep big man Moses Kingsley will meet with Pitino on Sept. 18. One final piece of basketball recruiting news (I promise), as U of L offered Florida 7-footer Joel Embiid (2013) a scholarship. The native of Cameroon has only been playing organized basketball for a year and a half. That honey mustard:
A very happy 26th birthday to Ms. Angel McCoughtry.
When North Carolina faces Louisville on Saturday, the might be playing a quarterback still feeling the after effects from a blow to the head that probably should have resulted in him being pulled from the game last week.
My question all along remains: why was Renner back out there in the first place?
Wake Forest went on a scoring drive immediately following Renner's hit at the 1-yard line. That gave Tar Heel officials proper time to evaluate the injury (if there was one), and I would assume, especially considering how much UNC focuses on head trauma, the proper tests were run.
But watching the play over and over again -- and seeing how off Renner looked following the injury as compared to how sharp he was playing prior to the play -- made me sick. He was hit hard on his third snap after the hit, fumbling and leading to another Wake Forest score on the ensuing possession. I forgot about the score entirely. The game seemed pointless.
But seriously.
Not cool.
Congrats to the Louisville volleyball team, which jumped 12 spots to No. 12 in the national rankings after taking care of business against No. 11 Purdue and No. 20 Illinois over the weekend.
Hilarious John L. Smih GIF from the artist that is LSUfreek.
There are at least 75 mistakes in ESPN's short Louisville/Missouri State highlight recap. Terry Bridgewater does not play for U of L.
From Preston, who is playing professionally in Greece this year, on Facebook:
The 14th-ranked men's soccer team stayed perfect at home this season with a 3-0 thrashing of visiting Army on Saturday. The Cards are back in action tomorrow night when they host No. 23 Wake Forest at 7 p.m. inside Cardinal Park. The Demon Deacons are unbeaten over four matches this season.
According to the folks at WHAS, they've had already asked ESPN for the right to broadcast multiple games (including the FIU) one, and have been shot down. That means ESPN3 will definitely be the only option for Cards fans on the night of Sept. 22. Pretty lame.
And finally, my favorite statistic of the early season: a Louisville defensive end leads the country in two-point conversions.
At this point I'm expecting at least one a game.