It doesn't take an especially keen memory to recall who the primary villain was the last time Louisville squared off against Cincinnati.
Senior guard Sean Kilpatrick came into the Yum Center and torched the Cards to the tune of a game-high 28 points, leading UC to a 69-66 win. Despite that gaudy point total, Kilpatrick was a fairly pedestrian 7-of-18 from the floor. He did a strong amount of his damage at the free-throw line, where he connected on all 11 of his attempts, including four in the game's final 10 seconds.
When you rewatch that heartbreaker, or just about any other UC game this season, something stands out about Kilpatrick's free-throw routine...namely the fact that it seems to take an eternity. His process seems to consist of grabbing the ball, taking five minutes to ponder what was whispered to Scarlett Johannson at the end of Lost in Translation, about 15 dribbles, another minute to make sure he's fully sold on the Johannson answer he came up with earlier, and then a shot attempt.
Looking at his crunch time attempts against Louisville as well as another in a home game against Houston, let's see how accurate that assessment it.
According to the hard data collected by my iPhone stopwatch, here are the results:
Attempt One: 13.33 seconds
Attempt Two: 13.76 seconds
Attempt Three: 13.28 seconds
Attempt Four: 13.13 seconds
None of those are even close to being under the 10 seconds allotted by the basic rules of basketball. If Kilpatrick was taking somewhere around 10 or 11 seconds it would be one thing, but this is like being awarded three points for a 16-foot jump shot.
This violation has been brought to light a handful of times before, most notably with Dwight Howard when he was still a member of the Magic a few years ago. The big difference here is that Kilpatrick shoots 86 percent from the line. Dwight Howard does not.
It seems like a tiny thing, but rules are rules, and this is a pretty cut and dry violation of one. Here's hoping Mark Whitehead, John Gaffney or Tony Chiazza has a Google alert set up for their name (is that still a thing?) and stumbles onto this post.
Do the right thing, bro or bros. End the madness. Ten seconds for everyone.