Pete Cautilli – The Cardinal Connect

Louisville senior guard Russ Smith has been named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s District IV Player of the Year.

District IV consists of six states – Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. More than 900 writers among the USBWA voted.

Smith is averaging 17.5 points and shooting a career-best 46 % shooting. He is shooting 39% from behind the three-point line. Smith’s 4.8 assists per game is a career best. He is just the fourth Louisville player in history with at least 1,700 points, 300 assists, and 200 steals.

As Louisville enters the post-season, Smith is just 27-points away from jumping ahead of Labradford Smith for seventh all time in scoring. He is just nine steals away from breaking Peyton Siva’s school record.

This is one of many honors for Smith since the regular season ended. On Monday he was named a first team All American by NBC Sports and the Sporting News. Smith was also named to the American Athletic Conference First Team on Tuesday.

The 2014 Player of the Year Award will be announced tomorrow afternoon prior to the start of the conference tournament. It appears that Cincinnati’s Sean Kilpatrick is the front-runner but it wouldn’t be considered a surprise if Smith was to win the award. Especially since he played so well to closet he season.

Rick Pitino met with the media on Tuesday afternoon to preview the post season. Louisville will have their first conference tournament game on Thursday in Memphis. They’ll play the winner of South Florida and Rutgers. Here is a recap from the press conference.

Converting on the fast break

In order to execute offensively, it’s been the passing that generates the good offense. We’re doing an unbelievable job at converting when we’re on the break. We’ve got a guy in Montrezl Harrell that dunks everything. That is one reason why it’s helped. But we’ve done a great job defensively at leading to these breaks.

First game in the AAC Tournament

Rutgers probably has a little more overall depth and backcourt strength. At South Florida you’ve got Victor Rudd who went for 27 against us. Its personnel based. We set goals on who we’re playing.

Lunardi projecting Louisville as No. 4 Seed

I think Joe is very good. The best in the game at who is in and who is out. I don’t think he’s any better than anyone at picking what seeds and where teams end up. We started as a top ten team, ended as a top ten team. The thing that is impressive is that we don’t’ have a bad loss. I don’t over exaggerate our worth.

Seeding preference

It doesn’t matter to me either way. I don’t care where we’re seeded. It’s the match-ups. I look at two teams right now that really have played great basketball and that is Florida and Wichita State. Obviously Kansas if they get healthy and Arizona is likely a one seed.

Montrezl high IQ

Montrezl is very similar situation to Gorgui. He was a one dimensional player when he got here and now he’s developed. Like Gorgui, Montrezl has a very good basketball IQ. He understands the game . Guys like that rapidly improve. Guys who don’t have the IQ, it takes a lot of repetition.

Shaqquan Aaron & Chinanu Onuaku  Win State Championships

Chinanu won it last night. Shaqquan plays for Rainer Beach and we know that program is championship driven. It’s great to get guys who know what it’s like to win championships.

Any change to Kevin Ware’s status?

No.

Steve Masiello making the dance

I think it’s great. It was an exciting game last night. It had to happen this year for him. Iona has a veteran team and Manhattan has a veteran team. It was both team’s year, and Stevie coached a great game and I’m happy for him.

Minnesota’s tourney chances

He has to play Penn State in the opening round. Good thing for him is that he has the fourth of fifth toughest schedule. He knows he has to win. I think if he beats Penn State, he’s got everyone else that is on the bubble on strength of schedule.

Defensive improvement

As I stated many times, I thought we were very immature as a basketball team. We always had potential to be a good defensive team, but we didn’t get it from a defensive stand point. This was an immature team emotionally and just little details weren’t there. They were very young emotionally and now they’ve grown. It’s been a big key for us.

Passing leads to high % shots

Every time we pass the ball well, we shoot the ball well. It’s a matter of the other teams defense. Believe it or not, you sometimes get three point shots against the better defensive teams.

Fatigue being a factor for Harrell

I’m very confident in that. One of our strengths is we’re a very well conditioned basketball team. Fatigue will not be an issue for us. Unlike some of our backcourt players, he knows not to reach and do those things.

 Conference tournament importance

Some coaches don’t put importance on it, for me, conference tournaments, it’s always been extremely relevant because it’s a dress rehearsal for the NCAA tournament. I’ve always felt it was really really important to play well in the conference tournament.

Chris Jones improvement

I think he is evolving. I know for you guys losing seven or eight pounds is a little thing. But when you’re athlete it’s a lot. It makes you quicker and it makes you more durable. I think Chris is really taking great pride in creating steals. I think it took while a while to adjust to Russ.

Team chemistry matters

We’ve been a team driven group. We’ve had a lot of fun. In the last four years, we’ve had the best chemistry.

Russ Smith earning First Team All American Honors

It’s as good as it gets for a coaching staff. It’s so gratifying to see him rise to that level. He stayed. He could have left and gambled and it’s been a great ending for him.

Russ being smart

Russ is not Montrezl. Russ is a big time risk taker. As big a risk taker that I’ve ever coached. He’s going to have nights where it’s just not going to be there. Against Colorado State it was all there. Against Michigan it wasn’t. He has to be intelligent and know that if it’s not there, I’ll get my teammates involved.

Terry Rozier’s freshman year

I thought Terry had a good year. I don’t think it was that spectacular. A very solid good freshman year. Very few freshman have good solid years. It’s exactly what I expected of him. He has a lot to learn and a lot to get better at. I know he will because he has a great work ethic.

 SVT’s senior day performance

I think he was emotionally very charged because it was senior night. I think he was able to see a glimpse of what he is capable of. I have confidence in him. I really do. He knows who he is and he tries to add to the team.

Montrezl Harrell’s dunking

It’s amazing because he does it in practice the same way every day. Montrezl when we go through warm up and drills and he’s windmill dunking. He just wants everyone on the team to know that don’t start dunking because I’m 

Photo: TheAmerican.org

The all league teams for the American Athletic Conference were released on Tuesday afternoon. Louisville senior guard Russ Smith was one of three unanimous selections to the five man all conference first team. Sophomore forward Montrezl Harrell was also named to the first team, but wasn’t a unanimous choice.

Louisville freshman guard Terry Rozier was named to the American Conference All Rookie Team.

Smith, Napier and Kilpatrick were obvious first team choices, however I think you could have gone a couple of different directions with the other two first team choices. I would probably put Justin Jackson ahead of Nic Moore on the first team. For the first half of the league slate, Jackson was playing as good as anyone in the conference.

The conference’s major individual awards – Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man Award and Sportsmanship Award – will be presented at Wednesday’s awards luncheon at the Gibson Guitar Factory in advance of the first American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championshp.

2014 American Athletic Conference All-Conference First Team
-Sean Kilpatrick, G, Cincinnati *
-Shabazz Napier, G, UConn *
-Montrezl Harrell, F, Louisville
-Russ Smith, G, Louisville *
-Nic Moore, G, SMU

2014 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Second Team
-Isaiah Sykes, G, UCF
-Justin Jackson, F, Cincinnati
-TaShawn Thomas, F, Houston
-Shaq Goodwin, F, Memphis
-Joe Jackson, G, Memphis
-Markus Kennedy, F, SMU

2014 American Athletic Conference All-Rookie Team
-Amida Brimah, C, UConn
-Terry Rozier, G, Louisville
-Austin Nichols, F, Memphis *
-John Egbunu, C, USF
-Chris Perry, F, USF

* unanimous selection

Photo – Athlon Sports

University of Louisville football and basketball play-by-play announcer Paul Rogers has been named to the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. Rogers is one of seven inductees for the 2014 class.

The Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame recognizes athletes and sports figures who were born in, or who played their respective sport, in the state of Kentucky. Each inductee will be recognized with a bronze plaque that will hang inside Louisville’s Freedom Hall.

Past inductees include Muhammad Ali, Pee Wee Reese, Pat Day, Denny Crum and many more.

Rogers grew up in Louisville and graduated from Eastern High in 1969 before going on to the University of Kentucky. He returned to Louisville 40 years ago to work in sports broadcasting for WHAS and he’s been here ever since.

Rogers has been the play-by-play voice of Louisville football since 1992 and Louisville basketball since 1995 in addition to calling events at Churchill Downs.

He’s been part of the radio broadcast crew for more than 30 Kentucky Derbies over the years.

Rogers will officially be inducted on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 at the Grand Ballroom Crowne Plaza Louisville Hotel.

Pete Cautilli – The Cardinal Connect

What seed will Louisville earn in the NCAA Tournament? That is the million dollar question that has been asked for far too long. Ever since December, fans, reporters, radio hosts and writers have batted that question around with answers roaming from a six seed to a two seed. The thoughts of a one seed were thrown out of the window following the three letdown losses to Cincinnati and Memphis (twice).

But is it really that far-fetched? Bear with me here, as I paint a scenario where the Louisville Cardinals are a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. First, let’s take a look at the guaranteed #1 seeds.

University Of Florida Gators (29-2, 18-0)

Florida became the first team to go undefeated in the SEC conference on Saturday after pounding Kentucky in The Swamp 84-65. Granted, they play in the sixth or seventh best conference in all of college basketball. But Florida is the real deal. They have three seniors averaging in double figures. They have reached three straight Elite Eight’s. They have a dead-eye spot up shooter in Michael Frazier.

Florida has depth, they have size and they have a two-time national championship coach in Billy Donovan. I have always felt that Joakim Noah handed Donovan those two titles. He doesn’t have a playing as singularly good as Noah on this year’s squad. But he does have a big man in Patric Young, a swingman in Casey Prather and a more-than-solid point guard in Scottie Wilbekin.

Florida should be the overall #1 seed and are my pick to win it all this year.

Wichita State University Wheat Shockers (34-0, 18-0)

Wichita State is guaranteed a #1 seed. They are the first team in history to enter the NCAA Tournament with a 34-0 record and they are riding the heels of a Final Four appearance last year. It is a team loaded with experienced seniors and highly talented juniors/sophomores.

The detractors will point out that the Shockers “haven’t played anybody.” Well, to an extent, that’s true. They are 3-0 against Top 50 RPI teams (18-Saint Louis, 33-BYU, 44-Tennessee). Their SOS is 94^th. Even their Final Four run in 2013 was questioned.

Ninth seeded Pittsburgh didn’t put up a fight and the one seed Gonzaga was one of the worst #1 seeds in recent history. 13-seed La Salle made it to the Sweet 16, an easy win for the Shockers, followed by a severely overrated 2-seed in Ohio State. They finally hit a formidable opponent in Louisville but wilted down the stretch due to not having faced much adversity leading up to the Final Four.

Consider me a detractor. Teams need to have faced adversity heading into the NCAA Tournament. If Wichita State had been truly tested before facing Louisville, the Cardinals would have lost that game. I don’t quite put them in the same boat as 2013 Gonzaga; Wichita State has earned the number one seed. But they need to prove it early on. Gonzaga was almost upset by 16-seed Southern. The Shockers cannot allow themselves to get shocked.

University of Arizona Wildcats (28-3, 15-3)

This is an “if”, but a pretty solid “if”. IF Arizona wins the Pac-12 Tournament (which they should) they will be the third #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Their RPI and SOS favor them. They sport wins over San Diego State, Duke and Michigan, three teams favored to win their respective conference tournaments.

The one thing that stands out to me is that the three losses were all on the road. All three of those losses came on the heels of the Wildcats losing their starting forward Brandon Ashley. Ashley broke his foot in the game against Cal (their first loss) and had surgery 10 days later to repair the break.

With Ashley out for the season, the Wildcats are all of a sudden vulnerable in the frontcourt. Even with standout freshman Aaron Gordon down low, there are skills and knowledge that the sophomore Ashley brought to the game.

Even without a Pac-12 Tournament title, Arizona may get the #1 seed. It all depends on how the committee looks at the Wildcats season. What is more important: The big wins early on with Ashley in the lineup, or the three conference road losses without Ashley?

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This is where the debate begins; who could that fourth spot? Options include Villanova, Duke, Kansas, and Louisville.

All of these predictions work under the assumption that the seeds hold in each conference tournament.

Duke University Blue Devils (24-7, 13-5)

Currently ranked 7^th, the Blue Devils would do a lot to earn that #1 seed by winning the ACC Tournament. Following a double bye and win over Clemson, Duke will have the rematch with Syracuse for the right to play for the ACC Tournament Championship. If Duke makes the final, they face either North Carolina or Virginia. For seeding sake, Duke better hope its Virginia. A Duke-North Carolina championship game is sexy; a Duke-Virginia championship game is stale. But Duke won’t make it past Syracuse.

Villanova (28-3, 16-2)

 Currently ranked 3^rd, the Wildcats will face Seton Hall and Providence before a third matchup with Creighton. Doug McDermott and Co. have run ‘Nova out of the gym in the two previous times they played this year. The losses of 96-68 and 101-80, along with a 16-point loss to Syracuse, are the only black marks on Villanova’s schedule. But this isn’t your normal Big East. Being a top seed in the 2014 Big East Tournament means much less than it did in 2013. If Villanova figures out a way to beat the Bluejays on March 15^th, they will earn the fourth #1 seed.

Kansas (23-8, 14-4)

The Jayhawks boast one of the most ridiculous schedule’s we’ve seen in a long time. They are 12-7 against the Top 50 RPI. They have one of the most talented squads in the country. They have a tactical, fierce, unrelenting coach roaming the sideline. They also have the greatest chance at getting beaten in their first conference tournament game.

Joel Embiid, the Kansas center who is viewed as the possible #1 pick in the NBA Draft, is seeing a back specialist this week. He tweaked it in their loss to Oklahoma State on March 1^st and it turns out the injury may be more than a “tweak.” Take a guess at who Kansas is set to face in their first tournament game? If you guessed Oklahoma State, you are correct. The Cowboys rode a 7-game losing streak mid-season en route to an 8-seed in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Here is some non-numerical math:

(Oklahoma State + Marcus Smart) + (Kansas – Joel Embiid) = Early Big 12 Tournament upset.

Louisville (26-5, 15-3)

 I won’t bore you with what you already know. The Cards vs. Top 50 RPI column isn’t pretty. It’s a winning record, but just barely. A huge boost for Louisville is the jump up the polls they made this week, all the way up to #5 in the AP and Coaches polls. Wins over SMU and Cincinnati/Memphis, paired with a Villanova loss in the next week, gives Louisville as good a chance as any to earn a #1 seed.

Even if all of that happens, a sexy ACC Championship for Duke over North Carolina and Syracuse (or even Virginia over both UNC and Duke) could spell death for Louisville’s chances. Over the course of the next week, if you really want Louisville to have a #1 seed, Louisville fans need to cheer for Oklahoma State, Creighton and North Carolina.

Pete Cautilli – The Cardinal Connect

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that Russ Smith went somewhat under the radar for three fourths of the 2013-14 season. While he was always regarded as one of the nation’s best guards, you rarely heard his name mentioned. A lot of that may have had to do with Louisville coming up short in their first few big games of the season.

As the year went on, not only did Louisville start to take advantage of the big games on the schedule, but Russ Smith started to separate himself from the rest of the country. It started with the game winner against Cincinnati a few weeks ago. Smith then went on to close the season with some of his best career performances and it didn’t go unnoticed.

On Monday morning, NBC Sports and the Sporting News released their 2013-14 All American Teams. Russ Smith was a first team All American by both national outlets.

NBC Sports First Team All American

Doug McDermott, Creighton (26.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 44.7% 3PT):

Russ Smith, Louisville (17.5 ppg, 4.8 apg, 3.5 rpg, 2.0 spg, 39.4% 3PT): The key to Louisville’s season has been Smith’s ability to embrace being a point guard isn’t of simply being Russdiculous. It should tell you something that, on his Senior Night and just three days after exploding for 22 second half points and six threes in eight minutes in a come-from-behind win at SMU, Smith finished with 13 assists and just two shots from the floor.

Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati (20.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg)

Jabari Parker, Duke (19.2 ppg, 9.0 rpg)

Shabazz Napier, UConn (17.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.8 spg, 40.7% 3PT)

Sporting News First Team All American

Nick Johnson, 6-3 junior guard, Arizona

Russ Smith, 6-0 senior guard, Louisville

Stats: 17.5 points, 4.8 assists,39.4 percent 3-point shooting

From perhaps the humblest beginnings of any NCAA champion/first-team All-American, Smith developed into a player whose own nickname no longer fit. Russdiculous? That’s certainly unique, but Smith has advanced to the point where he now plays solid, winning basketball and rarely is guilty of the brain-freeze moments that led to coach Rick Pitino assigning that label. Smith returned to Louisville after the 2013 Cardinals won the national championship with an eye toward completing a spectacular college career and demonstrating he can function as an effective playmaker. The guy who once made silly decisions a regular routine passed for 13 assists in the final game against Connecticut and 16 times had five or more. He still could rip up the nets, as well, such as hitting 6-of-6 on 3-pointers against SMU and 10 total games of 20 or more points.

Sean Kilpatrick, 6-4 senior guard, Cincinnati

Jabari Parker, 6-8 freshman forward, Duke

Doug McDermott, 6-8 senior forward, Creighton

Pete Cautilli – The Cardinal Connect

With two wins over ranked teams in the final week of the regular season, Louisville has climbed to No. 5 in both major polls. The Cards are the only team who started the season in the top five that finished the season in the top five.

Florida finished the season as the top ranked team. The Gators are 29-2 overall and haven’t lost a game since Dec. 6. Wichita State is at No. 2 in both polls and is the only team in the country without a loss. Villanova finishes at No. 3 in both polls with just three losses on the season. The only two teams knock off Nova is Syracuse and Creighton. Arizona finished the season at No. 4 after claiming the PAC 12 regular season title.

Pete Cautilli – The Cardinal Connect

Louisville senior guard Russ Smith played his final home game on Saturday as the Cards crushed UConn to close the regular season. While this team looks to be prime for another tournament run, the fact that Smith will never play in front of the home crowd of Louisville fans again is sad.

All of the seniors who were honored on Saturday will be missed, however I’m sure most would agree that Russ Smith may be missed a little more than most. Smith has had one of the best individual careers in the history of the program and is arguably the best player to ever play for Rick Pitino at Louisville.

Our friend Mike Lindsey of TheCrunchZone.com put together an awesome video of Russ Smith’s career. As always, Mike has outdone himself.

RUSS from @CrumsRevenge on Vimeo.

Pete Cautilli – The Cardinal Connect

With Saturday’s win over Connecticut, Louisville clinched a share of the American Athletic Conference regular season title. Both Cincinnati and Louisville finished the regular season with 13-3 records. There was a coin flip following Louisville’s game in order to determine who would get the No. 1 seed on the conference tournament. Cincinnati won the toss, which means the Cards will be the No. 2 seed.

More often than not, the better your seed is, the easier path you’ll have throughout any tournament, but in this case, Louisville may have actually gotten an advantage in getting the No. 2 seed and not the top seed.

I think most would agree that not having teams like Memphis and Connecticut on Louisville’s side of the bracket is a huge bonus. Despite being awarded the top seed, Cincinnati will have to beat either the Tigers or the Huskies to play for the league title. Louisville’s only realistic hurdle would be getting past SMU in the semifinals.

Pete Cautilli – The Cardinal Conne

It was all smiles in the locker room on Saturday following Louisville’s blowout win over Connecticut to close the regular season. Here are post-game videos with Montrezl Harrell, Stephan Van Treese and Tim Henderson.