[Rosiak's Blog] Looking at Louisville

[ToddRosiakSays]

Looking at Louisville


The Louisville Cardinals enter Thursday's game at Freedom Hall with a 12-4 record and a 2-1 mark in the Big East. They've won three straight and are 8-2 at home.

Their losses have come to BYU in the Las Vegas Invitational, at home to Dayton, at Purdue and at home to Cincinnati.

Four players average double figures in scoring: Terrence Williams at 11.6 points per game, Earl Clark at 11.4, Jerry Smith at 11.2 and Derrick Caracter at 10.9. Clark leads Louisville in rebounding at 9.8 per game, tying him for second in the Big East with Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair, Williams grabs 8.0 and Caracter 6.9. Williams is also the leading assist man at 4.3 per game.

The rest of the Cardinals' numbers can be found here.

Here's what MU coach Tom Crean had to say about Louisville on Tuesday night:

What have you seen of Louisville so far on film? They're playing very well because their defense is really, really solid. They create so much havoc because they can pressure the ball. The margin for error and the openings that you get inside of their defense are so small because of the way they move and their length. They have great length, and they cause a lot of problems that way. Regardless if they're in their man-to-man defense or their zone, they cause a lot of issues with their length. So you've got to make sure that you're very alert with the basketball. You've got to be strong with the basketball. They create a lot of deflections, a lot of steals. If you're sloppy with it they're going to turn you over and make you pay on the other end like most good teams do.

Are there still some lingering bad feelings or memories on your players' parts for the way the game ended at the Bradley Center last season? I think the focus has got to be more on the fact that Louisville is really good. We'll watch film from both games as well as film from this year. The personnel is very similar, and I think you can learn a lot from looking at it that way. But I think it's very important that our guys understand how good they are, regardless of it's there or here. Wherever it's at, we've got to understand how good they are, and we don't want to put ourselves in a situation where we're giving them easy baskets with a high-turnover game or not blocking them out.

Is Louisville different at all this season? I don't think they're a lot different. I think they're very similar. With David Padgett back, so many things run through him in their offense, and he does such a good job moving the basketball. They're better. They're stronger, they've got more experience. We certainly haven't spent any time looking at their team where they didn't have a full team together because I think they're very different when they don't have their full team together. When you look at them all together, they're a very, very good team.

Are the Cardinals any different starting Andre McGee at point guard instead of Edgar Sosa? I think both players facilitate their offense, can score in a variety of ways and are very good at using the ball screen. I think what it does is it gives them an opportunity to have two point guards that are very interchangeable from what I can tell.

How do you think former Wauwatosa East star Jerry Smith has developed? I think he's better, but I thought he was good last year. He's a very confident shooter, he's an integral part of their offense. He's shooting the ball at a high rate, he rebounds very well and he really understands what they want him to do defensively. There's the experience of being a little bit older, a little bit wiser in the system that Rick employs, and I think he's showing the benefits of the experience and the minutes.


http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/01/16/looking-at-louisville.aspx