Louisville plays loose, has little trouble with Cardinal

	#6 Louisville Cardinals #11 Stanford Cardinal 78 58   Box Score Recap All Scores
	Edgar Sosa had 16 points in his NCAA tournament debut. Bill Frakes/SI
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LEXINGTON, K.Y. -- The college basketball world was anticipating No.11 seed Stanford -- with it's tandem of 7-footers nicknamed "The Twin Towers" -- to be the spoiler against Louisville. Even Cardinals coach Rick Pitino was open about his concern, stating that aside from the '87 UAB game, when he was the coach at Providence, Stanford was the toughest first-round opponent he'd ever faced.

Four minutes was all it took for Louisville to silence the doubters. The shots poured in from all over the floor -- tip-ins by freshman Earl Clark and junior David Padgett, layups by point guard Edgar Sosa and forward Brandon Jenkins. Padgett, the team's 6-foot-11 center, muscled up to Brook and Robin Lopez -- the aforementioned Twin Towers -- while the full-court pressure D forced Stanford to turn the ball over five times. By the time Stanford coach Trent Johnson called a time out at 16:04, the Cardinal were in a 12-2 hole and Brook Lopez was dropping f-bombs.

"The message before the game was, 'Guys you've got to take more chances. Don't play tight, play very loose. Be active, be risk takers, don't be afraid to foul.' That was the message all week," said Pitino.

Clearly, the guys listened to Pitino, whose NCAA tournament record is now 32-10. In an arena packed with Cards fans, Louisville routed Stanford 78-58. Five players scored in double figures and the D forced Stanford to make 21 turnovers. "Everybody had a part in this win," said forward Terrence Williams, who led the team with four assists. "We just try to get all of our teammates involved."

Courtside Confidential

As if playing in Louisville with an arena full of Cards fans wasn't tough enough for the Stanford players, they didn't even have a pep band and cheerleaders. The cheerleaders stayed in Palo Alto to support the women's hoops team at home. And the band? On probation for alcohol violations. As it turns out, Stanford was the only team in the entire bracket who didn't bring along its the band -- and of all the teams in the bracket, Stanford probably could have used the pepping up the most... Among the signs held up around the arena, one of the best was a dig on Kentucky, "While the 'Cats are away, the Cards will play."

Player Who Impressed Me

Freshman point guard Edgar Sosa proved why he earned the nickname "The Specialist" as a 14-year-old playing at Rucker Park. A native of the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City, Sosa ran Louisville's offense with composure, went 6-for-12 from the floor, and led the stifling Louisville pressure-D (he is the co-leader in steals with 42). On the way to a team-high 16-points, the 6-foot-1' Sosa sent the crowd into a frenzy when he dunked the ball with 17:12 left, to run the lead up to 52-21. He sank three treys and showed off some nifty drives to the basket. Pitino shared a laugh with Sosa after pulling him out of the game. According to Pitino, Sosa looked over and saw his replacement waiting to come in at the scorers table -- instead of running the set play, Sosa called his own so he could try to squeeze in two last points. Don't expect him to be intimidated against the Aggies, on his chest, Sosa has a tattoo that reads: "You can evaluate me. You can criticize me. But only God can judge me."

Big Picture

A&M better show up on Saturday ready for battle. Sure, Louisville is young and suffers lapses, but it is clicking at the just right time, sharing the ball and playing intense defense. When the players do take bad shots, they're athletic and fit enough to crash the boards, get their own rebound and put it right back up again. Add home-court advantage to the equation, A&M's rocky first game against Penn -- this is a team headed to the Sweet 16.