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Few hotter than Cardinals
Posted: Wednesday February 23, 2000 07:05 PM
By Brian Bennett, Special to CNNSI.com The Louisville Cardinals have gone from a team of turmoil to a team on a tear in less than a month. After losing to Georgetown on Feb. 1 —- the Cards' sixth loss in seven games —- coach Denny Crum ripped his five seniors, saying they had no leadership and were worrying too much about their pro futures. Rumors of strife between players was rampant, and most prognosticators were pegging U of L to miss the NCAA Tournament. Three weeks later, the Cardinals are the hottest team in Conference USA. They have won five straight, all by double digits. After not winning a road game all season, they have won three in a row away from home and knocked off once-beaten Syracuse by 13. "They're playing terrific basketball," said DePaul coach Pat Kennedy, whose Blue Demons were scorched 71-54 at home by Louisville on Saturday. "They're not a team I'd want to face in the tournament right now." Now talk is not if the Cards (16-9, 7-5 C-USA) will get into the NCAA Tournament but how high they will be seeded. Crum said the turnaround boils down to his team regaining the unselfishness of its 10-3 start. "They got to the point where they felt they could get it done their way," Crum said. "Time proved that was not the case. Once they started listening and letting us coach them again and doing things we needed to do to win, we started winning." Defense has been a constant during the streak, as Louisville's last seven opponents have shot a collective 34 percent. Turnovers are down -- the Cardinals committed just eight in a win over Marquette -- and passing has been crisp and generous. "You can see us out there making the extra pass and finding the extra man versus one guy trying to go one-on-one and create on his own," said senior forward Tony Williams. "That's the difference between us being good and being bad."
RPI not BullishSouth Florida leads the National Division and is tied with Louisville for the second-best conference record. But the 16-9 Bulls are just 93rd in the latest Ratings Percentage Index, ahead of only sub .500 teams Memphis and Houston in the conference.The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee heavily weighs the computer formula in determining at-large berths. But South Florida coach Seth Greenberg says it has become too much of a factor. "Who's made this guy and his formula such a genius?" Greenberg asks. "It gets to the point where everybody's infatuated with it. I know we need a measuring stick, but there are so many things you can't take into consideration with a formula. It's ridiculous to me." Greenberg has to look no further than his school's schedule for blame. Strength of schedule accounts for 50 percent of the RPI, and the Bulls' schedule is rated 132nd. Early-season games against RPI lightweights Central Florida (243), Harvard (289), The Citadel (299), Morgan State (313) and Florida Atlantic (317) could come back to haunt Greenberg's team on Selection Sunday.
Anyone but those guysDePaul super sophomore Quentin Richardson is widely rumored to be considering a jump to the NBA after the season. He may do so just to get away from Louisville.Richardson, the league's reigning player of the year, has been the phantom menace against the Cardinals. He scored just four points on 2-of-14 shooting on Saturday. In an earlier loss to Louisville, he had only two points at halftime and had to score six in garbage time to finish with 12. In two years, he's just 16-of-53 against Louisville, losing all four times. Louisville's Nate Johnson has been the primary defender on Richardson in those games. Making matters worse for the DePaul star on Saturday, Johnson scored nine quick points against Richardson before Kennedy switched him onto another player. Johnson ridiculed Richardson after the game, calling him "a total defensive liability."
One-man showMarquette's Brian Wardle had an outstanding first half against DePaul last week, scoring 17 points. Unfortunately, he was the only Golden Eagle to score.Wardle accounted for all 17 of is team's first-half total as Marquette lost 55-35, breaking several marks for futility in the process. The Golden Eagles' 35 points, .20 percent shooting and 11 field goals set new Conference USA regular season single-game records. It was the school's lowest offensive output since a 51-35 loss to Notre Dame on March 7, 1959. Coach Tom Crean said he wasn't planning major changes in his team's week off after the embarrassing defeat. "We'll give them more time off, spend more time in individual instruction sessions," Crean said. "It's really easy to almost have your bubble burst a little bit after a game like that."
Worth notingSouthern Miss forward David Wall was named C-USA player of the week after scoring 23 in a victory over Saint Louis and 28 in a win over UAB. He is the first Southern Miss player to ever win the award. ... Former UMass coach John Calipari met with Memphis president V. Lane Rawlins and athletic director R.C. Johnson on Monday in the Atlanta airport. No formal offer was made, but the school is said to be offering an annual package of close to $1 million for Calipari to become the permanent successor to Tic Price. ... Cincinnati's 77-69 loss to No. 15 Temple on Sunday snapped the Bearcats' 16-game winning streak and a 42-game home winning streak. ... Tulane swiped 19 steals in a win over Saint Louis on Saturday, a league high this season. Senior guard Marlo Miles had eight of those steals, also a league high.Brian Bennett covers Conference USA for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Check back every Wednesday for his latest CNNSI.com Insider.
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