Louisville at UNLV

We are presenting this out of order chronologically as we have already posted our comments on the BYU vs Louisville game.

This game was fairly simple to describe. Defense won in the first half with both teams struggling to score, Derrick Caracter showing flashes of dominance, Edgar Sosa receiving "pine lessons", Lon Kruger's team over-achieving, etc, etc.

The second half was where it all changed, PitinoVille's press wore the Rebels down, and broke the game open, and then closed the game in favor of the Cardinals. Pitino was pressing despite his seven+ rotation, with Will Scott being the "+" guy. With Farley and Caracter being "friends of foul", and Caracter not being as fast as the rest of the team, this is a risky strategy for Pitino, but it work quite well against UNLV. But it certainly boomeranged later on against the faster and deeper BYU Cougars. So instead of facing Ole Roy and North Carolina, Pitino will be facing the pesky Old Dominion coached by not-Ron-Jeremy/not-Stan-Van-Gundy.

If I was Pitino, I would start looking for another point guard in the 2008 recruiting class. Andre McGee is a liability on offense, and playing him along side Terrence Farley is only recommended when the team has a big lead and doesn't need to score more points. Edgar Sosa seemed to be all over the place, and it appears that his missed free throw woes have followed him into this season, as he missed a layup at the end of the half, and two critical one-and-one free throws when the game was on the line at the end of the second half (BYU game). One could also find fault with Pitino's risk management, and think that given the history of chronic and repeated injuries to Juan Diego Tello Palacios and David Padgett, he should have had a backup plan, perhaps a juco or another redhirtable player that could contribute if need be.