The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently caught up with Atlanta defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin to discuss his decision to sign with Louisville afetr his much publicized scholarhsip offer was pulled at the last minute by South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. In the article, Mauldin has a great deal of praise for the way he has been treated by Louisville coach Charlie Strong and why that treatment led to his signing with Louisville. From the article:
“South Carolina was, you know, planning on me signing with them after prep school,” said Mauldin, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound senior. “I don’t believe they thought I would make the [qualifying test] score. It kind of made me feel like they were wishing for me to not make the score. “[Louisville] Coach [Charlie] Strong had faith in me from the beginning. He said he believes I’m going to make the score and said I could be out there with them in no time. They were straight forward with me. There wasn’t a bunch of playing around with the whole thing. So I decided to take his offer and become a Cardinal.”Mauldin still needs to earn a qualifying standarized test score to become eligible to play in the fall of 2011. He was rated a three-star prospect and had offers from many SEC and ACC schools across the southeast. If he does qualify, Louisville will have added three very good defensive ends in Mauldin, Deiontrez Mount, and B.J. Dubose. All three could see playing time if qualified. no comments
Since Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton made comments indicating that he wasn't sure if Bruce Pearl would return to coach the Volunteers' basketball team in 2011-12, rumors have swirled around both Pearl's future and the future of recruits that signed to play for Pearl next season. Recently, the Kentucky website Nation of Blue spoke with a Tennessee signee that requested to remain anonymous. The recruit stated that he would not go to Tennessee if Pearl was fired. He also added that he had one school in mind if he did have to look elsewhere. The anonymous recruit told Nation of Blue:
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If Coach Pearl is fired, I will not be playing at Tennessee," he said. But it's late in the recruiting process and there isn't much time to change plans from here on out. However, this unnamed player has another school that really pops out to him: the Louisville Cardinals. "Louisville would be my first choice for sure," he said. "Rick Pitino would be my first option." It is obvious that this recruit is high on the coach he will play for, and rightfully so. As for other recruits, "It's not looking so good," the anonymous player says.It is unclear at this point which signee Nation of Blue was speaking to, but, Tennessee has just two signees for the class of 2011: Point guard Chris Jones and shooting guard Kevin Ware. Given Louisville's lack of a true backup point guard to Peyton Siva, there's no question that Louisville would welcome Ware into the class of 2011 if possible. At this point, however, it is purely speculation who Nation of Blue spoke to or what Tennessee's intentions are with Bruce Pearl.
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The Louisville athletic department posted this on its website today:
Louisville, Ky.- - Louisville, Ky. - The University of Louisville football team will begin spring practice on Wednesday, March 23 under second-year head coach Charlie Strong. There will be 15 spring practices ending with the annul Red-White Spring Game on Friday, April 15 at 7 p.m. at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The spring contest is free and open to the public.Remember, only the first three practices will be open to the public this season. Also, if the schedule says they will be starting at 3:00, you should plan to be there any time after 2:30 because virtually every spring practice started early last season.The Collision Course will be there Wednesday to provide meaningful insights on practices in shorts. Hope to see you there. no comments
Strong also announced that the first three practices on March 23, 25-26 are open to the general public with the rest of the practices completely closed. The Cardinals will practice on Wednesday and Friday in shorts and helmets before putting the pads on for the first time on Saturday. Louisville also practices on March 28, March 30, April 1-2, April 4, April 6, April 8-9, April 11, April 13-14.
Louisville returns 13 starters from last season's 7-6 team and champions of the Beef 'O'Brady's Bowl.
In addition to Morehead coach Donnie Tyndall saying that we'll "find out who the better coach is Thursday", you can now add Mr. Faried's comments to the list. Watch as he says they were hoping to "play Kentucky and their athletes". We'll see on Thursday.
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West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck recently sat down with MSNsportsnet.com to discuss West Virginia and the future of the Big East, especially football. You can read the entire interview here. While the interview is focused on West Virginia, there are a few tidbits that all Big East fans should take notice of. First, Luck hints that a nine game Big East football schedule is a possiblity:
Luck also hints that the Big East may not stop at 10 teams, though he does not provide any insight into which schools might be targeted for future admission into the conference:
Lastly, and probably most importantly for the future health of all Big East schools, Luck says the athletic directors are intent on increasing television revenue in the next broadcast agreement that will go into effect after the 2012 season:
But with the addition of TCU and the expectation of a 10th member very soon, we have no option but to sit tight and wait and see what happens with our conference. It is highly likely that we will have nine conference games in the near future and if that is the case we will certainly have to review our non-conference scheduling priorities. Also, one development that we have noticed is that there are more and more opportunities to play the so-called “one-off” games. We will be playing BYU at FedEx Field, for example, and these matchups are becoming more common.
Luck also hints that the Big East may not stop at 10 teams, though he does not provide any insight into which schools might be targeted for future admission into the conference:
The real question is if the conference ends up going to 12 and having a North and South Division or an East and West Division. I could see the day when we play 10 conference games - or even 11 conference games. There is a good bit in flux right now and we need to keep our powder dry until some important decisions are made regarding the future composition of the Big East.
Lastly, and probably most importantly for the future health of all Big East schools, Luck says the athletic directors are intent on increasing television revenue in the next broadcast agreement that will go into effect after the 2012 season:
I can tell you the ADs have spoken clearly to the conference to look at all of the different possibilities out there in a very aggressive manner. The Big East is at the bottom of the six AQ conferences in terms of TV revenue and that needs to change or else it will affect our ability to compete with teams in the ACC, SEC or elsewhere.It would appear then that big things are on the horizon for the Big East. no comments
With the regular season in the books, the Big East tournament bracket is all set. By virtue of its third place finish, Louisville is the three seed and earned a double bye. As the three seed, Louisville will likely have a third game against West Virginia in the tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday. Here's the tournament bracket along with the times and TV information for each game.
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no commentsAlthough the Collision Course (TCC) hasn't ventured much into basketball coverage, it's about time it did. That being the case, the season is winding down and Louisville faces its toughest challenge since the Kentucky game on New Year's Eve when fourth-ranked and future #1 seed Pittsburgh comes to town for a 2:00 game at the KFC Yum! Center. One of the best fellow Bloguin Network bloggers, the Pitt Script Blog (PSB), agreed to a question and answer session about both teams as a preview. Be sure to bookmark the Pitt Script Blog and follow Bryan on Twitter as well.
TCC: Pittsburgh's leading scorer Ashton Gibbs missed some time due to injury. He's made his way back to the lineup the last two or three games now. Is he fully healthy, and just how is this team different with or without him in the lineup?
PSB: When Gibbs started his three game break due to an MCL sprain, rust was my biggest concern - aside from games at WVU and Villanova. Gibbs came off the bench for his return against St. John's and made the most of it, tying a career high 26 points in 36 minutes. He struggled a bit in the next Thursday night against West Virginia, going 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, but I blame that more on WVU's plan of guarding him very, very tightly from the perimeter.
Even though Pitt beat WVU somewhat handily, to me, that's how you have to stop Pitt. Priority #1 has to be making Gibbs uncomfortable. If given time to operate, he is insanely efficient shooting medium to long-range jumpers. He's just ok as a penetrater and really doesn't have elite athleticism to be a creator on the offensive end. Rather, he's the guy everyone else looks for when they pick up an extra defender.
Pitt's pretty deep and can win games without Gibbs, but taking him out of the game makes it much, much harder.
Even though Pitt beat WVU somewhat handily, to me, that's how you have to stop Pitt. Priority #1 has to be making Gibbs uncomfortable. If given time to operate, he is insanely efficient shooting medium to long-range jumpers. He's just ok as a penetrater and really doesn't have elite athleticism to be a creator on the offensive end. Rather, he's the guy everyone else looks for when they pick up an extra defender.
Pitt's pretty deep and can win games without Gibbs, but taking him out of the game makes it much, much harder.
TCC: Louisville is in the top 10 nationally in three-point field goals per game (8.9). Pittsburgh's somewhere in the middle nationally allowing opponents to hit just under 34% of their three-pointers. How do you think Pittsburgh will try and scheme to keep Louisville from getting open looks at threes today?
PSB: Pitt has to keep pressure on Louisville's perimeter and try to force the Cards to beat them inside. I'd expect to see Wanamaker on Silva for as long as the foul situation allows. Pitt's guards and even power forward Nasir Robinson are going to have to have to be light on their feet out on the perimeter calling out screens and daring Louisville to throw the ball inside. Clearly, giving Louisville's talent guards open looks is something that Pitt needs to avoid at all costs. I'd expect them to defend the guards very closely and try to rely on the inside guys to play help defense if Pitt's guards get beat on a drive.
This team's perimeter defense has been a solid B-, so I'd expect Louisville to be able to take advantage of this.
TCC: It's no secret that Louisville doesn't have dominant low post players. Is this something Pittsburgh is really equipped to take advantage of, and if so, who should Louisville fans be watching for down low?
PSB: This Pitt group is one of the best inside defensive teams I've ever seen. Offense, on the other hand, is a very different story. Senior center Gary McGhee has finally grown into his body should be one of the finalists for defensive player of the year, but is offense is still pretty limited. Basically, if he doesn't dunk it (which he does often), it's anyone's guess if the ball goes through the hoop.
The second guy is Nasir Robinson, Pitt's undersized power forward. Also a very tough defender, Robinson has finally found some offense this season after driving most Pitt fans absolutely crazy the past few years. He does best with open space about 5-9 feet away from the bucket and then slashing to the hoop. He was particularly effective against Syracuse's 2-3 zone, scoring 21 points total and being instrumental in Pitt jumping out to that 19-0 lead to start the game.
Both guys are far too inconsistent to be a guys Pitt should rely on or that Louisville should scheme against. Both are also poor free throw shooters, which gives defenses a bailout if either get the ball in open space under the basket. Further, Pitt's backup 4, Talib Zanna will be out so Pitt will rely on more minutes from third big man JJ Richardson, who played pretty well against West Virginia but who hasn't seen much time in Big East play this season.
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After a rather long delay, the 2011 Louisville football schedule has been released. Start making your plans now!
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| 9/1 (Thursday) | Murray State |
| 9/9 (Friday) | Florida International |
| 9/17 | at Kentucky |
| BYE | |
| 10/1 | Marshall |
| 10/8 | at North Carolina |
| 10/15 | at Cincinnati |
| 10/21 (Friday) | Rutgers |
| 10/29 | Syracuse |
| 11/5 | at West Virginia |
| 11/12 | Pittsburgh |
| 11/19 | at Connecticutt |
| 11/25 (Friday) | at South Florida |
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According to reports at AuburnSports.com, Louisville defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Clint Hurtt is a candidate for the vacant defensive line coach position at Auburn. According to reports, Hurtt is interviewing for the position either today or in the very near future. Losing Hurtt would be a big blow to the Louisville coaching staff as it is Hurtt that is the most effective and well connected recruiter in the south Florida area that has paid such large dividends for Louisville over the past two recruiting classes.
Stay tuned as this one bears watching. no comments
Stay tuned as this one bears watching. no comments
Louisville has added former Nebraska Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson to the coaching staff. Watson will take over as the quarterbacks coach, replacing Mike Groh, who departed to join Nick Saban's staff at Alabama. Watson was the offensive coordinator for four season at Nebraska, and has served as the both recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator at both Nebraska and Colorado before.
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