Man That Was Ugly

From the very start of the game yesterday, it was ugly. It is almost to be expected for rivalry games to fail to live up to the hype surrounding them, and that was somewhat the case yesterday. We did see a game that was about as intense and physical as any game in January I can remember. With conference rivals you usually get a home-and-home match up like UNC-Duke or our battles with Tennessee or Florida. All that intensity is poured into one game each year in the Battle of the Bluegrass (It would be pretty cool to play Louisville twice a year actually). Remember, college basketball is king in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Everybody has a friend or is at least associated with Louisville fans. Most Cardinals fans are the types that won't let you forget that painful loss, or will complain for the rest of the year about how ______ screwed them over.  You really don't want to lose to these people.

With everything swirling arond this game, the players were clearly out of their minds early and the intensity didn't really let up as the game wore on. Execution didn't dictate the game so much as emotion and ferocious defense. I am sure Cards fans are going to point to Cousins not being ejected for his version of MMA ground and pound as the reason they came up short. In games like these, there is almost always going to be some kind of an excuse for the losing party, and Louisville will single out Cousins as the reason for their plight. If the shoe were on the other foot, I would have probably said the same thing. It was borderline in my opinion as to whether he should have been ejected. It appeared that there was more of a push to the face of the Cardinal player than an actual full impact blow. Either way, UK came away from that exchange a little bit lucky. Cousins has to do a better job of harnessing his emotion or it is going to cost us a game down the road. There was some stuff going in the pregame that contributed to the chippy nature of the game, but Cousins has to keep his head together. He did a good job after the first minute of the game, but next time he might not be so lucky.

The intensity and physical play probably forced the refs into calling foul after foul on both teams as the game wore on. The officials had their work cut out for them in an environment like that, but the way the game was officiated was one of the  main reasons this was the sloppiest game in recent memory.

Coming into the game the coaches were the story, and I think our fans did about as well as can be expected in behaving themselves. Pitino is sort of a cartoon character at this stage of his career, but we gain nothing by disrespecting him. I think it will drive him crazy if we simply ignore him.  His post game choice of the red scarf was another hilarious wardrobe decidsion from the Ricky Pitino. He isn't the top dog in the state anymore, and we don't need to make a him a bigger deal than he is. He is still a very good coach, but he is going to have to get used to being little brother if he is going to stick around at Louisville.

I am not sure what to make of this Wildcats team yet. They don't always blow you away, but they find a way to win. We are going to consistently face quality opponents in the SEC, and it will be interesting to see if we can bring in night in and night out. I still think that an undefeated season is highly unlikely, but this team continues to improve and find ways to win in the meantime. This team takes turns showing their youth as well as their unbelievable talent. Expect an SEC preview this week as we prepare for conference play.