Tim Higgins taketh away. Tim Higgins giveth.
The zebra who is the bane of many Cardinal fans (as well as those of many other schools) certainly helped seal Louisville’s W this afternoon with that intentional foul call against Syracuse’s Chris Joseph with 17.8 to play. Jerry Smith rattled home two FTs for a relatively safe 64-60 lead.
Prior to that, the Cards looked as if it was going to be deja vu all over again, blowing most of the 7-point 59-52 lead it held after SS’s dunk on a beautiful inbounds pass at 3:02.
The Cards still missed a bunch of charity tosses that would have provided significant breathing room. Smith failed to nab two right after those mentioned above. Swop and Sosa both missed the front end of one and ones in the last 1:41.
But Mike Marra saved the day. Nabbed a key board after Swop’s miss, then nailed a trey a few seconds later at 1:22 for a six point lead. Samardo Samuels also came up big late, not scoring his first point of the contest until 7:46 was left to play.
Winning is a good thing. Winning is more fun than losing.
What it means in the long run is still to be answered. I still believe the Cardinals need to win 5 of its last 6 to assure itself an NCAA bid.
It’s to the Cards’ credit that they not only stayed in the game but pulled off the W. At 13:44 in the first half, they were down 2-10. Len Elmore, not prone to hyperbole, made two telling pronouncements.
“I can’t believe with what’s at stake that Louisville is so sloppy at the start.”
“It’s almost like Louisville isn’t there on defense.”
But the Cards hung on. It’s a good thing.
* * * * *
A tad o’ this, a little o’ that:
Is it my imagination or were the sartorially resplendent Rick Pitino and the haberdasherial bereft Jim Boeheim wearing the same necktie?
How come the Louisville Cardinal mascot has never gotten any face time in commercials or on the first family of sports networks?
The Cards have now bested the ‘Cuse five straight times.
Prior to today’s W, U of L’s sole quality win this season was over — gulp — South Florida. That is not a typo.
– Seedy K
6 Comments
How about this? Who ever told the directors of college basketball telecasts that viewers want to see shots of the crowd immediately after a basket, while the ball is in play? And, after all these years, why hasn’t someone told them that we don’t want that?
‘Zactly. Plus they’ll put graphics that cover the screen when the ball is in play. Some production crews are worse than others. Today’s seemed especially clueless.
Ties: different but very, very similar. We paused the TiVo to check them out.
Tim Higgins: it would seem he made both an A.F.T. call and also screwed it up. Why would I say screwed up? The Syracuse player without question grabbed Jerry’s shoulder and pulled him down. But that’s a call that is never called an intentional foul unless the player is either shooting or breaking loose on a run out. Either Higgins is the only zebra in recent memory who understands the rule or he screwed up as usual.
Free throws: Swopshire is the best free throw shooter on the team but missing the front end late at Pitt and again today scares me. Not the sign of a clutch player. Perhaps he will learn but it better be soon. And Sosa who I have generally defended this year is a guaranteed miss at the line in the last two minutes. Absolutely the worst thing imaginable for a point guard. It seems our opponents’ last two minutes free throw defense is incredible. Does Milt have any eligibility left?
If Tim Higgins had called a technical foul on Jim Boeheim because he didn’t like this tie, I would take the call with no apologies after all the bad whistles that have gone against us all…year…long. When a player acts in such a was as to foul and not to make a play on the ball, it is an intentional foul. This was a great win and also Mike Marra’s Coming Out Party.
This game reminds me of so many of those Denny Crum games……….when I’m ready to start criticizing the coaching, he smacks me and reminds me I don’t know sh– about coaching. Great game, Cards, and Coach Pitino.
interesting that for the first time( that i have noticed) it appeared that Willard took over a timeout without Rick and directed the team following a TO that was provoked by a frustrating “lapse”. .. may speak to your question previously posed