Louisville still climbing

THe little birdies of Louisville are flying high. The Louisville Cardinals came away with a 2 point win against Pittsburgh on Sunday (24/2) and that has given them a 12-3 conference record with 3 games remaining. That record ties them in first place with Georgetown in the Big East.

That is not all, the team from Ville have managed to climb the national rankings once again. Hitting 13th in the Assocated Press rankings and #18 in the coaches rankings. It has been one of the greatest fightbacks in NCAA history having won their last 7 matches. They were deemed down at out early into the season with a number of key injuries but with the team fit and healthy now they sky is the limit to where they can end up.

David Padgett has been the man to push Louisville to the next level. Padgett has always been a bit of an injury magnet and this season has been no different. But he came back from some serious knee problems and has been in career form of late. His knee problem was reported as being an 11 week injury, but Padgett in his final year at Louisville wasnt having any part of that, he was back after about 7 weeks.

The fight continues though with the final 3 matches against some powerful opponents of the Big East. First up with the true fighters, those of the Irish variety. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-3) are coming to town with a hope to shrink that half game gap between the two teams on the table. Luke Harangody is taking all before him this season. The Sophomore forward is averaging a double double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Including a season high 32 points and 16 rebounds just 2 weeks back in the loss to UConn.

Ville then faces the 7-7 Villa who are a team that can match it with anyone on their day. Villanova Wildcats are on a roll of their own by winning 4 of their last 5 and the loss in that streak coming against conference leading Georgetown by only 2 points.

The final game of the Louisville regular season is a battle for the top place, they head to Georgetown. Louisville will be hoping to prove their 59-51 win back on the 9/2 wasnt a fluke. On that day the Georgetown leader Roy Hibbert wasnt on his full game and will be hoping to bounce back this time. In his last two games he has been a defensive dynamo with 18 points, 8 rebounds 2 steals and SIX blocks against Providence and 12 points FIVE blocks against Cincinatti. He is a 7-2 senior that will push Padgett to his limit.

This game will decide the final ranking fate of Louisville, I for one hope they can get up and have a top 10 ranking by the end of the year. Fingers crossed.

Coach Onski

Pictures thanks to www.allposters.com and www.espn.com