The Louisville Cardinals fell behind by 18 points just minutes into the first half and could never get over the hump in a 77-62 loss to the California Golden Bears.
The Cardinals were the up-and-down team that many figured would easily handle California, which had been bounced in the first round of last year’s tournament.
Everyone was highly anticipating a showdown between Rick Pitino and Coach K in the second round and thinking a Louisville upset could be very much in the cards.
Instead, California jumped all over the inconsistent Cardinals and buried them in the first half. Louisville fought back and was able to cut the deficit to single digits, but they could not get over the hump.
This is just the latest example of how important it is to get have quality guards at this time of the season, and the team with the better group is advancing to the second round.
Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 5:14 pm by steve
The California Golden Bears won their first outright Pac-10 regular season title in over 40 years, securing it with a 71-61 win at Stanford on Saturday. The win capped off an impressive run through the league, although it comes during a season in which the conference was possibly its worst overall in its existence.
As a result, Cal still isn’t ensured of a bid to the NCAA Tournament despite the league crown. A conference tournament crown might be necessary for the Bears, who challenged themselves with a difficult nonconference schedule but didn’t defeat anyone of consequence. And with the league so down and its reputation taking a beating in the media, the Bears would do well to win it just to be safe.
Patrick Christopher scored 23 points in the win over the Cardinal, and Jamal Boykin added 13. There’s no doubt that this team could make noise in the Big Dance, sporting a senior-laden squad, but it cannot afford to rest on its laurels.
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 3:47 pm by Raj Sethi
