This space shall be a periodic depository for random musings about U of L hoops.
It is dedicated to The Professor and Bruce, sadly departed Cardinal diehards with forever front row seats in Freedom Hall Heaven.
Glaring Rankings Omission. In the ramp up to the season, there have been a spate of various and sundry rankings across the universe of college basketball reportage. Best lists, etc, etc, etc.
Somewhere — don’t ask where, I read too many sites to recall — there’s a list of Top Newcomers. 67 are named. Includes freshman, transfers, mercenaries from across the ponds.
Three Cardinals are included.
Flory Bidunga. Jackson Shelstad. Seth Trimble, fingers crossed.
But . . . No . . . Obinna Ekezie Jr.
Tsk, tsk.
To refresh your memory about the kid who had Seth Greenberg’s head on a swivel, the numbers from his debut performance as a Cardinal in Allen Fieldhouse.
19 minutes. 16 points. 5/7 FG, including 4/6 from beyond the arc. 8 rebounds. 5 blocks. An assist. No turnovers, though to be honest, he should have gotten one for not being in the right spot to catch a beauty of pass from the Cards’ resident dime-generating Spaniard.
There are debuts.
And there are DEBUTS.
I saw another list, Top Freshman.
Not on it?
Need I spell it out?
The hippest Obi since his Jedi forefather Wan Kenobi.
The all purpose, all over the court big that Bill Self, coach of the purported best newcomer in the land Tyran Stokes, said was one of the two best players on the court Wednesday evening.
Pine Time Full Time. I found it interesting — confusing? — that rookies Isaac Ellis and Bo Zhang, along with Gabe Dynes never saw a second of action.
If only to give them a few minutes to get a sense of the action in a hostile environment.
Odd.
Self emptied his bench.
What it tells me is this. Pal Kelsey, all pronouncements that it’s just an exhibition aside, felt really compelled and driven to win the game.
Which is not a bad thing, and certainly mirrors the feelings of the fan base.
New Offensive Philosophy? Weren’t the Cards going to feature the inside game more this season?
(Yes, I know, it was an exhibition. It was obvious PK wasn’t going to roll out the whole playbook.)
Louisville took 60 shots. Half of them were threes.
Only a couple of planned post ups. Though it was part of the Jayhawks’ scheme to thwart those.
Two Other Guys. Not a lot of chatter about Alvaro Folgueiras and De’Shayne Montgomery.
Both were really solid, mature support mates for the “stars.”
AF is a great passer. Plays solid D. Hits the boards. Drains his shots.
DM just plays the game.
Curious +/-. Karter Knox only played 12 minutes. He was a -15, when only one other Card was a negative number at -3.
Not sure what it means, frankly.
He does take it to the hoop. Both of his scores were at the rim. Once on a dribble drive. The other, when he zoomed along the endline for a feed at the hoop.
Next. The Mercyhurst Lakers from the Northeast Conference, where they finished in 3d place last campaign.
They played an exhibition this week, falling to Buffalo, 71-66.
— c d kaplan