Louisville Cardinals men's basketball

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Louisville Cardinals

University

University of Louisville

Conference

Big East

Location

Louisville, KY

Head Coach

Rick Pitino (7th year)

Arena

Freedom Hall
(Capacity: 18,865)

Nickname

Cardinals|Cards

Colors

Red and Black

Uniforms



Home



Away

NCAA Tournament Champions

1980, 1986

NCAA Tournament Final Four

1959, 1972, 1975, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986, 2005

NCAA Tournament Appearances

1951, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008

The Louisville Cardinals basketball team is the 18th winningest college basketball team in NCAA Division I history and has the 11th best winning percentage in college basketball history. Currently coached by Rick Pitino, the Cardinals of the University of Louisville have a tradition of continued success, having been to 34 NCAA tournaments (6th all time)^[1]. Under Denny Crum, Louisville was one of the premier programs of the 1980s, going to four Final Fours, winning two NCAA championships, and posting the highest NCAA tournament record of the 80s^[1]. Louisville's rivalry with the University of Kentucky is considered one of the most intense in college sports, and the basketball game is commonly known as the Battle for the Bluegrass. Louisville also maintains basketball rivalries with West Virginia, Cincinnati and Marquette.

1 UofL basketball tradition
2 Current roster (2008-2009)
3 Notable former players
4 Year by year results
5 References
6 See also

[edit] UofL basketball tradition

This section called "UofL basketball tradition" is missing citations or needs footnotes.
Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (December 2007)

Tradition	Number	National Rank
All-time NCAA Tournaments	34	6th
All-time NCAA Tournament Wins	57	7th
All-time NCAA Final Fours	8	7th
All-time Winning Percentage	65.4%	11th

As of the end of the 2007-08 season, UofL had an all-time 1556-825 record in 93 seasons of intercollegiate basketball. The Cardinals are 18th among all NCAA schools in victories and 11th in winning percentage.

Louisville is the only school in the nation to have claimed the championship of three major national post-season tournaments including the 1948 NAIB championship, the 1956 NIT title and the 1980 and 1986 NCAA championships.

UofL basketball has been named the seventh best all-time basketball program by Street and Smith's, The Sporting News, and CBS Sportsline.

Eighteen Louisville players have earned All-America status, the latest being Francisco Garcia in 2005. The Cardinals have had 57 players taken in the NBA Draft, the latest of whom is Francisco Garcia being chosen in the first round (23rd overall) in the 2005 NBA draft.

Louisville has made 34 NCAA Tournament appearances (6th all-time) and 14 NIT appearances. The Cardinals have reached the NCAA Tournament 24 of the last 31 years (six of the last nine years, 12 of last 16). The Cards have reached the Sweet 16 on 22 occasions. Louisville is seventh in tournament victories (57). UofL has a 57-36 overall NCAA Tournament record, reaching the Final Four eight times.

Louisville owns a 639-133 record in 51 seasons in Freedom Hall (.828 winning percentage), the Cards' home since 1956. Freedom Hall has been the site of six NCAA Final Fours, four additional NCAA events and 10 conference tournaments. ESPN College Basketball magazine once named Freedom Hall as the nation’s “Best Playing Floor.”

UofL winning percentage by year

UofL all times wins/losses graph

Louisville has won its conference championship or finished second in its league in 22 of the last 31 years.

Louisville has two representatives in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Cardinal All-American and former Washington Bullets All-Star Wes Unseld, who was inducted in 1988, and former coach Denny Crum, who was inducted in ‘94.

Louisville has ranked among the top 10 nationally in average home attendance each of the last 27 years, including the last 22 straight in the nation's top five (18,316 in '05-06, fourth in the nation). Two of the top 10 all-time crowds in Freedom Hall came during the 2005-06 season. A Freedom Hall record 20,091 fans attended the Cardinals’ Jan. 21 game against Connecticut. With sellout crowds the norm and ranking third nationally in home attendance, the Cardinals have a waiting list of more than 4,000 wanting to purchase season tickets.

The Cardinals are one of the most televised teams in college basketball. At least 14 regular season UofL games will be televised on national networks during the 2006-07 season (nine ESPN, two CBS, one ESPN2, one ESPNU, one CSTV), with many more games televised regionally (or PPV) by ESPN Plus. Every UofL game over the past 23 years has been televised on either a live or delayed basis -- a total of more than 700 games -- including over 210 national television appearances.

The Cardinals have been ranked on 429 occasions in the AP poll, seventh most all-time. UofL rose to as high as No. 4 during the 2005-06 season on Dec. 12, when the Cards had won their first six games. Louisville was No. 7 in the AP preseason poll and No. 8 in the ESPN/USA Today preseason poll last year. Surprisingly, with all of their success, they have never held the number one ranking in either of the two major polls.

UofL is second all-time in the NCAA with 46 consecutive winning seasons (not current). The Cards played winning basketball from 1944-45 through 1989-90, winning 20 or more games on 31 occasions during that period.

U of L has 59 players who have reached 1000 points for their careers for the most players in NCAA Division I to reach that total.

Louisville is 97-0 all-time when scoring 100 or more points.

UofL had the most profitable college basketball program in the nation in 2004-2005^[2] and 2006-07^[3] and were named the third most valuable college basketball team of 2007 by Forbes Magazine^[3].

As of February 2008, Louisville has 59 1000-point career scorers, edging out North Carolina by one for most all time^[4]. Forwards Juan Palacios and Terrence Williams both reached the 1000 point mark in the 2007-08 season.

[edit] Current roster (2008-2009)

Number	Name	Height	Weight (lb)	Position	Year	Hometown	High School
1	Terrence Williams	6-6	210	Forward	SR	Seattle, Washington	Rainier Beach
2	Preston Knowles	6-1	170	Guard	SO	Winchester, Kentucky	George Rogers Clark
5	Earl Clark	6-8	220	Forward	JR	Plainfield, New Jersey	Rahway
10	Edgar Sosa	6-1	175	Guard	JR	New York, New York	Rice Catholic
12	Reginald Delk	6-4	180	Guard	JR	Jackson, Tennessee	Transfer: Mississippi State
20	Will Scott	6-3	185	Guard	SR	New York, New York	Transfer: Cornell
22	George Goode	6-8	205	Forward	FR	Raytown, Missouri	Raytown South
25	Lee Steiden	6-4	185	Forward	SO	Louisville, Kentucky	Saint Xavier
33	Andre McGee	5-10	180	Guard	SR	Moreno Valley, California	Canyon Springs
34	Jerry Smith	6-1	200	Guard	JR	Wauwatosa, Wisconsin	Wauwatosa East
	Terrence Jennings	6-10	235	Forward/Center	FR	Fitchburg, Massachusetts	Notre Dame Prep
	Kyle Kuric	6-5	175	Guard	FR	Evansville, Indiana	Reitz Memorial
	Samardo Samuels	6-9	230	Forward/Center	FR	Newark, New Jersey	Saint Benedict's
	Jared Swopshire	6-7	190	Forward	FR	Fort Zumwalt, Missouri	IMG Academy

[edit] Notable former players

As of September 2007, at least 13 former Cardinal players are playing professional basketball, but only one of those (Francisco García) is currently playing in the NBA. Reece Gaines and Dwayne Morton have previously played in the NBA.

Player	League	Team
Damion Dantzler	Korisliiga	Tampereen Pyrintö
Kendall Dartez	LNB Pro A	Chorale Roanne Basket
Taquan Dean	LegADue	Fastweb Casale Montferrato
Nouha Diakite	LNB Pro A	ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne
Reece Gaines	Serie A	Armani Jeans Milano
Francisco García	NBA	Sacramento Kings
Otis George	LegADue	Fastweb Casale Montferrato
Troy Jackson	American Streetball	AND1 Mixtape Tour
Dwayne Morton	Bulgarian A1 First	Balkan Botevgrad
Joseph N'Sima	Nationale 1 (3rd Level), France	USA Toulouges
Jason Osborne	Liga Nacional de Básquetbol	Peñarol Mar del Plata
Tick Rogers	Israel National League	Hapoel Beer-Sheva
Tony Williams	LNB Pro A	Hyères-Toulon Var Basket

Several other former players have played in the NBA, including:

Louisville has produced eighteen All-Americans, including:

Player	Hometown	Year
Charlie Tyra	Louisville, Kentucky	1955-57
Dan Goldstein	New York, New York	1958-59
John Turner	Newport, Kentucky	1960-61
Wes Unseld	Louisville, Kentucky	1965-1968
Butch Beard	Hardinsburg, Kentucky	1968-69
Jim Price	Russellville, Kentucky	1971-72
Junior Bridgeman	East Chicago, Indiana	1974-75
Allen Murphy	Birmingham, Alabama	1974-75
Phil Bond	Louisville, Kentucky	1975-76
Wesley Cox	Louisville, Kentucky	1976-77
Rick Wilson	Louisville, Kentucky	1977-78
Darrell Griffith	Louisville, Kentucky	1978-80
Lancaster Gordon	Jackson, Mississippi	1983-84
Pervis Ellison	Savannah, Georgia	1988-89
Clifford Rozier	Bradenton, Florida	1993-94
DeJuan Wheat	Louisville, Kentucky	1996-97
Reece Gaines	Madison, Wisconsin	2002-03
Francisco García	Bronx, New York	2004-05

[edit] Year by year results

Season	Final Record	Postseason
1911-12	0-3	None
1912-13	2-3	None
1913-14	2-6	None
1914-15	4-5	None
1915-16	8-3	None
1916-17	Season cancelled	None
1917-18	3-4	None
1918-19	7-4	None
1919-20	6-5	None
1920-21	3-8	None
1921-22	1-13	None
1922-23	Season cancelled	None
1923-24	4-13	None
1924-25	10-7	None
1925-26	4-8	KIAC Tournament Participant
1926-27	7-5	KIAC Tournament Participant
1927-28	12-4	KIAC Tournament Champion
1928-29	12-8	KIAC Tournament Champion
1929-30	9-6	KIAC and SIAA Tournament Participant
1930-31	5-11	KIAC Tournament Participant
1931-32	15-7	KIAC and SIAA Tournament Participant
1932-33	11-11	KIAC Tournament Participant
1933-34	16-9	KIAC and SIAA Tournament Participant
1934-35	5-9	KIAC Tournament Participant
1935-36	14-11	KIAC and SIAA Tournament Participant
1936-37	4-8	KIAC Tournament Participant
1937-38	4-11	KIAC Tournament Participant
1938-39	1-15	KIAC Tournament Participant
1939-40	1-18	KIAC Tournament Participant
1940-41	2-14	KIAC Tournament Participant
1941-42	7-10	KIAC Tournament Participant
1942-43	Season cancelled	None
1943-44	10-10	None
1944-45	16-3	None
1945-46	22-6	KIAC Tournament Participant
1946-47	17-6	KIAC Tournament Participant
1947-48	29-6	NAIB Champion, Olympic Trials Participant
1948-49	23-10	None
1949-50	21-11	None
1950-51	19-7	NCAA Tournament Participant
1951-52	20-6	NIT Participant
1952-53	22-6	NIT Participant
1953-54	22-7	NIT Participant
1954-55	19-8	NIT Participant
1955-56	26-3	NIT Champion
1956-57	21-5	None
1957-58	13-12	None
1958-59	19-12	NCAA Final Four
1959-60	15-11	None
1960-61	21-8	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1961-62	15-10	None
1962-63	14-11	None
1963-64	15-10	NCAA Tournament Participant
1964-65	15-10	None
1965-66	16-10	NIT Participant
1966-67	23-5	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1967-68	21-7	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1968-69	21-6	NIT Participant
1969-70	18-9	NIT Participant
1970-71	20-9	NIT Participant
1971-72	26-5	NCAA Final Four
1972-73	23-7	NIT Participant
1973-74	21-7	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1974-75	28-3	NCAA Final Four
1975-76	20-8	NIT Participant
1976-77	21-7	NCAA Tournament Participant
1977-78	23-7	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1978-79	24-8	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1979-80	33-3	NCAA Champion
1980-81	21-9	NCAA Tournament Participant
1981-82	23-10	NCAA Final Four
1982-83	32-4	NCAA Final Four
1983-84	24-11	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1984-85	19-18	NIT Participant
1985-86	32-7	NCAA Champion
1986-87	18-14	None
1987-88	24-11	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1988-89	24-9	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1989-90	27-8	NCAA Tournament Second Round
1990-91	14-16	None
1991-92	19-11	NCAA Tournament Second Round
1992-93	22-9	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1993-94	28-6	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1994-95	19-14	NCAA Tournament Participant
1995-96	22-12	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
1996-97	26-9	NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
1997-98	12-20	None
1998-99	19-11	NCAA Tournament Participant
1999-2000	19-12	NCAA Tournament Participant
2000-01	12-19	None
2001-02	19-13	NIT Participant
2002-03	25-7	NCAA Tournament Second Round
2003-04	20-10	NCAA Tournament Participant
2004-05	33-5	NCAA Final Four
2005-06	21-13	NIT Participant
2006-07	24-10	NCAA Tournament Second Round
2007-08	27-9	NCAA Tournament Elite Eight