This week…..on 55…..
We talk about huge basketball wins, Women’s Basketball advancing to the AAC tourney final, Sr night and the end of 55? And much, much more. Well here we go. Once again, I share with you the 55 most ridiculous things I have heard, had to debate, or just thought about this past week. This …..is….55.
1) For all that have been asking, Mom got out of the hospital this weekend, your prayers were appreciated and mine were answered. Thank you guys so much…..
2) Saturday was Sr night for the winningest Senior class in UofL Men’s Basketball history….Thanks go out to each and every one of you guys.
3) Here is a personal thanks to each of you individually
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5) Tim Henderson: Wichita…the kid got a nickname! Without a doubt the 2nd biggest inspiration during the tourney run last year behind Kevin Ware. This guy was always underappreciated by the fanbase and always worked so hard.
He got in and extended our title run with 2 shots that will go down in Louisville history. Tim, as one of your biggest skeptics the first 2.5 years I wanna say thank you for all you have done. Maybe this year we can use some more Wichita magic!
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7) Stephan Van Treese: SVT, SVB, VAN BEAST, Big Hustle. The man of many nicknames for many UL fans. One of the few guys that I can remember who gave his all every single play. Another key factor to our success. You need a hustle play and he will take care of it for you.
A member of one of the most troubled recruiting classes we have had along side of Swop, Marra & Buckles…Siva was fine as we know…SVT decided to come back this year and make it count and boy did we ever need him. Big Hustle, to you I salute you sir!
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9) Luke Hancock: Lukeeeeeeeeeee (11 e’s because he is #11, duh) Luke is without a shadow of a doubt the most impactful transfer I can remember with Clifford Rozier being my #1 prior. The guy who single handedly turned around the NCAA title game after we got Spike’d (I still don’t believe it).
and just like that, and a Trezl dunk, in a blink of an eye Louisville came back to beat Michigan for it’s 3rd NCAA title. Thank you to the M.O.P. of the NCAA Final Four Luke Hancock. After losing his dad and playing for our country this past summer, Luke looks like he’s in Luke Tourney form from last year. Thanks again Luke….you will be remembered forever….
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11) Russ Smith: No matter what I say about Russ, it will never be enough. I will forget something or not stress the importance of one thing he did or another. I was in my room the day I got a call from my friend and ex-roommate Troy Jackson. Troy called me to tell me he had just had dinner with Coach P and Coach Mass. He told me he was there visiting Mass and to let Coach P know about a player. Told him that he was a relative unknown. Told me his name was Russ Smith. I immediately went and looked him up and was astonished. 0 star, 2 star….why would Troy pitch him a 2 star? What could a 2 star do????
Oh yeah..that..and become 2nd all time in steals and top 10 all time in points and still counting. That’s what a 2 star can do. I can tell you this much, for all of you that crap on coach Pitino, he absolutely gets the best out of every person that walks through the door. I was around the program for 5 years and saw the wonders he did. Russ Smith is everything that you want in a basketball player, just didn’t have the hype. He should teach every kid out there that anything is possible.
12) Thanks to you four for truly leaving a mark on our program
13) A great tribute video about Russ from our guy @CrumsRevenge
14) Speaking of Russ, Russ was named 1st team All-American by NBC, Sporting News, and Bleacher Report today…
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16) Its Russ’s credo
17) Moving forward…
18) The Men’s AP Poll was released today and the Cards check in at #5 (View full poll here)
19) The Men’s Coaches Poll was released today and the Cards checked in at #5 (View full poll here)
20) Looking like we are getting ready for another long March/April
21) The Women’s AP Poll was released today and the Cards check in at #3 (View full poll here)
22) The women’s basketball Cards blew out Houston then squeaked by USF yesterday to set up a battle against UConn tonight. The Cards will battle the Huskies for the 3rd time this year. UConn has beaten us 4 times in the last two years. Hopefully 5th time is a charm….The score is currently 40-22 UCONN at the half
23) #GoCards
24) Checking across the landscape of UofL Athletics and the results from this week:
25) The Women’s Basketball team bounced Houston 88-43 and squeaked by USF 60-56 behind a Shoni Schimmel jumper in the AAC Tourney this week
26) The Lacrosse team dropped a pair this week. They fell to Ohio State 12-11 and let a first half lead go to lose to #13 ND 12-9
27) Russ Smith hit three straight 3s right after his alley-oop pass on the go-ahead dunk by Montrezl Harrell to help then #11 Louisville defeat #18 SMU 84-71. Then on Senior day the Cards destroyed #19 UCONN 81-48. Louisville’s defense befudled the Huskies into a season worst 29.4% shooting.
28) The men’s team plays their next game Thursday at 3pm on ESPNU
29) #DefendTheCrown
30) Men’s Tennis swept Illinois St and Chicago State 7-0 on Friday
31) Women’s Tennis defeated North Texas on Friday 4-0 which brings their record to 8-2
32) Baseball had a rocky start to their 3 game swing vs Miami (Ohio) but finished it off pretty well. They lost Game 1 6-4 on Friday before dismantling them 10-1 and 9-0 on Saturday and Sunday respectively
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34) Just because…
35) Before I forget, farewell to the departing GA’s, Trainers and Ladybirds that are Seniors as well. We appreciate everything you did.
36) Back to business
37) UofL Softball hosted and won the Red and Black Classic this weekend. Friday they beat UMass 6-2. On Saturday they beat Ohio 11-4 and on Sunday they beat Ohio St 11-5 before annihilating Ohio 22-4. Today however they dropped 1 to Illinois State 5-2. Great homestand Ladies
38) Today the Men’s Golf team competed in the General Hacker Championship but no results have been reported
39) That has been your weekly Cardinal Wrap-up portion of 55
40) Coach P said in an interview today that if Montrezl was projected as a lottery pick he would encourage him to go pro. Gonna miss you big fella!
41) #HeGone
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44) He brought a lot of energy to the team and will also be missed next year if he leaves all jokes aside
45) Opinions…..ah the thing that makes the Twitter go. When I tweet something, I’m not asking you to agree or telling you that you’re wrong. Simply giving you my take. I am definitely not asking your friends I don’t know to chime in either. lol
46) We want to welcome Cardinal Sports Zone’s newest follower Coach Petrino to our fold. #Respect
47) Here is the Men’s Basketball AAC Tourney Bracket (Click here)
48) Bleacher Report Names Their All-AAC Teams and Awards (Click for full story)
49) Shaqquan Aaron Named to the Jordan Brand Classic Roster (Full story).
50) With his invite to the Jordan game Shaq likely will not play in the Derby Classic with it being the same day.
51) Justin Renck was representing CSZ Saturday on the weekend sports buzz on 1450 am and did a great job as always
52) Here is the updated ESPN Bracketology
53) Don’t forget to check out our guy Lloyd Spence and @TalkinNOIZ from 12:06 to 1 on 1080 am on your radio or on Iheart app on your phone….Our own Steve Rummage is on Mondays & Thursdays and will be on tomorrow with Kendrick Haskins as well. Talking NOIZ, serving it up live from the Wendy’s studio.
54) Here is the Year of The Cardinal…enjoy (Here)
55) THE END OF 55! WHAT? Allright, calm down, its not really the end but the season finale coming up in a few weeks. I will continue 55 until the Cardinals are eliminated from the tourney. My gift to you!
Enjoy!
Go Cards!
You can find the previous 16 Episodes of 55 by typing 55 in the CardinalSportszone.com search bar and clicking search
P.S.- Found out these are the new Helmets for my alma-mater Doss for the upcoming season….nice!
*pic provided by Doss LB Ramone Kelly
P.S.S. Good luck to the local H.S. teams still chasing the state title. Doss fell short to PRP so I’m cheering for them and my guy Terrance Farley to beat B.E.
Last but not least RIP to Kerry Benson and Germina Cruz
*some info taken from press releases, most from CSZ and my brain
