Guide to the Red and White Scrimmage
Post courtesy of Chad. Go follow him @Tweetithowulive
The 2012-2013 basketball season kicks off this weekend for the Louisville Cardinals with the first of three red and white scrimmage games this Saturday, October 13th at 4 pm. This season is sure to be a promising one with the Cards returning 3 out of 5 starters and adding two magnificent players to the starting lineup. While the teams for the scrimmage have not yet been announced, it is sure to be entertaining because Coach P always matches the teams as evenly as possible and encourages the players to play a fast paced game. To add another twist to the game, Coach will be miced up on the bench and you will get to hear him joke with his players and assistant coaches as well as address the crowd throughout the game.
2012-13 LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
NO NAME POS HT WT CLASS HOMETOWN
1 Angel Nunez F 6-7 190 SO Washington Heights, NY
2 Russ Smith G 6-0 160 JR Briarwood, NY
3 Peyton Siva G 5-11 180 SR Seattle, WA
5 Kevin Ware G 6-5 185 SO Bronx, NY
10 Gorgui Dieng C 6-10 225 JR –
11 Luke Hancock G-F 6-5 190 JR Roanoke, VA
15 Tim Henderson G 6-2 180 JR Louisville, KY
20 Wayne Blackshear G-F 6-5 205 SO Chicago, IL
21 Chane Behanan F 6-7 250 SO Cincinnati, OH
24 Montrezl Harrell F 6-7 225 FR Tarboro, NC
25 Zach Price C 6-10 235 SO Cleveland, OH
33 Mike Marra G 6-5 200 SR Smithfield, RI
44 Stephan Van Treese F 6-8 235 JR Indianapolis, IN
Tickets, which are priced very reasonably ($10 for lower level side, $5 for end zone seats), are currently available at either of the UofL ticket offices, located near Gate 2 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium; or on the second floor of the Student Activity Center on campus. This gives fans who may not have the funds or connections to attend regular season games a chance to be a part of the action.
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this years team and Saturday will be our first opportunity to see what Coach P has been cooking up over this eventful off-season. Fans are excited to see new editions freshman Montrezl Harrell and George Mason transfer Luke Hancock in action. I personally am anxious to see how Wayne Blackshear has progressed over the summer since he came out of his shell during the NCAA tournament last year. I have been hearing great things about this team in the national media. Dick Vitale has Louisville as his pre-season number one. Four out of five CBS college hoops writers have picked Louisville to return to the Final Four and one has them winning it all and cutting down the nets in April.
Coach Pitino has recently said that Peyton Siva, Wayne Blackshear, Luke Hancock, Montrezl Harrell, and Gorgui Dieng are the projected starters at this point. This is interesting because you may have noticed there is no Chane Behanan in that lineup. Thinking about how deep our team is insures that we will have an interesting scrimmage. If the game were starters vs. reserves it would still be interesting. The reserve lineup would look like this; Russ Smith, Kevin Ware, Angel Nunez, Chane Behanan, and Stephen Van Treese. Wow! Just looking at these two lineups has me anxious for tip off this Saturday. This will surely be a promising season. National Championship or bust!
The big players to look out for this year are Gorgui Dieng, Peyton Siva, and Chane Behanan.
Dieng led the BIG EAST in blocks last season averaging 3.2 per game. While he is only a junior, this could very likely be his final season as a Cardinal. Dieng will more than likely average a double double this year and his presence alone is intimidating. He is drawing a lot of attention from NBA scouts and still has tremendous upside considering he has only been playing organized basketball for about 6 years.
Season GP MPG PPG FG% 3FG% FT% APG RPG BPG SPG
2011-12 40 32.8 9.1 52.5 50.0 67.6 1.1 9.1 3.2 1.2
At only 6’6″, Behanan is a rebounding machine. What he lacks in height he more than makes up for in strength, intensity, and pure athleticism. He averaged 7.4 rebounds last year and really excelled on the offensive boards. With Montrezl Harrell on his heels for the starting spot I expect to see a new level of focus from Chane Behanan in 2012.
Season GP MPG PPG FG% 3FG% FT% APG RPG BPG SPG
2011-12 40 26.0 9.5 51.0 16.7 59.4 0.8 7.5 0.5 0.8
Peyton Siva is the leader of this team. He led the team in assists last year and I only expect to see that number climb this season. The one knock on Peyton Siva was his turnovers, but once BIG EAST Tournament play started, he seemed to be the point guard we expected him to be. Coach Pitino has said Siva’s shooting is much improved. Siva is also one of the premier defenders in the country and averaged nearly two steals a game last year. I expect an All-American caliber season from him this year and he could certainly be one of the top point guards in the nation .
| YEAR | TEAM | G | MI | M | A | PCT | M | A | PCT | M | A | PCT | OFF | DEF | TOT | AST | TO | STL | BLK | PF | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-12 | Louisville Cardinals | 38 | 0 | 3.2 | 7.9 | .402 | .400 | 1.8 | .246 | 2.3 | 3.1 | .739 | .500 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 5.6 | 3.4 | 1.7 | .100 | 0 | 9.1 |
Other players to look for are co-captain Luke Hancock, freshman Montrezl Harrell, sophomore Wayne Blackshear, and of course Russ Smith who will more than likely be the sixth man. I have been hearing nothing but great things about Wayne Blackshear. He was slowed with injuries last year, but this year he is healthy and reportedly had a very productive off-season.
The Cardinals have two additional Red-White intrasquad men’s basketball scrimmages scheduled in the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for those events as well.
