LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Rick Pitino started rattling off the teams he expects to compete for the Big East title and nearly ran out of breath trying to fit them all in.
Connecticut and Pittsburgh, Villanova and Notre Dame. On and on he went.
When he was finished, Pitino was asked if the 18th-ranked Cardinals (13-2, 2-0), who play at No. 7 Villanova (14-1, 3-0) on Wednesday, deserved to be included in that group.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “I’d be guessing.”
Hard to blame him.
Halfway through the season, Louisville remains a bit of a mystery. The Cardinals are a roster full of role players. Which one fills which role depends on the opponent. Six different players have led the team in scoring, seven have led in rebounding. No player is averaging more than 26 minutes, but 10 are getting at least 10 a night.
One game it’s senior center George Goode providing a spark while making a rare start, which he did during a win over Seton Hall last week. The next it’s up-and-down sophomore forward Stephan Van Treese grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds in a victory at South Florida.
“Who’s Van Treese?” South Florida coach Stan Heath said afterward. “He played a great game.”
Pitino isn’t complaining. He’s gotten past being concerned about who is doing the scoring. He doesn’t really care so long as somebody does it.
He pointed to his team’s balanced effort against the Bulls as proof his players don’t panic when things don’t always go as planned. Senior guard Preston Knowles, the closest thing Louisville has to a star, was limited to 16 minutes due to foul trouble. Still, the Cardinals built a lead with him on the bench then closed it out when he returned late in the second half.
“This is the type of team, we said it from Day One, that the second unit was beating the first unit consistently,” Pitino said.
So much so the players don’t take much stock in whether they start or come off the bench. Odds are they’ll get a chance to play. How long they stay on the floor is up to them.
Junior center Terrence Jennings seemed entrenched as a starter when the season began. Now he finds himself relegated to a reserve role after Pitino opted to make Goode a starter.
Yet against the Bulls, Goode played seven minutes while Jennings scored 12 points in 13 energetic minutes. Pitino praised Jennings for not sulking after being demoted and considers steady play since the move as proof of Jennings’ maturation.
“He’s playing really hard right now, but all the guys are,” Pitino said. “I just think it’s a collective attitude. Don’t care who gets a credit, just get a ‘W.”’
It’s a mindset the Cardinals haven’t strayed from even when they have struggled. Louisville looked disjointed in a loss to Drexel a month ago and outclassed in a loss to rival Kentucky on New Year’s Eve.
Rather than panic, Pitino pressed on. The lack of a bona fide star means he can tinker with his roster as much as he wants. Roles are in constant flux, not a bad thing considering that Louisville is currently without a true power forward.
Jared Swopshire hasn’t suited up all season and will be evaluated by doctors in Philadelphia on Wednesday to determine whether he needs surgery to repair a painful groin injury. Pitino said Tuesday that Swopshire is “definitely” done for the year while sophomore Rakeem Buckles is out until February with a broken left index finger.
“Depth is our strength and now we’ve made a bad stretch and got our depth back again,” he said. “We just got back together and we start a different campaign with different players.”
Pitino responded by going to a smaller lineup while substituting liberally with Van Treese and Jennings. The Cardinals have remained competitive if not dominant on the glass. They were outrebounded by just three (38-35) by the taller Bulls and the 6-foot-1 Knowles managed to secure a couple of late offensive boards to extend possessions and allow Louisville to pick up its 25th Big East road win over the last five years, easily the most in the conference. Upping that number will be difficult and Pitino isn’t making any guarantees. He’s pleased with Louisville’s progress but is having trouble what to expect on a given night.
Looking two months down the road is nearly impossible.
“We don’t have the experience and we don’t have the overall talent that some of these teams have,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t be there but I’d be guessing, this team is a guess.”
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