Last Updated on December 10, 2007 7:33 pm by admin
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -Louisville forward Derrick Caracter has been suspended from the No. 22 Cardinals indefinitely for a curfew violation, coach Rick Pitino said Monday.
Caracter, who will move out of the dormitory where he lives with the rest of the basketball team, has had a series of run-ins with Pitino since the sophomore arrived last season. He was sent home to New Jersey briefly almost a year ago.
Pitino said he wasn’t sure when Caracter would return, only that “it’s going to be a while.”
The team, not Pitino, decided on the suspension, the coach said.
Pitino wanted to suspend Caracter before last weekend’s loss to Dayton, but gave in to players’ requests to play him. Caracter is second on the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game, and averages 7.4 rebounds.
The Cardinals’ front line was already depleted by injuries to center David Padgett and forward Juan Palacios, both seniors. Both dressed for Saturday’s game but did not play in the 70-65 loss. Padgett was one of the players who pushed for Caracter to play, Pitino said.
In order to play, Caracter signed a contract Saturday that included a curfew – “the easiest thing on the contract,” Pitino said.
Caracter broke curfew the same night.
“The sad thing about it all is he knows how much the team went to bat for him,” Pitino said. “And he also knows how much he’s needed, already being short-handed.”
Louisville (5-2) doesn’t play again until Saturday against Purdue in Indianapolis.