LOUISVILLE 2005-2006 PROGRAM PROFILE

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE CARDINALS


2005-2006 Team Roster from Official Team Site: ROSTER.

The Louisville Coaching Staff: UL STAFF.

Home Court: Freedom Hall: Freedom Hall.


OVERVIEW: If you are a fan of the University of Louisville athletic program, this is a VERY exciting time! Coming off a highly successful bowl season in football and a Final Four appearance in men’s basketball, the Cardinals take their game to the Big East conference and will perform on a higher stage. They enter the Big East Conference as a favorite to earn a BCS bid in football and will once again be a top contender in the college basketball postseason led by head coach Rick Pitino, who is entering his 5th season at Louisville and has now taken three schools to the Final Four (Providence and Kentucky as well as Louisville). The Cardinals have lost a lot of talent from their Final Four team of a year ago, but have some talented returnees ready for bigger roles and will work in some newcomers, a transfer and a redshirt that they are very excited about.

Rick Pitino knows how to win and knows how to get maximum effort out of his players. He recruits at a very high level and is always pressing his team to get better as a team and as individuals. They come into the Big East and are immediately pressed under the microscope by drawing a favorite’s schedule. With Coach Pitino and their history, Louisville is a team in demand for television appearances and the Big East Conference will take full advantage of their draw and set them up with the most possible national television opportunities by pairing them up with the rest of the conference heavyweights as often as they can.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES: That has been the theme of the last five months since we last saw Louisville take the court. They have seen nearly their entire group of assistant coaches leave for other jobs, had an early entry to the NBA draft, suffered a loss due to a transfer, did not see two recruits enroll, lost three valuable seniors and are moving into a new conference to top it all off!! Most teams and programs could crumble with all the new surroundings and faces, but do not expect a Rick Pitino stocked program to lose too much ground on anyone in the conference.

With that one constant in Pitino, you know the Louisville program will be there in the Big East from day one. Afterall, your looking a head coach who has only had one losing conference record in his 19 seasons as a head coach (ironically enough, it was in the Big East in his first season with Providence) and a career winning percentage of 85% at home (248-43), which is even at a greater clip while at Louisville (87%). And, as I just mentioned, Pitino is not completely new to the Big East, having coached Providence to the Final Four in 1987. However, to get it done this year in the Big East, Pitino is going to have to bring some returning players to new levels that they have yet been to and mix in a large group of talented newcomers into the equation. It is a tall task, but if anyone is up to it, it most definitely is Rick Pitino that is capable of getting his players to compete at the highest level of competition night in and night out.

RETURNEES: Their top returning scorer is Red Bank, NJ native, Taquan Dean. Dean is a 3-pt marksman that bombed away at a 45% clip from beyond the arc last season (122-273) in contributing to his 14.4 PPG. 69% of his offense came on made 3-pters and he will probably have to show a more versatile complete game this season for a Louisville team that loses 4 of their top 6 scorers and their top 2 assist men. Dean might be called upon to do more of the team’s ball handling as newcomers learn their roles and become a little more play-maker conscious within the offense and create for others, something he has not been called on to do in the past. Another returning player that much is expected from might be the most talented player on the team, and that is Juan Palacios, the Columbian-born, 6’9 250 lb sophomore. Palacios is a player that envisions himself as a wing on the next level and for much of last season, it seemed as if Pitino was trying to install a more inside mindset to Palacios and teach him to attack the ball on the room a little more often. As a freshmen, he put up nearly 10 PPG and 6.5 rebounds and showed his skills by stepping out and drilling 25 3-pt shots at nearly a 39% rate. As the season progressed he began to show the ability to get to the line and rebound in traffic much better and he is a candidate to really come on this season. A player in the spotlight this season is junior Michigan native, Brandon Jenkins. The 6’3 guard who has shown to be a much better defensive sub in his first couple seasons than as an offensive option also returns and could play a key role in the Louisville back court. Jenkins played 20 minutes a game last year and put up solid statistics all across the board, but with more of a ball handling responsibility, he will have to look for his offense more and improve on his assist to turnover ratio. He figures to be in the mix for a starting slot in the back court and will no doubt get plenty of time in his junior season. Big man Terrence Farley also returns to Louisville for his sophomore season. The 6’10 220 lb big man was dismissed from the squad for a short time last season but was later reinstated and should add some quality depth up front provided he has bulked up and re-dedicated himself to the Louisville program. Walk-on Perrin Johnson has also been a player to see some significant time as a hard-working forward. Another player that returns, but is often overlooked, is highly regarded redshirt freshmen Brian Johnson, a 6’9 245 lb forward that played his senior year at Oak Hill Academy and nearly set their single season rebounding record. If his knee is healthy and he works himself back into shape, Johnson could be a player that contributes significantly in the Big East and push for a starting role, moving Palacios to his preferred wing position.

NEWCOMERS: The Louisville class took a couple hits this spring when Amir Johnson entered the NBA draft after having qualifying issues and Clarence Holloway opted for prep school after not qualifying for admission. However, do not sweat it for Coach Pitino as he still brings in a talented group of freshmen and might have his biggest impact coming from sophomore transfer David Padgett, a former top 15 player out of Reno, NV that committed to Roy Williams and Kansas out of high school and played one season for Bill Self at KU before deciding to transfer. Padgett is a 6’10 F/C that has good skills and fundamentals in the post. He should start from day one at Louisville and be an all-league candidate if he can shake off the rust. PG Andre McGee is also a key player as he is the closest thing to a true PG on the roster at this point and he could allow Dean to play his more natural position off the ball. Bryan Harvey is an exciting prospect with excellent size at the 2-guard that looks to be dean’s heir. Terrence Williams is an exciting 6’5 SF that also could find his way into the rotation because of the need for someone to step-up on the wing to replace Francisco Garcia and he has the talent to make an early impact. Chad Millard is a 6’9 F that loves to shoot from long range, but most likely will need to get stronger to play in the Big East early on and 6’11 Jon Huffman is a big man that should add depth to the team this season and look to keep improving to make a solid impact down the road.

LOSSES: The big loss is in the form of do-everything forward Francisco Garcia. The NY native was taken in the NBA draft with one season of eligibility remaining and Louisville will miss their security blanket who really stepped up his game in the post seasons. Garcia led the Cardinals in scoring, assists, blocks, steals, FT shooting and minutes last season. He played a pt-forward role that called on him to be a primary ball handler much of the time. Second leading scorer and FT shooter Larry O’Bannon also graduated and his emergence as a consistent offensive threat really carried Louisville over the hump last season. Leading rebounder Ellis Myles is also a key loss as he controlled the boards inside and was also second on the team is assists, Louisville will need Padgett and Palacios to be more aggressive on the boards than they have shown in the past. Otis George battled some injuries, but also did his job mixing it up inside and contributed on the boards as well. Lorrenzo Wade also left the team and has transferred out of Louisville in the offseason and he was expected to compete for time and add some scoring at the wing this season.

SCHEDULE: Welcome to the Big East and go play Connecticut, Villanova and Cincinnati two times each!! Louisville definitely comes to the conference with a target on their back and a national reputation and following that the Big East will take advantage and put them on television as much as possible with games people want to see. That is a tall order for a team undergoing so much change this season. They do not play Georgetown or Seton Hall this year and have tough road match-ups with Syracuse and West Virginia on their slate as well. This schedule definitely ranks among the top two, with Syracuse, in the conference and will surely test Louisville in their inaugural Big east season.

OUTLOOK: There is no shortage of talent on this Louisville team. However, there will be plenty of challenges in replacing some experienced players that did so much for Rick Pitino’s squad last season and doing so in the tougher Big east will pose a challenge night in and night out for the Cardinals. If they can find a true PG to handle the ball in key situations and distribute the ball consistently and find that complimentary wing scorer, their offense should come around very nicely. If Brian Johnson returns to full strength and/or Juan Palacios and David Padgett learn to bang down low in the physical Big East, that will go a long way in separating Louisville from the deep group of teams that are probably in the level just below Villanova and Connecticut. I think Louisville is the class of the next tier of teams behind UConn and Nova, but their tough schedule and the amount of new faces they need to incorporate into key roles will make separating themselves from the group of West Virginia, Georgetown, Syracuse, etc very difficult. Rick Pitino has his work cut out for him, but the talent is there and he is usually very good at getting that talent to do the little things on the defensive end and on the boards to win the games they should. If they can, they should be a 10-11 win conference team and solid NCAA tournament 4-5 seed. It is going to be a lot of fun having Rick Pitino in the Big East conference, he is going to force the rest of the league to raise their games very soon!