LOUISVILLE CANADIAN TRIP SUMMARY: MORE QUESTIONS?

September 5, 2006


The Louisville Cardinals Trip to Canada was 'Very Rewarding' (Louisville Courier-Journal) according to coach Rick Pitino. The 10 days of practice prior to the trip and the experience itself should help the players, especially the newcomers, get a head start in the Cards second year in the Big East. With Brandon Jenkins out at least three months with a broken leg and injured ankle, freshmen Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith got some needed experience in practice and game conditions and played well and Andre McGee showed that being in better shape has dramitically improved his game.

However, questions remain as towars the end of the article, Pitino says that Jenkins will be back to 100% before David Padgett. If Padgett's recovery from offseason knee surgery is slow, it could cause the Cardinals additional time to hit their stride once Big East play begins. Derrick Caracter missed the Canadian trip as the NCAA reviews his amateurism (not expected to be a big dea) and Pitino would like to play Juan Palacios on the wing more, but a slow-recovering Padgett could really thin out the frontcourt that had some trouble last year and saw Brian Johnson transfer.