By Pk Bartley

Birmingham Ala- On Sunday afternoon, the Louisville CardinalsNCAA tournament run came to a end with a 79-71 loss to Butler. TheCards started off the game well jumping out to a 20-7 after a layup by senior guard Reece Gaines, but the Bulldogs would not quit.?When you are in that situation, you have two choices you can make?said Butler point guard Brandon Miller about being down early. ?Youcan lay down, or you can grit your teeth and become a little bettougher. And I think we looked at each other in the huddle and wechose to grit our teeth and get tougher, and play a little harder.”The Bulldogs then went on a 22-7 run to end the half. Butler wasable to take the lead right before halftime after a layup by centerJoel Cornette to make the score 34-33.

The Bulldogs came out of the locker room firing, they hit fourthree pointers to take a 50-39 lead with 11:26 left.

At this point, Reece Gaines took over for U of L as he hitthree, three-pointers to tie the game up at 52 with 9:25 left.

Butler came right back and got a layup to reclaim the lead 54-52but Louisville hit two free throws to tie the game back up.However, the Cards never got that close again.

Butler guard Darnell Archey hit one of his eight three-pointersto put the Bulldogs back on top. Then after two free throws by bothteams, Archey hit another three to give the Bulldogs a 62-56 lead.”We shot well enough to win” said U of L head coach Rick Pitino “Wejust were unable to guard that low split and we ran into screenstwo times with the game on the line and that is great strategy andgreat execution. So it really was not offense it was defense. Ateam makes 14 threes your not going to beat them.”

Butler pulled out to a 67-61 lead with 4:16 left after anotherthree from Archey, the Cards fought back to within one after athree and lay up by Gaines. The Bulldogs did not get frustrated asthey came right back with a three to make it a four point game70-66.

Louisville answered with a three by Gaines to make it a onepoint game again. Butler answered with Archey last three of thegame to make the score 73-69 with just 1:32 left. The Cards got alayup by freshman forward Francisco Garcia to make it a one pointgame 73-71 with 1:03 left.

With just .35 left Butler forward Duane Lightfoot, a Louisvillenative, drove down the lane and made a layup and got fouled on theplay but he missed the free throw. Gaines missed a three on theother end with just .12 left and the Cards were forced to foul andButler hit there free throws to wrap up the game.

Pitino does not look at this lose as a total disappointment. “Tome it is not a low note” said Pitino. “Normally it would be, butthis basketball team as had so much courage for the whole year. Anda quick turn around primarily because we have had one of the topguards in the country the last two years. We are proud of our guyswe would have liked to moved on but the way college basketball istoday we are all even though mid-majors terms are primarily thrownout the window.”

Gaines finished his career at U of L with a great game, scoring26 points, six assists and three steals. “I think we had a goodyear” said Gaines. “Only people who understand the game willunderstand that we actually overachieved this year. Because we didnot have a point guard, we had a two guards playing point guard.Marvin wasn’t playing some games, Ellis went down with a injury, wewere a talented team if Taquan and Francisco were seniors then thisseason would have been different. You can’t count on freshmencoming in and playing the way they played but they did, they stepup. I definitely think we overachieved. We accomplished a lot ofthings from now on I am sure U of L will be raked in the top tenevery year.”

The Cards finish the season with a 26-7 record.