Basketball looking past early competition, preparing for UNLV

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team has won the opening six home games in the new home arena. The Cardinals have succeeded in gaining a double-digit margin over each opponent, giving the Cardinal faithful plenty to be excited about as the season inches closer to conference play.

Though the team is achieving higher than projected in the preseason, head coach Rick Pitino has been quick to acknowledge that the level of competition they have seen is nowhere near what they will face come January in the Big East, not to mention the annual matchup against the University of Kentucky on New Year’s Eve. Some have raised the question of how the Cardinals will look against a more evenly matched adversary.

There was a good deal of promise shown in the season-opening win against Butler University. Knocking off the then 17th-ranked Bulldogs in a commanding fashion certainly gained the respect of some critics. And the confidence gained by the young squad has been noticeable in the winning streak that has followed.

Although Pitino has pointed out that the team has not faced much of a challenge, he promises that his men will be tested before January. And the first test will come against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Dec. 11.

“We know what lies ahead of us, in terms of competition,” said Pitino.  “These teams are good teams. We know what lies ahead next Saturday [Dec. 11] in terms of a basketball team that, maybe outside of Duke, might be the best team I’ve watched this year.”

Pitino said he was proud of his players’ intensity in practice, believing they have been acting much like coaches.

“These guys are playing extremely hard,” said Pitino.  “They are disappointed by the same things that the coaches are. They want to do the right things defensively. They want to do the right things offensively. And they want to share the basketball. So you have a group of guys out there acting like coaches, which is the first time in a long time that I’ve seen that.”

The players seem to have bought into their coach’s system and are confident about the value of practice in preparing for the challenges to come.

“We practice hard to play hard,” said junior guard Chris Smith. “And if we got knocked down, we pick each other right up. This team is really a big family. We all want to be better and make each other better. And the only way to do that is to practice as hard as we can.”

This collective learning initiative seems to be the key to how the Cards are preparing for conference play. The sentiment is felt among many on the team. Junior forward Terrence Jennings echoed Smith’s statements.

“We’re trying to work together and play hard, focusing on our scouting report and everybody coming together as a team,” said Jennings.  “These are all my guys. And we are going to be ready.”

Sophomore forward Stephan Van Treese, an example of the drive to improve, a theme that defines this year’s squad, has benefited from the less-challenging schedule. This has given a good deal of minutes to players who would not usually have gained such experience, a factor that should pay dividends toward the depth of the Cardinal bench. Van Treese shares his teammates’ enthusiasm about getting down to the thick of the season, but is reluctant to look too far into the future.

“We are trying not to look ahead too much,” said Van Treese.  “We have to focus on getting better every day and fixing what we need to fix. Everyone knows that we have a tough Big East schedule. And we are doing everything we can to get ready.”