By Chris O’Grady

Before the University of Louisville men’s basketball team’s final game at its storied home, the team had won 681 times and served as the home court for a host of legends. Many of these legends were in attendance, helping to make March 6, 2010 a date that will remain in the memories of the record crowd of 20,135 red-clad Louisville faithful—although a handful of Syracuse University fans slipped in.
As with any farewell, you want to send off the beloved arena with joy, namely a win. But the Cardinals were faced with an awfully tall task in this one, drawing the No. 1 team in the nation, in Syracuse, who had only lost to one other team all season. The pressure of a proper goodbye was coupled with the scores of former players who came to speak, including DeJuan Wheat, Junior Bridgeman, “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison, former coach Denny Crum, and the face of Cardinal basketball—Darrell Griffith.
Head coach Rick Pitino admitted that, for the first time in his coaching career, he felt the pressure. This is pretty impressive, considering he took over as a head coach for the first time in 1978 at Boston University, as a mere 25-year-old. But with the host of tributes, speeches and reminiscing of great moments in Cardinal basketball, Pitino’s fear likely crossed the mind of many in attendance: What if we lose?
It seemed that everyone who showed up came determined not to allow that to happen, including Syracuse star, senior guard Andy Rautins. The Cardinals clearly benefitted from a crowd that arrived early and remained firmly in place until Crum gave the final words from Cardinal basketball in Freedom Hall. The Cardinal shooters went crazy, shooting a ridiculous 40 times from the land of three. Never mind that only 12 of those found net, even sometimes timid shooters let it fly to the held breath of 20,000-plus fans.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim insisted he knew sophomore guard Kyle Kuric had it in him to break out with a 22 point performance. But for those of us without the superhuman gift of foresight, Kuric’s breakout day was like finding $20 on the street – a nice surprise. With a relatively quiet night from top scorer sophomore forward Samardo Samuels, the Cards needed someone to come through for them. But if you picked Kuric to be the star, you are like the Marines – the few and the proud.
With the definition of a signature win, U of L proved their dominance of the top-ranked Orange this season, previously winning 66-60 on Feb. 14 in the Carrier Dome. Everyone coming to the floor brought their best, as freshman guard Peyton Siva knocked down a crucial second-half 3-pointer in relief of senior guard Edgar Sosa, sophomore forward Jared Swopshire scored 10 points including a highlight reel put-back of a Sosa miss, and sophomore forward Terrence Jennings got the crowd out of their seats early with a pair of strong dunks. With emotions running wild, Sosa, in his final moments on Denny Crum Court, took a tour of the crowd, inviting them to rush the court in celebration.
But Sosa missed a few important keys to the success of a court-storming operation, most notably the design at Freedom Hall. Perhaps the architects feared the chaos of such anarchy on the court. Or maybe the designs were put in place before the rush became popular. Either way, good luck getting to the court from the student section. It’s possible that many of the dedicated Cardinal fans of 50-plus years could have made it there and intended to meet Sosa’s request, lifting him from their shoulders. But they likely would have arrived at mid-court just in time for the final note of “My Old Kentucky Home.” The operation also received no help from security personnel, who, in order to assure the safety of the post-game proceedings, kept all but a handful of the most determined from getting to the court to greet Sosa with unrestrained jubilation.
As the role of Freedom Hall transitions from glorious home to one of the nation’s most legendary programs to a host for tractor pulls and beef conventions, Cardinal basketball seized the pressure and the moment to forever imprint one last Freedom Hall memory. Surely the history books will tell, but Freedom Hall’s last hurrah may have been its greatest.   

Chris is a freshman history major. E-mail him at
sports@louisvillecardinal.com