CHANE BEHANAN SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY

Chane Behanan has been suspended indefinitely by the University of Louisville. Coach Pitino gave a press conference yesterday to discuss Chane's suspension. In his opening statement he gave very little detail as to exactly what it was that Chane was suspended for, but he led you to think that it must be pretty serious and an ongoing problem. To make matters worse, Coach P said he and Tom Jurich had laid out a plan for Chane to be able to return to the team, and Chane has already "missed the first assignment" not even a week after it went into effect. Coach P kept reiterating that it was possible but not very probable for Chane to return to the team. Chane could return as early as December although Coach didn't seem too enthused at the possibility.  (Video of the press conference in its entirety HERE)

I know that there isn't really much positive to take away from this situation, but I'm an optimist. I try to see the bright side or best case scenario to every situation. So here is my best case scenario for this situation:

Storybook Ending

Chane is suspended indefinitely. This leaves a huge gap in our rotation.  Montrezl Harrell will start the four position, Wayne Blackshear will be Harrell's backup. This also opens up a lot of playing time for freshman Akoy Agau and forces him to develop without putting too much pressure on him. Our backcourt is still the best in the nation and we win all of our games handily. Chane gets his act together and comes back for the Kentucky game more focused and determined than ever. The Cards play inspired basketball the rest of the season, rally off 10+ in a row, win the conference and repeat for the national championship.

Upcoming Weekend Huge For Louisville Basketball

Montrezl Harrel has become one of the hottest recruits in the nation over the past month. His short list  consists of Louisville, Florida, Alabama, and Cincinnati.

Louisville has a huge weekend ahead. We will be hosting several recruits on their official visits, including one of the nations hottest remaining recruits from the class of 2012, Montrezl Harrell. Harrell was originally committed to Virginia Tech but was released from his letter of intent after head coach Seth Greenburg was fired. Also visiting with Harrell will be Virginia Tech transfer Dorian Finney-Smith.

The Cards are also hosting two of the top players from the class of 2014 this weekend. AAU teammates Keita Bates-Diop and Malek Harris will be on campus making this a very busy weekend for the Louisviille coaching staff.

Coach Pitino and his staff have been trying to make room on the roster for Harrell and Finney-Smith and also have been hitting the recruiting trial hard to secure the future of Louisville basketball.

Injuries Continue to Plague UofL

Injuries continue to plague UofL even in the offseason. In his press conference introducing Kareem Richardson as the new assistant coach and Doug Davenport as the new video coordinator today, Coach Pitino dropped a bomb on #CardNation. Transfer and co-captain of the 2012-2013 Cards, Luke Hancock has suffered a shoulder injury and will require surgery. The injury is on his shooting shoulder but he will be 100% by the start of the season. No details on exactly what kind of shoulder injury it is, but hopefully it is nothing like that of Wayne Blackshear.

Unfortunately Hancock isn't the only Cardinal who has suffered an injury lately. Apparently Gorgui Dieng suffered a concussion during the Kentucky game in the Final Four. It was not discovered until after the game. No worries however, because he has already been cleared to play.

Hopefully (however unlikely) these are the only injuries we suffer this year. We all know how bad injuries have been over the past two seasons. The Cards have high expectations this season and we will need every piece to follow through with our Championship aspirations.

Kareem Richardson Introduced as New Basketball Assistant

The Louisville men's basketball program has a new addition. Coach Rick Pitino introduced Kareem Richardson in a press conference today as Louisville's newest assistant coach. Richardson spent last season at Xavier and the previous three years at Drake as the assistant head coach. He replaces Richard Pitino as the recruiting coordinator. Richardson is young, motivated, and has a track record that qualifies him for the position.

Pitino said he almost hired Richardson last year for the same position. While he was considering him for the job last year, Pitino called seniors at Drake to get a feel for Richardson. He was blown away by the feedback he received. The players loved him and had nothing but positive things to say. Pitino gave high praise on Richardson's "knowledge of the game" and his hard work on the recruiting trail is exactly what we need.  The amount of time Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan will be at UofL is uncertain, and we will be on the recruiting trail extremely hard to replace those two monsters in the paint.

Louisville Finishes Season No. 4 In Coach's Poll

After their amazing run, the Louisville Cardinals finished the season as the number four team in the nation. They were ranked no. 18 in the previous poll. The Cards finished fourth behind Kentucky, Kansas, and Ohio State and made the biggest jump in the rankings of the four. Louisville finished the season with a 30-10 record. Several early polls for next year have them ranked in the top 5, some as high as number 1. Dick Vitale posted this tweet announcing his pre-season picks for next year.

UofL Releases 2012 Football Schedule

The Louisville football team released its schedule for the upcoming 2012 season. The Cardinals will host seven games this season including the season opener against arch rival Kentucky on September 1st. The next two games are also at home versus Missouri State on September 8th and North Carolina on September 15th. The schedule includes three nationally televised games including the game against a solid North Carolina team, rival Cincinnati, and the regular season finale at Rutgers.

2012 University of Louisville Football Schedule
Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Sept. 1	KENTUCKY	TBA	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Sept. 8	MISSOURI STATE	TBA	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Sept. 15	NORTH CAROLINA (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)	TBA	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Sept. 22	at FIU	TBA	Miami, Fla.
Sept. 29	at Southern Miss	TBA	Hattiesburg, Miss.
Oct. 6	OPEN
Oct. 13	at Pittsburgh*	TBA	Pittsburgh, Pa.
Oct. 20	USF*	TBA	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Oct. 26 (Fri)	CINCINNATI* (ESPN/ESPN2)	8:00 p.m.	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Nov. 3	TEMPLE*	TBA	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Nov. 10	at Syracuse*	TBA	Syracuse, N.Y.
Nov. 17	OPEN
Nov. 24	CONNECTICUT*	TBA	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Nov 29 (Thur.)	at Rutgers* (ESPN)	7:30 p.m.	Piscataway, N.J.
* denotes BIG EAST Conference game

I don't know about you, but I'm counting down the day until September 1st! CardNation is CardStrong! Let's win the BIG EAST Championship and get our BCS Bowl!

Card Fans Have Nothing to be Upset About

Although we didn't bring home the championship trophy like we wanted, #CardNation still has a lot to be proud of. We "shocked the world" by making it to the Final Four. But not only did we make it to the Final Four, we challenged the #1 team in the nation and gave them a run for their money. I was very pleased with the turnout of Louisville fans in New Orleans. We represented the right way and earned our respect.

And it only gets better! I feel as if the program may have turned a corner in becoming a true national powerhouse. We bring back an entire Final Four team with the exception of Chris Smith and Kyle Kuric. We add transfer Luke Hancock to the team, we return an excellent shooter from injury in Mike Marra, and we also add a freshman PG in Terry Rozier. It may be a little early to look ahead to next season, but the sky is the limit for the 2012-13 Cards.

Keep those L's up Cards fans and put some shades on because the future is BRIGHT!