Ray Allen isn’t going to email this story to his former Connecticut teammates. Terrence Williams won’t retweet it to the University of Louisville basketball universe.
Look at which two Big East powers have been downgraded to Seton Hall’s neighborhood:
Rick Pitino’s Louisville team, tied for eighth in a preseason vote of league coaches and ranked as low as 10th in one preseason magazine. And Jim Calhoun’s Connecticut program, 10th in the coaches’ vote and no higher than seventh in the magazines.
Two seasons ago, both were No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeds. Today, neither sits within sniffing distance of the Top 25.
“I don’t blame you for saying that because that’s what it looks like,” Calhoun said. “I don’t think that’s what it is, but that’s what it looks like. We’re the most unknown team in the league.
“Right now, you’re saying we’re not going to make the NCAA Tournament . . . or maybe they can qualify for the NIT. I think we can do more than that.”
Said Pitino: “I didn’t know where we would be ranked. Humility is a great measuring stick to helping one reach their potential. These guys are very humble right now.”
Try first-team All-Humble. The Big East coaches picked Louisville one spot behind Notre Dame and two behind St. John’s, Pitino’s pick to win the league. Since joining the league in 2005, the Cardinals have never finished behind the Irish.
And a season after Calhoun’s Huskies missed the NCAA Tournament and lost 11 of 18 league games, their program features one player (guard Kemba Walker) who averaged more than five points last season -- and likely NCAA probation.
The Huskies met with the NCAA Infractions Committee last week and have already self-imposed sanctions by cutting a scholarship and reducing recruiting calls. Calhoun devoted a healthy chunk of his time at Big East media day arguing that he was not a cheater.
But 10th place? Really? Is that accurate?
“Yeah,” Walker said. “I think 10th is a good spot for us.
“You got to go out there and just play basketball and win games and show people that we are actually good. You can’t be mad at it.”
Mad? No. Curious about what has happened to these two programs since March of 2009? Absolutely.
Louisville was the overall top 2009 NCAA Tournament seed, edging UConn and eventual national champion North Carolina.
Then the Cardinals got whacked by Michigan State in the Midwest Regional final, and the Huskies were toppled by the Spartans at the Final Four.
Since then, both programs have lost more than a combined 29 of 67 games. They have lost their national sizzle.
At Louisville, it began with the scandal stirred by Pitino’s admitted sexual encounter with Karen Sypher, the ex-wife of his then equipment manager. Although Sypher was convicted on six criminal counts, including three for extortion, in federal court last August, the trial and surrounding tabloid headlines have drained the mojo from a program that made back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2008 and '09.
Louisville finished last season with the worst first-round NCAA Tournament loss of Pitino’s career.
Samardo Samuels, the team’s top scorer and rebounder, bolted to the NBA a year before Pitino expected. At least two members of an ordinary 2010 recruiting class failed to qualify academically.
Word leaked Wednesday that Pitino even plans to take a one-year break from his weekly television show because he’s tired of the format. Pitino is billing 2010-11 as a “bridge season,” and skeptics are supplying their own punch lines.
For the Cardinals, the biggest star of this season figures to be their new address. The program has left Freedom Hall for a $238 million downtown arena tucked against the Ohio River. Louisville will play its first game in the KFC Yum! Center on Nov. 16 when national runner-up Butler visits.
Without any returning players who averaged better than 7.5 points or 6.1 rebounds, Pitino says his team must run, run, run. In fact, the Cards have been scrimmaging with the 24-second NBA shot clock.
“We’re going to be playing a lot faster,” said Peyton Siva, a sophomore who is replacing Edgar Sosa at point guard. “This year it’s like a big emphasis. We’ve just been running all day in practice.”
Hasn’t Pitino promised an upgraded running, pressing game before?
“I really feel like he’s sticking to his word,” Siva said.
Siva didn’t name any names, but he said winning wasn’t the only thing on the minds of some departed teammates. Interesting. Siva’s message was similar to one that Donnell Beverly, a senior guard, delivered about a Huskies team that lost five of its last six games last season.
“There was a lot going on,” Beverly said. “Some guys missing workouts. Whoever it may be, missing class. Anything like that affects a team. Now we’re on the same page. We’ll be good.”
Big East coaches do not agree. Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon and Allen aren’t walking through that door. Calhoun extolled the leadership that Walker and Beverly have provided, but Beverly averaged 1.6 points last season. As many as three freshmen could start.
“How do you judge the unknown?” Calhoun said. “How do you judge something you’ve never seen before?”
Coaches in the Big East have judged it. Louisville and Connecticut are not the Big East programs to fear this winter.
