CardinalSports.com - Cards open preseason against Georgetown

October 28, 2009

Matt Willinger
CardinalSports.com Staff Writer

Georgetown v. Louisville
Wednesday, Oct. 28
7:07 p.m. ET
Crum Court / Freedom Hall (18,865)
Louisville, Ky. (669-137 all-time in FH)
WHAS (Ch. 11 in Louisville)
TV: WHAS/Cardinal TV
Radio: WKRD (790 AM, 101.7 FM)

Game Look
Louisville will play its first game of the 2009-10 season against outside competition as the Cardinals face Georgetown College in an exhibition game on Wednesday in Freedom Hall. Georgetown posted a 27-5 record last season and was ranked 10th in the final NAIA poll. The Tigers, which have three starters who hail from the city of Louisville, won their opener 115-47 over Temple Baptist on Oct. 22.

Georgetown - Projected Starters

No.	Player	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	Pts.	Rb.
12	Vic Moses	F	6-6	255	So.	20.0	12.0
34	Vincent Crutcher	F	6-4	231	Jr.	8.0	3.0
44	Maurice Pearson	C	6-9	226	So.	12.0	15.0
4	Johonne Hamilton	G	6-1	185	So.	13.0	3.0
32	Kyle Saxton	G	6-4	210	Sr.	14.0	4.0

RESERVES: Eddie Gray, JR, PG, 5-7; Matt Walls, JR, G, 6-3; Dillon Boggs, JR, G, 6-0; Ben Bowling, JR, G, 6-3; Teshawn Byron, SO, G/F, 6-5; Abe Kpaka, SR, G, 6-4;Jamel Ferguson, SR, G/F, 6-4; Vincent Crutcher, JR, F, 6-4; Shawn Outen, JR, F, 6-7

HEAD COACH: Happy Osborne (Morehead St. '80) 399-72 in 14th yr. at Georgetown and overall.

University of Louisville - Projected Starters

No.	Player	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	Pts.	Rb.
12	Reginald Delk	F	6-5	205	Sr.	1.6	0.6
21	Jared Swopshire	F	6-8	205	So.	1.4	1.1
24	Samardo Samuels	C	6-9	260	So.	11.8	4.9
33	Edgar Sosa	G	6-2	175	Sr.	7.3	1.4
34	Jerry Smith	G	6-2	190	Sr.	7.8	2.1

RESERVES: Chris Brickley, G, 6-4, Sr.; Rakeem Buckles; F; 6-8; Fr.; George Goode, F, 6-8, So; Terrence Jennings, F, 6-9, So.; Preston Knowles, G, 6-1, Jr.; Kyle Kuric, G, 6-4, So.; Mike Marra, G, 6-4, Fr.; Peyton Siva, G, 5-11, Fr.; Stephan Van Treese, F, 6-9, Fr.

HEAD COACH: Rick Pitino 200-73 in 8th year at Louisville and 552-197 overall

About Georgetown
Louisville will play its first game of the 2009-10 season against outside competition as the Cardinals face Georgetown College in an exhibition game on Wednesday. Georgetown posted a 27-5 record last season and was ranked 10th in the final NAIA poll. The Tigers won their opener 115-47 over Temple Baptist on Oct. 22 as Vic Moses led six players in double figures with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Georgetown shot 60.7 percent from the field in that game while limiting Temple Baptist to 19.4 percent accuracy. The win put Georgetown Coach Happy Osborne one victory shy of 400 for his career.

Last Season vs. Georgetown
Samardo Samuels scored 20 points, hitting 14-of-21 free throws to lead the Cardinals to a 74-67 victory over Georgetown in an exhibition game last season (11/1/08). Jared Swopshire added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for Louisville, which was outrebounded 46-37 in the game. There were 11 ties and 10 lead changes in the game. The Tigers pulled within two points with 41 seconds remaining, but U of L scored the last seven points at the free throw line to close out the game.

Card File
Samardo Samuels was named to the FoxSports.com preseason All- America fifth team, ranking him among the nation's top 25 players ... The game time for the Cardinals' Nov. 21 season opener against East Tennessee State will be set after U of L's football game at USF on that same date is scheduled. ESPN will make its selection for the football game 6-13 days prior to Nov. 21, and the men's basketball game time will be played at 1 or 4 p.m. to not conflict with the football game ... The Cardinals' have 18 national television appearances this season, including its last eight regular season games and 12 of its last 14.

Successful Season in '08-09
Bolstered by winning both the BIG EAST Conference regular season and tournament championships, Louisville earned a No. 1 seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and the No. 1 seed overall for the tournament. The Cardinals reached the Elite Eight for the second straight year. Louisville attained the No. 1 ranking in the final Associated Press poll of the season, the first AP No. 1 ranking ever for the Cardinals. The Cardinals also became the No. 1 team in the nation in the ESPN/ USA Today poll on March 15. Louisville's only previous time at No. 1 in the coaches poll was when it opened the 1986-87 season as the top team in the UPI poll. Louisville claimed its first BIG EAST Conference Championship of the regular season with a record 16-2 league mark in its fourth season competing in the BIG EAST. It was the Cardinals' 20th conference championship and first since U of L won the 2005 Conference USA title in its final season in that league. Louisville had finished second in the BIG EAST the previous two years (2007, 2008). UofL also won its first BIG EAST Conference Tournament Championship, its 16th conference tournament title.

Series vs. Georgetown College

Louisville has a 54-19 all-time record against Georgetown College, with the Cardinals winning the last 14 straight games (all in Freedom Hall). Those figures include the last three year's exhibition contests in which U of L won all three.

Until the exhibition game in 2006, the teams had last met in 1972 in the second game of the season in which the Cardinals finished with a 23-7 record.

Georgetown was the Cardinals' season opener seven straight seasons from 1962-68.

Louisville won the first meeting 41-22 on Feb. 17, 1916, the Cardinals' fifth season in its hoop history. It was U of L's first winning season (8-3).

The Cards have topped the century mark against Georgetown on five occasions.

Red-White Scrimmages
The Cardinals have played a pair of preseason scrimmages, including one before a crowd of 10,247 in Freedom Hall. On Oct. 22, Samardo Samuels scored 26 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and handed out five assists to lead the Red team to a 103-94 victory. Jared Swopshire led the Red team in scoring with 28 points, while Mike Marra added 25. Marra connected on 7-of-14 three-point
goals in the first half in leading the Red team with 23 points at the intermission.

Preston Knowles scored a game-high 32 points to lead the White squad. Knowles hit 9-of-11 shots in the first half, leading all scorers with 25 at the break. Five other members of the White team scored in double figures, including Kyle Kuric's 18 points and team-high 10 rebounds. Preston Knowles and Peyton Siva each scored 21 points to lead the White team to a 93-89 come-from-behind victory on Oct. 25 at Freedom Hall. Knowles added eight assists and Siva handed out seven as the White team overcame a 50-35 halftime
deficit by shooting 66.7 percent from the floor in the second half (22-of-33).

Freshman forward Rakeem Buckles scored 17 points, grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and had a game-high five steals for the White. Edgar Sosa, who hit 6-of-9 three-point goals, paced the Red team with 25 points while Samardo Samuels added 20 points and 13 rebounds. Mike Marra hit 4-of-7 three point goals and scored 14 for the Red team

Schedule
Nineteen of the Cardinals' 31 games will be played against teams that reached post-season competition last season, including a dozen in the NCAA Tournament. Six of the Cardinals' 13 non-conference opponents competed in post-season tournaments last season and the group collectively won an average of nearly 20 games (254-190 combined record, .572 winning percentage). Six BIG EAST teams have been included among the nation's top 25 teams in early rankings.

Cards Chosen Fourth in BIG EAST Preseason Poll
U of L was chosen to finish fourth in the 2009-10 BIG EAST Conference in a preseason poll of league coaches. Cardinal sophomore forward Samardo Samuels was selected to the preseason all-conference second team. In league play, each school will play 18 games, playing three teams twice. The Cards'
three mirror games are against Connecticut, St. John's and Syracuse.

Pitino's Fifth 30 Win Season
U of L Coach Rick Pitino has produced the fifth 30-game winning team of his collegiate career, ranking as the fifth best all time. He has coached two of the Cardinals' five 30-win seasons, also attaining that
mark when he guided U of L's 2005 NCAA Final Four team to a 33-5 mark. The most games a Pitino-coached team has won was his 1997 NCAA Runner-up team at Kentucky, which produced a 35-5 record. This year is the fifth time a Pitino-coached team has earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament (one at U of L, four at Kentucky). Pitino received the 2009 Adolph Rupp Cup as the national coach of the year, an award presented annually by the Commonwealth Athletic Club. Pitino is a perfect 9-0 in his career in NCAA
regional semifinal games.

Louisville, LSU Special Accomplishment
Louisville and LSU are the only two schools in the nation over the last five years which have reached each of the men's and women's Final Four, a BCS bowl game and the College World Series. Louisville has been in the 2009 Women's Final Four, 2005 Men's Final Four, 2007 Orange Bowl and 2007 College World Series. LSU participated in the 2005, 2006 and 2008 Women's Final Fours, 2006 Men's Final Four, 2007 Sugar Bowl and 2008 BCS National Championship Game (Sugar Bowl); and 2008and 2009 College World Series. U of L's women's basketball team reached the NCAA Championship game in 2009.

11th NCAA Elite Eight
U of L reached the final eight teams of the NCAA Tournament for the 11th occasion in 2008-09. Louisville has an 8-3 record in regional championship games. The Cardinals are 5-2 when playing as a No. 1 seed. Louisville is 38-7 in NCAA Tournament play when the Cards are the higher seed. U of L Coach Rick Pitino is 30-5 when his team is the higher seed.

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