Dark days, indeed.
The Providence Friars, previously 0-4 in Big East play, dismantled, destroyed, and embarrassed the Louisville Cardinals on Tuesday night - a 31-point drubbing on the night that Rick Pitino's 1987 Final Four team at Providence was honored at halftime. The game was over by halftime, where the Friars held a comfortable 43-25 lead. That 18 point lead would increase to a 31 point win over Louisville.
Providence needed only five points from their bench, as two starters (Kadeem Batts and Bryce Cotton) both went off for 27 apiece; their combined 54 was almost enough to topple the miserable shooting Cards. Louisville shot just under 38% from the floor, 21.1% from distance, and a lame 57.9% from the charity stripe. Compare that to Providence, who torched Louisville for almost 53% from the floor, 60% behind the arc, and an amazing 86.2% on free throws.
Really, who needs a box score? Who even cares when things get this bad? Just how did things get so bad so quickly? With nothing working, Pitino tried about everything, rotating almost everyone into the game looking for a spark - a move that is drawing harsh criticism from Cardinal fans everywhere, the most drastic of which are calling for the embattled coach's job.
As the record now stands, that "soft" four game cushion at the beginning of the Big East schedule in which Louisville would be able to settle into a groove moving foward? 1-2 with a game remaining. At this point, even getting back to 2-2 with a win Saturday over DePaul wouldn't amount to much; a 31-point loss does that to a team's mentality, and particular to a team's fans.
The window for righting the ship is getting extremely narrow with the big boys in conference coming up (including #1 undefeated Syracuse twice). Some players on this squad, who shall remain nameless out of respect (these are still student-athletes, young men at school to get an education while also playing sports), appear on the brink of quitting. The fight is gone from them. Now more than ever, Pitino needs to rally the troops. The answer of "There's always that one game a year you can't explain" isn't going to fly any longer; this team might literally be on just a two game losing streak, but in the grander scheme of things, they are 1 for their last 5. 12-0 seems like a thousand years ago at this point; and after the way 2011 ended (0-2 against Georgetown and Kentucky), Louisville fans would never have thought they'd be longing for 2011 until they witnessed what 2012 has brought (1-2).
If the Cardinals want to play basketball in March (and they don't want it to be in the CBI, much less the NIT), then things need to turn around quickly. The Cardinals, regardless of Saturday's outcome, will undoubtedly begin next week as an unranked team, and will head into the heart of conference play as huge underdogs against Marquette on the road 1/16.
First things first: the Cardinals desperately need a win against lowly DePaul Saturday. It's time to stop licking wounds, and start playing for pride.
Never be only a fair-weather fan. GO CARDS!
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