“Hello, how are you? Have you been alright, through all those lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely nights?”

Penned by Jeff Lynne for his Electric Light Orchestra’s 1977 hit single “Telephone Line,” these lyrics may as well have been scribed to depict Card Nation the past several days as we anxiously awaited news of Charlie Strong; with nary a basketball game to distract us, and only word of players declaring for the NFL draft, choosing to return for their final year, or Chane Behanan’s next move. Not the most pleasant of weeks, and as of the early hours Saturday, it seems the dreaded once hypothetical outcome is now in fact the reality, as ESPN reports that Coach Strong will accept Texas’ offer to become their new head football coach.

But alas, the show must go on, and the defending national champion and 14th ranked Cardinals 12-2 (1-0) return to hardwood tonight in the finale of their four game road trip, as they take on the 7-7 (1-0) Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The 6 pm tipoff, broadcasted on the CBS Sports Network (Time Warner channel 968), features the first of two regular season match-ups for these teams prior to their departure from the AAC for greener pastures. However, The Big 10 may want to rethink their addition of Rutgers as earlier this season the Louis Brown Athletic Center, site of tonight’s contest, was occupied by a mere 466 fans that bore (and bore being they key word) witness as Rutgers fell to Fairleigh Dickinson, 73-72. That’s not a typo either. Fewer than 500 people occupied an 8,000 seat gym for a regular season game on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in Piscataway, New Jersey. What else did people have going on that evening?

Replacing fired head coach and apparent dodge ball enthusiast Mike Rice, Eddie Jordan has inherited a perennial cellar-dwelling program that last saw a winning season in 2006 and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1991. Jordan, who played his college ball at Rutgers (but never graduated as the school claimed in his introductory press conference…oops), went on to play in the NBA and later served as head coach of the 76ers, Wizards, and Kings, has had a trying year in his return to the college ranks. Sitting at .500, the Scarlet Knights sport losses to aforementioned Fairleigh Dickinson (ranked 349 of 351 D1 teams by Ken Pomeroy), UAB, Drexel, William and Mary (who I’m told is a full team and not just two people…is this thing on?!), George Washington, Seton Hall, and Princeton. To make matters worse for the first year Scarlet Knight’s head coach, his starting point guard, Jerome Seagears will not suit up tonight. The junior, who suffered a sprained ankle and was forced to miss Rutgers’ most recent game, a 71-66 New Years Day home win over Temple, and was also unable to go through practice Thursday, had been averaging 9.5 points and 4.2 assists each game. The medical staff believes he will be back on the bench and ready to play next weekend at Cincinnati.

However, Rutgers will still have available its three leading scorers, and according to Coach Pitino, the squad executes the high pick and roll extremely effectively, which could present issues for the Cards’ defense as the new rules make it difficult to guard; not to mention much improvement is still needed on that side of the ball. With Seagears out, Myles Mack will see increased minutes running point as he attempts to blend that role into his more typical 2-guard position. The junior from Paterson, NJ shoulders the team with an average 16.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.1 steals per game, while shooting 39% from 3-point range. Mack is supported by man-in-the-middle, Kadeem Jack. A fellow junior, Jack is averaging 14.3 points, 7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks and also paced the Scarlet Knights with 18 points vs. Temple. Finally, one other player to be mindful of is senior forward J.J. Moore who contributes better than 12 points a game.

Depth and top-end talent are serious issues for this Scarlet Knight team, though. Look for the Cards to handily beat the 17 point spread before making their much anticipated return home to The Ville for next Thursday’s battle with the 18th ranked Memphis Tigers…and that phone will just have to “ring a little longer, longer, longer” before Rutgers ends its seven game losing streak to the Cards.

Side Notes:

  • The Cards are 11-1 all-time vs. Rutgers. The previous meeting was a 68-48 Cards road win last February 6.
  • Rutgers’ only victory over the Cards took place during UofL’s first season in the Big East, and saw the Scarlet Knights prevail 65-56 in Piscataway on January 28, 2006.
  • Russ is 21 points away from scoring 1,500 as a Card.
  • The Cards recorded 28 assists in their win over UCF, their most in a game since tallying 29 in a November 2010 triumph over Chattanooga.
  • Think it was all just a big misunderstanding in that Mike Rice simply didn’t tell his players practice was on-hold for a big game of dodge ball meets kickboxing/tag? Yeah, me neither.
  • Rutgers has lost 8 straight games to ranked opponents, and 13 of their last 14, since defeating 24th ranked Pittsburgh last January.
  • The Cards’ .740 winning percentage (310-111) ranks 9th strongest in D1 college basketball over the past 13 seasons. Kansas tops the list at .834.
  • “Telephone Line” was revived by Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi in this classic scene from “Billy Madison.” – “Man, I’m glad I called that guy.”
  • At +8.2 the Cards lead the nation in turnover margin.
  • Although it seems Charlie is leaving, we should be thankful the football program is a long way away from what it was when this was posted (1:00-1:25 is the best part).
  • Yes, I listen to ELO.

Go Cards, Beat Rutgers!

Louisville Cardinals Season Statistics:

Player

GP

MIN

PPG

RPG

APG

SPG

BPG

TPG

FG%

FT%

3P%

Russ Smith

14

27.2

17.4

2.9

5.2

1.8

0.1

2.5

.451

.678

.345

Chris Jones

13

26.2

13.2

2.5

3.0

1.9

0.1

1.4

.463

.750

.396

Montrezl Harrell

14

24.9

12.2

8.0

1.0

1.1

0.9

1.1

.651

.560

1.000

Wayne Blackshear

14

20.0

9.8

3.0

0.6

1.4

0.6

0.4

.384

.878

.446

Luke Hancock

13

18.4

8.5

1.9

1.4

0.8

0.3

0.8

.341

.864

.281

Chane Behanan

12

18.6

7.6

6.3

1.0

0.9

0.3

1.3

.636

.447

.000

Terry Rozier

14

17.4

6.1

3.3

2.0

0.5

0.1

0.3

.375

.647

.359

Mangok Mathiang

14

17.3

4.7

4.4

0.5

0.1

1.5

0.6

.575

.541

.000

Stephan Van Treese

14

17.5

3.1

4.9

0.4

0.8

1.1

0.5

.731

.667

.000

Tim Henderson

13

6.0

1.9

0.8

0.8

0.4

0.0

0.2

.421

1.000

.412

Anton Gill

12

5.2

1.8

0.9

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.2

.412

.400

.250

Kevin Ware

9

5.9

1.7

0.6

0.3

0.3

0.1

0.7

.375

.500

.000

David Levitch

8

2.6

1.0

0.4

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.1

.333

.500

.400

Akoy Agau

9

4.9

0.2

1.1

0.1

0.0

0.4

0.2

1.000

.000

.000

Totals

14

85

40

16

10

5

10

.476

.653

.362

Rutgers Scarlet Knights Season Statistics:

Player

GP

MIN

PPG

RPG

APG

SPG

BPG

TPG

FG%

FT%

3P%

Myles Mack

14

31.8

16.1

2.9

4.4

2.1

0.2

3.0

.423

.846

.389

Kadeem Jack

13

29.1

14.3

7.0

1.0

0.7

1.5

1.5

.559

.610

1.000

J.J. Moore

14

27.0

12.6

3.9

0.6

0.9

0.4

0.9

.440

.831

.339

Jerome Seagears

13

26.2

9.5

2.8

4.2

0.9

0.2

1.5

.396

.808

.386

Wally Judge

14

23.9

9.1

7.3

0.5

0.3

1.1

1.7

.567

.448

.000

D’Von Campbell

14

21.6

8.0

1.6

2.1

0.6

0.1

0.8

.452

.680

.413

Junior Etou

8

20.5

4.5

4.8

0.9

0.3

1.1

0.8

.361

.643

.083

Craig Brown

11

13.6

3.3

2.2

0.3

0.4

0.3

0.4

.239

.727

.375

Malick Kone

13

12.6

2.6

2.6

0.7

0.2

0.1

0.7

.500

.545

.000

Greg Lewis

14

9.4

1.6

2.2

0.1

0.1

0.4

0.7

.435

.600

.000

Jalen Hyde

3

1.0

0.3

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

.000

1.000

.000

Stephen Zurich

4

2.5

0.3

0.5

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

.000

.500

.000

Kerwin Okoro

2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

.000

.000

.000

Totals

14

77

38

14

6

5

12

.453

.698

.363

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Erich Kline

UofL alumnus, native of The Ville and former Intern for WKRD's “The Early Birds,” known as “Ocho." Past contributor with CardsandCats.com. Sports knowledge and fanaticism runs wide and deep. Follow me on twitter @e_rich19.

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