At the beginning of the season, the Louisville Cardinals were No.3 in the land with Player of the Year candidates Earl Clark and Terrance Williams returning and Preseason Rookie of the Year Samardo Samuels, then after a 2-0 start, the Cards traveled to Nashville,TN where they took on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The spread was large towards UofL with no chance of defeat, but everyone was worried when they walked in to halftime 29-29, they had the right to be worried, as the Cards were embarrassed in the 2nd half by the Toppers as they fell 54-68. They recovered by winning 5 games in a row, then the Cards got set to play another neutral-site game in Arizona, against who? Former UK coach Tubby Smith, who may know Rick Pitino's teams better than anyone, the former Pitino assistant is 5-2 against him. They found a way to just control the cardinals for 40 minutes as they pulled off the upset 64-70. Tubby is now 6-2 against Pitino, the once no.3 Cardinals were stunned as they had a 7-2 record and both losses came on neutral sites, the cards lost to UNLV later on, a score of 55-56, Williams missed a wide-open lay-up at the buzzer, the Cards then decided they were done losing, with a record of 8-3, they won 9 in a row against teams like: Notre Dame in OT, @Villanova, a buzzer beater against arch-rival UK, and an upset of then no.1 Pittsburgh, then with no.1 UConn coming in to town with a 9-game winning streak of their own, the Cards rolled over and died for the Huskies, with seven foot three Hasheem Thabeet altering every shot that came near the goal. They lost 51-68, then two games later they traveled to Notre Dame, a game the Cards wished they could erase from existence. They were blown-out in every way, losing to the Irish by thirty three,
57-90. The cards responded by showing the country how tough they are by winning out the regular season. They won 7 in a row, eventually winning the Big East regular season title in West Virginia
62-59. The Cards used their one seed to their advantage, beating Providence, as they watched UConn and Pitt get upset, they beat Villanova and Syracuse in almost identical games, where they trailed at halftime by 8 and took the lead and never lost it again in the second half. They beat an exhausted Syracuse team who won in overtime games which lasted 6OT's for one, and 1OT for the other. The UofL press stopped Syracuse at a halt, and the Cards took their first Big-East title. The 4 projected 1 seeds all lost early in their conference tournament (UNC,Pitt,UConn, and Michigan St,) Not only clinching the Cards a one seed, but the overall one seed as well. The Cards are no.1 in the polls for the first time in school history, now the only question is, Can anyone stop the Cardinal's Destiny from happening for the third time? My answer, of course not. Go Cards!