I made a winter holiday songs mix for a buddy for traveling, but she couldn’t get the download to work. But other people could, so who knows. I listen to Christmas music for 8 hours most days but somehow still love to listen to these songs.
- Born Again Pagan - Chris Hatfield
- When the First Snow Comes - Chad Serhal
- The Christians and The Pagans - Dar Williams
- Airstream - Timothy Monger
- All I Want for Christmas is You - My Chemical Romance
- Here it is - Over the Rhine
- Happy New Year - Love Axe
- Please be Patient - Feist
- It’s Almost Christmas! - Chris Garneau
- Christmas TV - Slow Club
- It’s Christmas so We’ll Stop - Frightened Rabbit
- Coffee Slinger’s Christmas - Harley Poe
- Fairytale of New York - The Pogues
- A Snowflake Fell (And it Felt like a Kiss) - Glasvegas
- Auld Lang Syne - Chris Bathgate
- Figure 8 - Elliott Smith
QUICK THOUGHTS: Making the Case for Louisville as Pre-Season #1:
It’s no secret that Rick Pitino has got it going once again at Louisville. The Cardinals will come into the 2014 College Basketball season as the defending National Champions, and also with a proven product. The Cardinals will return 3 players who have been on Back-to-Back Final Four teams and played critical minutes in both, in Wanye Blackshear, Chane Behanan, & Russ Smith.
No other team in the Country can say that.
No other team in the Country can say they have the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player returning…and coming off the bench in Luke Hancock.
Not to mention, the Cardinals return over 75% of their scoring of a National Championship.
While the Cardinals lose glue guys in Gorgui Dieng and Peyton Siva, they replace them nicely. Taking over in the 5 spot for Gorgui Dieng, will most likely be Sophomore Montrezl Harrell. Harrell has shown nothing but promise in his short time at Louisville. Some mock drafts already have him going in the Top 15 of next year’s draft, as he appears to be poised for a monster season. As for Peyton Siva, replacing him will be quite the challenge. Siva was the undisputed leader of the 2013 Cardinals and a proverbial glue-guy. However, the Cardinals will look to replace him with JUCO Player of the Year and Freshman Chris Jones. Jones certainly has the pre-requisites to be a superstar at Louisville. A prolific scorer in High School, and a guy who has won two National Player of the Year awards at the JUCO level.
Many will cite Peyton Siva’s absence as reasoning for having the Cardinals out of the #1 spot. However, for a Country that seems all but resigned to the fact that the Kentucky Wildcats, will win the 2014 National Championship with a group of Freshman; I find it strange that they can trust 1 at Louisville.
What to Watch: Oregon vs Louisville
It’s been a turning, twisting road for the 2013 Louisville Basketball team. A group full of youth and old, loud and quiet, confident and humble…they’ve had their ups and downs. They’ve went through strides of three straight losses — where people started to doubt if they would be what others expected in the pre-season — but then they’ve had the highs- a Big East Championship, a Number 1 overall seed.
All of this, has led to one destination…Indianapolis, the place where the Cardinals will fight for the right to get to the Final Four; and subsequently, have a chance to cap off one of the best season’s in Cardinal History. First things first, Louisville has a date with the (underseeded) Pac-12 Champion Oregon Ducks. Let’s take a look at the 2 biggest Keys for the Cardinals to win Friday night and advance to the Elite Eight.
Make Oregon Be Oregon
Out of all the teams left in the NCAA Tournament, the Oregon Ducks commit the most turnovers, at just over 14 per game. Out of all the teams left in the NCAA Tournament, the Louisville Cardinals force the most turnovers, averaging 11.2 steals per game (ranks 2nd Nationally). Seems to spell doom for the Ducks, right? Add in the fact that Oregon starts a Freshman PG, who has never been been on this stage before, and things get downright scary for the Ducks.
Louisville needs to force Oregon into doing with they’re accustomed to doing — committing turnovers. The bonus for Louisville? The Cardinals are coming off two of their best defensive performances to date.
In the 1st round opener, the Cardinals had an NCAA Tournament Record 20 steals against North Carolina A&T. Impressively enough, the Cardinals followed that up in the second round with 18 steals against Colorado State. Even more impressive? The Rams only averaged 11 turnovers per game, ranking them near the top in America at taking care of the ball. Needless to say, the Cardinals have taken it up another level, so to speak.
I think we’ll see this high production defensive trend here. The challenge for Louisville will be sitting up their press against a team, which gets the ball out of the net and up court quickly. The Cardinals will have to execute steals in the half-court and I think they will.
What They Say:
“The speed of the way they take the ball out, the speed of their guards, it’s going to be a very difficult challenge to get into [our] press. They’re like a North Carolina the way they get it out of the net and advance it up the floor. A few years back we had trouble getting into our press against North Carolina.” –Head Coach Rick Pitino
Guard the 3:
The great equalizer — as Head Coach Rick Pitino will tell you — is the three point shot. How does a team with less talent beat a team with more talent? Knock down the 3 point shot.
We’ve already seen it in this tournament thus far. When number 8 seed Wichita State knocked off Gonzaga, they knocked down an irregular 14 three pointers. 14. When 15 seed Norfolk State knocked out 2 seed Missouri in 2010, they knocked down 10 three pointers. Oregon will need to do this Friday night; Louisville will need to stop them.
Main Deep Threat
Forward E.J Singler, shoots 36.2% (highest percentage on team) from beyond the arc, averages 1.5 made 3 pointers per game.
The key match-up here will be Wanye Blackshear against Singler. Physically they are nearly equal, but Singler can be deceptively quick. Blackshear will need to be sure to stay in front of Singler, especially on the perimeter.
Louisville will need to focus extra attention on Singler along with Damyean Dotson (33%) and Carlos Emory (32%). While Guards Dotson and Emory have been successful at knocking down the 3, it’s less of a concern for Louisville. The backcourt of Siva & Smith has been one of the fastest in the Country all year, and gives them less chance at open looks. The main concern for Louisville Friday, will be E.J Singler’s ability to find open looks, Louisville must avoid that.
TIME & NETWORK: Approx. 7:15 PM (EST)
LOCATION: Indianapolis, IN
VEGAS LINE: Louisville -10 over Oregon
PREDICTION: Louisville 84, Oregon 67. Oregon will try to run with the Cards and for a half…they’ll succeed. Eventually though, Louisville’s constant pressure will wear the Ducks down in the 2nd half. Louisville goes away easily late, but the final score is not indicative of how close the game actually was.
—Chris Hatfield
