U
to Use Extra Scouting for Louisville
The anticipation and determination was
evident in Saul Smith’s words. The Gophers assistant basketball
coach was talking about next Saturday’s game against No. 9 ranked
Louisville in Glendale, Arizona.
Although the Gophers are 9-0, this will be
Minnesota’s first game against a nationally ranked team and only the
second time playing a school from a major conference. But there’s more
to it. Louisville is annually among the royalty of college basketball
and coach Rick Pitino, eight years with Louisville, and before
that coaching teams like Kentucky, the Boston Celtics and New York
Knicks, will one day have the tag "legendary" associated with his name. Pitino won a national championship at Kentucky and then was succeeded
by Saul’s dad Tubby, who won an NCAA title in Lexington. Tubby
was once an assistant coach for Pitino at Kentucky.
No wonder the Gophers figure to be focused
and excited for Saturday’s game which is the first of a doubleheader in
the University of Phoenix Stadium (the Desert Shootout also includes
Arizona State versus Brigham Young). Saul told Sports Headliners
the Gophers are determined to be prepared for the game that starts at 1
p.m. Minneapolis time and will be televised on FSN.
“We’re gonna know a lot about them,” Smith
said. “We’re dedicating…all three (assistant) coaches toward this
scout(ing). Usually it’s just one. Everybody is going to get a shot at
trying to scout against this team and put their wisdom into it. And
we’re gonna call around (info from other
teams)...and watch every film that
they’ve played in the last year or so. We’re going to try and dissect
them.
“We want to win this game. We circled this
game in the summer as a measuring stick to where we were. We knew they
were going to be a top 10 team in the nation. So this is where we’re
going to measure ourselves against.”
Smith expects Pitino to be “relentless” in
his preparation for the Gophers. That’s often a good word to describe
Pitino teams on the court, too. Louisville is known for its relentless
defense (68 steals to opponents 39) and so far this season is giving up
56.1 points per game while averaging 80. The Cardinals are 4-1 with
their only loss to Western Kentucky (5-3) in Nashville, 68-54.
Louisville’s leading scorer is 6-8 freshman center Samardo Samuels,
a Jamaican by way of New Jersey who is a former USA Today prep
player of the year and is averaging 17 points per game for Pitino. The
Cardinals may have the best front court in the country with Samuels,
plus forwards Earl Clark and Terrence Williams. Clark, a
slashing offensive player, supposedly returned for his senior season
rather than become a first round NBA draft choice last spring while
Williams, another senior, often gains attention for his playmaking.
It didn’t take long in a conversation for
Smith to bring up the Samuels name and how the Gophers will try to counter
with their own freshman center, Colton Iverson. “I think he’s
(Samuels) a future pro,” Smith said. “He’s very strong down there. I
think the match up with him and Iverson is going to be critical when it
comes down to who is going to win the game. …”
Smith used the word critical, too, when talking
about Minnesota’s Damian Johnson guarding Clark who is
Louisville’s second leading scorer at 11.6 points per game.
Johnson, a 6-7 junior forward, is probably Minnesota's best defender.
Smith said the Gophers want to be
undefeated in nonconference games (two home softies remain after
Louisville) but there’s more to it than that. A win in December
over highly ranked Louisville will help the Minnesota resume in March when
selections are made to participate in the NCAA tournament. “No question,
because we feel like Louisville is a team that’s gonna make some noise
in March,” Smith said. “And we feel like if we can come in and beat a
team of that caliber we feel confident about our team. …”
The Gophers will look back in March and
know whether they had the reputation building satisfaction of beating a
school that Smith said has its name in “capital
letters” on the Minnesota schedule.
