Louisville Cardinals: The losses that define the fanbase
The Goran Suton game
Stephen Kalayil (@StephenKalayil)
Without a doubt, one of the UofL sports moments that was hard for me to endure was when Michigan State defeated UofL in the 08’- 09’NCAA Tournament Elite 8.
Heading into that season, UofL received a lot of preseason hype, led by two future NBA lottery picks in Terrence Williams and Earl Clark. The Cards had a deep and experienced team with the likes of Jerry Smith, Edgar Sosa, Reggie Delk, and touted freshman, Samardo Samuels. There was no shortage of talent on this team with Preston Knowles, Kyle Kuric and Terrence Jennings on the bench.
The upperclassmen led team uncharacteristically stumbled in non-conference play by losing to Western Kentucky, Minnesota and UNLV, which put them down the rankings. But, they did notch one of their best wins against Kentucky with the infamous Edgar Sosa deep three.
After getting blown out by Notre Dame on the road by 33 points, UofL won 7 in a row and won the Big East regular season tournament outright. After a double bye in the Big East tournament, UofL defeated Providence, Villanova and Syracuse in route to its first Big East tournament title.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, UofL was the overall number 1 seed in the Midwest Region and was riding a 13-game win streak. The Cards knocked out Morehead State, Siena, and destroyed upstart Arizona heading into the matchup with #2 Michigan State.
With all the momentum in the world, UofL was beaten methodically by a Michigan State team that used its physical man to man defense to disrupt the Cards. UofL was known for their menacing pressure D was out played on the defensive end by the rugged Spartans.
The unlikely hero of the game for Michigan was Goran Suton, a name that will live in infamy in UofL history. Pitino played off Suton early and it cost the Cards greatly. Suton nailed timely jumpers in the 1st half and played a strong facilitator role in the 2nd half. He lead MSU with 19 points and 10 board. Big 10 POY Kailen Lucas was held to just 10 points and had four turnovers. Off the bench, Durell Summers lead MSU in the second half with 10 big second half points and freshman Draymond Green had 10 board and 6 points.
UofL was only down 30-27 at the half, and even took a 34-32 lead with 15:33 left, but MSU responded with Summers going off on the Cards.
Clark led UofL with 19 points and 5 rebounds and Preston Knowles had 11 including two big threes in the first half to keep UofL in the game. Williams was 1-7 from the field including 0-3 from three point land and ended up with only 5 points in his final collegiate game.
The demoralizing part of this game is UofL was a more talented team that had everything going its way and got beat by being out-toughed by a MSU team that relied on complimentary players to pull off the upset. There was so much high hope for TWill, Earl, and company and for it to end in such a fashion was a bitter pill to swallow but almost fitting for a team that embodied the enigmatic personality of Terrence Williams.