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		<description>RUWT? News for Arizona vs. Louisville 3/27/2009</description>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:53:09 GMT</pubDate>
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				<title><![CDATA[Clark, Louisville dominate Arizona]]></title>
				<description><![CDATA[INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Rick Pitino enjoyed watching Friday night's
game almost as much as his Louisville players enjoyed 
celebrating.

Fun-loving forward Terrence Williams danced on the sideline. 
Guard Edgar Sosa posed for the television camera. Even backup 
Kyle Kuric dunked. For the top-seeded team in the NCAA 
tournament, this was more fun than a team scrimmage or a pickup 
game.

Earl Clark scored 19 points and had nine rebounds and the 
Cardinals delivered one of the most crushing blowouts in 
regional history with a 103-64 victory over Arizona.

"We played great tonight because we really passed the ball 
beautifully," Pitino said. "It's fun as a coach to watch the 
guys be so unselfish."

Should they follow the same script Sunday, against Michigan 
State in the Midwest final, the Cardinals (31-5) will return to 
the Final Four for the first time since 2005.

But if they play like this, they could fulfill another goal: 
Winning their third national championship.

The Big East now has four teams playing in this weekend's 
regional finals, including its regular-season and tournament 
champ, Louisville. Pitino improved to 9-0 all-time in the 
regional semifinals.

Louisville was incredibly efficient in the highest-scoring game 
in its NCAA tournament history, shooting 57.6 percent from the 
field and dishing out 29 assists on 38 baskets. It shot 48 
percent on 3-pointers and grabbed nearly as many offensive 
rebounds (11) as Arizona had on defense (17).

Defensively, the Cardinals were even better.

They rattled the Wildcats with constant pressure, forcing nine 
turnovers in the first half and 15 in the game. Arizona was so 
out of sync, it threw away an inbound pass in the first half and
twice had ball-handlers get crossed up just dribbling up the 
floor.

The combination put Louisville within one point of cracking the 
top five for most lopsided victories in a regional round. UCLA 
set the record with a 49-point rout over Wyoming in 1967, and 
the next four all occurred before 1972.

It was by far the Cardinals' biggest rout in their long NCAA 
tournament history, and easily the Wildcats' most-lopsided loss.

And the Louisville players savored every precious moment.

"We came out with more intensity, and that's what you've got to 
do when you're up big because it's hard to play with a lead ," 
Clark said.

It sure didn't look hard in the semifinals.

The Cardinals built a 21-point halftime lead, then quickly put 
it away by opening the second half on an 18-5 run that set off 
the revelry.

For Arizona (21-14), the lowest seed to reach the semis at No. 
12, it was an embarrassing end to a turbulent season. There was 
a coaching change in October, a 2-5 start in Pac-10 play and the
Wildcats lost five of their last six regular-season game, 
putting the nation's longest active streak of consecutive 
tourney appearances in jeopardy.

Yet the committee still took them, for the 25th straight year, 
as one of the final at-large teams in the 65-team field. For two
games, it looked like the committee made the right call as 
Arizona beat Utah and Cleveland State in Miami.

On Friday, though, Louisville demonstrated just how wide the 
disparity between a 1 seed and a 12 seed can be.

Chase Budinger led Arizona with 22 points, and Jordan Hill had 
14 points and 11 rebounds. But Arizona shot 38 percent from the 
field, and never had a chance after the opening minutes.

"They shot the ball well, they moved the ball well and, 
unfortunately for us, we didn't have an answer," interim coach 
Russ Pennell said. "I think there was a reason Louisville was 
seeded No. 1 in the tournament and they showed that tonight."

Did they ever.

Pitino said Thursday he had never seen two teams with such 
similar defenses on tape. In person, it wasn't even close.

Arizona struggled, at times, just to get the ball across 
midcourt and when it did, the Wildcats had trouble getting into 
their halfcourt offense. They couldn't stop Louisville's, 
bigger, stronger, quicker post players, and when the Cardinals 
didn't go inside, their 3-point shooters were money.

Williams hit four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Jerry 
Smith hit four more 3-pointers and finished with 16. Clark and 
Sosa each added two more threes.

What impressed Pitino, though, was the Cardinals crisp passing. 
They continually found open shooters, leaving Pitino with a 
tough task before Sunday's regional title game: Finding flaws.

"We know that we're not going to play like this again because of
the type of defense that we're going to run into now," Pitino 
said. "I'll find something to be very upset about tonight at 
snack. I think a lack of humility is the greatest killer of 
potential. So we're not going to fall in love with ourselves 
because we had a good game tonight."

Louisville broke to a 17-9 lead, then pulled away with a 14-4 
run that made it 34-19 with 6 minutes left in the first half. At
halftime, it was 49-28.

Then the fun began.

During the decisive second-half run, Williams grabbed a rebound,
whisked it around his back and made a perfect outlet pass to set
up Clark for a 3. Later, Sosa drove in for a layup and drew a 
foul in front of the camera, prompting him to touch his lips and
strike a pose as the Cardinals rolled to their 13th consecutive 
win with an exclamation point.

"It's going to be tough to duplicate playing as well as we did 
tonight," Smith said. "I think this is the best we played all 
season."]]></description>
				<category><![CDATA[ncaab]]></category>
				<link>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/ncaab/news/92592-Clark-Louisville-dominate-Arizona</link>
				<guid>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/ncaab/news/92592-Clark-Louisville-dominate-Arizona</guid>
				<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:39:32 GMT</pubDate>
			</item>
		
			<item>
				<title><![CDATA[Arizona's Pennell focuses on basketball, not job]]></title>
				<description><![CDATA[By Michael Marot
AP Sports Writer

(12) Arizona (21-13) vs. (1) Louisville (30-5), 7:07 p.m. EDT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Arizona coach Russ Pennell will play this 
weekend by the book.

Rick Pitino's book.

He's savoring every moment in Indianapolis, from the open 
shootaround to the usually dreaded news conferences, fully 
understanding Friday night's game against top-seeded Louisville 
could be his first and only chance to lead a team into the 
regional finals.

So the man with the interim title spent Thursday blunting 
questions about his uncertain future by focusing on the present.
Or what Pitino once described as the precious present.

"Just the opportunity to walk through this journey this year is 
incredible. It's stretched me, it's forced me to think outside 
the box. It's very unconventional what we've gone through," 
Pennell said. "If this is the only opportunity, so be it. Life 
goes on."

At Arizona, basketball success has exceeded all expectations 
this March.

The tumultuous season began in October with the retirement of 
Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson, a move that suddenly put a career
assistant, Pennell, in charge of a program with 24 straight 
tournament appearances.

There were times Pennell found himself on tenuous ground.

Arizona opened the Pac-10 season going an uncharacteristic 2-5, 
and many thought the longest NCAA streak in the nation would end
after the Wildcats lost five of their last six games heading 
into Selection Sunday.

Instead, they were one of the final teams chosen for the field 
and proved they deserved the bid last weekend by beating 
fifth-seeded Utah and 13th-seeded Cleveland State in Miami. That
got them a ticket back to Indy, the same site where the Wildcats
upset Pitino's heavily favored Kentucky squad to win the 1997 
national title.

Now Pennell faces Pitino's Cardinals (30-5), a team that looks a
lot like Arizona.

"It's the closest I've ever seen two teams in the type of 
pressure (defense) they apply," Pitino said. "They do one thing 
different - they bring their center out to the corner sometimes.
But it's almost identical to what we're trying to accomplish."

That's where the similarities end.

No. 12-seeded Arizona (21-13) is the lowest left in the field 
and wasn't supposed to make it past one round, much less round 
two, and now looks like a longshot to get past Louisville.

The Cardinals are still expected to be in Detroit for next 
weekend's Final Four after winning the Big East regular-season 
and tournament titles, taking the No. 1 ranking in last week's 
poll and claiming the top overall seed in the tourney. That 
means anything less than a national title won't suffice.

Yet in a Midwest Regional packed with tradition and familiar 
coaches, Pennell is the exception. A year ago, he was still 
doing color commentary on Arizona State radio broadcasts.

The four teams playing in Indianapolis have combined for eight 
national titles and three of the coaches here - Pitino, Michigan
State's Tom Izzo and Kansas' Bill Self - have national 
championship rings. Pennell does not.

Pitino also owns a sterling 8-0 record in regional semifinals, 
but Pennell sees things differently. "I'm undefeated (in the 
tournament). Better record," he said, drawing laughter, after 
going 2-0 last weekend.

Pennell isn't the only who was being asked about his future 
Thursday.

So was Pitino.

If Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie is out, as rumors suggest, 
Pitino's name will almost certainly resurface as a possible 
candidate in Lexington. Again. It's a distraction the Cardinals 
don't need this weekend.

Then Pitino was asked about another possibility: replacing 
Pennell at Arizona.

"I wouldn't answer any question about any other job because it 
would be disrespectful to Louisville," Pitino said. "Anytime you
hear a player stand up here and say, 'I'm not going pro, I'm 
coming back,' he's gone. Any time a coach says he's not 
interested in a job, he's dead interested in a job. All I can 
tell you is that for eight years, I've given every ounce I've 
had to the University of Louisville and I will continue to do 
that."

The speculation appears to be having no impact on the Cardinals.

They reduced a scheduled 50-minute practice to 30 minutes and 
performed what amounted to a Midnight Madness workout - an 
impromptu dunk contest with an array of half-court shots. 
Players also chatted with the large contingent of fans who made 
the 100-mile drive to Indy, where Louisville won its first 
national title in 1980.

Forward Terrence Williams reflected on his days as a newspaper 
delivery carrier and one of the best smiles in college 
basketball.

Clearly, there's no pressure in Louisville's locker room.

"Even though it's a serious game, you want to win, but you can 
still smile while playing hard, trying to win the game," he 
said. "So I want to be the rare guy that smiles all the time."

Pennell concurs.

Despite the possibility that Friday night could be his last game
with the Wildcats, and perhaps ever as a head coach, Pennell 
isn't worrying about what could happen.

He'd rather take care of business on the court, just like 
Pitino.

"When I signed on to work at the University of Arizona, I was 
hoping we'd be in the Sweet 16, but I had no idea that I would 
be the head coach," he said. "The great thing about life, in 
general, is that it can change quickly. Sometimes it's for the 
best, and this year it's been that for me."]]></description>
				<category><![CDATA[ncaab]]></category>
				<link>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/ncaab/news/92499-Arizonas-Pennell-focuses-on-basketball-not-job</link>
				<guid>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/ncaab/news/92499-Arizonas-Pennell-focuses-on-basketball-not-job</guid>
				<pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:08:31 GMT</pubDate>
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