New territory, same approach for U of L hoops
Russ Smith remembers the bright lights of Madison Square Garden and the buzz in his hometown surrouding the old Big East tournament. He remembers the games pitting friend against friend on the stage in the theater they grew up adoring.
He remembers the crowds, a mix of students, boosters, celebrities, New York businessmen and friends and families of the players from Boston or New York or Philadelphia or Baltimore. He remembers the smack talk from opposing players that made its way to his phone, through a friend of a friend, no matter the time of day.
"We can try to make other things like it, but there will be nothing like it," Smith said.
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Instead, Smith's old team, the University of Louisville, embarks this week on a new journey, a different kind of challenge with a similar level of competition in a much different place. Instead of Syracuse and Connecticut fans funneling some 10,000-strong into Madison Square Garden in the heart of Manhattan, there will be Carolina and Duke fans galore at the Greensboro Coliseum for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
It's a step up from the American Athletic Conference tournament last year, and a step away from the old Big East. But while the ACC tournament may not have the same allure, the Big East "Southern style," as U of L coach Rick Pitino calls it, has a chance to provide similar drama in the coming days.
Louisville (24-7) is scheduled to start its tournament participation at 2 p.m. Thursday against North Carolina or Boston College.
"We could possibly play North Carolina, Virginia and Duke if we were to be successful and get to the finals," Pitino said. "That, in itself, really, really has got me very excited, because that's about as good as it gets."
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If anyone knows what it's like to run through conference tournaments on a Pitino-coached team, it's Smith, a 2014 All-American who won three conference tournaments in his four years at U of L.
"(Pitino) makes it easy because he's very direct with his scouting," Smith said. "At Louisville, you'll probably already be in the (NCAA) tournament. We built a resume during the season that allowed us to be in the tournament, so there was more focus on the next team and getting the job done. We raided every conference tournament."
Smith laid out what the experience is like for Pitino's players.
The players "have a curfew for sure," he said. Sometimes it'll be 10 or 11 p.m., sometimes Pitino won't want his players to leave their hotels at all, or even won't want them to leave their feet. The night before their first game, the players will watch film of the team they will play Thursday, Smith explained, then they'll review the film again in the morning on gameday.
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The scouting process for the coaching staff began on Sunday when it became clear that U of L would play either North Carolina, Boston College or Georgia Tech. Louisville has played each of them this season and already has a scouting report, so Pitino's assistant coaches will cut up shorter clips of what each team does and, he admitted Monday, focus more time on the team they expect to play, which, in this case, is North Carolina.
But they won't know their opponent for sure until Wednesday night.
"Then, when we'd win, we would watch film that night on the next opponent and then again in the morning," Smith said.
That's where the challenge lies for the younger players. They've spent all season learning the ins and outs of their opponents over the course of anywhere from two-to-four days, and they've worked through U of L's own playbook, which is especially complex on defense.
And while they may be familiar with conference opponents, the 24-hour turnaround is still a bit of a test of their scouting report memory.
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"It's a habit you have to build," Smith said. "It wasn't like that my freshman year; I was bouncing everywhere. It was really hard for me to keep up my sophomore year. It's up to the upperclassmen and how much they want to win.
This year, "it'll be Montrezl (Harrell)'s job or Wayne Blackshear's job to get (Louisville's younger players) on the same page."
So, yes, the location and lore of the Big East tournament will be missed. Pitino has said it himself. But the process stays the same, no matter the conference. Just ask Smith -- he won tournament titles in the Big East and the AAC.
"They know how badly I want to win this tournament," Pitino said, "and how badly I wanted to win the last Big East tournament and how badly I wanted to win the second-to-last Big East Tournament. The team knows how much emphasis I put on this, and how much we want to win it."
Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 593-9435 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).