Inside Slant
It's been an emotional, trying year for Louisville and coach Rick Pitino.
It started with a scandal that involved Pitino admitting to an extramarital relationship and that seemed to spill over into the season.
The Cardinals, always a contender in the Big East, were very erratic throughout the year and even though Pitino did a really strong coaching job to keep them going and push them, they nearly missed the NCAA Tournament.
A loss to Marquette at the end of the regular season put the Cardinals in position where they had to beat Syracuse, one of the favorites to win the national championship, in the final game ever to be played in Freedom Hall.
That was an emotional moment without the necessity for the victory but Pitino coached his team to that triumph, which gave them an 11-7 record in the Big East and kept them out of the NIT.
The year was difficult from a personnel standpoint, as Pitino had to scramble to make up for the early departure of Earl Clark and Terrence Williams to the NBA, using senior guard Edgar Sosa as his leader and getting as much inside as he could out of Samardo Samuels.
The season ended with a first-round loss to California.
