It happened previously at Rick Pitino: an inconsistent offensive team that struggles to film, but defends at an incredibly high level.
Thirteen years ago, offensive restrictions did not stop Louisville from reaching the Final Four, and 10th place St. John's won 22 of his first 26 games, making it to the top of the Big East. That was it.
“We were similar in the sense that we had to be very ugly in many ways, like St. John's,” said Richard, son of Pitino, the Louisville team assistant and now head coach of New Mexico. It's the phone. “Our defense and rebound travelled, so we were able to win a lot of games.”
These Cardinals scored 31.1% from the 3-point range. They made just 68.6% of the free throws. They ranked 112th in offensive efficiency, but they were their first defense. They won the Big East Tournament and landed a fourth-place seed in the NCAA Tournament, and after losing to final champions Kentucky and Anthony Davis, they made it to Final Four. Three of Louisville's four tournament victories were determined at under 7 points, opposing an average of 57.5 points in those four games.
