Luke Hancock, Chane Behanan, Peyton Siva Lead Louisville to National Championship over Michigan, 82-76

College Hoops Players of the Day for Monday, April 8, 2013

(1) Louisville 82 (4) Michigan 76 - The Louisville Cardinals won their third national championship with an effortful performance over the Michigan Wolverines.

Trey Burke scored seven early points to pace the Wolverines, but picked up a second personal foul nearing the mid-point of the first half. Mitch Albrecht came on for Burke, scoring 16 points to forge a 12-point lead for Michigan. Resolute, Louisville returned fire with four straight three-pointers by Luke Hancock and took back the advantage on a fast-break dunk by Mortrezl Harrell with time running down in the first half. Glenn Robinson III made two free throws with 2.5 left on the clock to retake the lead by a point, 38-37, at the break.

Both teams made rainbows in the first half. Michigan was 6-for-11; the Cardinals went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Louisville established a lead early in the second half and maintained it as time wound down. Michigan cut the lead to four points on several occasions, but could not get any closer.

Peyton Siva and Chane Behanan were unstoppable in the second half. Siva finished with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Behanan was impressive in the paint, scoring 15 points and snagging 13 rebounds.

Hancock didn't see the ball much in the second half, but finished with 22 points for the Wolvernines on 5-for-6 shooting, including a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range.

Trey Burke was the game's leading scorer, with 24 points.

Louisville was out-shot by Michigan, 52-48%, but a seven rebound advantage on the offensive boards and an overall 31-26 edge on the boards allowed Louisville more looks, and, eventually, more scores.

Head coach Rick Pitino, just elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, became the first coach to win national championships with two different teams - having led Kentucky to the title in 1996.

Tournament Conference Scoreboard
Through games of 4/8

Conference (# of teams)	W-L	Winners (wins)
ACC (4)	6-4	Duke (3) Miami (2) North Carolina (1)
Atlantic 10 (5)	7-5	LaSalle (3) Butler (1) St. Louis (1) VCU (1) Temple (1)
Big 12 (6)	3-6	Iowa St. (1) Kansas (2)
Big East (8)	13-7	Marquette(3) Louisville (6) Syracuse (4)
Big Ten (7)	14-7	Mich. St. (2) Michigan (5) Indiana (2) Illinois (1) Ohio St. (3) Minnesota (1)
PAC-12 (5)	5-5	Oregon (2) Arizona (2) Cal (1)
SEC (4)	4-3	Mississippi (1) Florida (3)
Missouri Valley (2)	5-2	Wichita St. (4) Creighton (1)
Mountain West (5)	2-5	Colorado St. (1) San Diego St. (1)
WCC (2)	2-2	St. Mary's (1) Gonzaga (1)
Sun Belt (2)	0-2	--
All Others (19)	6-21	NC A&T (1) James Madison (1) Memphis (1) Harvard (1) Florida Gulf Coast (2)

Russ Smith, Chane Behanan Power #1 Louisville Past UConn

College Hoops Player of the Day for Monday, January 14, 2013

With Duke and Michigan each suffering losses over the weekend, Louisville was raised to the #1 position in the latest Top 25 Poll (AP), and, right away they were offered the opportunity to defend their position as the top team in the land.

Traveling to Connecticut to take on the Huskies, who had just toppled Notre Dame, 65-58, on Saturday, the Cardinals entered enemy territory with expectations as lofty as their ranking.

The Huskies took it to the Cardinals in the first half, shooting 50% from the field to take a 34-28 edge into the break, but the Cardinals came out breathing fire in the second half, quickly erased the lead and went on to dominate with 45 points in the half, cruising late to the 75-58 victory.

Led by a game high 23 points from Russ Smith (10-for-20, 2-for-6 on threes) and 16 points, nine boards and five assists by Chane Behanan, the Cardinals rolled to their 16th win against just one loss (76-71, to Duke), a 4-0 record in the Big East, tying them with #6 Syracuse for the conference lead.

The Cardinals will be put to the test again on Saturday, January 19, when they host the Orange in a 4:00 pm ET showdown, but for now, the #1 ranking rests peacefully in Kentucky, the ancestral home of hoops.