STF Super Awesome Team Previews: #7 Louisville Cardinals

Team: Louisville Cardinals

Conference: Big East

Last Season Recap: 24-10 (12-4). Lost to Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Key Players Returning: Starters only get about 25 minutes per game at Lou-vul, but the names in the box score will be Edgar Sosa at point, Jerry Smith shooting, stud SF Terrence Williams, injury-prone PF Juan Palacios, and even more injury-prone C David Padgett. Big dog Derrick Caracter has slimmed down (yes, I said slimmed down) to 278 for the upcoming season.

What's to Love: Rick Pitino showed his team Florida's statistics as a motivating factor for this season - he wanted them to see that the Gators shared the wealth between great players to make it happen. If that team-oriented approach catches on with this immensely talented bunch, it's going to be lights-out for the Cards.

What's Not to Love: Some persistent injury woes on the front line make fans nervous. Derrick Caracter has had some personal comportment issues, which makes headline writers, very, very happy. Fortunately, the recruiting train has stopped at Louisville often, so there are some backups who might be able to step in if either issue makes life difficult.

Key Player: Terrence Williams. The 6'6" Small Forward has been tabbed by Pitino as one of the best athletes he's ever coached. Ever. His weakness is shot selection - he bombs away without remorse, putting up shooting percentages of 36% overall and 26% behind the arc. Ugh. If he improves those ratios, this will be a very tough team to beat.

Best Case: Clearly, the best case is that all of the parts click and Pitino brings another championship to the state of Kentucky, ableit down the road from Lexington.

Worst Case: The worst case would be a re-emergence of injuries and/or bad behavior, leading to a relatively early exit in the NCAAs.

STF Prediction: Pitino has a marvelous team at Louisville, including three hot freshmen who are ready to learn on the job. The main thing standing in their way is Roy Hibbert and Georgetown, but even if the Cardinals have to settle for second place in the Big East, they will still be capable of making the Final Four. And that's where I see them headed.