2001–02 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

The 2001–02 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville in the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, the 88th season of interleague play for the Cardinals. The head coach was Rick Pitino[2] and the team finished the season with an overall record of 19-13.[3] Their longest winning streak was an 8-game streak and the Cardinals never lost more than 3 games in a row.[3]

2001–02 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
ConferenceConference USA
2001–02 record19-13 (8-8 C-USA)
Head coachRick Pitino (1st season)
Home arenaFreedom Hall
2001–02 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
American
No. 5 Cincinnati †14–2 .875  31–4  .886
No. 12 Marquette13–3 .813  26–7  .788
Charlotte11–5 .688  18–12  .600
Saint Louis9–7 .563  15–16  .484
Louisville8–8 .500  19–13  .594
East Carolina5–11 .313  12–18  .400
DePaul2–14 .125  9–19  .321
National
Memphis12–4 .750  27–9  .750
Houston9–7 .563  18–15  .545
South Florida8–8 .500  19–13  .594
TCU6–10 .375  16–15  .516
UAB6–10 .375  13–17  .433
Tulane5–11 .313  14–15  .483
Southern Miss4–12 .250  10–17  .370
† 2002 Conference USA Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

This was Pitino's first season as Louisville's head coach. Pitino replaced Denny Crum at the end of the 2000-01 season[4] and he made his coaching debut for the Cardinals on October 31, 2001 in an exhibition match against EA Sports with an 81-63 victory.

Preseason

September 11 attacks

During the September 11 attacks, Pitino lost Bill Minardi, his brother-in-law, who was working on the 105th floor of the North Tower for Cantor Fitzgerald on the morning of the attacks.[5]

EA Sports Exhibition

On October 31, 2001, Louisville played the EA Sports All-Stars in an exhibition game at Freedom Hall. The Cardinals won 81-63 and this was the debut for new head coach Rick Pitino.[6]

Regular season

The Cardinals finished the regular season with a record of 17-11, including an 8-8 conference record an appearances in two tournaments.[3] Their longest winning streak included an eight-game winning streak and their longest losing streak was a three-game losing streak.[3]

Postseason and Tournaments

During the postseason, the Cardinals played in the Conference USA Tournament and the National Invitation Tournament.[3]

In the CUSA tournament, the Cardinals defeated Texas Christian 110-86 on March 5, 2002, but were defeated by Marquette the next day with a score of 84-76.[3]

On March 12, the team starts the NIT Tournament by defeating Princeton 66-65, but were defeated by Temple 65-62 a week later, finishing the Cardinal's season with an overall record of 19-13.[3] Their game against Princeton was won by a banked jumper by Reece Gaines with 5.3 seconds left in the game.[7]

gollark: On the plus side, you can use R U S T™ on the web now!
gollark: WASM blobs for things are often significantly bigger than JS for that thing.
gollark: More so than currently.
gollark: I fear that WASM will make sites download horrendous amounts of code they don't need, though.
gollark: For computing tasks on the web™, probably.

References
  1. sports-reference.com 2001-02 Conference USA Season Summary
  2. "2001-2002 Louisville Cardinals Roster and Stats". Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  3. "2001-2002 Louisville Cardinals Schedule and Results". Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  4. "Pitino Visits U of L Campus". Louisville Cardinals. March 14, 2001. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  5. "Pitino Working Again After Losing Brother-In-Law In Attacks". Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  6. "Pitino Makes Louisville Coaching Debut". Louisville Cardinals. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  7. "Late Jumper By Louisville Beats Princeton in N.I.T". New York Times Online. The New York Times. March 13, 2002. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
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