Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
The Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program representing the University of Louisville in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I. The Cardinals have won two NCAA championships in 1980 and 1986. Due to an FBI criminal investigation into illegal benefits and actions by college basketball coaches, financial advisers, others, on September 27, 2017, head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich were placed on administrative leave and were fired. Two days assistant David Padgett, a former star player under Pitino at Louisville, was named as acting head coach. On February 20, 2018, the NCAA vacated the 2013 NCAA title. On March 27, 2018, it was announced that the University of Louisville signed Chris Mack to a seven year contract as head coach. Bernard "Peck" Hickman's 1944 team finished with a 16–3 record and started a string of 46 consecutive winning seasons, an NCAA record. Hickman led Louisville to its first championship on a national level by winning the NAIB Tournament in 1948.
In 1956, led by All-American Charlie Tyra, the Cardinals won the NIT Championship. In 1956 his team was placed on two years probation, to include bans on postseason play, by the NCAA due to recruiting violations. In 1959, Louisville made its first NCAA Final Four appearance behind the play of All-American Don Goldstein; the Cardinals never had a losing season in Hickman's 23 seasons as head coach. He coached 11 20-win teams, appeared in five NCAA tournaments, coached six NIT appearances and finished with a 443–183 overall record, a.708 winning percentage that ranks him in the top 45 all time. John Dromo was Hickman's assistant for 17 years and succeeded him at head coach in 1967. In four seasons as head coach, Dromo led the Cardinals to a 68–23 record and the 1967 Missouri Valley Conference title. A heart attack during the 1970–71 season forced Dromo to retire, his assistant, Howard Stacey, was named interim head coach for the final 20 games of the season. Denny Crum was hired as head coach from his alma mater, UCLA, where he was the top assistant coach to John Wooden.
It was under the guidance of Crum. In his first season, he guided the Cardinals to the NCAA Final Four, becoming the first coach to go to a Final Four in his first season as a head coach. Overall, Crum had six Final Fours with the Louisville Cardinals, he is fifth all-time in Final Four appearances. The Cardinals won the 1980 NCAA Tournament championship by defeating UCLA 59–54. Six years Louisville would overcome Duke 72–69 for a second title. Crum is one of only 11 coaches to win two or more national championships, he was named National Coach of the Year in 1980, 1983 and 1986. He took the Cardinals to 23 NCAA tournaments, where they had an overall record of 43–21. While in the Metro Conference, the Cardinals won 12 regular season titles and 11 tournament championships. In its 19 years of naming a champion, the Metro had Louisville as second place 17 times. In 1993, Crum became the second fastest coach to reach 500 wins. Crum was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1994, he retired in 2001 with a career record of 675–295 over 30 seasons.
He was a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 2006. Rick Pitino was hired in 2001 after four years as head coach of the Boston Celtics, as head coach of Louisville's in-state rival, Kentucky. Pitino guided the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of 15 seasons, reaching the Elite Eight six times and the Final Four three times, his teams won four regular season titles. The Cardinals won at least 20 games every season since Pitino's first season at Louisville. Through the 2015–16 season, Pitino amassed a record of 391–134 during his time at Louisville. Pitino was selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, was under contract through the 2025–26 season; the University of Louisville self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2015–16 season amid an ongoing NCAA investigation over an escort sex scandal involving recruits between 2010 and 2014. The ban included both the NCAA Tournament. On June 15, 2017, the NCAA charged Rick Pitino for failure to monitor his basketball program, involved in a sex-for-pay scandal.
He was suspended for the first five games of the ACC season in 2017–18. On September 26, 2017 federal prosecutors in New York announced that the school was under investigation for an alleged "pay for play" scheme involving recruits at Louisville; the allegations state that an Adidas executive conspired to pay $100,000 to the family of a top-ranked national recruit to play at Louisville and to represent Adidas when he turned pro. The criminal complaint did not name Louisville but appeared to involve the recruitment of Brian Bowen, a late, surprise commit to the school. On September 27, 2017, Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich were placed on administrative leave. On October 26, 2017 Rick Pitino was fired as the head coach of Louisville Men's Basketball. On February 20, 2018 the NCAA ruled that Louisville must vacate its records from 2011-2015; this included 123 wins, the 2013 NCAA title, a 2012 Final Four appearance. On March 27, 2018, Xavier head coach Chris Mack agreed to terms on a seven-year contract worth about $4 million annually to become the next head coach at Louisville.
Mack has had a notable start to his Louisville tenure, recruiting a to
Power forward (basketball)
The power forward known as the four, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. It has been referred to as the "post" position. Power forwards play a role similar to that of center, they play offensively with their backs towards the basket and position themselves defensively under the basket in a zone defense or against the opposing power forward in man-to-man defense. The power forward position entails a variety of responsibilities, one of, rebounding. Many power forwards are noted for their mid-range jump-shot, several players have become accurate from 12 to 18 feet. Earlier, these skills were more exhibited in the European style of play; some power forwards, known as stretch fours, have since extended their shooting range to three-point field goals. In the NBA, power forwards range from 6' 8" to 7' 0" while in the WNBA, power forwards are between 6' 1" and 6' 4". Despite the averages, a variety of players fit "tweener" roles which finds them in the small forward or center position depending on matchups and coaching decisions.
Some power forwards play the center position and have the skills, but lack the height, associated with that position
Small forward
The small forward known as the three, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are shorter and leaner than power forwards and centers, but taller and larger than either of the guard positions; the small forward is considered to be the most versatile of the five main basketball positions. In the NBA, small forwards range from 6' 6" to 6' 10" while in the WNBA, small forwards are between 5' 11" to 6' 2". Small forwards are responsible for scoring points, defending and as secondary or tertiary rebounders behind the power forward and center, although a few have considerable passing responsibilities. Many small forwards in professional basketball are prolific scorers; the styles with which small forwards amass their points vary widely. Some players at the position are accurate shooters, others prefer to initiate physical contact with opposing players, still others are slashers who possess jump shots. In some cases, small forwards position as off-the-ball specialists.
Small forwards who are defensive specialists are versatile as they can guard multiple positions using their size and strength
Florida State Seminoles men's basketball
The Florida State Seminoles men's basketball team represents Florida State University in the intercollegiate sport of basketball. The Seminoles compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Though they have played under the shadow of the football program, the Seminoles have had successes on the hardwood and they have achieved success in recent years. Florida State has made seventeen NCAA Tournament appearances: advancing to the Round of 32 on ten occasions, the Sweet Sixteen six times, the Elite Eight on three occasions, the Final Four once, moving on to the championship game and finishing as runner-up. Florida State has made ten appearances in the National Invitation Tournament. In the sixty-nine season history of the Seminole basketball program, the Seminoles have won the regular season conference title four times and the conference tournament title three times, including one ACC championship. Florida State has had twenty-two All-Americans, twenty-six players inducted into the Hall of Fame, thirty-one players that went on to play in the NBA.
Jeff Sagarin and ESPN listed the program 74th in the college basketball all-time rankings in the'ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia'. The Seminoles play their home games in the Donald L. Tucker Center on the university's Tallahassee, Florida campus; the current head men's basketball coach is Leonard Hamilton, in his seventeenth year. The Florida State Seminoles men's team annually plays an eighteen-game conference schedule, preceded by an out-of-conference schedule against few annual opponents except for Florida, their conference schedule consists of a home-and-home game against two permanent rivals, alternating home-and-home games against the other fourteen ACC teams. Florida State University has fielded a basketball team since 1947, the Seminoles are in their 71st season of play. Hugh Donald Loucks served as the first basketball coach for the Florida State Seminoles, he coached at the school for one year and compiled an overall record of 5–13, becoming one of only two coaches to leave the program with a losing record of 11 games.
After the departure of Loucks, J. K. Kennedy became the coach, he was the first coach to find success at Florida State, holding the position for eighteen years and compiling a record of 234–208. Hugh Durham played at Florida State in the 1950s, scoring 1,381 points in three years, his average of 21.9 points per game in 1958–59 is the seventh best tally in Florida State history. Durham's career average of 18.9 points per game is still the ninth best in school history. After his playing career had ended, he began his coaching career as an assistant coach in 1959. Seven years Durham would be named head coach in 1966. One of the top players during this time was future NBA Hall-of-Famer Dave Cowens. Durham led the Seminoles from 1966 to 1978. In 1972, Durham led Florida State to a runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament. A hard-fought 81–76 loss to the top-ranked UCLA Bruins in the NCAA Championship game prevented Durham's Florida State team from winning the NCAA Tournament. Another key player for the Seminoles was Harry Davis.
Durham's overall record at Florida State was a 230–95 record with three NCAA tournament bids. He still owns the highest winning percentage of any Florida State coach at.708. Durham is the only coach in NCAA history to be the all-time winningest coach at three different Division I schools. After the departure of Hugh Durham, Joe Williams took over the Seminole basketball program. One of the standout players during this period was George McCloud. McCloud helped the Seminoles rebuild after the departure of Durham by becoming one of the most prolific scorers in FSU history. During his senior season, McCloud had the second-highest scoring average and the sixth-highest in Florida State history. Joe Williams would coach his final season in 1986; the 1992–1993 season would see the emergence of one of the Seminoles' best players in its history, Bob Sura. Not much was expected of the Seminoles in 1992 as they entered into their first season in the ACC, yet they finished second in the conference to national champion Duke.
The team repeated the second-place finish in 1993, establishing itself as a legitimate national power. In the 1993 NCAA Tournament they fell to Kentucky in the Elite Eight round. In Kennedy's final season he led the team to the NIT Final. Steve Robinson took over the program for the 1997–1998 season and led the Seminoles to the NCAA Tournament his first year. However, the team suffered losing records the next four seasons and Robinson left the program after the 2001–2002 campaign. Robinson is now an assistant coach with the North Carolina Tar Heels. Leonard Hamilton became Florida State’s seventh head basketball coach on March 19, 2002. In two years, Tim Pickett scored 1,039 points, earning him First-Team All-ACC and All-American Honorable Mention honors. Hamilton was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2012. Hamilton is the first Seminole coach to win an ACC Championship, capturing the league tournament title in 2012, he has led the Seminoles to seven NCAA tournament appearances. During his tenure, Florida State has been the third-most successful team in the conference.
Hamilton is the winningest coach in the program's history and has sent twelve players to the NBA Draft. *^22 wins vacated from Leonard Hamilton's record from the 2006–2007 basketball season The Seminoles play all of their home games at the Donald L. Tucker Center, it is an 18,000-square-foot multi-purpose facility which has hosted over 25 years worth of Seminole games. Florida State has appeared in the NCAA Divi
Point guard
The point guard called the one or point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time. Above all, the point guard must understand and accept their coach's game plan. While the point guard must understand and accept the coach's gameplan, they must be able to adapt to what the defense is allowing, they must control the pace of the game. A point guard, like other player positions in basketball, specializes in certain skills. A point guard's primary job is to facilitate scoring opportunities for his/her team, or sometimes for themselves. Lee Rose has described a point guard as a coach on the floor, who can handle and distribute the ball to teammates; this involves setting up plays on the court, getting the ball to the teammate in the best position to score, controlling the tempo of the game.
A point guard should know when and how to instigate a fast break and when and how to initiate the more deliberate sets. Point guards are expected to be vocal floor leaders. A point guard needs always to have in mind the times on the shot clock and the game clock, the score, the numbers of remaining timeouts for both teams, etc. Among the taller players who have enjoyed success at the position is Ben Simmons, who at 6’ 10” won the 2018 National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year Award. Behind him is Magic Johnson, who at 6’ 9” won the National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award three times in his career. Other point guards who have been named NBA MVP include Russell Westbrook, Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Allen Iverson, Derrick Rose and two-time winners Steve Nash and Stephen Curry. In the NBA, point guards are about 6' 4" or shorter, average about 6' 2" whereas in the WNBA, point guards are 5' 9" or shorter. Having above-average size is considered advantageous, although size is secondary to situational awareness, speed and ball handling skills.
Shorter players tend to be better dribblers since they are closer to the floor, thus have better control of the ball while dribbling. After an opponent scores, it is the point guard who brings the ball down court to begin an offensive play. Passing skills, ball handling, court vision are crucial. Speed is important. Point guards are valued more for their assist totals than for their scoring. Another major evaluation factor is assist-to-turnover ratio, which reflects the decision-making skills of the player. Still, a first-rate point guard should have a reasonably effective jump shot; the point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play, so as to have the best view of the action. This is a necessity because of the point guard's many leadership obligations. Many times, the point guard is referred to by announcers as a "coach on the floor" or a "floor general". In the past, this was true, as several point guards such as Lenny Wilkens served their teams as player-coaches; this is not so common anymore, as most coaches are now specialized in coaching and are non-players.
Some point guards are still given a great deal of leeway in the offense. Point guards who are not given this much freedom, are still extensions of their coach on the floor and must display good leadership skills. Along with leadership and a general basketball acumen, ball-handling is a skill of great importance to a point guard. Speaking, the point guard is the player in possession of the ball for the most time during a game and is responsible for maintaining possession of the ball for his team in the face of any pressure from the opponents. Point guards must be able to maintain possession of the ball in crowded spaces and in traffic and be able to advance the ball quickly. A point guard that has enough ball-handling skill and quickness to be able to drive to the basket in a half-court set is very valuable and considered by some to be a must for a successful offense. After ball-handling and scoring are the most important areas of the game for a point guard; as the primary decision-maker for a team, a point guard's passing ability determines how well a point guard is able to put his decision into play.
It is one thing to be able to recognize the player, in a tactically advantageous position, but it is another thing to be able to deliver the ball to that player. For this reason, a point guard is but not always, more skilled and focused on passing than shooting. However, a good jump shot and the ability to score off a drive to the basket are still valuable skills. A point guard will use his ability to score in order to augment his effectiveness as a decision maker and play maker. In addition to the traditional role of the point guard, modern teams have found new ways to utilize the position. Notably, several modern point guards have used a successful style of post play, a tactic practiced by much larger centers and forwards. Working off of the fact that the opposing point guard is in all probability an undersized player with limited strength, several modern point guards have developed games close to the basket that include being able to utilize the drop step, spin move, fade away jump shot. In recent years, the sport's shift from a fundamental style of play to a more athletic, scoring-oriented game resulted in the proliferation of so-called combo guards at the po
Shooting guard
The shooting guard known as the two or off guard, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's main objective is to steal the ball on defense; some teams ask. A player who can switch between playing shooting guard and small forward is known as a swingman. In the NBA, shooting guards range from 6' 3" to 6' 7" and 5' 9" to 6' 0" in the WNBA; the Basketball Handbook by Lee Rose describes a shooting guard as someone whose primary role is to score points. As the name suggests, most shooting guards are good long-range shooters averaging 35–40 percent from three-point range. Many shooting guards are strong and athletic, have the ability to get inside the paint and drive to the basket. Shooting guards are taller than point guards. Height at the position varies. Shooting guards should be good ball handlers and be able to pass reasonably well, though passing is not their main priority. Since good shooting guards may attract double-teams, they are the team's back-up ball handlers to the point guard and get a fair number of assists.
Shooting guards must be able to score in various ways late in a close game when defenses are tighter. They need to have a good free throw percentage too, to be reliable in close games and to discourage opposing players from fouling; because of the high level of offensive skills shooting guards need, they are a team's primary scoring option, sometimes the offense is built around them. In the NBA, there are some shooting guards referred to as "D" players; the term 3 and D implies that the player is a good 3 point shooter who can play solid defense. The 3 and D player has become important as the game sways to be perimeter oriented. Good shooting guards can play point guard to a certain extent, it is accepted that point guards should have the ball in their hands at most times in the game, but sometimes the shooting guard has a significant enough influence on the team where he or she handles the ball often, to the point where the point guard may be reduced to a backup ball handler or spot-up shooter.
The Basketball Handbook. Lee H. Rose ISBN 0-7360-4906-1 Media related to Shooting guards at Wikimedia Commons
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
