Edgar Sosa was in tears at the airport following the Louisville-Pittsburgh basketball game.
That was the report from Bob Valvano, U of L’s play-by-play announcer, on WKRD’s Early Birds show Monday.
During the final minute-and-a-half, Sosa missed four of five free throw attempts, made some costly turnovers, and tripped a Pittsburgh player, a miscue that was credited to teammate Jerry Smith.
Valvano said coach Rick Pitino took Sosa aside at the airport, consoling while providing encouragement.
A turning point maybe? Only Edgar knows for now.
I don’t see much difference. Team leaders are expected to get the job done. Shooting free-throws is one of the basic aspects of basketball. Too bad he choked. Nothing wrong with him feeling bad about his performance – he should. It’s not like he’s setting the world on fire with his 65% free-throw percentage…Samuels has a higher average. Even Shaq makes more than half his free-throws! A 20% average in clutch time is pathetic. He blew it. We’ll see if he can pull it together and get himself motivated. Hopefully he will.
I know this has been said before, but maybe this loss will be the catalyst that finally causes Edgar to grow up. Everyone can see the potential he has, but he seems to be his own worst enemy. It’s time to stop the trash talking, showboating and cheesing for the cameras. Just go out there and play the game like a man. I’ll be rooting for him.
Nate Keading gets paid to perform as a professional. (Glad he stinks..J E T S…JETS JETS JETS! )
Edgar Sosa is a student/athlete. Just a tad bit of difference there and hard to compare the two. The apples vs. oranges thing.
Also, fairly certain most of the Cardinal fans on here realize what lost the game for us, how it happened and who was responsible. The question is why is Sosa unable to reach the potential level most predicted for him after his breakout game three years ago against Texas A&M.
If Sosa were a stock, my broker would be screaming “Sell, sell, sell!” right now.
Sorry to crash the pity party, but if you miss four of five free throws, you should feel upset about being a big reason your team lost the game. Grade school kids can hit more than one out of six. Give me break. Nate Keading missed three field goals that would’ve most certainly have moved the Chargers to the next round of the playoffs. Instead, they lost to the Jets. How do you think he feels? Probably pretty bad — because he’s worried about his job. I’m not saying that a player will have a bad game now and then, but the good players come through in the clutch. Playing that poorly at a critical time in the game is inexcusable from a team “leader”.
It’s the “good Edgar, bad Edgar” we’ve seen since he stepped on campus. It may be time to turn the back court over to Preston Knpowles and Peyton Siva and bring Smith and Sosa off the bench.
Edgar has had plenty of shining moments in his 3+ years at UofL. He’s also had just as many forgettable ones. Time to realize he’s no DeJuan Wheat, Recce Gaines or TaQuan Dean and get our probable starting backcourt for next year out there and more minutes.
Our ‘senior leadership’ isn’t. These are the sad but true facts right now. Either it turns around dramatically or you go with another combination.
No remorse or guilt needed here. Sometimes you just give others a chance to see if they can do it better.
Hey, Sosa will grow from this. It is hard not to feel bad but sometimes when things are intense – words are said and we express the moment of where we are. This is a growing lesson not only for Sosa but the team. It could trigger the next level of play he is ready for and break down whatever barrier was there.
Be easy on yourself Linda… – Go Cards!
I hate it that Sosa was so upset….yeah, he could have played better but a defeat NEVER rests on the shoulders of any one player. If a player is off, the rest of the team should kick it up a notch. Nope, Edgar should’t blame himself but I sure hope he practices his FT’s every day! Go CARDS!
In all our superior-adultness, with 20-20 hindsight and Monday morning quarterbacking purity, we often overlook the fact that so many of these players are just teenagers, or barely out of their teens. Remember what you were like at 19 or 21??? Remember peer pressure and acceptance? Coaches deal with some very fragile personalities, quite a variety, daily. We don’t; we see them only at gametime. Easy to expect spectacular plays, from our seats. Not so easy to accept disappointment. Maybe YouTube videos should let us into the locker rooms after a game, instead of Sports Center highlights.
Nothing to feel guilty about, Linda. Hopefully, this is the thing that makes Edgar an exceptional player. He has it in him. Just needs to take it another level.
Crap, now I feel guilty. I’ve been ragging on him pretty badly. It shows he’s a good kid , I think.
I guess it shows I’m kind of a jerk too.