Louisville-Arkansas Game Developing

A Louisville-Arkansas game is in the works for the 2009-10 basketball season, a matchup that would pit Rick Pitino against John Pelphrey, a former pupil at Kentucky.

Negotiations are proceeding for Nov. 19, and the game would be a part of a new Naismith tournament. The field would include U of L, Kansas, Memphis and Arkansas playing home games against mid- to low-major teams over a two-week period. On the final day, Louisville would play Arkansas, and Kansas would meet Memphis in a doubleheader in St. Louis, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and ESPN.com.

The early date could be a concern for Louisville fans familiar with the slow starts of Pitino’s U of L teams, which could be amplified by the loss of Terrence Williams, Earl Clark, and Andre McGee.

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Pelphrey, who has always referred to Louisville as “that team,” would like nothing better to add a win over Pitino to his questionable resume. The native of Paintsville had no problem using Louisville to his advantage when he was being recruited as a high schooler. Pelphrey showed up at a U of L awards banquet, knowing that it would attract UK’s attention. Kentucky had shown zero interest before then. It worked for the “mountain man,” who admitted later his life-long dream was to play in Lexington.

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Weekend Slippage — Despite three home runs from Adam Duvall, the Baseball Cards lost to Notre Dame 13-12 in the rubber match of a three-game weekend series. U of L won the first game 8-7 Friday but lost 11-5 the next day.

Phil Wunderlich and Chris Dominguez lead the Cards in hitting with batting averages of .358 and .351, respectively. They have hit a team leading 12 home runs each. Unfortunately, Dominguez is way out in front on strike outs with 34 whiffs.

The Cards play UK again today, traveling to Lexington for a 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 1080 AM if you can tolerate listening to a UK announcing team.

Big East Standings: