2012–13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team


The 2012–13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 99th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Big East Conference and were coached by Rick Pitino in his 12th season as head coach at Louisville. The team played its home games on Denny Crum Court at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals finished the season 35–5, 14–4 in Big East play to earn a share of the Big East regular season championship. They won the Big East Tournament for the third time in school history and received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals earned a trip to the school's fourth Final Four and defeated Michigan to win the NCAA Championship; however, that title was stripped by the NCAA in 2018. The season marked the final year for the Big East under its original structure.

Pre-season

The Cardinals were the consensus No. 2 team in the preseason polls and were picked to win Big East conference by the media and the coaches. They returned five of nine players from the 2012 Final Four team led by senior and Big East Pre-Season Player of the Year Peyton Siva. They lost senior Mike Marra to a knee injury on the first day of practice.

Departures

Class of 2012 signees

Roster

Regular season

Out of conference

Louisville opened with two exhibition victories and 3 wins at home. They played in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament where they defeated #13 Missouri by 23 before losing to #5 Duke in the championship game. Gorgui Dieng suffered a broken wrist in the Missouri game and did not play against Duke. Louisville won the rest of its out of conference slate including victories at Memphis in the Hall of Fame Shootout and victories against in state rivals Western Kentucky and Kentucky. They entered Big East play with a 12–1 record.

Departures

Big East

The Cardinals opened Big East play with four victories, and were voted #1 in both AP and Coaches Polls in week 10. They then dropped three straight, a 2-point home loss to #6 Syracuse and back to back road losses at Villanova and Georgetown. The Cardinals won 10 of their next 11 with the one loss at Notre Dame in a 5 OT game that is the longest regular season game in Big East history. They finished the regular season with a 26–5 record and claimed a three-way tie with Georgetown and Marquette as Big East Regular Season Champions.
Junior guard Russ Smith was named a Sporting News Third Team All-American. Senior co-captain Peyton Siva was named 2013 American Eagle Outfitters BIG EAST Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Junior Gorgui Dieng was named 2013 Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Smith and Dieng were named to the 2013 All-Big East First team. Siva was named to the All-Big East Third Team.

Postseason

Big East Tournament

The Cardinals were the number 2 seed in the tournament and faced Villanova in the quarter finals, defeating them, 74–55. They next defeated number 24 Notre Dame, 69–57, setting up the final Big East Tournament Championship game against number 19 Syracuse. Louisville was down by 16 in the second half, but rallied to claim their third Big East Tournament Championship with a 78–61 victory. The Cardinals repeated as tournament champions.

NCAA Tournament

Louisville received the number 1 overall seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament. They opened the tournament with a 79–48 win over North Carolina A&T, setting the NCAA tournament single-game record for steals with 20. They closed out the opening weekend by defeating Colorado State, 82–56. They defeated Oregon in the regional semi-final, 77–69, to set up a regional final with Duke, whom they had lost to in the season-opening tournament. Before halftime of the game Louisville guard Kevin Ware suffered a compound fracture. The Cardinals rallied together to defeat Duke by 22, 85–63.
The Cardinals advanced to their second consecutive Final Four to face Wichita State. The Shockers led most of the game, and were up by as many as 12 with 13 minutes to play. A 20-point performance by Luke Hancock, and two timely three-point shots by walk-on Tim Henderson, kept the Cardinals in the game, which they won, 72–68, to advance to face Michigan in the National Championship.
In its third NCAA Championship game Louisville went down 12 points. The Cardinals rallied behind a 22-point effort by Final Four MOP Luke Hancock, 18 points and 5 assists from senior captain Peyton Siva, and 15 points and 12 rebounds from sophomore Chane Behanan to win, 82–76, giving Louisville basketball its third NCAA Championship and giving coach Rick Pitino his first title at Louisville.

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style="background:#AD0000; color:#FFFFFF;"|Exhibition
!colspan=12 style="background:#AD0000; color:#FFFFFF;"|Non-Conference Regular Season
!colspan=9 style="background:#AD0000; color:#FFFFFF;;"|Big East regular season
!colspan=12 style="background:#AD0000; color:#FFFFFF;"| Big East Tournament
!colspan=12 style="background:#AD0000; color:#FFFFFF;"| NCAA Tournament

Rankings

Source:
PollPreWk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13Wk 14Wk 15Wk 16Wk 17Wk 18Final
AP2225565443151211121010842
Coaches222666434415131212109641

Awards

;Sporting News Third Team All-America
;Capital One Academic All-America
;American Eagle Outfitters BIG EAST Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year
;Big East Defensive Player of the Year
;NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player
;NCAA Final Four all-tournament team
;NCAA Most Outstanding Player
;NCAA Midwest Regional all-tournament team
;Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player
;Big East Championship All-Tournament Team
;First Team All-Big East
;Third Team All-Big East
;Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
;Elite 89 Award
Best Coach/Manager ESPY Award

Controversies and scandals

A former Louisville player, Andre McGee, arranged and paid for strippers and prostitutes to perform striptease dances and sexual acts for 17 prospective and former basketball players from 2010 to 2014. On October 3, 2015, the book publisher IBJ Custom Publishing released a book entitled Breaking Cardinal Rules. Based on revelations provided by the local self-described escort, Katina Powell, the book detailed striptease dances and acts of prostitution that Powell and McGee arranged and organized in Minardi Hall over approximately a four-year period.
During the investigation of the allegations, the university self-imposed a ban on the 2016 NCAA Tournament. In June 2017, the NCAA announced that the university would lose four basketball scholarships over the course of four seasons, but there would be no further postseason ban. The NCAA had initially suspended head coach Rick Pitino for five ACC games during the 2017–18 season, but the Louisville athletic association board agreed unanimously to fire Pitino before the season on October 16, 2017. The NCAA also ordered the university to vacate all wins from 2011 to 2014 that include ineligible players, a decision to which the university has since filed an appeal. On February 20, 2018, the NCAA upheld the decision.

Notable achievements