The 2012–13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...

during the

2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November with the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Atlanta, April 6–8. Season headlines *October 29 – The AP preseason All-American team was named. Indiana's ...

, Louisville's 99th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

and were coached by Rick Pitino in his 12th season as head coach at Louisville. The team played its home games on

Denny Crum Denzel Edwin "Denny" Crum (born March 2, 1937) is an American former men's college basketball coach at the University of Louisville from 1971 to 2001, compiling a record. He guided the Cardinals to two NCAA championships (1980, 1986) and six Fi ...

Court at the

KFC Yum! Center The KFC Yum! Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is named after the KFC restaurant chain and Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC. Adjacent to the Ohio River waterfront, it is located on ...

. 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 Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

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 The Battle 4 Atlantis is an early-season college basketball tournament. It takes place at Atlantis Paradise Island on Paradise Island in The Bahamas, on the week of the US holiday of Thanksgiving. For sponsorship purposes, the tournament is of ...

tournament where they defeated #13

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

by 23 before losing to #5

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

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 Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. 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 Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

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 (14–4) 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 The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

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 North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Carol ...

, setting the NCAA tournament single-game record for steals with 20. They closed out the opening weekend by defeating

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado S ...

, 82–56. They defeated

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

in the regional semi-final, 77–69, to set up a regional final with

, whom they had lost to in the season-opening tournament. Before halftime of the game Louisville guard

Kevin Ware Kevin Ware Jr. (born January 3, 1993) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Club Deportivo Hispano Americano of the Liga Nacional de Básquet. He is a former player for the University of Louisville. Ware received wi ...

suffered a compound fracture. The Cardinals rallied together to defeat Duke by 22 (the largest tournament defeat for coach Mike Krzyzewski since the 1990 National Title Game), 85–63. The Cardinals advanced to their second consecutive Final Four (their 10th) to face

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study ...

. 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 Patrick Lucas "Luke" Hancock (born January 30, 1990) is an American former professional basketball player and current financial adviser. He played in six games for Panionios of the Greek Basket League before tearing a muscle in his calf, ending hi ...

, 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

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 Chane Xavier Behanan ( ; born September 24, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Santeros de Aguada of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). Behanan, who won a, now vacated, NCAA title at Louisville, was going to transfer to C ...

to win, 82–76, giving Louisville basketball its third NCAA Championship and giving coach Rick Pitino his first title at Louisville.

Schedule and results

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Rankings

Source:

Awards

;Sporting News Third Team All-America : Russ Smith ;Capital One Academic All-America :Peyton Siva ;American Eagle Outfitters BIG EAST Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year :Peyton Siva ;Big East Defensive Player of the Year : Gorgui Dieng ;NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player :

;NCAA Final Four all-tournament team :

:Luke Hancock :Peyton Siva ;NCAA (Midwest) Most Outstanding Player :Russ Smith ;NCAA Midwest Regional all-tournament team :Russ Smith :Gorgui Dieng :Peyton Siva ;Big East tournament Most Outstanding Player :Peyton Siva ;Big East Championship All-Tournament Team :Peyton Siva :Russ Smith ;First Team All-Big East :Gorgui Dieng :Russ Smith ;Third Team All-Big East :Peyton Siva ; Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (top Division I senior 6'0"/1.83 m or shorter) :Peyton Siva ;

Elite 89 Award The Elite 90 Award or more formally The Elite 90 Academic Recognition Award Program, originally the Elite 88 Award and later the Elite 89 Award, is an award by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognizing the student athlete w ...

(top GPA among upperclass players at Final Four) :

Wayne Blackshear Wayne Fitzgerald Blackshear (born February 11, 1992) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Maine Celtics of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals. High school and college care ...

Best Coach/Manager ESPY Award : Rick Pitino

Controversies and scandals

A former Louisville player,

Andre McGee Andre Jerome McGee (born March 7, 1987) is a former American basketball coach and player who was most recently assistant coach at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC). McGee played college basketball at Louisville under Rick Pitino and ...

, 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 (including the 2013 National Championship) that included ineligible players, a decision that the university appealed. On February 20, 2018, the NCAA upheld the decision.

Notable achievements

* Peyton Siva became Louisville's 64th 1000 point scorer in a 64–38 victory over South Florida on January 12, 2013. * Russ Smith became the 65th 1000 point scorer in a 79–58 victory over DePaul on February 27, 2013. * Rick Pitino won his 300th game as Louisville's Head Coach in a 67–51 victory over Cincinnati on March 4, 2013. * Russ Smith broke the Louisville record for most made free throws in a season previous set by

Wes Unseld Westley Sissel Unseld Sr. (March 14, 1946June 2, 2020) was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets. Unseld ...

(177) in the 1967–68 season. * Peyton Siva broke the Louisville record for most steals in a season with 90 steals, passing the 87 steals Russ Smith had in the 2011–12 season. * Peyton Siva broke the Louisville record for most career steals with 254 steals, when he passed

Darrell Griffith Darrell Steven Griffith (born June 16, 1958), also known by his nickname Dr. Dunkenstein, is an American former basketball player who spent his entire professional career with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association from 1980 to 19 ...

's record of 230 steals he had from 1976 to 1980. * Peyton Siva tied the Big East tournament record for most steals in a game (7) in the semifinal game against Notre Dame. * Peyton Siva won his second Big East tournament MVP award, becoming only the second player to win this award multiple times ( Patrick Ewing) * Peyton Siva set a Big East tournament career record with 29 steals, breaking the old mark of 28, held by Pittsburgh's Brandin Knight since 2003. * The team set the NCAA tournament record for steals in a single game with 20 in a second-round game against North Carolina A&T. * Russ Smith tied the individual NCAA tournament single game record for steals with 8 against North Carolina A&T (tied with – Ty Lawson 2009) * Set school record with 35 wins during the season passing the 33 wins the 1979–80 and 2004–05 teams had. * Luke Hancock is the first and only reserve player to be awarded the Final Four MOP Award.

References

External links

*
Louisville Cardinals 2012–13 Basketball Guide
'

{{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team Louisville Cardinals Men's Basketball Team, 2012-13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball seasons Louisville NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons Louisville Cardinals men's basketball, 2012-13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball, 2012-13