The University of Louisville men’s basketball team opens play Thursday in the Big East Conference Tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Cards are seeded third in the 16 team tournament and will play either Marquette, Providence or West Virginia in the 9:00pm game Thursday.Coach Rick Pitino says despite receiving a double-bye, the Cards still have a tough road to the title in a league that will send 11 teams to the NCAA tournament next week."Obviously we play hard enough to play close, but we’re not good enough to knock anybody out either. We’ve got to execute at the end of the game, which we didn’t do the other day, but I think that will be an valuable learning experience for us as we move forward," Pitino said Tuesday.The Cards blew a five point lead in the final moments of last Saturday’s loss at West Virginia.In other men’s tournament action this week, Kentucky opens play Friday at 3:30pm in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Atlanta.Indiana meets Penn State Thursday at 7:30pm in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.