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No pain, big gains

Sporting News, The, Nov 22, 2004 by Mike DeCourcy

He points to the area where the pain would sear through his body each time exercise pushed him toward fatigue. His index finger starts just below the Left side of his rib cage, tracing down to a spot near the middle of his thigh. Then he does the same on his right side. That is how it feels to have a double sports hernia.

Though it didn't do him or his Louisville teammates much good, Taquan Dean played regularly through that agony from late January until mid-March. He missed two games and never was the same after returning. Neither were the Cardinals, who went from a 16-game winning streak to a 4-9 finish.

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"It was very depressing," Dean says. "I was so fatigued, I couldn't get up a shot. If you're giving it all you've got and you're still losing, it feels like there's nothing you can do."

Louisville has seen what kind of team it has when Dean isn't healthy and does not wish to look back. The Cardinals did not enjoy the happiest offseason, losing recruits Sebastian Telfair and Donta Smith to the NBA draft and now freshman power forward Brian Johnson for the season because of pending knee surgery. But Louisville still figures to be better, and Dean's return to health--after surgery in June and an extended rehabilitation--is the most significant reason.

Dean was recruited as a shooting guard but gradually moved to the point. He is not exceptionally creative but guides the offense with confidence and ranks with the best shooters and defenders at the position. Dean's return to controlling the offense is the biggest reason Louisville will stick around the top 20, for a change.

These are a couple of others:

* A reborn post game. The return of 6-7, 245-pound senior Ellis Myles from an injury redshirt and the arrival of 68, 245-pound freshman Juan Palacios give the Cardinals two more inside scorers. With Johnson, it would have been three, but this still is an improvement. Myles, who averaged 7.8 points and 7.9 rebounds as a junior in 2002-03, can be enough of a force on the block to occasionally draw a double-team.

Palacios is highly skilled, an excellent ballhandler and passer who can hit midrange shots. He is remarkably powerful for someone who's 19.

* Francisco Garcia's imminent stardom. A 6-7 wing, Garcia already is an All-Conference USA player. Compared by Louisville coach Rick Pitino to the Pistons' Richard Hamilton, Garcia will be an All-American as a junior.

When Dean was injured and there was little inside game to occupy defenses, Garcia was expected to deliver too large of a portion of the scoring and had to generate too much on his own. Garcia's field-goal, 3-point and free throw percentages all fell significantly. With Dean's presence leading to better shots and more help coming from the big men, Garcia should average between 18 and 21 points.

Louisville is not as deep as Pitino would prefer. To get to 10 players in the rotation, he has to use walk-ons Perrin Johnson and Brad Gianiny. That places a governor on Pitino's preference for fullcourt pressure, though he is considering using a "red team" of reserves--recoloring the "blue team" concept introduced by former North Carolina coach Dean Smith--to periodically enter as an entire unit and turn up the pace of the game.

After his injury, the impact on Dean's offensive production was obvious. What hurt nearly as much was the absence of his leadership. Dean still played but was preoccupied with physical challenges.

"He didn't play with the same intensity; he couldn't," Garcia says. "It's great that he's better. He brings a lot of energy. He's a leader."

Dean is not completely recovered. He estimates his fitness at 95 percent. There is no pain, though. And the Cardinals' first big game is Monday at the Maui Invitational. That can't hurt, either.

speed reads

Did Ohio State really think it was going to fire Jim O'Brien without paying him some money? Do the Buckeyes really need to fight a lawsuit, with all the public-relations fires burning through the football program? O'Brien's contract should have been settled when he was dismissed. The bungling never seems to end in Columbus.

Maybe Illinois forward Brian Randle needs to watch more baseball. Then he would have known Yankees pitcher Kevin Brown ruined his 2004 season by losing a fight with a wall. Randle, who would have helped the Illini, did the same thing and had surgery to repair a broken hand. He will miss six weeks minimum but could redshirt. The wall never loses these confrontations.

Boston College has four starters back from a team that was four points away from the Sweet 16. Forward Craig Smith is a star, and though the guards aren't great, they were good enough to help the Eagles win 24 games last year. You want a sleeper, this is it.

INSIDE DISH

No pain, big gains

Sporting News, The, Nov 22, 2004 by Mike DeCourcy

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