Possible big news outta Louisville regarding basketball team?

Originally Posted by ShannonsCrooks

I think I would put my $ on Caracter getting tossed from the program.

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The hits keep coming for the University of Louisville basketball program. Monday afternoon, Rick Pitino delivered more bad news for Cardinal fans, announcing the suspension of sophomore center Derrick Caracter.

Just two days after his team suffered a disappointing home court loss to Dayton, Louisville coach Rick Pitino announced Monday that sophomore center Derrick Caracter has been suspended indefinitely from the team.
It was more bad news for the already depleted Cardinals, who are currently playing without seniors David Padgett (knee) and Juan Palacios (knee). Pitino is also playing without freshmen Clarence Holloway (heart surgery) and George Goode (academics).

"Derrick Caracter has once again been suspended indefinitely - by the team," Pitino said. "From the summer to now, he's been under dormitory arrest. Then he slipped up again and I wasn't going to play him against Dayton but the team asked me to play him."

"We made him sign a contract and he broke it twice the first night after he signed it," Pitino added. "So I had no choice but to suspend him."

Pitino said that Caracter had a 9 o'clock curfew Saturday night after Louisville's loss to Dayton. Caracter broke the curfew twice Saturday night, arriving back at Minardi Hall at 10 p.m., then after being confronted by coaches for breaking curfew, Caracter again left the players dormitory at 10:40.

"He's got to learn to make the right choices in life," Pitino said. "We all love him but he let his (teammates) down. The players are upset because their futures are at stake."

Pitino said there was a chance Caracter could earn his way back on the team but for now he will not be allowed to practice with the team, though he will still participate in individual instruction drills.

"He needs to make dramatic changes in his life," Pitino said. "We need the fans to help us fight through this. I think we're going to have to grind this thing out. We've got to roll up our sleeves and do a lot of different things defensively."

Stay tuned to InsideTheVille.com for complete coverage.



SMH at the discipline in that kid's head

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Originally Posted by wildKYcat

Caracter's been suspended indefinitely.....again.

My boy was a student manager for the team and he said that last year, he would have to go wake Caracter up for practices and workouts all the time. Ricky P found out about that and that's why Caracter was suspened last season.

at this dude.

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Cards' subject of Vegas gossip, rumors
By Brian Bennett
bbennett@courier-journal.comThe Courier-Journal

What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. Ask the University of Louisville men's basketball team.

On Friday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that U of L assistant coach Walter McCarty and "members of the basketball team" were seen taking shots of Patron tequila at the nightclub LAX after the Cardinals' win over Nevada-Las Vegas on Wednesday night.

The article involved senior forward Juan Palacios and a likely reference to senior center David Padgett, both of whom are of age and rehabbing injures that kept them out of the game against UNLV.

On Sunday, the newspaper reported that U of L spokesman Kenny Klein denied that any players were at the nightclub.

A Review-Journal gossip column called Vegas Confidential, written by Norm Clarke, had this to say:

"Our sources say McCarty and Palacios were in the LAX nightclub's VIP section early Thursday with several male friends, including a young white man who appeared to be a seven-footer," the story said. "A bottle of $400 Patron was charged to Eric Scott's credit card, I'm told, and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, which goes for about $300, was paid for in cash."

Scott is U of L's director of basketball operations and the brother of junior guard Will Scott.

The article is accompanied by a photo of Palacios that it says is from Wednesday night at LAX and was posted on a nightclub Web site, Napkinnights.com.

Klein told The Courier-Journal yesterday that Palacios was indeed at the club. But he said Palacios, 22, was under different curfew restrictions than the rest of the players because he is injured and inactive. Palacios injured his right knee in preseason practice and has not played this season.

Klein also said Palacios is very religious and doesn't drink alcohol. Klein said Palacios told him he was not drinking at LAX.

Klein said he wasn't sure if Padgett, 22, was at LAX that night. Padgett was injured against Jackson State on Nov. 18.

U of L spokesman Kenny Klein denied that any players were at the nightclub.

Klein told The Courier-Journal yesterday that Palacios was indeed at the club. But he said Palacios, 22, was under different curfew restrictions than the rest of the players because he is injured and inactive. Palacios injured his right knee in preseason practice and has not played this season.

Klein also said Palacios is very religious and doesn't drink alcohol. Klein said Palacios told him he was not drinking at LAX.

Klein said he wasn't sure if Padgett, 22, was at LAX that night

whoops. nice team "spokesman."

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Listened to Rick:

Rick didn't suspend Caracter. Not his decision. The players voted to suspend him.

Caracter has been on a dorm suspension since Sept. Caracter broke it and Rick suspended him for the Dayton game. The players asked Rick to override it and Rick agreed to reverse the suspension. David and JDTP were instrumental in overriding the suspension, because they want their senior year to be special.

The players and Rick agreed that DC would sign a contract with rules, including a clause with a strict curfew. Caracter broke it twice Saturday night, a few hours after signing the contract. Showed up too late and snuck out again later.

Rick says he has been patient with DC because he thinks DC's life will spiral to nothing if DC doesn't make it here. Rick says he has no plans to kick DC off the team. Ricks said that if DC is a problem, it is his own mistake for recruiting DC and he is not about to give up on DC. Says DC may not play in very many bball games at UofL in the future, but that DC will not be asked to leave, much as he wouldn't disown his own son for making mistakes.

Rick says he doesn't believe in suspensions. Wants to just run players. But says this has no effect on DC. Says DC literally thought the team needed him too much to suspend him.

Part of DC's rules is to be up by a certain hour. Apparently an assistant was going over to wake DC up each morning and that infuriated Rick as it was DC's responsibility.

Rick says DC is the biggest failure at the game of life he's ever been around.

DC will not be practicing. DC has been forced to move into the normal student dorm away from the players. DC will have to do individual instuction at the Student Activities Center, where all the normal students play bball, and will not be admitted to the new Yum practice center.

Says both E5 and Sosa presented nearly as many problems as DC, but they've responded much better.
"Rick says DC is the biggest failure at the game of life he's ever beenaround."

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Caracter issues? Pitino cracks down, until it's inconvenient



Sophomore Derrick Caracter has been a headache since he got to Louisville. Worse than a headache -- he has been a migraine. Worse than a migraine. OK, you want to know what Derrick Caracter has been? He has been a pain in the++@%.

This is Louisville coach Rick Pitino's 22nd year as a college basketball coach, starting at Boston University and including stops at Providence and Kentucky. Since Caracter arrived on campus last summer, Pitino says, "I've had more problems in a year and a half than in all those places combined."

That's how bad Derrick Caracter has been. But that's also how good Derrick Caracter is, and how good he can be. A player like this, you don't kick off the team. Not a player like this. Brandon Bender is the kind of player Rick Pitino kicks off the team, as he did in 2002, because Brandon Bender couldn't play possum if you ran him over with an Escalade.

Caracter is the kind of guy who one day could own an Escalade, and maybe an entire Escalade dealership. Caracter could be that good. Which is why, despite being so bad, he was on the bench for Louisville's game against Purdue on Saturday and could be back on the floor Tuesday when the Cardinals play Marshall.

This comes one week after Caracter symbolically laughed in Pitino's face.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not mad at Caracter. You ask me, he's welcome to stay at Louisville as long as he wants. His continued presence makes Pitino look awful, and I'm all about anything that makes Pitino look awful.

This latest incident looks particularly awful. Here are the details:

In the days leading up to Louisville's game last Saturday against Dayton, Caracter got into trouble. Again. Caracter is always getting into trouble, whether he's not coming home at night or not going to class in the morning or whatever. As Pitino said in the second paragraph of this story, Caracter is a massive, never-ending problem.

Pitino wouldn't say what this particular trouble was before the Dayton game, but whatever it was, he said it was enough for him to suspend Caracter indefinitely. That was a big deal, because the Cardinals don't have any viable big men after Caracter -- don't tell me about 6-foot-10 senior Terrance Farley; I said "viable" -- and Dayton was a team that could beat them. Dayton was a team that did beat them last season, and a repeat of that loss last weekend, at home, would have been damaging to Louisville's NCAA Tournament resume.

Yet Pitino still was going to suspend Caracter.

"I was not going to play him in the Dayton game," Pitino said. "I was 100 percent sure not to play him. It was going to be a while before he stepped on the basketball court."

So this is what Rick Pitino -- that leader, that molder of men -- did. He went to his team and asked for their permission to suspend Caracter.

They said no.



"The team asked me to override it because we couldn't win without him," Pitino said. "We didn't have any size, we didn't have players, so we couldn't win without him."



Pitino traded in his discipline -- and his coaching testicles -- for a win. He let Caracter play against Dayton, but not without letting Caracter know how serious this situation was. In previous months Pitino already had drawn up at least one "contract" with Caracter, stipulating the behaviors that were and were not acceptable. Caracter had broken that contract time and again, so here's what Pitino did before the Dayton game: He drew up another contract. Saying the same stuff. And had Caracter sign it again. Because Pitino is that kind of no-means-no disciplinarian.

Caracter was so grateful for the 17th chance that he produced a typical Derrick Caracter performance -- lots of effort on offense, none on defense -- in a 70-65 loss to Dayton.

And then he broke his contract with Pitino by breaking his curfew.

That same night.

Twice.

Caracter was supposed to report to his dormitory by 9 p.m., but he ambled in at 10. And then shortly before midnight he snuck back out. OK, snuck is the wrong word. Caracter is 6-9, 270 pounds. The dorm doesn't have any secret entrances. Basically, this enormous guy walked out the front door and dared Pitino to do something about it. Why? Because for 18 months he had given Pitino more trouble than any, or all, of the players Pitino had coached in his previous 20 years -- and still Pitino had let him play. Because Pitino needed Derrick Caracter.

Pitino tells it another way. He says he doesn't care about Caracter the player nearly as much as he cares about Caracter the person.

"The reason we've taken so much effort trying to change him," Pitino said, "is we love his mom and we felt he was very worth the change -- not so much as a basketball player, but if he didn't change he has no chance of making it in life, never mind basketball."

Heart-warming. And did we mention the 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds Caracter was providing? Did we mention Caracter has been cited as a potential NBA lottery pick since he was in eighth grade?

"He needs to make dramatic changes in his life," Pitino said. "I've never seen anyone so far behind in the game of life. ... I never knew when we recruited him that he would be this far behind -- not basketball-wise, but personally."

Pitino blames that on the NCAA, which has limited coaching staffs' contact with potential recruits, when he should be blaming it on assistant Steve Masiello, who runs amok in the New York-New Jersey area and brings in city players like Caracter, Earl Clark and Edgar Sosa who clash repeatedly with Pitino.

Or Pitino should blame it on the Louisville assistant -- he didn't name him, so it might not be Masiello -- who had been literally waking up Caracter every morning so Caracter could do the things on his daily schedule without getting into more trouble with Pitino.

They're building fine young men at Louisville, aren't they? Sleep late, and we'll wake you up. Break our rules, and we'll still let you play. Come to Louisville, where kids will be kids and the adults will look the other way.

This guy has zero character. He should be suspended for the rest of the season.

Rick Pitino, I mean.

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Originally Posted by wildKYcat

Pitino has called an un-scheduled news conference today. Rumors are that either Derrick Caracter or Edgar Sosa will be dismissed. Rumors though, could be nothing.

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Originally Posted by wildKYcat

Caracter's back. Pitino's soft.

Caracter issues? Pitino cracks down, until it's inconvenient



Sophomore Derrick Caracter has been a headache since he got to Louisville. Worse than a headache -- he has been a migraine. Worse than a migraine. OK, you want to know what Derrick Caracter has been? He has been a pain in the++@%.

This is Louisville coach Rick Pitino's 22nd year as a college basketball coach, starting at Boston University and including stops at Providence and Kentucky. Since Caracter arrived on campus last summer, Pitino says, "I've had more problems in a year and a half than in all those places combined."

That's how bad Derrick Caracter has been. But that's also how good Derrick Caracter is, and how good he can be. A player like this, you don't kick off the team. Not a player like this. Brandon Bender is the kind of player Rick Pitino kicks off the team, as he did in 2002, because Brandon Bender couldn't play possum if you ran him over with an Escalade.

Caracter is the kind of guy who one day could own an Escalade, and maybe an entire Escalade dealership. Caracter could be that good. Which is why, despite being so bad, he was on the bench for Louisville's game against Purdue on Saturday and could be back on the floor Tuesday when the Cardinals play Marshall.

This comes one week after Caracter symbolically laughed in Pitino's face.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not mad at Caracter. You ask me, he's welcome to stay at Louisville as long as he wants. His continued presence makes Pitino look awful, and I'm all about anything that makes Pitino look awful.

This latest incident looks particularly awful. Here are the details:

In the days leading up to Louisville's game last Saturday against Dayton, Caracter got into trouble. Again. Caracter is always getting into trouble, whether he's not coming home at night or not going to class in the morning or whatever. As Pitino said in the second paragraph of this story, Caracter is a massive, never-ending problem.

Pitino wouldn't say what this particular trouble was before the Dayton game, but whatever it was, he said it was enough for him to suspend Caracter indefinitely. That was a big deal, because the Cardinals don't have any viable big men after Caracter -- don't tell me about 6-foot-10 senior Terrance Farley; I said "viable" -- and Dayton was a team that could beat them. Dayton was a team that did beat them last season, and a repeat of that loss last weekend, at home, would have been damaging to Louisville's NCAA Tournament resume.

Yet Pitino still was going to suspend Caracter.

"I was not going to play him in the Dayton game," Pitino said. "I was 100 percent sure not to play him. It was going to be a while before he stepped on the basketball court."

So this is what Rick Pitino -- that leader, that molder of men -- did. He went to his team and asked for their permission to suspend Caracter.

They said no.



"The team asked me to override it because we couldn't win without him," Pitino said. "We didn't have any size, we didn't have players, so we couldn't win without him."



Pitino traded in his discipline -- and his coaching testicles -- for a win. He let Caracter play against Dayton, but not without letting Caracter know how serious this situation was. In previous months Pitino already had drawn up at least one "contract" with Caracter, stipulating the behaviors that were and were not acceptable. Caracter had broken that contract time and again, so here's what Pitino did before the Dayton game: He drew up another contract. Saying the same stuff. And had Caracter sign it again. Because Pitino is that kind of no-means-no disciplinarian.

Caracter was so grateful for the 17th chance that he produced a typical Derrick Caracter performance -- lots of effort on offense, none on defense -- in a 70-65 loss to Dayton.

And then he broke his contract with Pitino by breaking his curfew.

That same night.

Twice.

Caracter was supposed to report to his dormitory by 9 p.m., but he ambled in at 10. And then shortly before midnight he snuck back out. OK, snuck is the wrong word. Caracter is 6-9, 270 pounds. The dorm doesn't have any secret entrances. Basically, this enormous guy walked out the front door and dared Pitino to do something about it. Why? Because for 18 months he had given Pitino more trouble than any, or all, of the players Pitino had coached in his previous 20 years -- and still Pitino had let him play. Because Pitino needed Derrick Caracter.

Pitino tells it another way. He says he doesn't care about Caracter the player nearly as much as he cares about Caracter the person.

"The reason we've taken so much effort trying to change him," Pitino said, "is we love his mom and we felt he was very worth the change -- not so much as a basketball player, but if he didn't change he has no chance of making it in life, never mind basketball."

Heart-warming. And did we mention the 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds Caracter was providing? Did we mention Caracter has been cited as a potential NBA lottery pick since he was in eighth grade?

"He needs to make dramatic changes in his life," Pitino said. "I've never seen anyone so far behind in the game of life. ... I never knew when we recruited him that he would be this far behind -- not basketball-wise, but personally."

Pitino blames that on the NCAA, which has limited coaching staffs' contact with potential recruits, when he should be blaming it on assistant Steve Masiello, who runs amok in the New York-New Jersey area and brings in city players like Caracter, Earl Clark and Edgar Sosa who clash repeatedly with Pitino.

Or Pitino should blame it on the Louisville assistant -- he didn't name him, so it might not be Masiello -- who had been literally waking up Caracter every morning so Caracter could do the things on his daily schedule without getting into more trouble with Pitino.

They're building fine young men at Louisville, aren't they? Sleep late, and we'll wake you up. Break our rules, and we'll still let you play. Come to Louisville, where kids will be kids and the adults will look the other way.

This guy has zero character. He should be suspended for the rest of the season.

Rick Pitino, I mean.

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