# 2009–10 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 96th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Big East Conference and were coached by Rick Pitino, who was in his ninth season. The team played its home games on Denny Crum Court at Freedom Hall, the final season before moving to the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cardinals finished the season 20–13, 11–7 in Big East play (3rd-T) and lost in the second round of the 2010 Big East men's basketball tournament. They received an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, earning a 9 seed in the South Region where they lost to 8 seed California in the second round.

## Preseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Earl Clark | 5 | F | 6'9" | 220 | Junior | Plainfield, New Jersey | Entered 2009 NBA draft |
| Andre McGee | 33 | G | 5'10" | 180 | Senior | Moreno Valley, California | Graduated |
| Will Scott | 20 | G | 6'3" | 185 | Senior | New York, New York | Graduated |
| Terrence Williams | 1 | F | 6'6" | 215 | Senior | Seattle, Washington | Entered 2009 NBA draft |

### Class of 2009 signees

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Rakeem Buckles PF | Miami, FL | Monsignor Pace High School (FL) | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Feb 25, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 91 ||||||
| Mike Marra SG | Smithfield, RI | Northfield Mt. Hermon High School (MA) | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Feb 21, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 88 ||||||
| Peyton Siva PG | Seattle, WA | Franklin High School (WA) | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | May 16, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 96 ||||||
| Stephan Van Treese PF | Indianapolis, IN | Lawrence North High School (IN) | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Sep 16, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 88 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 21 Rivals: 16 ESPN: 17 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Louisville Basketball Commitment List". Rivals.com. "2009 Louisville Basketball Commitment List". Scout.com. "ESPN". ESPN.com. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. "2009 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Roster

| Name | # | Position | Height | Weight | Year | Former School | Hometown |
| Chris Brickley | 11 | Guard | 6–4 | 175 | Senior | Northeastern University | Manchester, NH |
| Rakeem Buckles | 4 | Forward | 6–8 | 200 | Freshman | Pace | Miami, FL |
| Reginald Delk | 12 | Guard | 6–4 | 175 | Senior | Mississippi State University | Jackson, TN |
| George Goode | 22 | Guard | 6–8 | 205 | Sophomore | Raytown South | Raytown, MO |
| Terrence Jennings | 23 | Forward | 6–10 | 225 | Sophomore | Notre Dame Prep | Sacramento, CA |
| Preston Knowles | 2 | Guard | 6–1 | 170 | Junior | George Rogers Clark | Winchester, KY |
| Kyle Kuric | 14 | Guard | 6–4 | 175 | Sophomore | Reitz Memorial | Evansville, IN |
| Mike Marra | 33 | Guard | 6–4 | 190 | Freshman | Northfield Mt. Hermon | Esmond, RI |
| Samardo Samuels | 15 | Forward | 6–8 | 240 | Sophomore | St. Benedict | Trelawny, Jamaica |
| Peyton Siva | 3 | Guard | 5–10 | 165 | Freshman | Franklin | Seattle, WA |
| Chris Smith | 5 | Guard | 6–3 | 21- | Junior (Redshirt) | Manhattan | Newark, NJ |
| Jerry Smith | 34 | Guard | 6–1 | 200 | Senior | East | Wauwatosa, WI |
| Edgar Sosa | 10 | Guard | 6–1 | 200 | Senior | Rice | Bronx, NY |
| Jared Swopshire | 21 | Forward | 6–7 | 215 | Sophomore | IMG Academy | St. Louis, MO |
| Stephan Van Treese | 44 | Forward | 6–8 | 220 | Freshman | Lawrence North | Indianapolis, IN |
| Richie Phares | 32 | Forward | 6–9 | 210 | Freshman | Scott County | Georgetown, KY |

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| November 17, 2009* 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 20 | vs. Arkansas Hall of Fame Showcase | W 96–66 | 1–0 | Scottrade Center (12,017) St. Louis, MO |
| November 21* 4:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN360 | No. 20 | East Tennessee State Hall of Fame Showcase | W 69–56 | 2–0 | Freedom Hall (19,179) Louisville, KY |
| November 22* 1:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN360 | No. 20 | Morgan State Hall of Fame Showcase | W 90–81 | 3–0 | Freedom Hall (18,942) Louisville, KY |
| November 23* 7:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN360 | No. 16 | Appalachian State Hall of Fame Showcase | W 80–53 | 4–0 | Freedom Hall (19,027) Louisville, KY |
| November 28* 4:00 p.m., Versus | No. 16 | at UNLV | L 71–76 | 4–1 | Thomas & Mack Center (14,390) Paradise, NV |
| December 2* 7:00 p.m., WHAS/ESPN Full Court | No. 20 | Stetson | W 80–48 | 5–1 | Freedom Hall (18,916) Louisville, KY |
| December 5* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 20 | Charlotte | L 65–87 | 5–2 | Freedom Hall (19,221) Louisville, KY |
| December 12* 4:00 p.m., WHAS/ESPN Full Court | | Western Carolina | L 83–91 | 5–3 | Freedom Hall (19,247) Louisville, KY |
| December 16* 7:00 p.m., WHAS/ESPN Full Court | | Oral Roberts | W 94–57 | 6–3 | Freedom Hall (18,868) Louisville, KY |
| December 19* 4:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | Western Kentucky Billy Minardi Classic | W 102–75 | 7–3 | Freedom Hall (19,531) Louisville, KY |
| December 23* 7:00 p.m., WHAS/ESPN Full Court | | Louisiana–Lafayette | W 84–69 | 8–3 | Freedom Hall (18,894) Louisville, KY |
| December 27* 1:00 p.m., WHAS/ESPN Full Court | | Radford | W 79–53 | 9–3 | Freedom Hall (19,265) Louisville, KY |
| December 30 7:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN Full Court | | South Florida | W 73–52 | 10–3 (1–0) | Freedom Hall (19,386) Louisville, KY |
| January 2* 3:30 p.m., CBS | | at No. 3 Kentucky Battle for the Bluegrass | L 62–71 | 10–4 (1–0) | Rupp Arena (24,479) Lexington, KY |
| January 6 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | | at Providence | W 92–70 | 11–4 (2–0) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (9,207) Providence, RI |
| January 9 12:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN Full Court | | St. Johns | W 75–68 | 12–4 (3–0) | Freedom Hall (19,263) Louisville, KY |
| January 11 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | No. 4 Villanova | L 84–92 | 12–5 (3–1) | Freedom Hall (20,076) Louisville, KY |
| January 16 12:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN Full Court | | at No. 16 Pittsburgh | L 77–82 $^{OT}$ | 12–6 (3–2) | Petersen Events Center (12,781) Pittsburgh, PA |
| January 21 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | at Seton Hall | L 77–80 | 12–7 (3–3) | Prudential Center (7,139) Newark, NJ |
| January 24 12:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN Full Court | | Cincinnati | W 68–60 | 13–7 (4–3) | Freedom Hall (19,617) Louisville, KY |
| January 30 12:00 p.m., ESPN | | at No. 9 West Virginia | L 74–77 | 13–8 (4–4) | WVU Coliseum (12,471) Morgantown, WV |
| February 1 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | Connecticut | W 82–69 | 14–8 (5–4) | Freedom Hall (19,655) Louisville, KY |
| February 6 4:00 p.m., WHAS/BEN/ESPN Full Court | | Rutgers | W 76–60 | 15–8 (6–4) | Freedom Hall (19,775) Louisville, KY |
| February 11 4:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | at St. John's | L 55–74 | 15–9 (6–5) | Madison Square Garden (5,748) New York, NY |
| February 14 1:00 p.m., ESPN | | at No. 2 Syracuse | W 66–60 | 16–9 (7–5) | Carrier Dome (31,053) Syracuse, NY |
| February 17 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | Notre Dame | W 91–89 $^{2OT}$ | 17–9 (8–5) | Freedom Hall (19,623) Louisville, KY |
| February 20 2:00 p.m., ESPNU | | at DePaul | W 68–59 | 18–9 (9–5) | Allstate Arena (13,754) Rosemont, IL |
| February 23 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | No. 11 Georgetown | L 60–70 | 18–10 (9–6) | Freedom Hall (19,917) Louisville, KY |
| February 28 2:00 p.m., CBS | | at Connecticut | W 78–76 | 19–10 (10–6) | Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, CT |
| March 2 9:30 p.m., ESPNU | | at Marquette | L 48–69 | 19–11 (10–7) | Bradley Center (16,281) Milwaukee, WI |
| March 6 2:00 p.m., ESPN | | No. 1 Syracuse Freedom Hall Finale | W 78–68 | 20–11 (11–7) | Freedom Hall (20,135) Louisville, KY |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| March 10 9:00 p.m., ESPN | (6) | vs. (11) Cincinnati Second Round | L 66–69 | 20–12 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 19* 9:45 p.m., CBS | (9) | vs. (8) California First Round | L 62–77 | 20–13 | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (12,251) Jacksonville, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||