1996–97 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

1996–97 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
1996–97 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Big Island Invitational Champions
NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Conference USA
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 25
Record	26–9 (9–5 CUSA)
Head coach	Denny Crum (26th season);
Assistant coaches	Scooter McCray (9th season); Jerry Eaves (1st season); Scott Davenport (1st season);
Home arena	Freedom Hall
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Conference USA men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Blue
No. 10 Cincinnati	12	–	2	.857	26	–	8	.765
Marquette †	9	–	5	.643	22	–	9	.710
Saint Louis	4	–	10	.286	11	–	18	.379
DePaul	1	–	13	.071	3	–	23	.115
Red
Tulane	11	–	3	.786	20	–	11	.645
UAB	7	–	7	.500	18	–	14	.563
Southern Miss	6	–	8	.429	12	–	15	.444
South Florida	2	–	12	.143	8	–	19	.296
White
UNC Charlotte	10	–	4	.714	22	–	9	.710
Memphis	10	–	4	.714	16	–	15	.516
No. 25 Louisville	9	–	5	.643	26	–	9	.743
Houston	3	–	11	.214	11	–	16	.407

† 1997 Conference USA Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1996–97 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville in the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Denny Crum^[2] and the team finished the season with an overall record of 26–9.^[3]

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	12	Matt Akridge	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	TCU Eastern H.S.	Louisville, Kentucky
F	30	Damion Dantzler	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Jr	Westinghouse Prep	Chicago, Illinois
G/F	24	Craig Farmer	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	Cairo Senior High	Cairo, Illinois
G	13	B.J. Flynn	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Jeffersonville H.S.	Jeffersonville, Indiana
G/F	23	Eric Johnson	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	So	Woodward	Cincinnati, Ohio
G	4	Jerry Johnson	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Fr	Master's Christian Academy	Atlanta, Georgia
F	21	Nate Johnson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Camden H.S.	Camden, New Jersey
G	25	Jeff McKinley	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Simon Kenton	Independence, Kentucky
F/C	44	Alex Sanders	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	260 lb (118 kg)	So	Oak Hill Academy	Houston, Texas
G/F	5	Alvin Sims	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Sr	Paris H.S.	Paris, Kentucky
F/C	33	Beau Zach Smith	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	250 lb (113 kg)	Sr	Peoria H.S.	Peoria, Illinois
G	32	DeJuan Wheat	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sr	Ballard	Louisville, Kentucky
G/F	3	Tony Williams	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Doss	Louisville, Kentucky
F	20	Paul Yaden	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Fr	DeSales	Louisville, Kentucky

Head coach

Denny Crum (UCLA)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and Results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 29, 1996*		vs. Montana State Big Island Invitational – Quarterfinals	W 92–78	1–0	Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium Hilo, Hawai'i
Nov 30, 1996*		vs. Illinois Big Island Invitational – Semifinals	W 70–60	2–0	Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium Hilo, Hawai'i
Dec 1, 1996*		vs. Colorado Big Island Invitational – Championship Game	W 92–82	3–0	Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium Hilo, Hawai'i
Dec 7, 1996*		vs. LSU	W 93–87 ^OT	4–0	Arrowhead Pond Anaheim, California
Dec 11, 1996*	No. 22	Dayton	W 80–67	5–0	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 14, 1996*	No. 22	vs. Purdue	W 88–72	6–0	Market Square Arena Indianapolis, Indiana
Dec 16, 1996*	No. 18	Wright State	W 65–57	7–0	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 21, 1997*	No. 18	at No. 19 Arkansas	W 91–88 ^OT	8–0	Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas
Dec 23, 1996*	No. 16	Tennessee State	W 102–54	9–0	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 29, 1996*	No. 16	No. 25 Boston College	W 89–85 ^2OT	10–0	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 31, 1996*	No. 14	No. 3 Kentucky	L 54–74	10–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 3, 1997	No. 14	at UAB	W 93–79	11–1 (1–0)	Bartow Arena Birmingham, Alabama
Jan 6, 1997	No. 14	at Charlotte	W 92–81	12–1 (2–0)	Halton Arena Charlotte, North Carolina
Jan 11, 1997*	No. 10	Georgia Tech	W 60–56	13–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 15, 1997	No. 10	Houston	W 92–78	14–1 (3–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 19, 1997*	No. 10	at No. 23 Texas	W 85–78 ^OT	15–1	Frank Erwin Center Austin, Texas
Jan 23, 1997	No. 6	Memphis	L 58–64	15–2 (3–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 25, 1997*	No. 6	UCLA	W 74–71	16–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 28, 1997	No. 9	DePaul	W 71–54	17–2 (4–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 30, 1997	No. 9	No. 8 Cincinnati	W 81–70	18–2 (5–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 2, 1997*	No. 9	at Temple	L 44–67	18–3	McGonigle Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 6, 1997	No. 11	St. Louis	L 62–64	18–4 (5–2)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 9, 1997	No. 11	at Memphis	L 59–79	18–5 (5–3)	The Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
Feb 15, 1997	No. 17	at Houston	W 70–66	19–5 (6–3)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Feb 17, 1997	No. 15	South Florida	W 75–64	20–5 (7–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 20, 1997	No. 15	at Marquette	L 71–79 ^OT	20–6 (7–4)	Bradley Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feb 22, 1997	No. 15	at Southern Miss	W 75–72 ^OT	21–6 (8–4)	Reed Green Coliseum Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Feb 26, 1997	No. 17	Charlotte	W 72–71	22–6 (9–4)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 1, 1997	No. 17	at Tulane	L 71–83	22–7 (9–5)	Fogelman Arena New Orleans, Louisiana
Conference USA Tournament
Mar 5, 1997	(6) No. 20	vs. (11) South Florida First Round	W 69–58	23–7	Kiel Center St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 6, 1997	(6) No. 20	vs. (3) Charlotte Quarterfinals	L 60–64	23–8	Kiel Center St. Louis, Missouri
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1997*	(6 E) No. 25	vs. (11 E) UMass First Round	W 65–57	24–8	Civic Arena Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Mar 16, 1997*	(6 E) No. 25	vs. (3 E) No. 11 New Mexico Second Round	W 64–63	25–8	Civic Arena Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Mar 21, 1997*	(6 E) No. 25	vs. (10 E) Texas Sweet Sixteen	W 78–63	26–8	Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York
Mar 23, 1997*	(6 E) No. 25	vs. (1 E) No. 4 North Carolina Elite Eight	L 74–97	26–9	Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

^ sports-reference.com 1996-97 Conference USA Season Summary
^ "1996-1997 Louisville Cardinals Roster and Stats". Retrieved November 16, 2013.
^ "1996-1997 Louisville Cardinals Schedule and Results". Retrieved November 16, 2013.

This University of Louisville-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article related to sports in Louisville, Kentucky is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] sports-reference.com 1996-97 Conference USA Season Summary

[2] "1996-1997 Louisville Cardinals Roster and Stats". Retrieved November 16, 2013.

[3] "1996-1997 Louisville Cardinals Schedule and Results". Retrieved November 16, 2013.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Belknap Gymnasium (1933–1944) Jefferson County Armory (1945–1956) Freedom Hall (1956–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Kentucky Memphis
Culture & lore	Billy Minardi Classic Cardinal Bird The Rivalry: Red v. Blue
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NAIA and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics