Double dribbles men
Weekly look at men's basketball
By BRIAN LANDMAN
February 10, 2007
Stop and go and go
Not that long ago, David Padgett's surgically repaired knees left him like a car without brakes.
"The first five games of the season, if he sprinted up the floor, he couldn't come to a stop," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said recently. "His legs would just give in and he'd fall over."
But the junior forward/center who began his career at Kansas wasn't about to be stopped. He has slowly but surely regained his health and so too have the Cardinals 16-8, 6-4 who play host to USF (12-12, 3-7) today. They've won 11 of their past 15 and have matched last season's Big East win total.
Padgett, 22 on Tuesday, is averaging 9.7 points (third on the team), 6.3 rebounds (second) and 1.3 blocks (first). He's shooting 58.1 percent from the floor (seventh in the league) and 82.2 percent from the line (eighth in the league).
And that's on a pair of knees that in March had seven cartilage plugs inserted in each to smooth out the surfaces that had been causing him pain throughout the 2005-06 season.
"A lot of people didn't realize how extensive my surgery was and how long a road back to recovery was," the 6-11, 245-pound Padgett said. "The coaches and our trainers and my teammates did a good job of making sure I stayed positive and just not get down on myself. I knew in the end, when I did get back healthy and started feeling good again, it was all going to be worth it. ... And it is. It's just such a good feeling to be back out on the court playing again."
Run, Ty Lawson, run
As strange as it may sound, North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he has been on freshman point guard Ty Lawson to use his speed and quickness more often.
"Ty Lawson's always turned it on and turned it off, and, at this level, you can't do that," Williams said recently.
When the 5-11, 193-pound Lawson gets in and stays in overdrive, he can overwhelm opponents. Ask Arizona. Ask Duke. He breezed by defenders, setting up teammates for open shots or finishing with breathtaking layups of his own. In his past five games, he's averaging 16.4 points and 5.4 assists.
"To get somebody to run as hard as I want them to run on a consistent basis," Williams said, "is something that has been difficult for the kids to handle."
Lawson, 19, appears to be grasping that. Quickly.
Opponent FG FGA FT FTA PTS A T
Wake Forest 5 8 3 4 15 5 3
Arizona 8 14 1 2 18 8 1
Miami 5 8 0 0 13 3 4
N.C. State 8 12 3 4 21 7 1
Duke 6 12 3 4 15 4 3
Totals 32 54 10 14 82 27 12
By the numbers
1 West Virginia player (forward Frank Young, below) who was on the court for more than two minutes in last year's win at UCLA. The No. 2-ranked Bruins visit Morgantown today.
3 Teams that are undefeated in their conference play - Florida (9-0 SEC), Memphis (10-0 C-USA), Winthrop (10-0 Big South).
38.7 Average minutes Oregon guard Aaron Brooks has logged in Pac-10 games.
97.1 Free-throw percentage by Butler guard A.J. Graves (102-for-105), tops in the nation.
2,110 Career points by Towson senior guard Gary Neal, third among active players. He entered the week sixth nationally in scoring.
Quotable
"It was his game at that point. He'll probably be a much better coach than me because that was really smart." - Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie on senior point guard Acie Law vetoing a play call in the huddle then hitting a 3-pointer that led to a win against Kansas last week.
