Karen Cunagin Sypher pleas not guilty

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4164209

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A woman accused of trying to extort millions of dollars from Louisville coach Rick Pitino pleaded not guilty Wednesday. She later defiantly announced she "will not break" while surrounded by supporters on the courthouse steps.

Karen Cunagin Sypher was mostly silent at her arraignment but proclaimed her innocence to reporters afterward. Her attorney indicated he might seek a change of venue because of extensive publicity.

Sypher's arraignment came one day after her indictment on federal charges of trying to extort money from Pitino and lying to the FBI. A criminal complaint last month claimed her demands included college tuition for her children, two cars, her house to be paid off and $3,000 per month.

The demands later escalated to $10 million, according to the complaint.

Sypher, the estranged wife of a longtime Pitino aide, told reporters after the hearing that the charges had created "a very dark cloud" for her family, which she called "very unjust to me, very unfair."

Seemingly bolstered by her supporters, Sypher said she was prepared to see the case through to "the very end" and then added: "I will not break."

"Justice will prevail," she said. "Yes, yes. I have to believe in the justice system. I have to."

Sypher, 49, remains free on her own recognizance. Her trial was scheduled for June 29.

Pitino attorney Steve Pence said in a statement last month, when Sypher was charged, that the coach "takes no comfort in this prosecution and remains astonished by these events." Pence said Wednesday that no further statement would be made.

Kenny Klein, spokesman for Louisville athletics, also declined to comment.

The estranged wife of Louisville equipment manager Tim Sypher was greeted outside the courthouse by eight supporters. They held hand-made signs with sayings including "Money Power" and "Leave Karen Sypher Alone." Sypher, accompanied by two of her sons, hugged the group of family and friends, who accompanied her to the courtroom.

Sypher's attorney, Thomas Clay, entered the not guilty plea on her behalf.

She faces a maximum of seven years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted of both charges.

Clay said after the hearing that Sypher's version will eventually be heard and said he will consider filing a motion to move the trial out of Louisville.

"Because of the extensive publicity, it's going to be one of the first things I consider," he said.

The case became public last month when Pitino released a statement saying someone had tried to extort him. The coach said he reported it to the FBI. Sypher surrendered to authorities a few days later when she was named in the criminal complaint.

Authorities have not said what information Sypher might have been trying to use to allegedly extort Pitino. They have said the coach believed it was related to an unspecified 2003 encounter with her.

Several media outlets have declined to air interviews with Sypher, saying the allegations are of a personal nature and are unsubstantiated.

Pitino took over Louisville's basketball program in 2001. He has coached three different schools to the Final Four -- Louisville, Providence and Kentucky, where he won a national title. He also coached the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks in the NBA.

Pitino signed a three-year contract extension with Louisville in May 2007 that could keep him at the school through 2013. The deal pays him an annual salary of $2.5 million a year if he stays until the end of the contract. He'll receive loyalty bonuses of $3.6 million in 2010 and 2013 if he remains with the school.

He has recently said there is no truth to rumors that he is considering a return to the NBA.

U of L fans - are they for real, or just lack education like most U of L b-ball players?

I saw some reader mail from a U of L fan whining about how much UK is willing to pay a coach. However, she doesn't seem to mind that I, as a tax-payer from Louisville will have to help cover the cost of U of L's new basketball arena. She also doesn't seem to mind the fact my niece who attends U of L has about a 98% chance of also being affected by this.

I hope U of L has two or three bad seasons. Like with football, fans won't show up. Instead, they will cry. U of L fans never seem not to amuse or amaze me lol.

Is U of L even Elite?

Sure, Kentucky basketball has been down. I blame this mainly on Mitch Barnhardt for being too lazy to hire a real coach. However, how dare U of L claim to be "Elite". How dare they compare their second rate program to that of UNC, Kansas and UCLA.

Fact 1 - U of L has not been to the NCAA finals since 1986 (nor won a championship since then). That is a 23 year dry spell to say the least.

Fact 2 - U of L has only been to one Final Four in since 1987. Wow, that is now where close to that of UCLA, UNC, Kansas, Duke or Kentucky!

How can you call a team with only one Final Four appearance in the past 22 years, Elite?

U of L fans - why do they lie so much?

I am sick of U of L fans making the claim that Kentucky fans still want Rick Pitino. Why would we want him? The man is a selfish liar. He would back stab and lie to his own family if he could make a quick buck.

Yes, Kentucky fans miss our winning. We could care less who the coach is. Heck, they could hire Coach K and most Kentucky fans wouldn't care as long as he was winning SEC titles or hanging Final Four banners up.

I look at it like this, Pitino only one once at Kentucky. He has won nothing while at U of L. His days of being the number once coach in the nation is over. Since U of L has always been second to Kentucky and always willbe, please keep your second hand coach.

Michigan State rips overrated U of L - like I said before, they were the fake number one overrall seed

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090330/COLUMNISTS02/903300338/1002/SPORTS

INDIANAPOLIS -- After climbing as high as it ever has in the national rankings and NCAA Tournament seedings, the University of Louisville men's basketball team yesterday fell perhaps as hard as it ever has.

Michigan State delivered a jarring, 64-52 defeat to the No. 1-ranked and No. 1 seeded Cardinals, ending the school's hopes for a third men's basketball title before a Lucas Oil Stadium crowd of 36,084 -- about two-thirds of whom had made the short drive up Interstate 65 hoping to see a little history.

They did, but it wasn't what they expected.

Considering what U of L coach Rick Pitino's team had accomplished coming in, the experience on the roster and the expectations surrounding it, this may rank as his worst NCAA Tournament loss.

And though U of L has experienced other tournament heartbreaks -- the overtime loss to UCLA in the Final Four in 1975, U.S. Reed's miracle shot in 1981, losing to Houston as a No. 1 seed in the 1983 Final Four -- it's hard to find a better Cardinal team that exited so quietly.

Yes, this team became just the fourth at U of L to win at least 30 games, finishing 31-6. It won the Big East regular-season and conference tournament championships. It was the first in the school's proud history to be ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press poll.

Those are significant accomplishments that should not be forgotten.

But on this day they seemed only to underscore the shock of the loss.

"There are landmarks in basketball," senior Terrence Williams said. "You make it to the tournament, and then you make it to the Final Four. It's not you make it to the Elite Eight. That's the part that really hurts us."

It ended this way for the Cardinals. With 2:19 left and a 15-point lead, Michigan State called a timeout. In the huddle, Pitino told his team it was over.

"He told us to keep playing with our heads up," senior Will Scott said. "He told us to finish it the right way, to not foul, to end the game with class, to not do anything to mar what has been a great season."

(2 of 3)


Earl Clark came out of the huddle, slammed his hands together and stared at the ceiling. When the final horn sounded, Pitino quickly moved to shake hands with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, and was off the court before most players began shaking hands.



Williams wandered to a corner of the court by himself, remaining there for a time, before turning, circling around and trying to slip down the stairs quietly. He couldn't. An arm reached out to stop him. Izzo had gone out of his way to find him, to shake his hand, to talk to him. He did the same for Clark.

"I think it was a great tribute to our guys to win the Big East, to win the Big East tournament and finish No. 1," Pitino said. "I don't think this is the most -- No. 1 most talented team in the country. I think we're an outstanding basketball team. ... We're a real good basketball team, and we were beaten by a better team tonight."

The Cardinals also simply couldn't do the things they had done all season. Just down the road from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, U of L had turned the court into a racetrack two nights earlier, hanging a school NCAA Tournament-record 103 points on Arizona. But Michigan State turned last night's game into a tractor pull.

If U of L was a test, Izzo looked as if he'd spent all night with the teacher's manual. In fact, he had stayed up into the wee hours (Indiana coach Tom Crean, a veteran of some U of L battles, visited the team hotel Saturday night.) and came to yesterday's morning walk-through with a new game plan for attacking U of L's press.

Izzo also solved the Cardinals' 2-3 zone like an easy Sudoku. In the first half, he used 6-10 Goran Suton in the high post to shred it with mid-range jump shots. The senior from Sarajevo had a career-high three three-pointers and scored 17 points in the first half. In the second, Izzo had his team exploit U of L's press on the fast break, getting three easy baskets with a tweaked press attack.

After trailing by three at halftime, the Cards opened the second half with their usual spurt of energy. The team started forcing turnovers and pushing the pace, but it wasn't scoring points. The Cards led just 34-32 with 15:28 left. Then came the game's biggest sequence -- and a failure to adjust by the Cardinals.

(3 of 3)


Michigan State scored on 11 straight possessions against the Cards' zone, opening a 55-43 lead before Pitino went to a man-to-man defense. But the Cards got no closer than 12 the rest of the game.



In the locker room after the game, Williams sat in front of his locker, his jersey pulled up over his face, while a bank of photographers clicked away. Freshman Kyle Kuric, wearing a Sweet 16 T-shirt, stared at an NCAA Tournament participant's pin in his hand.

Everybody was thinking about the hardware that had gotten away. For a second straight year, they left the court in the Elite Eight while a trophy presentation stage was being assembled for the other team.

U of L's program still took a step forward in prestige this season. It has now been to at least the Elite Eight three times in five years. But the loss was a missed opportunity.

Getting to compete in a game this big in front of what amounted to a home crowd -- and surely the largest U of L crowd ever to pack a neutral-court basketball game, estimated at nearly 25,000 in red and black -- doesn't happen often.

"It's a shock," Scott said. "We put ourselves in position to accomplish something big. We played great all year and accomplished a lot. I think we're all walking away from here believing that we were a better team," Scott said. "But we weren't today. Michigan State was better."

In the final minute before the locker room doors were closed to visitors, Cardinal players sat quietly. Pitino had left a few minutes earlier, down the underground stadium corridor and out the door. Players now sat amid empty pizza boxes, most still in uniform.

Williams pulled a Gucci duffle bag out of his locker to start getting dressed. There were tears. Most were reading and sending text messages.

Surely, one of them had to key the words, "Ended too soon."

Reach Eric Crawford at (502) 582-4372 or ecrawford@courier-journal.com. Comment on this column, and read his blogs and previous colums, at www.courier-journal.com/crawford.

No updates - no power

We are some of the 100000 who are without power here in Louisville. I am having to write this from my cell. Anyways, U of L been playing good. UK, what a joke. Good game against Ole Miss losers. At least UK isn't IU.

U of L beats the Fighting Irish and Pitt - who's next?

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090120/SPORTS02/901200485/1028

Teammate Edgar Sosa labeled University of Louisville guards Andre McGee and Preston Knowles the "Microwave Twins" for their special brand of defensive pressure.

"They come out there and just heat the ball up," Sosa said. "I wish I could play defense like those guys. They can guard you 94 feet and just be on you."

McGee and Knowles no longer are starters, but they have latched on to their defensive roles during the Cardinals' five-game winning streak. They played a big part in disrupting the offensive flow in victories over nationally ranked Villanova, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, which was No. 1 going into Saturday's game.

"That's what we try to hang our hats on, especially in crucial situations," said Knowles, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound sophomore. "We try to be reliable when Coach brings us in to stop their best player. If we can do that every single night, we're going to be a wonderful team."

The No. 9 Cards (13-3, 4-0 Big East) travel to Rutgers tomorrow night before heading to No. 8 Syracuse on Sunday. The Orange will present another challenge with a top-notch backcourt led by Johnny Flynn.

McGee and Knowles will be ready. McGee said the two feed off each other on defense, and some of their effectiveness comes from their preparation.

"We all have to really focus on how they are going to attack us and know what position we have to be in to make certain rotations," said McGee, a 5-foot-10 senior co-captain.

U of L coach Rick Pitino said the two do a great job of moving their feet and applying pressure without having to use their hands. It keeps both out of foul trouble.

Pitino singled out the Notre Dame game, when McGee helped fluster point guard Tory Jackson into seven turnovers.

"That's as fine a defensive performance as I've seen… just totally taking the point guard out of running the other team's offense," Pitino said. "He just did a wonderful job of that, and down the stretch it helped our other players get over screens. He buys time for players to get over screens. That's what both players do."

Pitino began the season alternating Sosa and McGee as starting point guard. Following the Minnesota loss, Pitino started Knowles and Smith in the backcourt for two games. When Sosa's performance against Kentucky solidified his starting role, Pitino felt most comfortable bringing McGee and Knowles off the bench for their defense.

It's been working since. Opposing guards have struggled thanks in part to McGee and Knowles.

South Florida's leading scorer Dominique Jones, who had averaged 17.1 points, was held to 11 on 1-of-10 shooting and four turnovers.

Villanova's Scottie Reynolds, after torching Seton Hall for 40 points, had just 11 against U of L to go with two assists and four turnovers.

Pitt point guard Levance Fields had a stellar 4.7-1 assist-to-turnover ratio until McGee and Knowles helped bait him into a season-high six turnovers. Fields had gone six of his previous seven games with one or zero turnovers.

"There are so many great scorers and great athletes, but there are few Bruce Bowen guys who really just strap down defenders," said McGee of the San Antonio Spurs' defensive stopper. "That's one thing I try to pride myself on."

In late-game situations, Pitino has gone with McGee and Knowles when he needed a defensive stop.

Against Villanova, McGee's tip of an in-bounds pass with four seconds left prevented the Wildcats from scoring the winning basket off the lob.

On Notre Dame's final possession in regulation, McGee hounded Jackson into making an errant pass to an empty space and Knowles deflected it into the backcourt. They helped prevent the Irish from getting a shot up despite having 24 seconds to do so.

U of L Lady Cards win 10 straight

There wasn’t much to like about the first half of the University of Louisville women’s basketball game last night if you were U of L coach Jeff Walz.

So he let his team know about it.

Sophomore point guard Deseree’ Byrd said there would have been a few “bleeps” if she relayed the halftime talk Walz gave the Cardinals. Senior All-American Angel McCoughtry said he harped on “a lot of things we did wrong — and I won’t elaborate because it’s too much to elaborate on.”

But the spirited speech worked. After sloppy and at times uninspired play in the first half, the 10th-ranked Cards looked sharp and energized in the final 20 minutes in decking Seton Hall 76-47 in Freedom Hall for their 10th straight victory.

“It was educational,” Walz said. “There wasn’t much we needed to do basketball-wise, making adjustments or anything like that. I just tried to get their attention a little.

“(The first half) was the most embarrassing half of basketball we have played since I have been coaching here. We’re not going to win every game, but we want to play hard and that was an embarrassment. I tried to explain that to them very nicely, and I think they got what I was saying.”

U of L (15-1, 2-0 Big East Conference) scored the first 13 points of the second half, held Seton Hall (11-3, 0-2) to 14 points in the final 20 minutes and ended up pleasing its coach with the effort going into Sunday’s showdown with No. 17 Rutgers.

The Cardinals hit 17 of 29 shots in the second half to finish at 51.7 percent (30 of 58). They forced 21 turnovers while committing 16 themselves.

U of L beats UK - U of L fans now believe their "okay" team is a top 5 team again lol

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090105/COLUMNISTS01/901050359

The first University of Louisville basketball practice after the puzzling Wednesday-night loss to Nevada-Las Vegas was scheduled for 11 a.m. on New Year's Day. Except for Edgar Sosa

Sosa was summoned to Rick Pitino's office at 10:15 that morning. Pitino had a request for his mercurial junior point guard:

Think hard about an immediate transfer to another school. Call your mother and brother and talk about it. Happy New Year.

Sosa had endured these meetings before with his demanding coach. Every year since the kid arrived from New York City in 2006. But to Sosa, this one sounded different. There was more of an edge to Pitino's voice. The coach was tired of his pouting, tired of the way he dropped his head whenever one of his jumpers clanked, tired of his sloppy passing, tired of the way Sosa's game has regressed since his promising freshman season.

"I want you to look at some schools where they don't play any defense," Pitino said. "It's painful watching you."

"He was pretty serious," Sosa said. "He said it was going to be our last meeting."

Not true. Sosa and Pitino had another meeting yesterday. They met on the middle of the floor at Freedom Hall. They were surrounded by the rest of the U of L Cardinals, a disbelieving University of Kentucky team and a wall of sound.

This meeting was a celebration of the stunning, 25-foot dagger that Sosa delivered against the Wildcats, a high and deadly three-pointer from the top of the lane with 2.3 seconds to play that beat UK, 74-71.

"That's the Edgar Sosa that I know," said Andre McGee, the senior who shares time at point guard with Sosa. "He's a tough, confident player who can make all the plays. Everybody on this team believes in him. He just has to stop being so hard on himself."

The only folks that Sosa was hard on yesterday were the defenders UK coach Billy Gillispie assigned to him.

Sosa was supposed to drive and then toss the ball to somebody, preferably a more dependable shooter like McGee or Jerry Smith.

Not this time. Pitino barked at Sosa to attack the basket with six seconds to play. But he waved off a pick from Will Scott, surged ahead on a drive and then realized that UK point guard Michael Porter was backpedaling to stop him from getting into the lane.

So Sosa, a 20 percent three-point shooter this season who had missed his last five three-pointers, stopped and launched. It was just as perfect and unforgettable as the game-winning shots Tony Branch, Milt Wagner, Reece Gaines and others have made for the Cardinals through the years.

"It feels good to know that 20 years from now, I'll be able to tell my kids that I made a shot like that," Sosa said.

But the true value in yesterday's game for Sosa was that he started for the first time in two weeks and finally delivered 26 formidable minutes, scoring a season-high 18 points, making eight of nine free throws and balancing his two turnovers with two assists and two steals. Before yesterday, Sosa had scored only 19 points in U of L's previous five games. A player who had averaged 11.4 points was giving the Cardinals less than half that -- and practically no leadership -- this season.

Sosa not only made the game's final three, he made the first one, too, this one from 22 feet at the top of the key. Sosa punctuated that shot by punching his right fist and turning to shout at a visitor sitting in the first row across from the U of L bench -- former Cardinal Francisco Garcia.

You see, Sosa's meeting with Pitino wasn't his only face-to-face session since the UNLV game, a game in which Sosa played 13 uninspired minutes, contributing four turnovers, no assists and two points.

Garcia used a break in the Sacramento Kings' schedule to arrange an unplanned visit to Louisville. He was a surprise visitor at the Cardinals' morning practice at Freedom Hall yesterday. He told Sosa they were going to eat the pre-game meal together and then they would talk.

Actually, Garcia would talk. Sosa would listen. Garcia, another New York City guy, is one of his heroes.

"I just told him he was a better player than that," Garcia said. "I told him that playing basketball was fun, and that he needed to start having fun on the court again."

"He didn't understand why I had that screwed-up look on my face all the time," Sosa said.

The screwed-up look on Edgar Sosa's face disappeared yesterday. Perhaps a game like the one Sosa played yesterday can make it stay away.

Reach Rick Bozich at (502) 582-4650 or rbozich@courier-journal.com. Comment on this column, and read his blog and previous columns, at www.courier-journal.com/bozich.

U of L Loses to U of L - their coach shows his lack of class

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=17&f=2755&t=3693794&p=1

U of L Beats Lamar

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B2/20081208/SPORTS02/81208047

The University of Louisville completed its run through the Marques Maybin Classic with a 78-56 win over Lamar tonight.

The Cardinals beat three teams in three days by an average margin of 32 points.

Samardo Samuels led U of L with 15 points while Terrence Williams added a game-high 13 rebounds.

Williams, Jerry Smith and Samardo Samuels joined Lamar's Kenny Dawkins and Ohio's Jerome Tillman on the all-tournament team. Earl Clark was named the Most Valuable Player.

The classic was named after the former U of L guard who is 13th on the all-time scoring list. Maybin, who played at U of L from 1997-2001, was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident on Aug. 5, 2003.