LOUISVILLE, Ky. — So much for that "bridge" season Louisville coach Rick Pitino was talking about.
Asked Friday if his 11th-ranked team (23-7, 12-5 Big East), which has already sewn up the third-seed in the Big East tournament heading into Saturday's game at West Virginia (19-10, 10-7), had crossed the bridge yet, Pitino just laughed.
"Yes, and we've built a beautiful park and restaurant (on the other side)," he said.
He'll happily eat his words.
Pitino threw out the "bridge" season label as a way to dampen expectations for a program picked to finish eighth in the Big East.
He pointed to the departure of three starters, the introduction of an uptempo system and a high-profile recruiting class scheduled to arrive in next fall as reasons to not get too worked up.
All the Cardinals have done the last four months is surpass his expectations, renewing his passion for the game in the process.
"I just think this team is unique," Pitino said. "You realize ego comes into play in every locker room but not here. To be devoid of ego an unusual situation."
The Cardinals have risen to the cusp of the Top 10 without a legitimate star or a certified all-conference candidate. They do have leadership, however, in senior guard Preston Knowles.
Knowles heard all the chatter about how the program was rebuilding. He refused to buy into it. He told his teammates last summer simply 'OK' wasn't nearly good enough.
"I knew we could shock some people," Knowles said.
Louisville has done just that and gained at least one new fan in the process. Kentucky coach John Calipari says he is pulling for the Cardinals, though he's a bit biased. The Wildcats handed the Cardinals their worst loss of the season on New Year's Eve.
The higher Louisville rises, the more it helps Calipari's team in the eyes of the computers.
"When you go to Louisville and spank them, you want them to win every game because of strength of schedule," Calipari said. "I know everyone goes, 'You can't root for them, Cal!' I don't watch every game but what I try to do is say at the end of the day, 'don't be mad when they win.'"
Even if Pitino believes the season's tipping came not in victory, but defeat. Sure the 18-point rally in the last 6 minutes against Marquette was thrilling and the 11-point comeback against West Virginia on Jan. 26 was stirring.
Both of those games, however, were at home. It wasn't until the Cardinals lost at Notre Dame in overtime on Feb. 9 that he realized the Cardinals were crossing the bridge faster than he anticipated.
"We should have won the game and lost it in OT," he said. "Even when we had some great teams we've gone in there and got our tails kicked."
Louisville is 5-1 since then, with wins over Syracuse, Connecticut and Pittsburgh. The Cardinals have won four straight heading into the rematch with the Mountaineers, though Pitino isn't sure his team is playing its best basketball of the season.
Considering Louisville has spent most of the season playing without a true power forward thanks injuries to Rakeem Buckles and Jared Swopshire, Pitino knows he's not in a position to get picky.
"I think we've played good basketball all year long," he said. "I think we've improved defensively since we got healthy."
Improved rebounding by the guards has certainly helped overcome Louisville's lack of size. The Cardinals have held their own on the boards despite having just two players over 6-foot-5 — centers Terrence Jennings and Gorgui Dieng — in their regular rotation.
It's the kind of "team first" play that has made Louisville one of the nation's biggest and most consistent surprises. The Cardinals are just one of two teams in the Big East who have not lost consecutive conference games all year.
The players stress all this success is not going to their heads. Their coach would never let that happen.
"Coach P will tell you you're not worth anything, you haven't accomplished anything yet," Siva said. "He has no problem reminding you where you were projected to be."