LEXINGTON — Greg Edwards is making up for lost time this week.
The Boyle County girls coach and die-hard Louisville fan had to miss most of the Cardinals’ games this season. But he was on hand Wednesday for their open practice at Rupp Arena, and he plans to return tonight when Louisville plays North Carolina A&T in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
“With me coaching and our games I think I saw two regular season games this year,” Edwards said. “So any chance you get to come out and see the team up close and get to watch them, it’s always exciting.”
And the fact Louisville is playing in Rupp Arena makes it that much better for Edwards.
“You’ve got to love that. All this blue in here, to get some red in here, that’s kind of awesome. Last year, UK was at (KFC) Yum! (Center), and so I guess it’s kind of turnaround is fair play, I guess,” he said.
David Collier of Harrodsburg will be the lone Louisville fan when he comes to the games this weekend with his family of Kentucky fans.
“It’s going to be different with my family sitting with me,” he said.
But Collier credited Edwards with making him a Louisville fan.
“When (Rick) Pitino came to Louisville and we were at the state tournament, I told (Edwards), ‘I’m with you,’ because I liked him when he was at Kentucky,” Collier said. “I’m glad he’s at Louisville now, and I took a couple of days vacation and I’m going to enjoy the whole experience.”
It was sort of a working vacation for Centre College coach Greg Mason. Centre is on spring break this week, so Mason came to Lexington on Wednesday to watch the teams practice and pick up tips that might help his team.
“We steal a lot from Bucknell, Butler and Davidson. And we would love to steal from Louisville as far as concepts and plays. But I don’t know athletically if we could replicate that,” Mason said. “But it gives us an opportunity for us to get away and see how other teams do things. It’s a low-stress time, this is one of the fun parts of the job. See if there’s something Bucknell does maybe a little better than us, or something we can add to what we currently do.”
Edwards has obviously been pleased with Louisville’s season, sitting at 29-5 and earning the NCAA tournament’s top overall seed.
“They’ve been pretty consistent all year. You take out that stretch where they had three losses, they’ve played some rally good basketball,” he said. “Their defense has been unbelievable. I think that hopefully if we get our offense clicking like we did against Syracuse, they can go a long way.
Collier went to about seven or eight Louisville home games this year, and he said this weekend kicks off the best part of the year for him.
“It’s been fun to watch, and I love to watch the NCAA. It’s the best part of the year because you’ve got March Madness and baseball’s getting ready to start after that, so it’s just a great time of year.”
While he may be a fan in the stands this week, Edwards said he still watches the games as a coach.
“It’s hard sometimes because you just want to analyze everything,” he said. “I’m much more of a Louisville football fan, because for me and football it’s a whole lot easier to just relax and watch the game.”
Edwards and Collier were also on hand in 2007 when Louisville lost a second-round game to Texas A&M at Rupp Arena.
While he did not like the outcome of the game, Edwards did laugh at one memory.
“When I was coming through the turnstiles, I heard one of those guys in the blue jackets (the Committee of 101) say they couldn’t stomach all of this red in here,” he said. “And I kind of laughed because, I guess, for them, that probably is true.”
Collier had a different memory sparked by that 2007 game.
“I miss Billy Gillispie,” he said.
The Boyle County girls coach and die-hard Louisville fan had to miss most of the Cardinals’ games this season. But he was on hand Wednesday for their open practice at Rupp Arena, and he plans to return tonight when Louisville plays North Carolina A&T in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
“With me coaching and our games I think I saw two regular season games this year,” Edwards said. “So any chance you get to come out and see the team up close and get to watch them, it’s always exciting.”
And the fact Louisville is playing in Rupp Arena makes it that much better for Edwards.
“You’ve got to love that. All this blue in here, to get some red in here, that’s kind of awesome. Last year, UK was at (KFC) Yum! (Center), and so I guess it’s kind of turnaround is fair play, I guess,” he said.
David Collier of Harrodsburg will be the lone Louisville fan when he comes to the games this weekend with his family of Kentucky fans.
“It’s going to be different with my family sitting with me,” he said.
But Collier credited Edwards with making him a Louisville fan.
“When (Rick) Pitino came to Louisville and we were at the state tournament, I told (Edwards), ‘I’m with you,’ because I liked him when he was at Kentucky,” Collier said. “I’m glad he’s at Louisville now, and I took a couple of days vacation and I’m going to enjoy the whole experience.”
It was sort of a working vacation for Centre College coach Greg Mason. Centre is on spring break this week, so Mason came to Lexington on Wednesday to watch the teams practice and pick up tips that might help his team.
“We steal a lot from Bucknell, Butler and Davidson. And we would love to steal from Louisville as far as concepts and plays. But I don’t know athletically if we could replicate that,” Mason said. “But it gives us an opportunity for us to get away and see how other teams do things. It’s a low-stress time, this is one of the fun parts of the job. See if there’s something Bucknell does maybe a little better than us, or something we can add to what we currently do.”
Edwards has obviously been pleased with Louisville’s season, sitting at 29-5 and earning the NCAA tournament’s top overall seed.
“They’ve been pretty consistent all year. You take out that stretch where they had three losses, they’ve played some rally good basketball,” he said. “Their defense has been unbelievable. I think that hopefully if we get our offense clicking like we did against Syracuse, they can go a long way.
Collier went to about seven or eight Louisville home games this year, and he said this weekend kicks off the best part of the year for him.
“It’s been fun to watch, and I love to watch the NCAA. It’s the best part of the year because you’ve got March Madness and baseball’s getting ready to start after that, so it’s just a great time of year.”
While he may be a fan in the stands this week, Edwards said he still watches the games as a coach.
“It’s hard sometimes because you just want to analyze everything,” he said. “I’m much more of a Louisville football fan, because for me and football it’s a whole lot easier to just relax and watch the game.”
Edwards and Collier were also on hand in 2007 when Louisville lost a second-round game to Texas A&M at Rupp Arena.
While he did not like the outcome of the game, Edwards did laugh at one memory.
“When I was coming through the turnstiles, I heard one of those guys in the blue jackets (the Committee of 101) say they couldn’t stomach all of this red in here,” he said. “And I kind of laughed because, I guess, for them, that probably is true.”
Collier had a different memory sparked by that 2007 game.
“I miss Billy Gillispie,” he said.
