Louisville: A "White Out" For A Blue Collar Team

They called it a "White Out" for the battle with Marquette, so Freedom Hall was decked out in white, including head coach Rick Pitino in his infamous white suit.

The Cards even played in retro jerseys from the 1960s with no names on the back.

Louisville and Marquette are two top-10 teams capable of either grinding it out and running with the best of them despite lacking potential Player of the Year candidates, went head-to-head on Sunday.

It may have been a "White Out", but the players on the floor represented the Blue Collar workers of college basketball.

Marquette, playing without senior leader Dominic James, played inspired, hard-nosed basketball with the Cards for 40 minutes. It was a typical Louisville-Marquette match-up—players diving for loose balls, hard knocks underneath the basket and a stifling defense that allowed very few open looks.

With no disrespect to any Marquette players, Louisville's Terrence Williams (aka TWill) brought his lunch pail with him just as he does every game. He hounded Marquette's Jerel McNeal as best he could and grabbed key rebounds when given the chance. Williams again led the team in assists with seven against the Golden Eagles, and had several deflections that either disrupted Marquette's offense, or resulted in a steal.

He stuffed the stat sheet with hard-nosed numbers, but none that will make SportsCenter's highlight reel.

Pitino has called TWill the most talented, diversified player not only in the Big East, but in all of college basketball. He doesn't put up the glamour points like a North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough or Notre Dame's Luke Harngody. He doesn't have a school publicist campaigning for him as this year's player of the year, as Kentucky is doing for Jodie Meeks.

TWill is one of the most prolific dunkers in the game today, and he does it on a blue collar team that doesn't get the media attention that the North Carolina's of the world get.

This Cardinals team is full of blue collar-type players that take more pride in reaching Coach Pitino's goals for deflections created than scoring tons of points. This year's team will grind it out with hard-nosed defensive basketball, and quietly chalk up a lot of wins along the way.

This 2009 version of the Cardinals is built for the long haul. Nothing fancy, just hard working blue collar players that comprise one the best teams in college basketball today.