2004–05 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

2004–05 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
2004–05 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
NCAA Albuquerque Regional Champions; Conference USA tournament champions; Conference USA regular season champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Conference USA
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 4
Record	33–5 (14–2 CUSA)
Head coach	Rick Pitino (4th season);
Home arena	Freedom Hall

2004–05 Conference USA men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 4 †	14	–	2	.875	33	–	5	.868
Charlotte	12	–	4	.750	21	–	8	.724
No. 23 Cincinnati	12	–	4	.750	25	–	8	.758
UAB	10	–	6	.625	22	–	11	.667
DePaul	10	–	6	.625	20	–	11	.645
Houston	9	–	7	.563	18	–	14	.563
Memphis	9	–	7	.563	22	–	16	.579
TCU	8	–	8	.500	21	–	14	.600
Marquette	7	–	9	.438	19	–	12	.613
Saint Louis	6	–	10	.375	9	–	21	.300
South Florida	5	–	11	.313	14	–	16	.467
Tulane	4	–	12	.250	10	–	18	.357
East Carolina	4	–	12	.250	9	–	19	.321
Southern Miss	2	–	14	.125	11	–	17	.393

† 2005 Conference USA Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 2004–05 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2004–05 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 91st season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in Conference USA and were coached by Rick Pitino, who was in his fourth season. The team played home games at Freedom Hall.

The Cardinals won the Conference USA tournament championship (their 2nd), defeating Memphis 75–74. Louisville defeated West Virginia 93–85 (OT) to win the NCAA Tournament Albuquerque Regional and advance to the Final Four (their 8th) where they fell to eventual runner-up Illinois 72–57. The Cardinals finished with a 33–5 (14–2) record.^[2]

Roster

2004–05 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
SF	32	Francisco García	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr

Head coach

Rick Pitino (UMass)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 20, 2004*	No. 14	at BYU-Hawaii	W 89–79	1–0	George Q. Cannon Activities Center Laie, Hawaii
Nov 22, 2004*	No. 14	vs. Iowa Maui Invitational Tournament	L 71–76	1–1	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Nov 23, 2004*	No. 14	vs. Chaminade Maui Invitational Tournament	W 93–63	2–1	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Nov 24, 2004*	No. 14	vs. Stanford Maui Invitational Tournament	W 82–67	3–1	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Dec 4, 2004*	No. 17	Lafayette	W 98–57	4–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 11, 2004*	No. 13	at Florida	W 74–70	5–1	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Dec 14, 2004*	No. 13	North Carolina A&T	W 85–51	6–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 18, 2004*	No. 13	No. 9 Kentucky	L 58–60	6–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 21, 2004*	No. 18	IUPUI	W 80–60	7–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 22, 2004*	No. 18	Austin Peay	W 77–49	8–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 27, 2004*	No. 19	Morehead State	W 104–40	9–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 30, 2004*		Eastern Kentucky	W 78–63	10–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 2, 2005*		Tennessee State	W 98–64	11–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 5, 2005		at Houston	L 67–70	11–3 (0–1)	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, Texas
Jan 8, 2005		TCU	W 86–61	12–3 (1–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 11, 2005		at Southern Miss	W 107–62	13–3 (2–1)	Reed Green Coliseum Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Jan 15, 2005		at No. 18 Cincinnati	W 69–66	14–3 (3–1)	Myrl H. Shoemaker Center Cincinnati, Ohio
Jan 19, 2005		East Carolina	W 92–41	15–3 (4–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 22, 2005*		Tennessee	W 85–62	16–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 26, 2005		Marquette	W 99–52	17–3 (5–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 29, 2005		at Tulane	W 105–69	18–3 (6–1)	Avron B. Fogelman Arena New Orleans, Louisiana
Feb 2, 2005		No. 18 Cincinnati	W 77–70	19–3 (7–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 5, 2005		at UAB	W 77–73	20–3 (8–1)	Bartow Arena Birmingham, Alabama
Feb 9, 2005		Memphis	L 68–85	20–4 (8–2)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 5, 2005	No. 9	at DePaul	W 66–62	26–4 (14–2)	Allstate Arena Rosemont, Illinois
Conference USA Tournament
Mar 10, 2005*	No. 6	vs. TCU C-USA Tournament Quarterfinal	W 85–61	27–4	FedExForum Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 11, 2005*	No. 6	vs. UAB C-USA Tournament Semifinal	W 74–67	28–4	FedExForum Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 12, 2005*	No. 6	at Memphis C-USA tournament championship	W 75–74	29–4	FedExForum Memphis, Tennessee
NCAA Tournament
Mar 18, 2005*	(4 ABQ) No. 4	vs. (13 ABQ) Louisiana-Lafayette First round	W 68–62	30–4	Bridgestone Arena Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 20, 2005*	(4 ABQ) No. 4	vs. (5 ABQ) No. 25 Georgia Tech Second Round	W 76–54	31–4	Bridgestone Arena Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 24, 2005*	(4 ABQ) No. 4	vs. (1 ABQ) No. 8 Washington Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 93–79	32–4	The Pit Albuquerque, New Mexico
Mar 26, 2005*	(4 ABQ) No. 4	vs. (7 ABQ) West Virginia Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 93–85 ^{OT^[3]}	33–4	The Pit Albuquerque, New Mexico
Apr 2, 2005*	(4 ABQ) No. 4	vs. (1 CHI) No. 1 Illinois National semifinal – Final Four	L 57–72^[4]	33–5	Edward Jones Dome St. Louis, Missouri
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ABQ=Albuquerque.

Rankings

^[5]

References

^ sports-reference.com 2004-05 Conference USA Season Summary
^ "Louisville Basketball Media Guide". Louisville Basketball Media Guide. UofL Athletic Association. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
^ "For Cardinals, No Mountain High Enough". The Washington Post. March 27, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
^ "Illini beat down Louisville in second half". ESPN. April 2, 2005. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1141–1142. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] sports-reference.com 2004-05 Conference USA Season Summary

[2] "Louisville Basketball Media Guide". Louisville Basketball Media Guide. UofL Athletic Association. Retrieved December 29, 2012.

[3] "For Cardinals, No Mountain High Enough". The Washington Post. March 27, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

[4] "Illini beat down Louisville in second half". ESPN. April 2, 2005. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

[ESPN-5] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1141–1142. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

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[4]

[5]

Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Belknap Gymnasium (1933–1944) Jefferson County Armory (1945–1956) Freedom Hall (1956–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Kentucky Memphis
Culture & lore	Billy Minardi Classic Cardinal Bird The Rivalry: Red v. Blue
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NAIA and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics