These Are the Times

Charles Okwandu may not be a very skilled offensive player. Witness the airballs he notched on a 10-footer (and a dunk!) in the first half.

But Okwandu has been a real force on the boards so far, with a career-high eight rebounds in 13 minutes. It's helped the Huskies to a commanding 28-11 edge on the boards – yet only a 45-40 lead on the scoreboard. Why just the five-point edge? Well, the 3-pointer is certainly a great equalizer. Louisville has hit six – four of them in the final three minutes – to stay close.

Some observations:

Couple of things I've noticed about Rick Pitino. For one, have his, ahem … "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" been largely forgotten by the general public. Should Pitino (and David Letterman, and Steve Phillips, for that matter) be eternally grateful for Tiger Woods? I heard one rowdy fan yell "Hey Rick, your girlfriend's on the phone," but otherwise, it seems Pitino's romps have largely been forgotten.

Also noticed that Pitino – unlike in his younger days, and unlike his coaching foe today – rarely gets on the officials. He's more interested in instructing his players and yelling at them, if necessary, when they mess up. But he pretty much stays away from the refs, which is certainly different from days past.

It appears Billy Joel's "This is the Time" is no longer the song they play at Senior Days, at least in college basketball. Jay-Z's "Forever Young" played in pregame ceremonies as Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Gavin Edwards, Alex Hornat, Kenny Borton and Dave Sevush were honored today.