The University of Louisville men’s basketball team, which is in the midst of its 101st season, begins play in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
With March Madness underway, it’s a perfect time to tip off our countdown of the 101 best players in UofL hoops history.
So without further ado, here’s the first part in our countdown (in reverse order) of the top Cardinals of all-time.
101. Terry Howard (1972-75) - The 6-foot-1 guard scored 534 points (an average of 6.1 per game) in his three-year career. Howard was the team’s fourth-leading scorer (9.3 points per game) and leading assist man (3.8 apg) as a sophomore and its sixth-leading scorer (7.3 ppg) and leading assist man (3.9 apg) as a junior before accepting a more limited role as a senior on UofL’s stacked ‘75 squad. He ranks second all-time in career free throw percentage (85.7) and first in single-season free throw percentage (.965 in ‘74-75). In the latter he was 28 for 29, unfortunately his only miss came in the final half-minute of the ‘75 national semifinal against UCLA. With Louisville leading the Bruins by one Howard missed the front end of a one-and-one. UCLA went on to win the game (on a basket with 2 seconds left) and the national championship, beating Kentucky in the final. Still the Cards went 72-17 (an 80.9 winning percentage) in Howard’s three seasons, which were highlighted by the aforementioned Final Four appearance.
100. Brandon Jenkins (2003-07) - The 6-3 guard (pictured above) scored 842 points (6.2 ppg) and grabbed 331 rebounds (2.4 rpg) in his four-year career. Jenkins, a defensive stopper who is tied for 10th all-time in games played (136), was third on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg), second in assists (2.9 per game) and first in steals (1.6 per game) as a junior. The Cards went 98-38 (a 72.1 winning percentage) in his four seasons, which were highlighted by the trip to the ‘05 Final Four.
99. John Prudhoe (1953-55) - The 6-9 center had two solid seasons for the Cards, averaging 11 points as a junior and 11.8 as a senior. UofL went 41-15 (a 73.2 winning percentage) and made a pair of trips to the NIT in Prudhoe’s two seasons.
98. Mark McSwain (1983-87) - The 6-7 forward scored 778 points (6.1 per game) and grabbed 478 (3.8 per game) rebounds in his career. He also shot 56.3 percent from the field (which ranks eighth all-time) and 70 percent from the free throw line. McSwain was the team’s fourth-leading scorer as a sophomore (8.4 ppg) and a senior (8.8 ppg). The Cards went 93-50 (a winning percentage of 65 percent) in his four seasons, which were highlighted by the ‘86 national title.
97. Deward Compton (1946-48) - The forward was the team’s second-leading scorer (10.5 ppg) when it won the NAIB title in ‘48. The Cards went 46-12 (a 79.3 winning percentage) in his two seasons, which were highlighted by that championship.
96. Don Butler (1918-21) - The guard-forward was second on the team in scoring (7.4 ppg) his first season (1918-19) and led it in that category in his final two seasons, averaging 7.6 ppg in 1919-20 and 10.1 ppg in 1920-21. The Cards went 16-17 in his three seasons.
95. Manuel Forrest (1981-85) - The 6-6 forward out of Moore High School, where he earned McDonald’s All-American honors (along with some kid named Jordan from North Carolina), never quite lived up to the hype. Still Forrest, who tallied 808 points (8.4 per game) in his career, was the team’s second-leading scorer (12.8 ppg) his senior season. The Cards went 98-43 (a 69.5 winning percentage) during his four seasons, which were highlighted by back-to-back trips to the Final Four in ‘82 and ‘83.
94. Lynn Miller (1923-26) - The center led UofL in scoring in two seasons - 1923-24 (7.7 ppg) and 1925-26 (13 ppg) - and also finished second in scoring in 1924-25 (7.1 ppg). The Cards went 18-28 in his three seasons.
93. James “Boo” Brewer (1988-89 & 1990-93) - The 6-3 sharp-shooting guard scored 843 points (7.6 per game) in his career and was a 78.8 percent free throw shooter. He was the team’s fourth-leading scorer as a sophomore (9.7 ppg) junior (7.9 ppg) and senior (10 ppg). The Cards went 79-45 (a 63.7 winning percentage) in his four seasons, which were highlighted by a pair of trips to the NCAA’s Sweet 16.
92. Bobby Turner (1976-79) - The 6-4 swingman, a high school teammate of Darrell Griffith’s at Male, scored just over 900 points in his three-year career. Turner was the team’s fourth-leading scorer (11.6 ppg) as a sophomore and its second-leading scorer (13.6 ppg) as a junior. However academics ended his career before the national championship season. The Cards went 68-22 (a 75.6 winning percentage) in his three seasons, which were highlighted by a couple of Metro Conference titles and three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
91. Ed Kupper (1944-47) - The swingman was UofL’s second-leading scorer as a sophomore (13.4 ppg), junior (12.6 ppg) and senior (10.5 ppg). The Cards went 55-15 (a 78.6 winning percentage) in his three seasons.
Photo courtesy of Brandon Jenkins Facebook Page
