Louisville Cardinal Post National Championship Fails

Apr 8, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Russ Smith cuts down the net after Louisville won the championship game in the 2013 NCAA

Final Four against the Michigan Wolverines at the Georgia Dome. Louisville Cardinals won 82-76. Mandatory Credit: Bob

-USA TODAY Sports

4. Russ Smith Shows Us What “Louisville First” is All About

The Louisville players took a lot of opportunities to tell the media how they were a band of brothers that won a title due to the fact that they had grown together through years of blood, sweat, tears, hard work and dedication. Once again, the debate about “Players First” vs. “Program First” was on full display.

Too bad that Russ Smith showed what he was all about before all of the confetti had hit the floor.

After the game, Russ Smith Sr. told anybody that was listening that his son was getting out of Dodge ASAP and was heading to the NBA draft.

"Russ Smith Sr. tipped the explosive junior’s hand after Monday night’s national championship win over Michigan. “I told him, ‘Man, this is how you go out,’ ” Smith Sr. told Sports Illustrated. “All the people who doubted you since high school, you proved them wrong. You have back-to-back (Big East) championships, then you come back and win the national championship. All that hard work comes from working you out since you was three years old, running the beach, running the stairs, running with medicine balls, a boxing bag, it paid off.”  Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg asked again, just to verify that he was interpreting Smith Sr.’s reply correctly. “He’s gone,” Smith Sr. said"

First off, I have no problem with Smith’s decision to go pro. His stock will not get any higher as he is a fringe first round pick in a historically weak draft; and with the talent coming into college basketball next season, Russdiculous‘ chances of sniffing the first round in 2014 would be, well, Russdiculous.

What I do have a problem with is a program and a fan base that love to point fingers at John Calipari and Kentucky fans for welcoming in players that have intentions of leaving early. Louisville’s high horse mentality over players staying at Louisville because of a “Louisville First” mantra was blown out of the water by Smith. Russ didn’t even wait until the rioting in the city was over before he let Papa tell the world that he was bolting.

At least John Calipari encourages all of his players, even the sure-fire number one picks like John Wall and Anthony Davis, to weigh all of their options and give the fans a grace period before making any declarations.

5. Peyton Siva Got Put on Blast by an Escort

I’m sure Peyton Siva is a wonderful kid. He has a great story. He is the head of Louisville’s chapter of the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). He is Rick Pitino‘s favorite player ever along with Billy Donovan.

But Siva proved that he is human and just a college kid. Well, actually he didn’t, some high priced Twitter hooker named Jenna Shea did. Shea has had clients such as James Harden and Lil Wayne. She takes pride in her “job” and even goes as far as tweeting pictures of the piles of money she “earns” from her clients.

What does she have to do with Siva? The Louisville point guard was trying to get into her pants despite having a girlfriend and being the head of the FCA. She tweeted a text conversation between her and Siva which included salty language, a close up of Siva’s face, a close up of Siva wearing his Kevin Ware Rise to the Occassion shirt, and a picture of Shea’s “assests“.

Of course there has not been any word from the Louisville or the Siva camp. We all make mistakes, and like I said, Siva is a college kid and women are like kryptonite to college and even pro athletes. Embarrassing? Sure. But this will not be catastrophic to Siva’s image. Just a blemish that will be forgotten in a few months.

Now his relationship with his girlfriend and the FCA, that’s a completely different story.

Link is NSFW