Louisville basketball fans look back on the 2012-13 season and reminisce on their favorite moments during a magical National Championship season.
They say that the only time you should look back is to see how far you’ve come. When Louisville basketball fans look back at the 2022-23 season, it’s… not such an interesting journey.
In fact, we have to look back much too far to find a time that we’d much prefer over the experience that this program is providing us now.
With that being said, Saturday, February 18th provides us a much-needed opportunity to reach into the past and conjure up some incredible memories provided to us by the 2012-2013 edition of Louisville basketball.
The 2013 NCAA Champions left us with countless memories. Storylines abound, and the emotions associated with that season will never be forgotten by those who followed the team.
In a year where Louisville finished 35-5, the Cards won 16 straight and 19 out of its last 20.
Along the way, some of my favorite stories to this day were created.
For me, some of the most touching stories I have in life came from Louisville sports. So, I knew there were a lot of untold stories out there.
I asked some friends of the site, and you, the readers and listeners, to contribute and tell some of your favorite memories.
The moments we knew something special was brewing
submitted by Don
“The Cards absolutely destroying College of Charleston on the road early in the season.
CoC ain’t Duke, but it was men against boys. I remember watching the game while on a treadmill in my house in MI, thinking “holy cow, this team is freaking loaded…”.
Time proved me correct.”
submitted by Rachel
“When we lost to Duke early in the year in the Bahamas and Peyton and Russ walked resolutely off the floor and you could tell they had that fire in their belly.
That’s when I knew we were going to win it all that year.”
I just think of the entire season as being almost mythical.
This was the last season that a team assembled like Louisville just sort of dominated college basketball.
If you look at the teams that are successful in 2023, it’s not the guys that stayed around for “one more run” anymore. This season, Kentucky and North Carolina were two preseason favorites because of the returning talent. Both are on the bubble in the home stretch of the season.
Instead, teams like Alabama, Texas, Houston, and others are an example of how modern college rules can allow teams to completely transform a roster in the offseason and become dominant right away.
This Louisville basketball team had all of the ingredients to be great and capitalized on returning experience to become dominant.
Louisville replaced Chris Smith, Jared Swopshire, and Kyle Kuric from its 2012 Final Four team with Luke Hancock, Kevin Ware, and Montrezl Harrell.
The returning pieces included the best backcourt tandem in the country in Peyton Siva and Russ Smith, one of the best centers in the country in Gorgui Dieng, and two McDonald’s All-Americans in Wayne Blackshear and Chane Behanan.
Supplemental pieces like Stephen Van Treese and Tim Henderson ultimately played a major factor as well.
Every player had a role. Every player was a leader. Every player, as the kids say, had that dog in him.
The season was just magical in the sense that everything you’d want to happen in a run happened.
You overcame injuries and tough losses. You won 16 straight. You had insane comebacks and storylines that captured the entire sports world.
Players had personalities larger than life. Russ Smith, who had his number retired in 2022, was a 2-star player who was a game away from transferring. Peyton Siva was a former Burger Boy who became the most electric point guard in the Big East. Gorgui Dieng was an uncoordinated project player from Senegal who offered more wisdom as a 20-year-old than most of your grandparents. Luke Hancock had 1″ of lift on his shot but became the ultimate leader and Final Four MVP.
Every single member of that squad had a role and played it to perfection.
You beat your biggest rivals every opportunity you got. Louisville left no doubt against Kentucky and smashed Cincinnati and Memphis. They beat the breaks off on Notre Dame on senior day after a 5 overtime loss a month prior.
It’s so difficult to pick a favorite because every game was such a joy to watch.
Here are a few of the landmarks along the way that you guys liked pointed to.
Chane Behanan’s dunk against DePaul
submitted by Jacob
Back when DePaul Day was in full swing (shoutout Mike Rutherford), Louisville was in the middle of another trouncing in Chicago, when sophomore forward Chane Behanan threw down one of the filthiest dunks in program history.
Behanan stole a pass near midcourt and threw down a ferocious slam over DePaul guard Worrel Clahar. Behanan was originally whistled for an offensive foul but it was changed to a block on Clahar after a short discussion by the officials.
Behanan on the dunk:
“When I stole the ball it was kind of weird how he didn’t try to come up and guard me. He just stayed there,” Behanan said. “I don’t know. I drew a check that I cashed.”
The Second Half of the Big East Championship Game vs. Syracuse
A TON of people have fond memories of this game.
And with good reason.
submitted by Sean
submitted by Ken
“Big East tournament. The best week I ever spent in Manhattan.
I took my whole family as a Christmas present. We sat about 15 rows behind the bench for the championship game and it was magical.”
submitted by Geoff
“The comeback against Syracuse in the Big East final. We probably didn’t even need to win that game to get a 1 seed but that was when it was like, oh yeah this team has the juice.”
submitted by Alan
“Big East championship. I was working at the detox center at The Healing Place. Guys come in there rock bottom, nothing left, depressed, self-loathing, dope sick, etc.
We’re watching the game, down 17 at the half – detox was jam-packed to capacity mind you. Probably 90% of the place was Louisville fans including myself and all the staff.
The comeback in the second half was amazing. High-fiving dudes that needed something- anything – to hang on to in life.
Louisville basketball saved people that night. We were going nuts in the detox center.”
Alan’s story so adequately captures what it meant to be a Cards fan in 2013.
For a solid chunk of time, any bad happening in our personal lives felt far less significant. The game we loved felt romanticized in a way. Louisville basketball was poetry in motion. An unstoppable force backed by a city that just rode the momentum. Louisville was mayhem at that time and in the best way possible.
2013 didn’t just show us what Louisville can be as a program. It showed us what we can be as a community.
Things were just different then.
The “Kevin Ware” game against Duke
Also known as the “boom” game, Louisville basketball ran away from No. 2 seeded Duke in the Elite Eight to advance to its second straight Final Four in front of 35,000 in Indianapolis.
There were so many mixed emotions around this game. Ware was finally coming into his own and becoming an integral part of the 2013 Louisville squad. So, when he suffered perhaps the most publicly gruesome, freakish injury in the history of the sport, it took a lot of gall for Louisville to get up off the mat and dominate in the fashion that they did.
Louisville beat Duke by 19 in the second half on the backs of Peyton Siva and Russ Smith.
The team could do no wrong. And in the end, I feel like they got Tim Henderson just enough clock to acclimate him to a high-pressure situation filling in for Ware. Wichita made a garbage time three-point shot that was a precursor to the important minutes that he’d have to contribute in Atlanta the following weekend.
submitted by Damon
“Smoking Duke’s face off in Elite 8 with Peyton and Russ continuously slicing through the defense, and Gorgui knockin down elbow J’s off pick and roll.”
submitted by Rachel
“My second favorite memory was when they set up the ladders to take down the nets after we beat Duke in the Elite 8 and Gorgui walked down the court toward them and then he pivoted and left for the locker room.
HE SAID NOPE NOT THOSE NETS.”
National Title Game vs. Michigan
The 2013 season culminated in the most memorable game in my lifetime.
The circumstances surrounding the game, the stories of what happened during the game, and the celebration that followed are legendary.
submitted by Yum Rims
“My parents were there and I watched at their place with a bunch of friends. When Trez flushed the oop, after Luke brought us back from the dead, we erupted. Their Mastiff got scared and sprinted right through the sliding screen door to the back deck. Didn’t even care.”
submitted by Andrew
“Bought tickets with a set of buddies for the championship game before we beat Wichita State.
Legitimately thought we owned Wichita State tickets at halftime of the Final Four game. Thanks, Tim Henderson.”
submitted by Stephen
“Had tickets reserved on Craigslist to pay in person when we got to ATL. On the way down, just south of Chattanooga the seller messages me and said they sold the tickets.
Spent the rest of the drive and then 5 hours walking around ATL before securing seats for $200 each.”
submitted by Koert
“Don’t really have a story, but getting to take in that moment with my dad after the final buzzer was pretty cool. Something I had been waiting my whole life for and 27 years for him.”
submitted by Jason
“350-400lb UM fan behind us was running his mouth most of the first half. Getting personal and I just took it.
When (Montrezl Harell) dunked, I blacked out and turned around and I don’t even know what I said to this man.
He left at halftime and never returned to his seat the rest of the game.”
submitted by Taylor
“Went to every game during our run. Final four way too close with Wichita St. Stayed for the national championship and drove back 8 hours to Kentucky to work the next morning. Worth it.”
submitted by Craig
“In college in Michigan, decked out in all red, watching in a room full of UM fans. I could feel the hate, which made the celebration that much sweeter.”
submitted by Eric
“I was there with my then 8-year-old son, Caleb. Had good seats but we were seats 3 & 4 & I really wanted the aisle seat that had no chair in front of it. Gave the 2 guys in 1 & 2 $100 each to switch seats. Money well spent for extra legroom and a clear view of history!”
submitted by Jack
“I was 12 years old sitting in the Georgia Dome; after the ‘Trezl dunk to end the half I turned around in my seat and high-fived a Michigan fan because I was so excited that I didn’t consider that they wouldn’t be as happy as I was about the result.”
One thought on “Louisville basketball: The stories that made the 2013 season legendary”