Press perfection. (Baseball).

Is anyone surprised by Louisville's quick turnaround? I'm not. When Rick Pitino took over as coach last season, it was just a question of when, not if, the program would find a stable home in the national rankings.

Coaching and talent fuel any turnaround, and Louisville has both. And, of course, a main characteristic of any Pitino-coached team is its pressing style.

Louisville uses its press to disrupt offensive flow, to create easy scoring opportunities from turnovers and to make the opposition run its offense with a shorter shot clock. The press also wears down an opponent physically and, maybe more important, psychologically.

The press is designed to keep the other team uncomfortable for 40 minutes with the idea that at some point the opponent's will to deal with the constant harassment and pressure will break down--and when it does, the Cardinals will pounce on the mistakes and fatigue. In a three-game stretch against Eastern Kentucky, Manhattan and Furman, Louisville accumulated 100 points off of turnovers.

But if teams know it's coming, why does the press work?

You start with players who are completely sold on the philosophy. Add a high priority ...