a. Hes an asset for us. The young players learn from him." The 37-year-old Nesta also returned from a one-game ban to take back his spot in the central defen

Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he specifically picked out the 13th-ranked Cardinals early-season schedule to provide maximum competition for his talented roster. Lynn Williams Jersey .Pitino said he and his staff chose out-of-conference games against teams that had talent returning, veteran leadership and a good RPI.Enter Evansville.The Purple Aces travel to Louisville for a Friday clash (7 p.m. ET) at the KFC Yum! Center.What we did was, we wanted people who had at least three starters back when we were scheduling, we wanted teams with experience and we wanted teams we thought would be a Top 100 RPI team, Pitino said. And when you watch Evansville on tape, you realize they are so well-coached.Why all the focus on schedule the right kind of teams?We made it a goal of ours to have the No. 1 schedule in the nation, Pitino said. We also wanted to have our best recruiting class, and we obviously want to reach our potential come March. And playing a tough schedule does that for us.As good as the Louisville coaches think Evansville will be, the Aces were picked just ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll.I think our guys understand, Aces coach Marty Simmons said. They hear the talk and people know that we lost a great group of young men through graduation. Weve got a really good group, and they want to do really well. I think theyll use it as motivation.Evansville finished the 2016 season 25-9, its best season in decades, falling to Northern Iowa in the championship of the Missouri Valley tournament.The Aces notched wins last season against Belmont, UC Irvine, Murray State and Illinois State. Their games against major conference teams last season were a 74-64 loss vs. Providence and an 89-76 at Arkansas.Senior guard Jaylon Brown leads Evansvilles returners. He averaged 10.8 points per game last season and is the floor general for the Purple Aces.He will square off against Louisvilles leader, junior point guard Quentin Snider, whom Pitino recently described as the only returning player who has proved something in a national game.Louisvilles lineup is fairly inexperienced, but Evansville has to make up for the loss of its leading scorer, leading rebounder and leading shot-blocker.Friday night will be the debut -- or rather return -- of a classic brand of Pitino basketball. The Cardinals coach recently said he is in the final stages of his Hall of Fame career, and he wants to go out while coaching his favorite brand of basketball -- up-tempo, full-court press and man-to-man defense. It was the style Pitino had during his final two seasons at Kentucky in 1996 and 1997.The Louisville coaching staff installed the faster system during the offseason, and the Cardinals first two exhibition games were played at a much faster pace than their fans are used to seeing.Pitino said he expects Louisvilles early-season games to be very fast-paced -- and a little sloppy.Interesting enough, William and Mary and Evansville will play up-tempo, they screen a lot and their ball movement is great, and they play like us with a lot of motion, Pitino said.The coach said Louisville fans will have to be patient with the Cardinals as they will be turning the ball over and making a few more mistakes early in the season as they get used to this new approach.Am I a little nervous and apprehensive? Yes I am, Pitino said. Even after 40 years of coaching, Ill still be nervous, but Ill be the only one, everyone else will be fine, but Ill be nervous.Louisville returns Snider, power forward Jaylen Johnson and post Mangok Mathiang as players with starting experience. A pair of super sophomores, shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and small forward Deng Adel, are back, too. Allie Long Jersey . JOHNS, N. Megan Rapinoe Jersey . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. https://www.cheapuswnt.com/812w-imani-dorsey-jersey-usa.html . PETERSBURG, Fla.MONTREAL -- Home turf is a happy place for Marco Di Vaio. The veteran striker scored his 10th goal of the Major League Soccer season Wednesday in a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo. "Im happy to score, but I want to score more," said Di Vaio, who has recorded all but one of his goals at home. "But the important thing is were creating chances." Felipe Martins also scored as the Eastern Conference-leading Impact (9-3-2) improved to 6-0-1 at Saputo Stadium and won a fourth in a row at home. Houston (6-5-4) is winless in its last five (0-3-2). The crowd of 17,694 saw the Impact in full attack mode as they created chance after chance against a Houston side missing some key players before switching to a more defensive game in the second half. "The first 35 minutes was probably the best weve played this season," said Di Vaio. That followed perhaps their worse performance when they lost 2-0 in Columbus on Saturday night. "I knew the team was ready to respond," said Impact coach Marco Schallibaum, who was back after serving a one-game suspension for arguing a call in a 2-1 win in Kansas City on June 1. "Especially in the first half it was amazing to see the team. There were a lot of chances and very nice football. We were less good in the second, but we were very solid defensively." Daniele Paponi missed two good chances in the first eight minutes and had another called offside. Only 13 minutes in, Patrice Bernier sent a clever pass over the defence and Felipe chested it down before scoring his third of the season. The Dynamo wasted a glorious chance to tie it in the 20th minute when Matteo Ferrari was called for a late tackle in the area on Will Bruin. But Englishman Giles Barnes hooked the ball from the penalty spot well over the net. Ashley Hatch Jersey. Then it was Corey Ashes turn to misfire as he shanked an attempt to play the ball back to Houston goalie Tally Hall in the 32nd. Di Vaio ran it down, went in alone and calmly chipped it home. Houston had a good chance after a free kick in the 58th, but Warren Creavalles left footed shot went just over the bar. "There are ups and downs in every season, but for us its a matter of starting games better," said Houston veteran Brian Ching. "They took the game to us for the first 25 minutes or so, but I thought we did well to create some opportunities after that. "The difference was that they finished their chances and we didnt." Di Vaio had the crowd on its feet in the 62nd as he headed Nyassis pass off the bar, then recovered the ball but shot just wide. "Di Vaio works very hard and for his age, hes very fit," Schallibaum said of the 36-year-old. "He could have scored two or three more.. "Hes like Alessandro Nesta. Hes an asset for us. The young players learn from him." The 37-year-old Nesta also returned from a one-game ban to take back his spot in the central defence. The Impact have not lost a game that the former AC Milan star has started. The crowd booed when Ching subbed in for Barnes in the 78th. Ching was claimed by Montreal in the 2012 expansion draft but asked to be dealt back to Houston. Notes: Houston was missing two players to international duty, Honduran Boniek Garcia and American Brad Davis. ... Montreal made four changes after their loss in Columbus over the weekend. Paponi and Andrea Pisanu started, while Sanna Nyassi was back from playing for Gambia. Alessandro Nesta returned from a one-game suspension. Justin Mapp sat out with a thigh injury. ' ' '