The hits keep coming for the University of Louisville basketball program. Monday afternoon, Rick Pitino delivered more bad news for Cardinal fans, announcing the suspension of sophomore center Derrick Caracter.
Just two days after his team suffered a disappointing home court loss to Dayton, Louisville coach Rick Pitino announced Monday that sophomore center Derrick Caracter has been suspended indefinitely from the team.
It was more bad news for the already depleted Cardinals, who are currently playing without seniors David Padgett (knee) and Juan Palacios (knee). Pitino is also playing without freshmen Clarence Holloway (heart surgery) and George Goode (academics).
"Derrick Caracter has once again been suspended indefinitely - by the team," Pitino said. "From the summer to now, he's been under dormitory arrest. Then he slipped up again and I wasn't going to play him against Dayton but the team asked me to play him."
"We made him sign a contract and he broke it twice the first night after he signed it," Pitino added. "So I had no choice but to suspend him."
Pitino said that Caracter had a 9 o'clock curfew Saturday night after Louisville's loss to Dayton. Caracter broke the curfew twice Saturday night, arriving back at Minardi Hall at 10 p.m., then after being confronted by coaches for breaking curfew, Caracter again left the players dormitory at 10:40.
"He's got to learn to make the right choices in life," Pitino said. "We all love him but he let his (teammates) down. The players are upset because their futures are at stake."
Pitino said there was a chance Caracter could earn his way back on the team but for now he will not be allowed to practice with the team, though he will still participate in individual instruction drills.
"He needs to make dramatic changes in his life," Pitino said. "We need the fans to help us fight through this. I think we're going to have to grind this thing out. We've got to roll up our sleeves and do a lot of different things defensively."