THE GOOD NEWS
Mark it down now: Louisville is next year's preseason Big East favorite. If the Cardinals don't return the soul of the club, they do return the heart of it with seven players who played regularly in the rotation coming back. The guard position is a gold mine of riches with Edgar Sosa, Preston Knowles, Andre McGee and Jerry Smith all returning. Up front, Rick Pitino also has Earl Clark along with versatile Terrence Williams. Derrick Caracter is likely to enter the NBA draft.

THE BAD NEWS
The team next year has to replace the senior leadership of C David Padgett and F Juan Palacios, who made up the soul of the team, and might lose Derrick Caracter to the NBA. Padgett was extremely important but Pitino is bringing in three highly promising front line players to fill the void.

KEY RETURNEES
F Terrence Williams, G Preston Knowles, G Edgar Sosa, F Earl Clark, G Andre McGee, G Jerry Smith and recruits F/C Terrence Jennings, F Samardo Samuels, F Jared Swopshire

ROSTER REPORT

--F Derrick Caracter first announced his plans to enter the NBA draft, then said he'd like to return. On May 22, Louisville coach Rick Pitino announced that Caracter was academically ineligible and likely had too many hurdles to overcome to return to UL.

Pitino said Caracter would most likely need to transfer to another school to return to the college game.

--C David Padgett came back from his early-season injury to set the Big East record in field goal percentage, hitting 68.3 percent during the league's 18-game schedule. He did not play enough games to qualify overall among the nation's leaders.

--F Terrence Williams showed his versatility by posting two triple-doubles during the season. Williams led the team in a rare double-double -- rebounds and assists.

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