Cardinal Sports Insider: Sananda Fru's offensive enlightening, Louisville heads to California

Editor’s Note: Introducing Cardinal Sports Insider. Moving forward, specifically throughout the basketball season, the Cardinal Sports Insider will be a weekly blog-style publication, written by the site publisher, William McDermott.  Posted each Friday of the season, Insider will feature anything from opinion-based commentary, in-depth statistical analysis, film review, and a behind-the-scenes look into Louisville basketball on a weekly basis.  Last week’s volume can be found here.  It’s not Friday, and with 10 days between games, I decided to delay this week’s Cardinal Sports Insider to Sunday, as Louisville embarks on its week-long stay in California against the ACC’s westernmost programs.  Stanford and California aren’t the same teams Louisville faced in the final month of last season. They’re better, deeper, and more talented, and with a year under their belts in the conference, hosting Louisville, one of the league’s best teams, is an opportunity to catch the rest of the league off guard at the start of the new year.  Tuesday’s game at Cal has me a bit scared. The Golden Bears are 12-1, with their one loss coming by three at Kansas State before Thanksgiving. Mark Madsen’s squad has already picked up a pair of quality wins over UCLA and Utah. California is likely the league’s most overlooked team heading into the season. I think they’ll likely be in the bubble-mix come March.  Only one team in the conference won both games on last year’s West Coast trips — Wake Forest.  That’s why getting off to a good start and winning the first road game of the season at California on Tuesday night is crucial for Pat Kelsey’s team.  In this week’s insider, we’ll specifically look at the challenges the upcoming ACC slate will present, and a recent lightbulb moment with junior center Sananda Fru. RELATED — Sananda Fru dominates in win over Montana