Whitehead, Dean, Garcia Named Cards' Hoop Tri-Captains
October 18, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 18, 2003
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Senior Luke Whitehead and sophomores Taquan Dean and Francisco Garcia have been named tri-captains for the 2003-04 University of Louisville men's basketball team, elected for the honor in a vote of their teammates.
"Luke, Francisco and Taquan where chosen in a unanimous vote," said U of L Men's Basketball Coach Rick Pitino. "The obvious is Luke, but it's quite a compliment when a team would elect two sophomores to be their leaders." It is the first time Pitino has had a sophomore as a captain in his 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
Whitehead, a 6-7 forward, hopes to pick up where the 2002-03 season left off. U of L's No. 4 scorer (9.0) and third-leading rebounder (5.4) last season, Whitehead earned Most Valuable Player honors in the 2003 C-USA Tournament and logged double-doubles in five of the last six games.
A 6-2 guard, Dean started 22 games for the Cards as a freshman, including the last 21 straight. A member of the Conference USA all-freshman team, Dean was a double-figure scorer in 12 games and was second on the team in three-point goals, hitting 61-of-171 threes on the season (.357).
The Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season, Garcia was a double-figure scorer in 21 games, including 13 of the last 17. The 6-7 forward was third on the team in three-point goals, hitting 57-of-134 (.425, third in Conference USA), led the Cards in blocked shots (40) and was honored on the 2003 C-USA All-Tournament team.
The Cardinals worked for two hours in their first practice of the season at 10 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 18), the first of a pair of practice sessions that day.
"We worked hard," said Pitino of the Cards' first practice. "Right now, we're just learning to play under the influence of fatigue. That's the toughest, most difficult thing in grasping our style the first week -- executing when you're tired, not turning the ball over when you're fatigued, shooting when you're fatigued, playing great defense when you're fatigued. That's what the first week is all about. Once you get by that point, you're working on pure execution."
