newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MATT SUGAM

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NEW YORK - When they first walked out of the tunnel onto Madison Square Garden’s court on Wednesday night you would have thought they showed up for Dayglow or a highlighter party rather than a basketball game.

But when Adidas wanted to unveil their new infraRED uniforms Louisville was one of the two Big East teams to oblige.

Whether or not it was to the chagrin of head coach Rick Pitino remains unknown. The opinions of the guys subjected to wearing them however are obvious. They’re quite keen on their new attire.

“I love them,” Peyton Siva said after Louisville's 84-71 win over Marquette. “A lot of people don’t like them because they say we look like highlighters, but the players really like it.”

And the benefits go beyond a fashion statement. Aside from the look, they’re light. (In weight along with color scheme). Not to mention they can give a dizzying headache to opposing teams.

“It kind of blinds the team and they’re like ‘ah man, we’re not used to seeing this,’” Siva said. “Coach P always jokes around that ‘man Syracuse has so much success in orange uniforms so why not us?’ But I keep trying to tell him infraRED is a lot different.”

Different indeed. Which may have been exactly what the Cardinals needed heading into post-season play.

Going 2-4 to close out the regular season, Pitino knew he had to get his team’s confidence back.

“I used the analogy of the New York Giants,” Pitino said. “Nobody remembers the regular season anymore when they went into the playoffs. Just matters what you do in the post-season. So don’t worry about what you do in the regular season.”

That talk could have been what rescued Louisville from their late season swoon. Or it could have been the renewed sense of swagger from their getup.

“Hey, we’re 2-0 in them right now so may as well keep rolling with it,” Siva said.

Which is exactly what they’ll do for the rest of the Big East Tournament. And depending how that turns out, they could very well do the same for the NCAA Tournament.

By then they may have talked their head coach into matching his players with his wardrobe.

Pitino’s already known for breaking out the white suit when Louisville has a "white out" at the KFC YUM! Center. So what about an infraRED one?

“An infraRED suit on him?” Kyle Kuric said with a grin. “That would be pretty sweet if we could get that ordered for him.”

Somebody get on the horn with Adidas and have their tailor start working on it.

Ok, maybe a suit would be a bit much for the old school mentality Pitino carries. Easing him in with a tie first may be the player’s best bet.

“Trying, but it’s kind of hard. Coach P’s old-fashioned, but we’ll see,” Siva said. ”If we get a win tomorrow [vs. Notre Dame] hopefully we can throw a tie on him.”

Follow Matt Sugam on Twitter @MattSugam and on Facebook.