“They’ve been noncompetitive”: Why Louisville is still winless in 2022-23
It took just 7 games for the wheels to entirely fall off Louisville’s very first season under new coach Kenny Payne.That was when Payne took to the postgame podium to openly– and, one might state, justifiably– question his group’s desire.
“We did not complete. We did not battle. We didn’t meet their intensity. At times, it appeared like we gave up,” Payne said after the Cardinals’ home loss to Maryland on November 29, which dropped them to 0-7.
Seven games into Payne’s tenure, and Louisville was already at all-time low. Or so we thought.Then came a 27-point house loss to Miami– and Payne stating he wasn’t sure his group had genuinely hit its low point.Kenny Payne:”I do not feel like we’re on the upward swing yet … I do not understand yet if we’ve truly hit rock bottom.”@LouisvilleMBB visits FSU Saturday afternoon. @ 840WHAS pic.twitter.com/pe4vdOBfPN!.?.!— Will Clark(@WClark840WHAS)December 9, 2022 Naturally, Louisville then lost by 22 the next week to Florida State, which had just one win this season getting in the game. The Cardinals have now lost 6 straight games by a minimum of
19 points. Their typical margin of defeat versus power conference teams is a whopping 25.2 points. They’re 0-9, holders of the longest losing streak to begin a season in ACC history and just 2 games far from connecting the program’s worst start(1940-41 ). They currently have more 25-point losses(4) than in any season in program history.They ended up being only the 2nd major conference team in the past 40 years to begin a season with 7 straight losses.Perhaps the most alarming stat, though: Louisville is ranked No. 360 out of 363 teams in the NCAA’s web rankings. That’s humiliating enough– if that weren’t one spot ahead of where they were slotted in the preliminary web rankings on Dec. 5. Is Louisville at all-time low yet? Getting in Wednesday’s home game against in-state competing Western Kentucky(9 p.m. ET, ESPN2), it sure seems like it.Louisville is among the most storied programs in college basketball history. The Cardinals won a championship game less than a years ago. They finished one game far from an ACC title simply three seasons back. So how did Louisville fall apart so quickly, just nine games into Payne’s tenure?Holes in roster building and construction In the contemporary period of guys’s college basketball, with the ever-growing transfer website and pressure to win quickly, total roster turns quickly after a new coach takes over are not unusual. Just take a look at some of the new hires made last spring.2 Associated At Kansas State, Jerome Tang saw 10 players leave and landed 7 from the website. Chris
Jans at Mississippi State watched six depart, however came back with 5 new ones. Missouri had 8 players struck the portal following Dennis Gates’hire, however Gates signed 6 Division I and 2 junior college transfers. And, of course, there was the ultimate rebuilding task at LSU, where Matt McMahon had his entire roster in the website at one point, and eventually reloaded with 10 newcomers.Louisville was not nearly as active last spring.Despite seven players leaving, Payne landed just one scholarship player from the website, Tennessee forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. He kept hold of one hire from the Chris Mack period, ESPN 100 possibility Kamari Lands, and signed previous LSU dedicate Devin Ree. 2 other Mack dedicates, Tae Davis and Fredrick King, reopened their recruitments and went elsewhere (Seton Hall and Creighton, respectively ). Mack didn’t leave a roster completely bereft of skill though.
There are five former ESPN 100 prospects in the program, and El Ellis was among the very best junior college guards in the country when he showed up last season. That stated, this was also a group that went 13-19 total in 2021-22 and then lost 7 of its top 10 players. It needed an overhaul.”I don’t understand how they didn’t take a look at the lineup and just go and get somebody from like, the CAA that balanced 16 a game,”one opposing coach said.