Louisville males’s basketball is having the worst 12 months ever

Louisville males’s basketball at all times knew this was going to be a rebuilding 12 months. After firing head coach Chris Mack halfway by way of final season, the Cards settled on hiring former Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne and turned over a lot of the roster. Expectations had been tempered going into Payne’s debut season: Louisville was picked to complete No. 12 within the 15-team ACC in the course of the preseason polls. Close observers had been principally keen on what Payne may do in his first full 12 months on the recruiting path.

Louisville’s season started with an unthinkable loss to crosstown rival Bellarmine, an Atlantic Sun program nonetheless making its transition to DI. Then Louisville misplaced to Wright State from the Horizon League. Then Louisville misplaced to Appalachian St. of the Sun Belt. One may have assumed issues had been about to get extraordinarily ugly because the Cards flew out to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational in opposition to a loaded discipline, and that assumption has confirmed to be right.

On Monday, Louisville misplaced to No. 9 Arkansas, 80-54, in a sport that didn’t really feel that shut. On Tuesday, it was No. 21 Texas Tech’s flip to blast the Cards, 70-38, in one of the humiliating losses you’ll ever see from a prime program. This was the worst offensive efficiency Louisville has had since 1948.

Somehow, Louisville went on an 11-0 run on this sport. Louisville made 11 fields targets on the afternoon and shot 22.4 p.c from the sphere. What a tough loss.

Louisville is now the primary ACC staff to begin 0-5 since Virginia in 1960-61, in accordance with ESPN’s Stats and Info. By the way in which, that ‘60-61 Virginia team started 0-8. Given the Cards’ upcoming schedule, they must pull off an upset to keep away from breaking it.

The stats contextualizing Louisville’s begin are simply as dangerous because the outcomes. Just have a look at these assist-to-turnover numbers:

The recruiting entrance hasn’t been going nice, both.

Payne is now 0-for-2 on five-star prospects he was going after. Earlier this week, the highest unsigned participant in America, A.J. Johnson, picked Texas over Louisville. Johnson is a 6’5 combo guard rated because the No. 15 total recruit within the nation, per 247 Sports. It would have been a large win to get him, however Louisville got here up simply quick.

The extra painful (no pun supposed) recruiting miss was D.J. Wagner. Wagner — the No. 1 total participant within the class, per 247 Sports — picked archrival Kentucky over Louisville for his dedication. Louisville even employed his grandfather former NBA participant Milt Wagner to a place on workers in an try to get him. Of course, Wagner’s father is Dajuan Wagner, John Calipari’s first one-and-done star at Memphis, so there have been household connections on either side.

To be truthful to Payne, he has landed a pair of top-100 recruits in subsequent 12 months’s class. It simply looks as if this program has a lot extra work to do from there.

Louisville’s upcoming schedule is de facto tough, and there are not any straightforward video games as soon as ACC play begins. Is this set to be one of many worst school hoops season we’ve ever seen from an influence program? It certain seems to be prefer it.

Hey, a minimum of Louisville’s has a top-10 girls’s basketball staff. Let’s see how they’re doing this week:

Oh no. Next 12 months can’t come quickly sufficient for Louisville hoops followers.