Dieng, Siva, Trez, Mathiang, and Russ all played in the NBA. Only 2 are still playing, but for the other 3 to even reach the NBA tells you the squad had talent. Luke was with the Griz in camp even, was hurt badly. SVT and Blackshear overseas. So much talent they put a red shirt on Mathiang I think.
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You mean the Mathiang who averaged 7.8 pts and 6 rebs? I know he’s hurt now but Williams, probably wheeler and Curry have more ability (talent) than that.
You just proved there are different levels of talent. You compared guys who again are NBA talent and listed guys who got drafted, didn’t make it or played overseas. Damien Lee was not a U of L product. I did forget Dieng and Twill but all those guys you listed didn’t play on the same team. Like I said, Malik Williams was probably just as talented as Spaulding and Mathiang. There’s a reason why we have won only 1 title since 1986. We have talent, their full potential has not been realized or achieved.
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The guys that got drafted played in the NBA. Siva played in the NBA. You predicting West or Locke play in the NBA? Me neither.
Mathiang played in the NBA. He was long and athletic Williams and Curry certainly are not as talented as he was. My lord do you watch Malik the kid can hardly walk much less play basketball. Mathiang run circles around them both defensively there is just no comparison. Mangok played on loaded rosters so with that it was easy to overlook his talent. You putting Malik in the NBA? Big Syd? Me neither.
Anybody that puts on an NBA jersey for an NBA team is high end talented, it's a small fraternity.
You listed 4 or 5 NBA guys, when the program has had around 12-15 in the last decade or so without me doing research. This team has 0. I could be wrong about that 0 but I sure as F don't see it right now, and nobody else does.
Basically the program went from averaging about 1.5 or 1.75 highly talented NBA players to 0.
This is a massive drop off in talent in a game where only 5 guys play at a time.
Anybody that thinks this team had anywhere near the talent of any of Rick's successful teams is just rewriting history or not remembering the past.
A lot of people thought this team was talented. Some probably still do. It's a bunch of role players with no alpha. No high end.
There is no Earl Clark here, or Twill. Or Rozier. Or Spider Mitchell. Etc etc etc
And no Pitino. And no roster carryover continuity, but it is a different era so that may not be a thing anymore.
Been saying this since the 3rd game of the season. If you have any bball knowledge at all you could see the product on the floor was/is not high quality. I kind of gave Mack a slight pass because the players weren’t high division 1 quality, because sometimes evaluations of a player can be deceiving, but by the last 10 games we’ve played there was no adjustment to fit what product we have on the court.
Same crap of shot clock dwindling down with no penetration,(starting our offense at 30 feet and ending at 25 feet by the time shot clock was at 0) dribbling off their own legs or feet, same unforced turnovers, Jalen withers beyond the three point line, Jalen withers trying to dribble up the court, same defensive lapses, same same same same. Now I’m not getting paid millions to coach but I can assure you that by watching my product and film that if you don’t have the horses you try something different.. like cutting without the ball, setting screens to get shots, working it inside out, because we can’t beat no one off the dribble. Just no change as the games went on. Head scratcher to the staff in general.
From about 2000 to 2009, we had maybe 4 guys in the NBA. At one time I think Garcia was the only one. Doesn’t mean that on all those Louisville teams we had no talent. We just didn’t have NBA talent. Yes Pitino changed a lot of that. Just because a guy got hurt doesn’t mean he never had talent.
Since 2000,
Every single team, even the teams that missed the NCAA's, had at least one player that would go on later in life to make an NBA roster and play in the NBA. From Earl Clark/TWill era moving forward, each team would typically have multiple NBA futures.
The school down the road distorted some of our fans expectations and even memories. The Cards were not winning with NBA All Star talent like the guys down the road, but the Cards were winning with high end talented players and each team had NBA talent.
It's not a big deal. Pitino was such an awesome HC it's easy to remember the teams for playing team ball structured using his elite coaching for success. Underneath it all, was high shelf talent as well. He deserves plenty of credit for molding many of the guys and helping them reach the NBA, some might argue he held a few back.
It doesn't matter. We for sure do not have an elite HC we can agree on that. If you want to think this year's team has enough talent have at it.
If a guy is hurt, I do not care if he is the #1 player in the country. If he cannot walk he is not going to help the team. Nobody remembers Harry Giles. He was the #1 player in HS signed with Duke can't even remember if he played because he was seriously injured. Malik entered talented but he's limping around and is just not the talented player he once was.
So in summary, I still believe this team has ACC level talent. We are playing in the ACC not NBA. I think in retrospect, someone (coaches) believe there was some talent to play beyond college. Let’s remember that Luke Murray recruited Igiehorn (potential bust), Williamson (who will probably play overseas somewhere) and David Johnson (who by your accounts is an NBA caliber player because he got drafted). Let’s also not forget that everyone on this team with the exception of Malik is the responsibility of Mack. He has had 4 years. Also a certain team down the road can have 4-5 NBA caliber talent and still only win 1 title. It takes both talent and great coaching. I know at least we don’t have one of those two.
i'm glad for the head coaching change. this is best for everyone.
i hope we get a guy with a clean slate.
i hope we get a guy with a clean slate.
If a guy is on an NBA roster which David Johnson is, he's an NBA caliber player. That is how that works. NBA players are not required to be All-Stars or meet whatever "Nccardfan" statistical achievement output you deem necessary to make the claim they are a basketball player in the NBA.
He is getting paid a salary by an NBA team and he can tell all his friends he is in the NBA, because he is in the NBA. Yes David Johnson can say that. There are only 60 NBA Draft picks a year. It's not a large fraternity. This is a fact this is not an opinion. He can log onto cardinal sports.com create a screen name and respond to any of your posts and say, "I am an NBA caliber player" and if you ask for proof he can screenshot a paystub. He could also tell you "This year's team doesn't have any future NBA players on it, because this year's team does not have any high end talent." He can't prove that yet but he'd probably be correct.
To sum that up one more time. If a player is in the NBA yes they are in the NBA.
If you want to blame all this on Mack go for it. He gone.
In all seriousness yeah, they should have been better. Mack went out like a b!tch there is no doubt. There aren't enough horses in the stable that's a big factor but no doubt some good coaching might have helped these guys out.
They will probably go all out for Peagues. I hope they do.
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If that’s all you got from that ok. DJ is an NBA level talent. I didn’t dispute that but if he flames out in one year you can’t say he had the same talent level of Karl Malone. Respond if you want but I’m moving on. I guess we’ll see how the players respond.
Yeah I didn't say the players or DJ specifically had talent of Karl Malone.
In fact, I said the opposite.
I said they did not have to have NBA All-Star Careers to be tabbed as NBA level players if they played in the NBA. Any player that has, at any time signed an NBA contract and played even just one single game in the NBA is considered a high end level talent. Any of 'em.
Even the guys that signed a few 10 day contracts like Samardo and Adel that weren't drafted. I made that pretty clear. I never compared those guys to an All-Star like Karl Malone. But you are doing that for reasons, only you know.
Mack gone. He gone. He sandbagged on the players and the fans this year, I think. I could be wrong it's just an opinion. I don't hate him for it. It didn't go how he envisioned and he made a few mistakes.
Peagues and players will probably try harder, and maybe do better. I will root for them. Like others I am looking forward to the next game.
Look, Sam and Jaelyn were supposed to be NBA quality talent when recruited. Same thing with Malik. All three of these players no one would have said weren't ACC talented. People even believed JJ Traynor was ACC talent.
The recruits for this season, Wheeler and the jucos Ellis and Curry, all were recruited by other major conference teams so you can't say they aren't ACC talented.
Now the transfers, only two could anyone honestly say aren't ACC level because of where they played before. West and Faulkner both look as talented as many other players on ACC teams but Mack's continued recruiting of these type of players is not ideal, unless they're role players and not starters.
Both Locke and Cross came from the ACC and the SEC so claims that they're not ACC talent is not correct.
All Cards fans were looking forward to a deep team where the talent would lend to playing 10 to 11 guys like FSU does. The problem has been team chemistry and coaching inconsistencies. There's enough talent for this team to win 20 games. I will always believe that.
The recruits for this season, Wheeler and the jucos Ellis and Curry, all were recruited by other major conference teams so you can't say they aren't ACC talented.
Now the transfers, only two could anyone honestly say aren't ACC level because of where they played before. West and Faulkner both look as talented as many other players on ACC teams but Mack's continued recruiting of these type of players is not ideal, unless they're role players and not starters.
Both Locke and Cross came from the ACC and the SEC so claims that they're not ACC talent is not correct.
All Cards fans were looking forward to a deep team where the talent would lend to playing 10 to 11 guys like FSU does. The problem has been team chemistry and coaching inconsistencies. There's enough talent for this team to win 20 games. I will always believe that.
I think team chemistry is a problem I’ve seen several players disagreeing with one another during timeouts. That type of problem could really poison the water on a team.
Sam yes when he arrived, was an NBA prospect.
None of these other guys were NBA types. Withers was not some NBA prospect sorry. He was on 0 mock draft boards. We are rewriting history if we're saying that. He over achieved for a limited roster last year, a team that did NOT make the NCAAs. He's undersized, and sadly completely exposed this year when trying to play what would be his NBA position, because he does not have perimeter play making skills. He has no handles, absolutely none. Did he under-achieve this year? Obviously. Malik was never on an NBA Draft board. Ever. He just wasn't. The fact that he is one of the two guys averaging double figures should tell you this team has a talent issue. He's playing on one leg and he is probably the only guy on the team that doesn't get carded at a liquor store. JJ weighs about 90 pounds. If we're pointing at him and saying, what about JJ, we got problems.
I'm not trying to run them down they just are not as good as fans thought. This is for whatever reason one of the toughest things to ever get fans of teams to come to grips with. We are Louisville so we think we are better than we are sometimes. Replace BOTH starting guards off a team that couldn't make the NCAAT, and we stitch together a roster, but we have high expectations? Does not compute.
You guys are moving the goal posts on me a little bit here too. I never said the players on this team do not have ACC talent. I never said they aren't talented enough as individuals to play D1 basketball. They would all make other rosters. As a group, COLLECTIVELY...they just don't have enough, the combinations are limited.
There is not any high end talent on this roster to bail out the team on off nights. There is not next level guys to go get you buckets, to save the day when you're about to lose to Depaul or Furman at home. To go make their teammates better. There is limited upside on the roster. The core players are cast offs and/or role players. They didn't bring in high end guys from the portal. These guys have limited quickness and no length. How often do we see them in transition? We don't.
They could win some games for Peagues. They are at the point they have nothing to lose. Maybe free from playing for a guy they didn't respect now that Mack is gone. I get it. I don't respect him either. The between the ears can be in better shape and they can improve from what we've seen. They were never gonna be great. They did lose to Furman with Peagues. Maybe they show some heart, start to have fun maybe even go on a tear. Make a run. Show some pride. I hope they do.
They should have been more competitive. I'm not arguing that. Maybe if they had some high end talent, they could have overcome some of the problems they had.
None of these other guys were NBA types. Withers was not some NBA prospect sorry. He was on 0 mock draft boards. We are rewriting history if we're saying that. He over achieved for a limited roster last year, a team that did NOT make the NCAAs. He's undersized, and sadly completely exposed this year when trying to play what would be his NBA position, because he does not have perimeter play making skills. He has no handles, absolutely none. Did he under-achieve this year? Obviously. Malik was never on an NBA Draft board. Ever. He just wasn't. The fact that he is one of the two guys averaging double figures should tell you this team has a talent issue. He's playing on one leg and he is probably the only guy on the team that doesn't get carded at a liquor store. JJ weighs about 90 pounds. If we're pointing at him and saying, what about JJ, we got problems.
I'm not trying to run them down they just are not as good as fans thought. This is for whatever reason one of the toughest things to ever get fans of teams to come to grips with. We are Louisville so we think we are better than we are sometimes. Replace BOTH starting guards off a team that couldn't make the NCAAT, and we stitch together a roster, but we have high expectations? Does not compute.
You guys are moving the goal posts on me a little bit here too. I never said the players on this team do not have ACC talent. I never said they aren't talented enough as individuals to play D1 basketball. They would all make other rosters. As a group, COLLECTIVELY...they just don't have enough, the combinations are limited.
There is not any high end talent on this roster to bail out the team on off nights. There is not next level guys to go get you buckets, to save the day when you're about to lose to Depaul or Furman at home. To go make their teammates better. There is limited upside on the roster. The core players are cast offs and/or role players. They didn't bring in high end guys from the portal. These guys have limited quickness and no length. How often do we see them in transition? We don't.
They could win some games for Peagues. They are at the point they have nothing to lose. Maybe free from playing for a guy they didn't respect now that Mack is gone. I get it. I don't respect him either. The between the ears can be in better shape and they can improve from what we've seen. They were never gonna be great. They did lose to Furman with Peagues. Maybe they show some heart, start to have fun maybe even go on a tear. Make a run. Show some pride. I hope they do.
They should have been more competitive. I'm not arguing that. Maybe if they had some high end talent, they could have overcome some of the problems they had.
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