I’m confident in saying the Payne era has begun disastrously.

[CardX]

“Give him time, etc.” I get it. We also live in real time with real reactions. Early Payne grade: what’s worse than an F?

I’ll give him all the time he needs. Not sure that will be enough, though. When you know, you know. He doesn’t have it.

Blast away.

 

[OldhamCard335]

Yeppers!

 

[sdslba228]

I am huge card fan back to the 80s...I have already lost interest this year.

 

[PushupMan]

Understand the frustration all around. I for one am (most likely) going to be interested all year long just to see what, if anything, this team can accomplish. While very disappointed in the losses, I suspect that we just played 3 teams that will each be competing at or near the top of their respective conferences this year.

I am going to be tuning into the Maui games to see whether my suspicion is true - that, despite the upgrade in name recognition, the level of competition won’t be significantly higher than what we’ve already seen.

 

[Thecycle27]

Here is one thing I know if they don’t start talking on defense they have no chance. Let this sink in App St held a 32-8 in the paint scoring advantage at one point. That tells me App St got where they wanted to go when they wanted to go. They blew several gimme layups as well.

At this point they are lost on both ends of the court. It is alarming with all these coaches background they are this pitiful on defense.

 

[LouisvilleKid79]

It’s shocking how bad they are defensively. If they do not get much better on defense, they are going to get ran. I mean 20+ 30+ point losses incoming. They are bad on both ends to be sure - but it’s the defense that is the most glaring. They get taken off the dribble way too easily, no help and recovery, communication is awful, don’t move their feet so it leads to them reaching in and picking up bad fouls. Too many things to callout and list.

Better defense will help their offense. This team needs to get more baskets in transition because of their limited offensive ability and overall poorly run offense.

This team has to be solid and locked in on the defensive end. It’s going to get real ugly if they do not improve drastically on defense.

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

I think majority of fans were skeptical going into it. It was former players and local media that hyped it up and really got behind it. And I really hope they end up being right because if they are good times are ahead.

Now I could read the tea leaves and it felt obvious he was going to be hired before he got hired. But that doesn't mean I wasn't worried.

And ain't nothing happening right now to make anyone feel too good about any of it.

But some of these guys have failed under multiple coaches now. But still, this shouldn't be an 0-3 team. So it's fair to start worrying about where wins will come from.

It just feels like it's gonna be historically bad this year. And I'm not sure how good you recruit if that's what you're putting out there.

 

[Dore95]

I wonder what Josh Heird is thinking? On the one hand, you have to give KP time. On the other, you can't let him drive the program off a cliff. Remember Howard Schnellenberger's one year at Oklahoma? How about Bryce Drew's recent 0-18 SEC mark at Vanderbilt? I'm not saying that the KP situation will lead to him getting fired after this year. That is extremely unlikely. I'm just saying that the "give him time, results don't matter" argument is not always correct.

 

[Mike'sMarbles]

I think the NCAA drove the program off a cliff. We are exactly where they want us to be. It's hard to fight the will of such a powerful organization.

 

[Morgantown Card]

“Give him time, etc.” I get it. We also live in real time with real reactions. Early Payne grade: what’s worse than an F?

I’ll give him all the time he needs. Not sure that will be enough, though. When you know, you know. He doesn’t have it.

Blast away.

The early returns are inexplicably bad but I'm trying not to come to a conclusion until the 2022-23 season is complete and the 2023-24 class is signed and sealed and on campus.

 

[J_Lewis0117]

I think Ellis, Huntley-Hatfield and Withers will end up being the ones who leave for the pros after this year, if they keep up their seasons so far. I wish we were 3-0 right now. But here's my outlook on next year. Get Miranda to commit (seems like that is going to happen right now) and in a perfect world, we end up with AJ as well. Add those two to a returning core of Fabio, D Ree, Mike, Kamari, JJ, Syd, Rose, and Hercy. Curtis and Kaleb included. Grab 1-2 high level guards from the transfer portal and our problems will go away in my opinion. We just need more explosive creators at the guard spots.

 

[shadow force]

I agree that there is no sugar coating that the beginning of the CKP era has been very bad. I've advocated that I'm willing to give Payne a fair chance and time to prove he is the right guy and I still believe in doing that, but it's not looking good so far. I'll wait and see how this season ends and how next season begins, but if this season continues to go the way it has been going, I can't see Payne being here for very long. I very much want him to succeed, but the product on the court so far has been historically bad. However, he still has the rest of the season to turn things around and prove people wrong- or not.

 

[cardinalrod]

I don't see any blasting. I also remember coach RP coming in taking over a mediocre team that played with intensity and way above their previously shown abilities. That was some of the best coaching up of players I can ever recall.

 

[Cardiac Red]

Understand the frustration all around. I for one am (most likely) going to be interested all year long just to see what, if anything, this team can accomplish. While very disappointed in the losses, I suspect that we just played 3 teams that will each be competing at or near the top of their respective conferences this year.

I am going to be tuning into the Maui games to see whether my suspicion is true - that, despite the upgrade in name recognition, the level of competition won’t be significantly higher than what we’ve already seen.

Not sure about that, Bellarmine just lost to Morehead.

 

[Thecycle27]

I am not sure it could of gotten off to a worse start. Any 1st time head coach is going to have perceived question marks but we thought his teams would play hard and he would recruit.

As of right he is 0-2 on the 2 things we thought he would be good at.

I never thought his teams wouldn’t play hard. Never dreamed that would actually happen.

Recruiting I think he is surprised how his contacts haven’t helped him. He was naive to think people would send him players because they like/respected him. It is a brutal game. He needs to figure it out. His plan of only recruiting wings is working——2 more on the way.

This year is a throw away he isn’t and shouldn’t be fired in year 1. 2023 is a different animal. Basketball can be turned around quickly. We will see but if he doesn’t start landing elite kids he won’t last. Recruiting more than anything gives fans hope especially if you are a 1st time coach that is going to have a brutal 1st year.

 

[OldhamCard335]

The bad news….the pain isn’t over yet. And, on the recruiting side, it now looks like AJ Johnson is heading to Texas. Damn that NCAA cloud!!!

 

[davecmc]

Basketball, more so than any other sport, most be coached with intention, purpose and identity.

The other sports, players know where to go and what to do because you have spots to be and tasks to perform at a basic level. Baseball you go to positions, pitch and hit, football you block, pass, catch etc. based on your position.

Basketball, however, is a wide open, undefined space. Just a floor and a basket, and you gotta figure out how to scheme a plan to win. You can be a pressing 3 point team, a dig in half court team, feed the post, send the big guards through on cuts - whatever. But if you don’t define it explicitly and tell your team this is what we do, this is what you do, they will just stand around and watch. That’s our problem. What’s our identity and purpose? Even if we don’t do it good yet, what are we trying to do?

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

He was probably too late to get in the door with the HS players of 2023. It was surprising to get the visits.

UofL has never gotten those high end dudes. He probably needs to shore up in the transfer portal. I don't think a historically bad year here helps him get players.

It's on him to establish the identity. Talking culture is great but you need results to become a destination.

Might have a shot at the big man Miranda is that right? That would be some needed good news if he could pull him in.

Local media fan boys probably hyped it way too much. It's one thing to be happy they hired your guy, but then if you start over hyping it, if the results aren't there, an already angry fan base just going to get more angry right?

And I have no idea what's going on with the NIL part of all of it.