Mack is failing
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In fairness to Mack, between the roster he inherited upon arrival, the subsequent 2 years of Covid, the advent of the transfer portal and its increased affect on parity in college basketball, added to the NCAA cloud this school has been under ………not sure his performance can be judged accurately.
In hindsight ….. this University was under very misguided leadership when Jurich and Pitino were terminated. It was a mistake that many of us lamented at the time as a “rush to judgement”, but that was then and this is now.
In hindsight ….. this University was under very misguided leadership when Jurich and Pitino were terminated. It was a mistake that many of us lamented at the time as a “rush to judgement”, but that was then and this is now.
I was listening to talk radio this afternoon…
Valid or not, many people are now crediting the little bit of success that Mack and Satterfield have had here to the players they inherited from their predecessors.
I for sure agree about Satterfield. Most of his best players were recruited by Petrino. And I started thinking about Mack when some guy said there’s not an NBA prospect on this team.
Before we hear about NCAA clouds, there doesn’t seem to be anything related going on at Auburn, LSU, or Arizona. Of course, they didn’t trot out people in front of a firing squad…
Valid or not, many people are now crediting the little bit of success that Mack and Satterfield have had here to the players they inherited from their predecessors.
I for sure agree about Satterfield. Most of his best players were recruited by Petrino. And I started thinking about Mack when some guy said there’s not an NBA prospect on this team.
Before we hear about NCAA clouds, there doesn’t seem to be anything related going on at Auburn, LSU, or Arizona. Of course, they didn’t trot out people in front of a firing squad…
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I don't think they are repeat offenders, but maybe @Knucklehank1 can hit us with that info he seems dialed in.
Hank?
Again as I’ve pointed out on here every chance I get - those schools can thrive because they’re Nike schools. Louisville will NEVER be able to “reload” in a single off season or bring in one and done level talent as long they stick with Adidas. As long as we stay with Adidas we will be forced into building, developing and out scheming teams in order to remain competitive. Normally that’s fine but rosters built this way have much less room for error in order to be great. You need the best of the best coach as well.
I know Adidas pays Louisville handsomely and UofL is currently in desperate need of money but I pray UofL can withstand this rough patch and get a great new AD in here. I hope the first thing that he does is try and get in a room with Nike. I know the Adidas contract runs through 2028 but with everything that has went on between us and Adidas maybe we can get out from under it. The monetary value of the contract isn’t worth as much as the backing of Nike.
These other schools are facing more violation charges from the recruiting scandal than we are. However, we are the only program with the repeat offender tag. Arizona did fire Sean Miller and self imposed a tourney ban. LSU largely did nothing except they changed Will Wade’s contract so that they can freely fire him if a Level 1 sanction comes down. Kansas basically did nothing. Frankly we don’t know how the IRP will handle any of these situations. Presumably though, we are in a tougher spot than all these other programs because we are a repeat offender.
Actually, if there's a difference that should matter, one or more of those schools have evidence against them far GREATER than what's working against U of L.
There are no serious allegations against Pitino, much less having a recording of a head coach saying "pay the kid". We simply chose to scorch our earth for reasons that had nothing to do with shoe kids and NCAA violations.
But this is about the team's performance. Nothing in our environment is holding us back except program and departmental ineptitude. Claiming otherwise is an excuse...
There's no chance Adidas wouldn't take an offer to end that contract early. There's also no chance in hell U of L would ever offer that for the millions of reasons you mention. That shoe contract and ACC revenue streams are about the only things we have working for us financially...
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These are dark times. Hopefully the program can start winning enough games again and leaders can stop hurting the program and bring joy to the fans sometime in the near future.
It will be interesting to see if the NCAA agrees with this, repeat offender UofL I didn't follow the Bowen details closely but it seemed they have some evidence there against the Cards vs Will Wade LSU being caught on tape saying pay 'em!
I don't know man.
I really don't.
And couldn't it be possible the NCAA just hammers everybody in the crosshairs that isn't UNC/Duke/UK/KU? There's that possibility.
We shall see. Can't wait.
HMM 3 coaches that some in our fanbase constantly bring up . Coaches have windows of hotness no slam dunk hires out their anymore.
Beard TX 13-3
Oates Bama 11-5
Mussleman Arkansas 10-5 0-4 in conf
Beard TX 13-3
Oates Bama 11-5
Mussleman Arkansas 10-5 0-4 in conf
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Those stretches in the first half where the entire team looks like an inept middle school team are the most painful and hard to watch Cards basketball I've ever witnessed.
Mack admitting that he has no idea what he’s gonna get from any players is both comforting and sad.
If this team has less talent than NC State, then it was obviously way over-hyped coming into the season. At this point, that overselling could be our biggest problem.
Everyone at U of L including the players are crashing to earth. But we can just sit and complain on the sidelines; they have to play through their frustrations and disappointments.
If Mack can rescue them emotionally and psychologically, they can maybe play better. But they have to start winning all of these 50-50 games to salvage the season or pull off a miracle run in the postseason...
Everyone at U of L including the players are crashing to earth. But we can just sit and complain on the sidelines; they have to play through their frustrations and disappointments.
If Mack can rescue them emotionally and psychologically, they can maybe play better. But they have to start winning all of these 50-50 games to salvage the season or pull off a miracle run in the postseason...
They won’t play much better because in the majority of games they will have less talent than the other team. There is only 1 coach that could take this group of players and make them a NCAA team. He isn’t walking through that door. Mack did terrible job building this roster. Stop blaming the NCAA cloud. There were better athletes and players available than he brought in. Every team they play has them.
They lost their starting guards that did the majority of the lifting off last year's NIT team, that team was just not all that inspiring. They were not replaced by any high end FR or transfers. They returned a team captain that has had a ton of injuries.
Sam & Withers did seem to be heading the right direction coming into the season and it was thought they might be able to lead the team, but Withers has regressed more than any player in program history and Sam is an enigma as well. The portal generated a limited PG that plays a ton of minutes, a few shooters that never got hot, and a couple other inconsistent guys.
The team was not close to any T25 preseason poll.
The HC audio tapes a former assistant and gets suspended 6 games. The president and the AD take a hike. Fan apathy has been growing and growing.
It was pretty clear long ago it was a team full of role players with no alphas and the team was going nowhere.
These are dark times.
Sam & Withers did seem to be heading the right direction coming into the season and it was thought they might be able to lead the team, but Withers has regressed more than any player in program history and Sam is an enigma as well. The portal generated a limited PG that plays a ton of minutes, a few shooters that never got hot, and a couple other inconsistent guys.
The team was not close to any T25 preseason poll.
The HC audio tapes a former assistant and gets suspended 6 games. The president and the AD take a hike. Fan apathy has been growing and growing.
It was pretty clear long ago it was a team full of role players with no alphas and the team was going nowhere.
These are dark times.
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It CAN get worse. And we're likely to see just that....with each successive game.
This team may have 2 or 3 wins left in them. But likely road wins. Mack and team seem to have checked out at Yum. And it seems the Yum fans are checking out on Mack and most of team.
It seems that this season will end with a whimper.
And maybe that will be for the best.
This team may have 2 or 3 wins left in them. But likely road wins. Mack and team seem to have checked out at Yum. And it seems the Yum fans are checking out on Mack and most of team.
It seems that this season will end with a whimper.
And maybe that will be for the best.
I tend to feel that’s more about coaching than individual talent. There have been several games this year where a different player has stepped up and given some potential whether it was Ellis one night, Locke shooting lights out, Curry unstoppable last night, Sam and Malik when they’re on. Davis minus shooting 3’s. The problem is getting these guys to do it consistently. To me that’s a coaching issue. Finding the right combo that works and establishing an identity. I was resolved to think it was team defense but last night we couldn’t stop a high school team from scoring.
On the Deener show, John Boel was on there talking about the intensity with which Mack’s teams at Xavier played. I didn’t follow them closely but seem to remember them being a grinder. What the hell happened at UofL that he can’t connect with the guys to with that same mentality. We get pushed around, we don’t close out on threes, we get beat off the dribble. It is all just an enigma.
We are now shifting to talking points really tough to confirm.
Lots of possibilities.
Maybe the players tapped out on Mack when he put the tap on Dino. There's a human element to what you're talking about. Player toughness is typically instilled by a strong relationship with a HC and philosophy.
Looking back @ Bahamas, the team showed some junkyard dog for Peagues. Competition was blah but eye test showed some dudes getting after it.
To be blunt, when Mack sold out Dino did he lose players respect? Does it look like the team is as aggressive for Mack as they were for Peagues in the Bahamas? Does it look like these players are playing for Mack's job or just going through some motions until their next endeavor?
I know we are now entering borderline conspiracy theories but at this time it's as good as the off season really, I think any angle to discuss is fair game.
On top of all that I just posted, the team just isn't really all that good to begin with. But I think people are starting to catch on there.
I agree we are reaching into the unknown abyss. Unfortunately that’s where things go when stuff doesn’t make sense. I don’t know how or why Mack is failing. I knew Satt was a bad fit. I totally missed with my thoughts on Mack. While the pending ncaa sanctions are a cloud hanging over, clearly LSU, Kansas and Arizona have weathered that. So we keep searching for answers cause that’s what fans do - it at least means we are engaged as fans.
I am just thinking out loud with you.
I believe when Mack's audio tap became a public thing Mack took a real hit and he lost any juice he may have had the previous years here. Those weren't elite teams but they were obviously a cut above what you see now. Mack ain't a moron, he sees the empty seats, he knows the vibe went south when he got the 6 game suspension. He has no boss, not much support or any at all. Maybe his spouse.
It's not that he forgot how to coach, I just think with all things in life if your heart isn't into something 100% then it's gonna catch up with you.
That said it's not clear he was really a good coach anyway. Each team that was just okay the last few years had a style of trending south each year late in a season. Player development overall has been bad with too many to list prior to our disaster 2021-2022.
That technical foul fiasco late in the Pitt game was just amateur hour.
We need to hire a Prez, AD, and have the NCAA wrap up as quickly as possible so the next AD can evaluate and try to save the program or at least steer it back into a good direction.
I can share one thing with you; I was sitting 3 rows behind Christi Mack and her 2 daughters. This is about 7 or 8 rows behind the team bench. Last night was the 4th time I had those seats. They heard and looked back each time there was a boo or anything less than positive being said about Coach Mack. There was a guy right behind me that said “get in the game coach” and “what are you doing coach?” on different occasions. Christi Mack spun around both times to see who it was. Not gonna lie; I slid over so she could get a better look at the guy. 😳🤣 I thought for sure she was going to come back there and confront the guy. I feel quite sure the whole Mack family is feeling the pressure Coach is feeling to produce better results. I felt bad for them, but I guess you need to have pretty thick skin to go to the games and sit behind your husband and dad, a high profile coach at a major program.
Yeah, my tickets are on that side of the arena. They are completely passionate about the game, especially Christi. It’s certainly the shitty part of being in a high profile, highly compensated position. Everything just sucks right now.
Coaches that I like that are realistic: I liked Musselman years ago, I like him now. If Eric Musselman can recruit Danielle Sargent to be his bride, he can recruit some players to the Yum. LOL. Nate Oats is good, I think his style would excite fans. I like Bobby Hurley a lot, he's a cocky SOB (we need that, enough with the nice guys), he's got ACC DNA, has fire in the belly, and has been successful. Kenny Payne would be interesting although I know his mention pisses people off.
No way: Last year aside, Cronin is another Mack - I like the guy but think people would get very impatient with him. Few, Wright, Donovan, and Jay Gruden (had to throw him in there) aren't coming, get real. And Bruce Pearl? Child please. No way this board hires Bruce Pearl, come on, it's ridiculous to even float that idea out there.
This is all academic though - unless Chris Mack shows up to a press conference with Katina Powell sitting on his lap, while openly smoking crack in UK gear, he is not getting fired. Louisville has no president & no AD. A response for the violations while on probation are coming. No top coach is going to come work for Louisville and not know who their boss is, especially under these circumstances because bad times are coming and any new coach is goign to need the support of their boss during those bad times.
And, over the next few years, we're going to find out who the real Louisville fans are.
No way: Last year aside, Cronin is another Mack - I like the guy but think people would get very impatient with him. Few, Wright, Donovan, and Jay Gruden (had to throw him in there) aren't coming, get real. And Bruce Pearl? Child please. No way this board hires Bruce Pearl, come on, it's ridiculous to even float that idea out there.
This is all academic though - unless Chris Mack shows up to a press conference with Katina Powell sitting on his lap, while openly smoking crack in UK gear, he is not getting fired. Louisville has no president & no AD. A response for the violations while on probation are coming. No top coach is going to come work for Louisville and not know who their boss is, especially under these circumstances because bad times are coming and any new coach is goign to need the support of their boss during those bad times.
And, over the next few years, we're going to find out who the real Louisville fans are.
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If this dude can recruit this woman to be his wife, imagine the players he could recruit to play in the YUM Center.
It's Eric Musselman.For the uninitiated, who am I looking at? And who's the guy she's with?...
Danyelle Musselman brings advantage to the Wolf Pack
This coach's wife is a secret weapon in recruiting
www.rgj.com
It's Eric Musselman.
Danyelle Musselman brings advantage to the Wolf Pack
This coach's wife is a secret weapon in recruitingwww.rgj.com
Imagine that dude's life as the Louisville coach....winning basketball games in the YUM Center over the Dukes, UNCs, UVAs and yes our rival UK, and then he gets to go home to Danyelle laying on the couch in a pair of heels for his reward for all his hard work. What a life.
If he's doing a job worth his paycheck here, he better be way too damn tired when he gets home to look at what's on the couch. It's probably a big reason Pitino only had 15 seconds...
