If long posts bore you consider yourself warned.
* When I look back at the honeymoon period of prior first year coaches at Louisville, Charlie Strong is the only one I can compare to Kenny Payne's. Strong's introduction to the team is the stuff of legend; Payne's was more closed door and close to the vest but he apparently told some they needed to look elsewhere. The buyin with Strong was as radical and rapid as anything I have seen at Louisville, and if I recall guys like Devante Parker and Smith at Seneca were virtually immediate commitments in their Junior years. Outside of Glenn I don't know that we have that caliber of coveted local kid in basketball (or did since Glenn is going to Lumiere).
* ...I am eager to see exactly what type of team he constructs. One thing I do know, you can sum up the Louisville fanbase expectation with one word and that is "attack". It was the hallmark of Denny's best teams with the two versions of the 2-2-1 fullcourt press, fronting the post and attacking the shooter from the weakside at the rim with great athletes, in addition to the sheer number of points scored above the rim; it was also the hallmark of Rick's best teams where in March of the 2013 the offense ultimately caught up with what were historic defensive ratings (at least as it applied to the Pomeroy's of the world). You just didn't get an open look with that team and "Freedom of Movement" became an almost universal cry throughout college basketball because that squad defensively was in everybody's personal space. Smith and Siva were withering in transition and that squad had two of it's best all-time rim attackers in Montrezl, Chane despite his ability to fumble a simple pass out of bounds en route to a dunk, and Gorgui to a lesser extent.
* Lewis Grizzard once said that he could sum up Mankind's lack of true progress in one word..."meetings". I can sum up the Premium posters since I have gotten a subscription here again in one word and that word is "sources". Nothing sets off a Richard wagging contest around here more than using it. I don't think that is as unique to us as asking people where they went to school locally (UK fans are the same way about sources) and even having lived in Louisville now for 20 years and being a Catholic myself I will still say to some of my friends who went to local Catholic schools "you know that whole thing with Trinity and St. X guys arguing stuff in our 50's is weird right?" Just putting that out there; now that I am in my fifties there are things I don't care to suffer.
* If Bates comes to Louisville the equally as fascinating question becomes "where does he play"? Does that even matter to Payne? Because it strikes me that he is a small forward with his game looking like it is strongest on the elbows. BHH seems to have the midrange game for a big that we really haven't seen around here. He seems to give you a flexibility in pick-and-rolls as a Pick-and-Pop or Pick and Fade option; Big Syd is a pick and Roll guy of the first order. I was sort of checked out on much of college basketball after the screw job the refs put on us against UNC, but I did see Hunter play a little and would have to say, I'm not sure we have had a perimeter shooter at the point like that since Wheat. Reece became that but he was anything but a pure point and neither were Dean or Larry. Me likey and wanty.
* I've seen enough since the end of the season in College Football to come to the undeniable realization that we are going to have One Super Conference of 20-24 teams and the best we the Louisville fanbase can hope for is the radical for North American sports concept of promotion/relegation; like it or not that's what is going on with NIL and the Portal right now...talent isn't trickling Top Down, it's going from lower Division up. A mid tier ACC team roster is easy pickings for an upper tier SEC school with a fat NIL bucket. It's what the true Super Clubs (Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, and the American owned Super Clubs in England Manchester United and Arsenal) were attempting in Europe in Soccer last summer before something of a Popular revolt and they have had promotion and relegation into and out of divisions for decades. The North American model in all sports has always been television driven with guaranteed money based on media markets but I don't think a static "You are in, You are out" model would work with the highest level of College Football. Even the Southern Cals, the Texas' and each of the Florida schools have had periods of suckiness despite an embarrassment of riches that would make them something of a product drag. Demographic changes to this country being eminent, today's Penn State can become tomorrow's Nebraska in pretty short order. Either way, the Big Ten and the SEC have dwarfed all the other conferences with their revenue generation and that isn't changing anytime soon. A Super Conference or something that completely separates from the current format of the Power Five is the most logical next step.
* When I look back at the honeymoon period of prior first year coaches at Louisville, Charlie Strong is the only one I can compare to Kenny Payne's. Strong's introduction to the team is the stuff of legend; Payne's was more closed door and close to the vest but he apparently told some they needed to look elsewhere. The buyin with Strong was as radical and rapid as anything I have seen at Louisville, and if I recall guys like Devante Parker and Smith at Seneca were virtually immediate commitments in their Junior years. Outside of Glenn I don't know that we have that caliber of coveted local kid in basketball (or did since Glenn is going to Lumiere).
* ...I am eager to see exactly what type of team he constructs. One thing I do know, you can sum up the Louisville fanbase expectation with one word and that is "attack". It was the hallmark of Denny's best teams with the two versions of the 2-2-1 fullcourt press, fronting the post and attacking the shooter from the weakside at the rim with great athletes, in addition to the sheer number of points scored above the rim; it was also the hallmark of Rick's best teams where in March of the 2013 the offense ultimately caught up with what were historic defensive ratings (at least as it applied to the Pomeroy's of the world). You just didn't get an open look with that team and "Freedom of Movement" became an almost universal cry throughout college basketball because that squad defensively was in everybody's personal space. Smith and Siva were withering in transition and that squad had two of it's best all-time rim attackers in Montrezl, Chane despite his ability to fumble a simple pass out of bounds en route to a dunk, and Gorgui to a lesser extent.
* Lewis Grizzard once said that he could sum up Mankind's lack of true progress in one word..."meetings". I can sum up the Premium posters since I have gotten a subscription here again in one word and that word is "sources". Nothing sets off a Richard wagging contest around here more than using it. I don't think that is as unique to us as asking people where they went to school locally (UK fans are the same way about sources) and even having lived in Louisville now for 20 years and being a Catholic myself I will still say to some of my friends who went to local Catholic schools "you know that whole thing with Trinity and St. X guys arguing stuff in our 50's is weird right?" Just putting that out there; now that I am in my fifties there are things I don't care to suffer.
* If Bates comes to Louisville the equally as fascinating question becomes "where does he play"? Does that even matter to Payne? Because it strikes me that he is a small forward with his game looking like it is strongest on the elbows. BHH seems to have the midrange game for a big that we really haven't seen around here. He seems to give you a flexibility in pick-and-rolls as a Pick-and-Pop or Pick and Fade option; Big Syd is a pick and Roll guy of the first order. I was sort of checked out on much of college basketball after the screw job the refs put on us against UNC, but I did see Hunter play a little and would have to say, I'm not sure we have had a perimeter shooter at the point like that since Wheat. Reece became that but he was anything but a pure point and neither were Dean or Larry. Me likey and wanty.
* I've seen enough since the end of the season in College Football to come to the undeniable realization that we are going to have One Super Conference of 20-24 teams and the best we the Louisville fanbase can hope for is the radical for North American sports concept of promotion/relegation; like it or not that's what is going on with NIL and the Portal right now...talent isn't trickling Top Down, it's going from lower Division up. A mid tier ACC team roster is easy pickings for an upper tier SEC school with a fat NIL bucket. It's what the true Super Clubs (Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, and the American owned Super Clubs in England Manchester United and Arsenal) were attempting in Europe in Soccer last summer before something of a Popular revolt and they have had promotion and relegation into and out of divisions for decades. The North American model in all sports has always been television driven with guaranteed money based on media markets but I don't think a static "You are in, You are out" model would work with the highest level of College Football. Even the Southern Cals, the Texas' and each of the Florida schools have had periods of suckiness despite an embarrassment of riches that would make them something of a product drag. Demographic changes to this country being eminent, today's Penn State can become tomorrow's Nebraska in pretty short order. Either way, the Big Ten and the SEC have dwarfed all the other conferences with their revenue generation and that isn't changing anytime soon. A Super Conference or something that completely separates from the current format of the Power Five is the most logical next step.
