Team sux and they shouldn't.
- Thread starter brookstreet
- Start date
Well, I'll give you credit for one thing... The first damn time I've heard that theory!
“Loose moron alert”. Seriously OP, no matter how many issues this team and our beloved program have at this particular moment, is that all you have??
You are either 15 or just a tortured soul that’s getting ready to kick. Hopefully you are the former.
You are either 15 or just a tortured soul that’s getting ready to kick. Hopefully you are the former.
A bet you've referenced often. Plenty of sweating it out was required on that one if any real cash was on the line. In fact, you should have lost.
I thought the team was making some strides when Adel was out. I knew when he returned the bad shots and sloppy play would too.
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Pitino really didn't think Mitchell was going pro and Johnson leaving proved to be more damaging than people thought. All the things that occurred to make Louisville an option for Bowen is amazing. He was a perfect fit because he could play the 2.
You lose a hall of fame coach and have no one of the roster that have ever play the SG position in their life. While long they have no one that can bang and really battle on the boards. They lack quickness at the point guard. Then you add their lack of basketball instincts you get a lot of weird performances.
I am not real sure why anyone would think this team would be much better.
You lose a hall of fame coach and have no one of the roster that have ever play the SG position in their life. While long they have no one that can bang and really battle on the boards. They lack quickness at the point guard. Then you add their lack of basketball instincts you get a lot of weird performances.
I am not real sure why anyone would think this team would be much better.
Games against Pitt and Ga Tech without Adel. They'd keep making those strides you thought you saw if they were allowed to play those teams twice a week all year. Fans pointing to strides made against a team with 0 wins in the ACC are really not thinking clearly.
Team got off to a great start with Adel coming off the bench vs UNC didn't they? You bet.
No doubt Adel is not on par with prior alpha dogs for UofL but when fans tear him apart they are just displacing their anger and failing to point out the obvious problems the team has.
I agree with that. Could a top level coach do more with the team than Padgett? Of course, but the team still has a lot of weaknesses and guys who were supposed to be top performers have been major disappointments to boot.
The fact that Rick or our coaches were willing to gamble on Bowen tells me all I need about this team’s expectations...
Your entire post is spot on but this is the biggest problem the program had to deal with.
The team still played with more energy, and more as a team with Adel out regardless of who we were playing. Adel gets his numbers most of the time but that seems to be his biggest concern which leaves other players out and destroys morale. I am not trying to tear him apart but it is what it is. He has demonstrated zero leadership and plays as if he is always the best option on every possession.
Team would be under .500 without Adel.
Using data against Ga Tech and Pitt is just really bad argument not any kind of measuring stick to use at all. Pitt went 0-18 in the league EVERYBODY looks great against them - not sure why you don't understand that.
Cards fell behind 12-3 to UNC at home with Adel waiting to get into the game.
Adel also had a strong all around game @ Va Tech when his shot wasn't falling and that game was recent.
Again - as far as comparing him to prior alpha dogs he's at the bottom of the barrel but pinning this team's lack of success on him and trying to say the team would be better without him is a hilariously bad take.
It wasn't a gamble at the time. I am convinced Pitino was making the turn to committing to play more freshman. He saw Coach K, who he has great respect for, make the move and he was moving down that path. You could tell based off the next class all one and dones. People think he agreed to start paying players, I don't agree that is what he was doing. What he agreed to was to playing one and dones immediately or guarantee playing time.
He made the ethical decision to jump into the system, a system he loathed for 10 years. The NCAA won't find one head coach committed any NCAA violations, assistants yes but no head coach including Miller.
Without him we gave GT their worst beat down of the year and beat Pitt worse at their place than we did at home. Adel returns and we aren't competitive and get drummed by UNC and then Duke. Are we better if Adel has a great game? Probably but his mere presence on the court does not make us a better team and he never makes the players around him better.
Adel is playing better since his return, but he still makes bad plays and decisions at really bad times. Yesterday, down 4 he goes one on one taking a terrible shot....game over.
He is still learning how to play with the ball. He needs another year to improve his game as a SG. Who knows what decision he will make, but if he leaves that doesn't help Louisville. Louisville misses out on a veteran that will only get better in the offseason.
He is still learning how to play with the ball. He needs another year to improve his game as a SG. Who knows what decision he will make, but if he leaves that doesn't help Louisville. Louisville misses out on a veteran that will only get better in the offseason.
He had 10, 9, & 8 ten days ago in the team's finest showing of the season @ Va Tech. Had 18, 6, & 4 against the top team/defense in the country a couple days later.
Team was also down 9 with the lineup you love without him three minutes into the UNC game.
Your argument is bad, I've already explained why, not explaining it again.
The demise of the team is losing the HOF Pitino for an unqualified guy shortly before the season started. I know you're having a hard time coping with that because you didn't realize how important Pitino was, and you don't think he did that great. I'm not some huge supporter of the guy, but I do support reality. It is clear you're not willing to join me so we can just end the debate, you may have the last word if you choose!
Adel is better suited to be a #2 option at this point of his basketball career, playing off a top player. He's been moved into a role he doesn't really belong in - which can also be said for DP, and a few others.
He is a SG in the NBA or he isn't playing in the NBA. I have no problem him being a SG and learning at Louisville. Yes, he has been forced in that spot, but Pitino would have been forced to do that too.
I have already said a top level coach would have made us better but a top level coach would have reigned Adel in and not let him play as if he is a superstar. I have also said that we are probably a better team if Adel has a big game than we would be without him. That does not mean we are always better when he is on the floor. The games we have played the worst in usually comes back to him. I am also not categorically saying we would have been a better team at this point if Adel had never returned. I merely pointed out that the team looked better as a team without him and perhaps we could have developed into a better team without depending on his game and without his bad shot selection. You are reading too much into my comments just because I am not going to say Adel always makes us better. He comes with a price that isn't always worth it.
Rick was counting on Bowen to be there right? And most importantly, the Cards were counting on Rick!
I agree with your points.
Adel would have been better off with Rick and Bowen. With Bowen there would have been more balance, King could have been a 6th man. Just a lot of things would have been different.
Wasn't there talk of going ultra small a la Golden St prior to the FBI? I seem to recall talk of Q/Bowen/King/Adel/Spalding being a lineup that would be used.
I just think the entire season went to the toilet before it started, and as others have pointed out some fans were in a bit of denial - not saying you.
Lots of theories out there.
When Mitchell and Johnson left the program it was clear the team was short on talent required to play at the level we've seen. The late signing of Bowen and return of Pitino would have been enough for the Cards to be off the bubble and have had a much more enjoyable season.
Once Rick followed them out the door it was officially a lost season.
This team is not better without Adel. The team plays better against bad teams and has worse performances against good teams. The reason is that the team hasn't improved much since November. I love Padgett but he was in way over his head. Not his fault, a bad situation. But Padgett got schooled by some mediocre coaches in the ACC and the better coaches ran circles around him. He is just not good at this level, not at this stage of his career. Hopefully he will get a HC job at a lower level and do better.
Pitino would have gotten this team into the NCAA Tournament. They probably would have been an early exit.
Pitino would have gotten this team into the NCAA Tournament. They probably would have been an early exit.
No sweating at all...I was rooting like hell to lose that bet. Which is why I didn't bet much ($20).
It's amazing how much clarity there is after all of the games are over. Clarity about how much real talent we had and how important Pitino was to the equation. I didn't have a lotta company with my POV about four months ago. I guess there is a good reason why one coach is paid a fraction of what another guy is.
Despite my original pessimism, I'm in the camp of keeping Padgett because I'm a realist. Too much risk at the moment hiring coaches you don't really know. And Padgett showed me enough to indicate he's not your typical green assistant, at least enough to feed him some more rope.
Your new AD is also a money guy. He only knows how to save money, and Padgett checks that box. You're gonna hear in the next couple months how bad the money situation is for U of L and for athletics specifically. Padgett is all we can afford at the moment...
Zipp. I really hope you're wrong.
Other than hiring Tom Crean....I can't think of a worse outcome for Louisville basketball than going into next season with Padgett as head coach. I like David and want nothing but the best but unless he's crazy successful he's already climbing a steep uphill battle that he's likely to not win and only make matters worse for himself and the program.
David really should use the spotlight of this year to land a job he's more suited for and work his way up.
Other than hiring Tom Crean....I can't think of a worse outcome for Louisville basketball than going into next season with Padgett as head coach. I like David and want nothing but the best but unless he's crazy successful he's already climbing a steep uphill battle that he's likely to not win and only make matters worse for himself and the program.
David really should use the spotlight of this year to land a job he's more suited for and work his way up.
I'm just not that sure we can get anybody good to come here. We're on probation, and another huge investigation that may take over 5 years hasn't even started. Why would any good coach want to come into this kind of environment?
I realize 30+ other schools are in the same boat with the FBI investigation. No one wants to coach places like Arizona and Auburn due to the dark cloud hanging over those programs. Our admins really shot us in the foot getting rid of Pitino when they did. Everyone else kept their coach and are winning PAC-12 and SEC titles. They'll worry about replacing their coaches after the results are in. In the meantime they can go on winning.
You have to be very careful hiring a men's basketball coach at the moment. And IMO we're gonna find out in a couple months--when the fiscal 2019 budget is firmed up--how bad the money situation is in athletics. Those factors favor keeping Padgett...
Add to all that - you don't know if any body good is going to even be available to say no.
We were left with 2 centers, 2 small forwards and a point guard as a starting five.
Far from an ideal situation. RP would have been challenged and would have needed Bowen to make it work. JJ staying another year would been a major help.
