The Louisville basketball roster is surprisingly thin heading into the 2022-23 season. I think it’s okay to question why.
A never-ending recruiting headache
I am among the last to offer up criticisms of the Louisville basketball program.
In the wake of the never-ending NCAA sanctions and investigations following the departure of former head coach Rick Pitino, every movement from those around the program needs to be viewed and weighted differently.
On the recruiting trail, it can be difficult to persuade high school recruits and college transfers alike that Louisville is a destination location with the threat of NCAA Tournament bans and related sanctions on the horizon.
Since self-imposing a postseason ban in 2016 and then receiving more sanctions from the NCAA in September of 2017, UofL fans have been waiting for the proverbial hammer to drop.
We have waited. Through an entire Donald Trump presidency and half of a Biden term. Through an interim head coach, then head coach Chris Mack for three seasons, then another interim head coach in Mike Pegues.
After a broad search and subsequent hiring of new head coach Kenny Payne, we still wait.
In February of 2016, when Louisville barred a potential Final Four squad from the postseason, the average price of a gallon of gas was $1.82.
It is unquestionable that any coach that took over at UofL in 2018 was going to feel the sting of the negative energy around the program.
The same can still be said for Payne in 2022.
Examining the current roster construct
However, things were never as worrisome as they feel around the Louisville basketball roster this summer.
There are brighter days on the horizon.
After all, Louisville is the prohibitive favorite to land the No. 1 player in the 2023 class, DJ Wagner.
The Cardinals are right in the thick of things with a number of high-level recruits, and there is no doubt that one of the better freshman classes in the country will be on campus a year from now.
But, when you look at the roster that has been constructed for the 2022-23 version of the Louisville Cardinals, there are some glaring issues that simply have remained unaddressed.
Payne and company got their first recruiting wins by retaining guard El Ellis and big man Sydney Curry.
The staff then held onto former All-ACC freshman team member Jae’Lyn Withers, potential future star Mike James, fan-favorite JJ Traynor, and blossoming sophomore Roosevelt Wheeler.
They also got a huge win by retaining high four-star commit Kamari Lands.
Outside of the players Louisville fans already knew about, the Cards signed freshman guard Devin Ree before hauling in former five-star transfer Brandon Huntley-Hatfield.
Since then, however, all has been quiet on the 2022 recruiting front for Louisville basketball.
There have been a lot of reports of traction with high-level recruits that ultimately found landing spots elsewhere. So now, Louisville basketball faces two serious problems with its roster:
(1) There are only 9 rostered players of 13 available scholarships
(2) Louisville only has 1 true guard in combo guard, El Ellis
There have not been many reports about it, but it seems highly likely that UofL is going to add 2023 reclass Fabio Basili to the mix.
The unranked point guard out of Florida is a former teammate of James and has recently dropped some not-so-subtle hints on Instagram that he is headed to the 502.
So, what happens next?
Outside of Basili, however, Louisville is still seriously lacking at the guard position with three (if they add Basili) scholarships left to use.
As Louisville basketball supporters, we should be worried that there is quite literally no one else even out there on the horizon.
But we should also question what else is going on inside the program.
Because the only thing that logically makes sense about the lack of urgency to use the remaining scholarships is that UofL is not going to have them to give.
Going back to the NCAA sanctions issues, it is apparent that the NCAA IARP is close to making a decision. Louisville representatives met with the IARP hearing committee on June 17th-19th. And while things move at a snail’s pace in Indianapolis, all of the evidence has been presented. We now simply await a decision.
Might Louisville staffers have been made privy to some of the potential sanctions and gone ahead and held back a couple of scholarships heading into this season? I wouldn’t rule it out.
Even still, if you’re the Louisville basketball staff, that does not answer the question of why some roster moves were made since Payne’s arrival.
Former guards Noah Locke (Providence) and Dre Davis (Seton Hall) were encouraged to look elsewhere. Davis’ brother, Tae (also a Louisville signee), ended up at Seton Hall as well.
Most recently, Louisville cooled the jets on the recruitments of Iowa State guard transfer Tyrese Hunter and Memphis transfer Emoni Bates.
Perhaps Basili is a diamond in the rough. Perhaps James, Ree, and Lands can fill in more than adequately at the guard positions.
But it seems, at this point, some things are going on around the program that outsiders are not in the know about.
At this juncture, I think it’s fair to at least question what the heck is actually going on. Because no fan wants this to feel like a “throw-away” season.
Putting people in a state of panic will not solve any issues at Louisville. I believe that they looked at all potential issues facing the basketball program before they hired Coach Payne. I also believe that he has been very selective about who he wants in the program and wouldn’t take kids that don’t fit just to fill scholarships. This is a project that will take time to complete and we are just in the beginning stages.
Testing my “blind faith” in the new staff. Seems like we ran off some usable parts, including walk-ons, without a real plan. I had grave misgivings about the KP hire, and they are growing.
I had no misgivings about the KP hire, in fact, I’m ecstatic about it. KP is the right man for the job and he’s hired two of the best assistants on the planet. The future is bright, keep the faith. Go Cards.
UofL made big mistake when they hired Chis Mack. They should have KP then. KP is trying fix. He did a job of keeping the majority of the players in addition to signing a four and a five star player.
I think once Coach Payne actually see how this team can ” jell together ” he will know what is needed and who he needs too recruit for this team to progress this year and next year. It will be a game by game decision year (in my opinion).
2022 is a wash for the Cards. 2023 is what KP is giving for… off he can get DJ Wagner a subpar, first year campaign will be forgotten.
No matter who you are or your past connection with UofL, which I assume was in not in anyway coaching. You assume a lot, why not give the process a chance before you start panicking and getting all critical before you see them even play.
Presley it’s not quite time to question why the roster spots haven’t been filled yet. Others have stated that Coach Payne and his staff may know the sanctions that are to be made public – most likely before the season begins – and this is why the roster “holds” at nine. I had tweeted a couple days ago for Cards fans to be realistic: the men will issue a blowout or two; but expect to get blown out several times. It’s the nature of college ball and with a “depleted” roster the men are going to wear down. We’re going to have be patient.
NCAA penalties will cripple Louisville for the near future maybe 6 years to rebuild Payne needs time uavel will need to be patient
Would Buzz Williams have taken the job ?
Go team and coaches