Louisville basketball season is so close you can taste it. How’s how we feel about each player entering the 2020-21 season.
We are on the cusp of the most unpredictable Louisville basketball season in recent history.
Given how little we know about this Louisville team, we put our heads together and came up with some Office-themed GIFs to express how we are feeling about each scholarship player for the Cards.
D’Andre Davis – G/F
Freshman
D’Andre Davis was supposed to be “an afterthought” when it came to the rotation in 2020-21 for Chris Mack. With guys like Samuell Williamson, Josh Nickelberry, and Charles Minlend expected to pick up where graduating seniors and transfers left off, Davis was supposed to wait in the wings and get a season of learning under his belt.
However, things change quickly- especially and 2020. Williamson gets banged up, Nickelberry is injured, Minlend is out through December, and well… Would you look at that, Dre Davis appears to be working his way into the rotation.
From everything that we have seen and heard, it appears that injuries gave Davis an opportunity to show what he was made of in practice. Not only has he been impressing, but it sounds like he has been greatly exceeding expectations. Expect Davis to grab some serious minutes very early on in his freshman season.
Carlik Jones – G/F
Graduate
Carlik Jones already feels like he’s destined be Damion Lee 2.0. Even with the NCAA granting a “free year” in 20-21, it is unlikely that Louisville will return Jones for the 21-22 season, which means that the clock is ticking on how much time we have to love the Cardinals newest captain.
When Jones arrived we all knew he was going to be a big part of team 107, but I don’t think anyone expected him to be a player who garnered national All-American hype and potential ACC POY talk. Since stepping foot on campus at Louisville, Jones has been the talk of the town. After winning the highly-coveted gold jersey four times and winning the captain vote from his teammates, we are now 100 percent trending towards forecasting a special season from the Radford transfer.
Jones has everything Louisville fans love in their guards. He’s a dynamic scorer who is willing to let anyone and everyone around him know why.
Sam Williamson – F
Sophomore
Given the lack of seniority and depth on this team, outside of Johnson and Jones, Louisville is going to rely heavily on Samuell Williamson.
Based on what we saw last season, Williamson has potential to really turn the corner in his sophomore season, but he finished last year trending the wrong way. Louisville fans know what it is like to have a highly regarded McDonald’s All-American come in with a ton of upside but never truly meet his potential. But, unlike years past, the Cardinals are going to have to live with the Sam Williamson growing pains.
We are praying that we feel God in this Yum! Center and our most recent Burger Boy turns a corner in 2020-21.
Jae’Lyn Withers – F/C
Redshirt Freshman
The worst-kept secret of the 2020 offseason was the improvements made by redshirt freshman Jae’Lyn Withers.
Chris Mack told us back in June that Withers has grown “another inch of two” in the offseason, and he is continuing to put on weight. But, what does that mean for the Cardinals? Hopefully a guy who can play at both the four and five positions and create serious mismatch problems for the opposition. Regardless, the most brought-up player by this coaching staff outside of Jones is Withers. If he is the break-out player up front for this team, the ceiling is much higher.
Malik Williams- C
Senior
Pain.
Malik Williams is the heart and soul of this Louisville basketball team and, as we found out just a few weeks before the start of the season, he had to undergo a foot surgery that will put him out until at least February.
We are looking forward to bench mob Malik, but we’d much rather see Louisville’s best defender and rebounder out on the floor.
Quinn Slazinski- F
Sophomore
Want to know who is flying totally under the radar around Louisville? Sophomore Quinn Slazinski.
He became a fan favorite last season because every time he got in, he made a solid play. But, all of a sudden, we starting hearing a lot of positives about Withers and the Slazinski love quickly faded.
Slazinksi could easily be a solid rotational player this season that has the ability to play the 3 through 5.
JJ Traynor- F
Freshman
JJ Traynor is the biggest project of this incoming recruiting class. However, that does not mean that the true freshman won’t see playing time.
Louisville needs bodies and Traynor is one of nine scholarship players that is healthy to start the season. He’s probably going to get in.
Traynor became comfortable putting the ball on the floor and working the mid-range game in high school. If he can continue to play that role, there’s probably some minutes for him in the rotation.
Josh Nickelberry- G
Sophomore
Look, I don’t really know exactly what is going on with Josh Nickelberry, but as a player expected to play a key role as a back-up guard on this team, it’s tough news to hear that he is still battling the injury bug.
Nicklelberry is a pure scorer, and Louisville basketball is desperately going to need someone who can just fill it up if and when needed. Here’s to hoping the sophomore can get off the injury report and into some games sooner rather than later.
Charles Minlend- G
Graduate
Not Charles, too!
Minlend is expected to be a major contributor on this squad, but the San Francisco graduate transfer is yet another player who is out with an injury. Though he is expected back around Christmas time, not having another veteran guard in the lineup is going to be tough to deal with against some pretty pesky non-conference foes.
Aidan Igiehon- C
Sophomore
On everything I hope that this is the reaction from Louisville basketball fans at some point when Aidan Igiehon enters the game.
Igiehon was by far the most hyped player of the “Super Six” class, and based on strength and athleticism alone, you can see why. However, when he got into games last season, it was apparent that the Irishman needed a lot more time to adjust to the speed of the college game.
We’ve seen this happen before with Anas Mahmoud, Gorgui Dieng, Mangok Mathiang, and other players who come to Louisville from abroad. Although Igiehon came to the states a while ago, he still didn’t come up on the AAU circuits in an area where people live and breath basketball. Louisville basketball fans need to remain patient, because if Igiehon can get things figured out, he has the God-given ability to be a force down low.
Gabe Wiznitzer- C
Freshman
We probably know less about Wiznitzer than anyone else on this team. He came in as a late addition and was not a highly-coveted recruit like many of his teammates. With that said, Louisville needs bodies and Wiz has the size to get minutes right away in a nine man rotation. Let’s hope Date Mack has something up his sleeve here.
