Mitchell and Rozier May Be Cards Best Recruiting Tools

Donovan Mitchell and Terry Rozier are blossoming as NBA superstars, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Louisville Basketball.

Often is the case in college basketball that recruiting success equates to wins. However, it is not always just the number of stars next to a player’s name that makes a team more successful. An incoming recruit is only as good in the college game as his fit is for the team. Great examples of this would be the early-round exits by teams like Kentucky and Duke to much lesser teams, even with a superior recruiting class.

What can be a lethal combination-and possibly lead to championships- is a great coach that also recruits at an elite level. Chris Mack may have the chance to do just that at Louisville.

Mack brings quite a bit of swagger, and a chip on his shoulder type of attitude, that fits well with the Louisville culture. He never backs down from an opportunity to make it well-known that he is a not only a man of the people, but a guy who isn’t going to back down from controversy. Mack has made it evident that he is going to stand with the program, and do it with a great deal of confidence, and conviction.

One completely unexpected thing that is going to help Mack change the culture at Louisville right away is the similarities that his personality has with budding NBA stars Terry Rozier and Donovan Mitchell. Both players have burst onto the scene in 2018, and have been shining particularly bright on the NBA playoffs stage.

This could potentially bode well for Mack on the recruiting trail, and it could be happening at the best time. Since Mack’s arrival at Louisville, one of the most pressing questions he has had to answer is how he is going to keep getting high level players to play for him at a program that still has uncertainty surrounding it’s future. Mack has handled questions regarding the scandals about as savagely as possible every time. In a recent interview with Yahoo’s Pat Forde, Mack doubled down on said savagery: “People may say, ‘Hey, they’re not going to play in the NCAA tournament.’ Which I don’t believe. But half the programs we recruit against must have a ban I don’t know about, because I never see them in the tournament.”

This kind of attitude is one that recruits are going to be looking for when they visit UofL. Young recruits have their eyes on the NBA playoffs, headlined by “Scary” Terry Rozier, and Spida Man Donovan Mitchell, and they are going to set their eyes on visiting the campus where the two hottest names in the NBA played.

This is the way of the basketball recruiting world. Rozier knew he wanted to play at Louisville before he even visited campus. Growing up, he watched the Sebastian Telfair documentary “Through the Fire” religiously. Telfair pledged to play college ball for Rick Pitino at Louisville before he bolted for the pros late in the process.

Donovan Mitchell chose Louisville because of the way that he saw Louisville pressure the ball, presumably in the national championship and elite eight seasons leading up to his signing. The swagger of a team with players like Peyton Siva and Russ Smith could be seen in Donovan Mitchell as he developed with the Cards.

The influence of Mitchell and Rozier could effect the landscape of Louisville basketball immensely going forward. If you consider the influence the Louisville culture had on them as recruits, imagine how much of an impact seeing two of the biggest- and most increasingly popular- stars in the game will have on recruiting this coming year, and going forward.

The biggest positive of the attention being placed on Rozier and Mitchell now is the fact that Chris Mack and his staff will be recruiting players, and coaching his team with the same kind of energy an swagger. Rick Pitino brought players to Louisville based primarily on merit. Players knew it would be tough, but Pitino won. And winning is fun.

With Mack, he is a man of the people. He younger and more modern. Mack believes in the power of social media, and has a clean record. Additionally, he is not afraid to say what he thinks.

When players come to visit Louisville, or Chris Mack and staff sit down in a recruit’s living room, there is a certain amount of swagger and energy they will expect from a present-day Louisville man. Gone are the days of a larger than life personality in an Armani suit on Floyd Street. Here are the days of a fun, young, tough loving, down-to-earth leader, with a confidence to match the personalities they have become accustomed to seeing on their TV screens.

With a coach with convictions like Mack’s, it could be easy to see Louisville having some tremendous recruiting classes in the future.