Louisville Basketball: Five early season observations
By Madison Wood
Chris Mack has more than proved his worth
This is a given. Mack has got these guys to buy in 100% to what he’s teaching, and it’s paying dividends already. Besides the toughness and grit he’s instilled, his ability to make adjustments in-game, and on a game by game basis have resulted in big time success for Louisville.
Whether it’s his substitution patterns, tinkering with the starting lineup, strategic use of timeouts, or just plain calling guys out on needing to be better. The guy has no fear, and will do whatever it takes to win.
As Louisville fans in recent years, there’s been a lot of frustration with watching our talent spend more time on the bench than in the game. Not with Chris Mack. He knows the players who give us the best chance to win need to be on the floor, especially in crunch time.
At the same time, Mack emphasizes a total team effort. Just watch the way he works the sideline, how the players look to him when the game is coming down to the wire, ready to execute whatever he tells them to. A coach that has the respect of his players will take a team a long way.
Oh, he also out-coached Tom Izzo, so there’s that.