Louisville basketball roundtable: Midseason review part I

Who  would you give the highest grade so far this season and who you would give the lowest grade?

Charlie Thomas (@_CharlieThomas): I have to go with Dwayne Sutton again with the highest grade. He does so much for this team and his impact on the floor says much more than a stat sheet or player rankings. The lowest grade is a hard one but I have to go with Darius Perry. I was expecting a lot from Perry this season at the 2 spot and it just hasn’t happened. Luckily Khawn Fore and Ryan McMahon has really stepped up to her some productivity out of shooting guard spot. Hopefully Darius gets through his troubles at some point and gets back on the floor.

Thomas Grasch (@ThomasGrasch): Cunningham has been in each of my answers so far and he is definitely in the running here but I give my highest grade to Chris Mack. He has come in to a difficult situation and turned things around quicker than anyone could imagine. First was the recruiting which was a nice surprise to be able to pull in that kind of class right away. Now he is showing what he can do from the Xs and Os standpoint and given that Louisville is 11th in the NET and 15th in the AP poll right now when they weren’t excepted to even make the tournament, he’s the leading contender for COY.

My lowest grade of the year goes to Darius Perry. Perry is a player that I though had promise to make a nice jump and be a productive piece as a starter on this team. He’s struggling to even be a role player at this point. Then to find out he’s been late a couple times to team functions, that doesn’t bode well. I know VJ has had a touch time this year but he appears to be working hard, encouraging his team, and trying his best when he gets on the floor. Perry just isn’t taking this serious enough and I hope benching him the entire game is a wake up call. We need him for a tournament run.

Jacob Lane (@JacobLane_BRL): The highest grade would go to Jordan Nwora, not only for his offensive prowess that has been demonstrated night in and night out. But more so because of his development on defense. Chris Mack said after the NC State game, a matchup in which Nwora struggled mightily offensively, that 2 months ago if Nwora had struggled that bad on the offensive floor that there wasn’t a chance he’d play good defense, which showed his development really beginning to kick-in. Nwora’s defensive effort has really improved and this team has gotten a lot better because of it.

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The lowest grade would easily go to Darius Perry. I mentioned Darius Perry earlier as one of the biggest surprise, in a negative way. I really thought that Darius Perry, along with VJ King, would be the two who benefited the most from Chris Mack. Unfortunately, neither have really taken a step forward at all, and have more so regressed from last season. Perry has been a turnover machine when he has gotten into games, and really hasn’t figured out the flow of Mack’s style of play. While he’s still a dog on defense, he is wild and reckless at time. I do believe he’ll turn things around and play a big role down the stretch.

Ethan Sprowles (@EthanSprowles): A+ To Chris Mack. Give the man coach of the year. Louisville was predicted to finish 11th in the ACC and here we are going into February tied for 1st place. Yes the team has been awesome but this doesn’t happen without our coach. I think lowest grade goes to Darius Perry right now. He’s in a tough spot right now and showing up late to team functions isn’t gonna help.

Ross Prophater (@RossPro):  Jordan Nwora has proven to be everything we thought he would be and is our most likely NBA prospect on the roster at this point. Anyone but Coach Mack at this point for highest grade for what he’s accomplished with this team I’d have to disagree with. Lowest grade I won’t name. I don’t like putting our players on blast, but there are probably a couple. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Madison Wood (@Tostadamadz): Highest grade has to go to Coach Mack! Getting a group of guys to not only buy into a new system, but into a new CULTURE? That’s huge. Without his hard work and commitment to this team and this city, Louisville basketball very well may have taken years to rebuild. In less than a season, he’s brought life and joy back into this program and this fanbase. I love this guy.

Lowest grade sadly has to go to VJ King. I say this with all the love in the world for the kid, and he’s given us a few good minutes this season. But he’s just TOO TALENTED to disappear on the floor the way he does most of the time. I never thought he’d only be seeing 5 or so minutes a game. Just disappointing. (But I’m not giving up hope).

Tanner Hickman (@KodakNap): I would give the highest grade to Christen Cunningham, just because he has been that much of a revelation. I honestly could not imagine where we would be without him. If people had known he would be this good coming in before the season I think Louisville would have been ranked.

The lowest grade for me would go to Darius Perry. I love Perry, the dude has crazy athletic ability, but I think he just hasn’t quite figured out his role yet. Personally I would like to see him help alleviate some pressure when other teams start to press. I think he could use his speed to make teams pay for deciding to run a press throughout the game. I hope he can find his role because I think he would be a huge piece to the puzzle.

Stay tuned for part 2 of the Big Red Louie Louisville basketball roundtable, dropping this weekend.

As always, Go Cards!