Louisville basketball: Looking at potential roster turnover for 2019-20

Darius Perry – PG

Sophomore

If there was a player who on paper looked like the perfect fit for Chris Mack’s system heading into the 2018-19 season it was without a doubt Darius Perry. His quickness, athleticism, defensive prowess, scoring ability, flashy playmaking and overall dog mentality is exactly what Chris Mack likes for his guards.

Sometimes things go well, other times they don’t. For the sophomore guard, his season was a tale of two stories; good Darius Perry and bad Darius Perry. While he did make a jump in points and assists per game from his freshman to sophomore year, it wasn’t at all what you expected.

In Mack’s system Perry never really looked comfortable as the lead guard, which was fine for the most part due to the emergence of Christen Cunningham. But as the season went on when the Cards needed a secondary guard to emerge, Perry was never really able to step into it until it was almost too late.

After a near double-double against Tennessee early in the season, a game in which he played over 30 minutes, from that point on the role of Perry reduced more and more. In fact, Perry had six games in the ACC of playing less than 10 minutes and and two games of playing less than five. When he did play, the majority of the time he would get too ahead of himself which led to turnovers in transition (or even in the half court) and a lot of forced shots.

Though he picked things up late in the season for Louisville when it was desperately needed, it still looked at times like he was lost in the system. Which brings up the question, does the soon to be junior guard still believe he can be the point guard in Chris Mack’s offense moving forward? If not, what does that mean?

Well, when asked after the devastating tournament loss to Minnesota about his future, Perry responded by saying “I’m not thinking about any of that. I’m just hurting after this loss, and for our seniors.” The typical answer that you might expect after a game. However, the unwillingness to commit to returning when VJ King answered with a simple “yep,” makes you believe there is a decision to make.

Perry could decide to return to Louisville for his junior season with the determination to be the team’s point guard moving forward, or he could decide this system isn’t a good fit and it’s time for a restart.

My prediction: Darius Perry leaves Louisville looking for a fresh start as a transfer