In a supposed “rebuilding” year, Louisville basketball exceeded expectations

When Chris Mack took over as head coach of the Louisville Basketball program, none of us knew what was to come. Inheriting a team that had lost 4 starters, 2 of which play in the NBA, coming off an NIT bid?

Maybe you were one of the fans who didn’t expect Louisville basketball to make the NCAA Tournament. Maybe you weren’t. But the fact is, a new coach with a roster full of players he didn’t recruit, coming into a season to play a top 5 hardest schedule? They didn’t even know if they would have anything to play for.

But they didn’t worry about that. We all marveled at the fact that Mack was able to keep the core of this team intact and we weren’t hit with a wave of transfers (we very well could have been). Then, the guy goes out and recruits a top 10 class for next year.

However, this is about the season that just ended, and unfortunately at the hands of someone Louisville basketball is all too familiar with. Let’s get that out of the way first: Minnesota played the game of their lives against the Cards, while Louisville played like an inexperienced team not knowing what to expect. As Bob Valvano put it “sometimes it’s the other guys movie, and you’re in it.”

Funny how expectations work isn’t it? This team expected to compete, to work hard and to build a strong foundation. I think they’ve more than done that. It’s been harped on quite a bit that “this is Louisville” so we “shouldn’t be satisfied with just making the tourney.”

As a fan base, we’ve been so scarred over the past few years with scandal that we try not to get our hopes up. We got our hopes up with this team, after seeing the kind of play they were capable of, and now we’re disappointed.

That in itself is arguably the biggest reason why this team exceeded expectations: they got us to hope again. Louisville fans were resigned to sitting back and just dealing with whatever happened next, and not expecting much of anything positive.

Before Mack was hired, and even immediately after, Cards fans didn’t know if the team would even be recognizable once the season started. Our world had just been turned upside down and most of us would be lying to say we had any expectations at all. Most of us were talking about next years recruiting class when we had a whole season of basketball to be played.

Sure there was some “what could have been” when you think about close losses to Duke, FSU, and overall results once the season ended. Compared to where this team was at the beginning, I think many were just happy to not be banned from the tournament – even if Louisville didn’t get there. It’s been said before, but this team wasn’t even supposed to compete with the likes of Duke.

Our defense held them to only 29 points in the first half – a team with at least 2 sure fire lottery picks on it. Young, inexperienced, still learning. How can that not bode well for the future? The ACC is the toughest conference in basketball, yet we still notched 10 wins and finished 5th in the conference. 

It’s been so long since we’ve had fun watching Cardinal basketball as a whole, honestly, that I think we forgot what it felt like.Team 105 reminded us of that fun. This team was ranked at one point in the top 15, and beat some of the top ranked teams in the country, including blue blood programs Michigan State and North Carolina, on their way to the Big Dance, a place they hadn’t been in two years. If they would have missed the tournament, or even been on the bubble, would any of us have been surprised?

The short answer is no. Despite fans here and there who say “I knew this team would make the tournament!”, I believe the majority of us thought we were in for a rough rebuilding year with major player turnover. The reality is, this team laid a strong foundation for what’s to come. And we have so much to look forward to.

Positivity in and around this program has been hard to come by in recent years. Valuing that, even a little bit, can give you a different perspective on how this season went. Of course, once we all saw what the team was capable of, we’re disappointed with the ending. And that’s okay, because so are they.

We don’t know who’s staying or going. We can only guess. But after this season, and the flashes of “putting it all together” that even the nation took notice of – you can bet Louisville basketball won’t be under the radar much longer, if at all.Exceeding expectations makes you a threat. Year one was a pleasant surprise, and this program is ahead of schedule. L’s up.