The biggest “what ifs” in Louisville basketball and football history

What if Chane Behanan hadn’t been kicked off the team/transferred to Colorado State in 2014?

Chane Behanan was a player that still to this day Louisville fans can’t quite wrap their heads around. He came into the program with so much hype and delivered on it essentially right away. But, with the good came the bad.

Behanan always looked like he was better than everyone else every single time he took the court. No matter who he was matched up against, even at 6’6, you felt like Behanan had the power, finesse, skill, and man-power to win the one-on-one battle.

That was never more evident than in the 2013 National Championship game against Michigan where he absolutely dominated. Going up against Mitch McGary, Behanan put together his best all-around performance scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, scoring 11 points in the second half alone.

There was so much to be proud of and you knew that with another offseason with Rick Pitino, 2013-2014 was shaping up to be the year where Behanan became the Cards best player.

Unfortunately, due to off the floor problems that never occurred.

Behanan played in just 12 games total in 2013, being suspended multiple times, reinstated, before ultimately being dismissed from the team.

“We lost a really terrific man in many respects,” head coach Rick Pitino said. “Away from the lines, he just did not do the right things, over and over and over. The university has gone to the mat for him, in giving him every opportunity to make it here. It’s come to a difficult detour in his road. It’s set our basketball team back immensely.”

Behanan went on to transfer to Colorado State, where he never touched the court, before declaring for the NBA Draft.

So what if Behanan had figured it out after his first suspension and returned to the court for Louisville? At the time of his dismissal, Louisville was already sitting pretty at 11-2, with Russ Smith playing like a potential NCAA Player of the Year candidate.

Paired alongside the budding Montrezl Harrell, the two big men would’ve combined to be an unstoppable force and Louisville likely wouldn’t have lost any games in conference play. Instead of going into the NCAA Tournament as just AAC Champions with a 29-5 record (including two losses to Memphis), they go into it with a 32-2 record overall, running the table in the AAC, which would have easily put them on the one seed line.

Even as a four seed, Louisville looked primed for a Final Four run and potential repeat, before running into Kentucky (we’ll hit on that shortly). With Behanan back, and Russ Smith, Terry Rozier, Montrezl Harrell, and Luke Hancock clicking the way they were, it’s feasible to think the Cards could’ve been back-to-back champions.