Louisville basketball: Chris Mack has no shortage of PG options, but which is best?

Point guard play seems to be a thorn in Louisville basketball’s side through the first 11 games of the season. How does Chris Mack move forward and who leads at that position?

In college basketball, there’s a crazy amount of roster turnover every season. Most fans go into the season ready to embrace new players, really not knowing what they are going to get. This was far from the case for Louisville basketball this season. The Cardinals feature 67 percenter of their returning minutes from last year on this year’s team. This was a major factor in Louisville being ranked so high going into 2019, as you knew what you were going to get with the Cardinals bringing back three redshirt seniors while recruiting one more to join as a graduate transfer.

The one question, if there was one, was about this nightly rotation and who would end up owning the true point guard role for this team. Junior Darius Perry has started the season with this title, coming into 2019 looking faster, stronger and more controlled than he had in the prior two seasons.

This wasn’t exactly the case on Tuesday night against Texas Tech, especially in the “under control” category.

As mentioned, Louisville also brought Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble in, a grad transfer from Saint Joes. He averaged 15 a game last season and is the only player in school history to be named a captain in three seasons. So far in 2019, we’ve seen flashes of what Fresh is capable of, but we haven’t seen it in bulk.

Ryan McMahon is another option, one of the Louisville captains has point guard size but more of a shooting guard’s skill set. Given Ryan’s turnover issues in 2018-19, it once looked like this was a route the Cardinals would never have to take this season. But with his ball security constantly improving, he could be a guy the Cardinals turn to down the stretch.

Freshman David Johnson was a long shot to assume the role. The Trinity high school product started this season recovering from injury, but he’s found his way into some minutes on this Cardinal basketball team. With nobody else asserting themselves as “the guy”… he’s also a realistic solution.

The point guard spot has been the main issue for UofL through 10 games, all other spots on the floor, fans feel good about. Tuesday night’s matchup with Texas Tech was rough. But going forward, those guys we had out there simply have to play better.

Jordan Nwora has to be good and relied on for Louisville to be what they should, his shot wasn’t falling at the rate Cardinal fans are used to, but there will be nights like that.

Dwayne Sutton needs to be on the floor for the Cardinals to be able to do the little things necessary to win. Even on an off night for Dwayne, he still tallied nine rebounds and you never have to wonder whether he’s playing hard or not. Steven Enoch and Malik Williams are going to rotate back and forth based on fatigue and the style of opponent Louisville is facing. Samuel Williamson has to be out there in order for him to blossom into what he can be. So, that really just leaves the point guard spot. That’s the only area where fans all have differentiating opinions on who that player should be. So let’s take a look at our four options.