Louisville basketball: Cards drop to no. 3 in the AP polls

The no. 1 ranking for Louisville basketball was nice while it lasted. Luckily, the fall wasn’t so bad.

14 days. That’s how long the Louisville basketball program was able to hold the no. 1 ranking, a feat that typically ends the exact way it did for the Cards on Tuesday night against Texas Tech.

Holding the number one ranking always seems like more of a burden than a booster, but after all the program has been through over the last five or so years – it was wonderful to once again feel what it was like to love the team ranked no. 1 overall in the country.

Michigan State, Kentucky, and Duke all held the prestigious no. 1 ranking before Louisville, all of whom suffered defeat. Kentucky and Duke, like Louisville, lost to unranked opponents – while Kentucky (no. 9) knocked off Michigan State in the opening game of the season.

After the devastating loss at Madison Square Garden, the Cards knew they were going to hand over the no. 1 ranking. How far they’d fall was dependent upon the outcome of their remaining game, which the Cards won handily against Eastern Kentucky, and who else went down.

Luckily for Louisville, three other teams within the top five were upset over the week that was leaving room for a graceful landing. That’s exactly what happened as the Cards fell to no. 3 in this week’s AP Poll.

Kansas moved from the no. 2 ranking into the vacant no. 1 spot, while Gonzaga, Duke, Ohio State, and Louisville rounded out the top five.

Through the early portion of the schedule, Louisville basketball overall has been very impressive. Sitting at 2-0 in ACC play and possessing a win over a top-five team, Chris Mack has been able to get his team to an impressive level of play. He’s gotten elite scoring from Jordan Nwora, who’s averaging 21.3 points per game, improved play from Steven Enoch, and some of the best defense we’ve seen in years.

The offense overall has been impressive thanks to great play from Louisville’s star returning players as well as from fellow starters Ryan McMahon and Dwayne Sutton. But while the offense has led to plenty of blowouts, it’s also been the primary reason for bad nights as well.

Far too many times this season we’ve seen some of the problems that bit the Cards in the rear last season come back to bite them in games this year. Things like horrible shot selection, quick shots, lack of effort in getting into the offense, and an overall complacency when Nwora or Enoch get the ball.

Point guard play has also been a major issue for Chris Mack’s team, and it showed in their loss against Texas Tech last week. Darius Perry and Fresh Kimble have both struggled over the last several games, and it’s caused fans and college basketball talking heads alike to wonder if UofL’s upperclassmen guards are capable of leading one of the most talented teams in the country to the promised land.

Over the last four games, Perry and Kimble have struggled in every department on the floor. They’ve combined to shoot 9-31 from the field and 3-11 from three for a total of 26 points. Not exactly great production from your junior and graduate transfer guards.

Scoring is the least of the worries for Chris Mack.

Perry and Kimble as a duo have played a total of 155 minutes and have dished out 20 assists while accruing 20 turnovers. I know you don’t need me to tell you, but that’s bad. Their poor play has led many to wonder whether David Johnson may be the best-fit long-term.

Against Eastern Kentucky, we saw a bit of the potential in Johnson that makes him special, but it came with struggles defensively. That’s what Mack will have to sort through starting against Miami (OH) on Wednesday, and then in the 10 days off that follow before Louisville’s much-anticipated rivalry game with Kentucky.

For now, there are some worrisome unanswered questions, but for the most part we know what this team is and what they can be. If all players are firing on the same cylinder and the defensive intensity matches what we saw against no. 4 ranked Michigan and Pittsburgh, then the ceiling is through the roof. If not, then Louisville will likely end up with many more contests that look like the one against Texas Tech.

Sitting at the no. 3 spot is a great place to be on December 16th. But as Chris Mack has continued to say through the first portion of the ceiling – “this team has a lot of work to do to get where we want to go.