Big Red Louie
Fansided

Let’s have an honest discussion about Louisville basketball

By Presley Meyer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - MARCH 07: Head coach Chris Mack of the Louisville Cardinals is assessed a technical foul in the first half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on March 7, 2020 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - MARCH 07: Head coach Chris Mack of the Louisville Cardinals is assessed a technical foul in the first half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on March 7, 2020 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KY – FEBRUARY 19: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates with David Johnson #13 and Dwayne Sutton #24 after hitting a three-point shot against the Syracuse Orange in the first half of a game at KFC YUM! Center on February 19, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Syracuse 90-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY – FEBRUARY 19: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates with David Johnson #13 and Dwayne Sutton #24 after hitting a three-point shot against the Syracuse Orange in the first half of a game at KFC YUM! Center on February 19, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Syracuse 90-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

This is not 2013

It’s just not.

Louisville basketball took 30 years of building to get to the 2013 national championship. It took Rick Pitino, a Hall of Fame coach who had won the whole thing before, 17 years, including 12 at Louisville, to get back to and win the whole thing.

There were trying times over the course of those seasons.

Yet, it’s only two years into the Chris Mack era and it feels like patience is already wearing thin among fans. The expectations are sky-high, and the narrative now doesn’t seem to match what we thought going into the season.

But, it’s not 2013. There’s no Peyton Siva’s or anything close to that caliber of guard to be found at this point. Russ Smith and Chane Behanan are not walking through that door. We forget that these are not even Chris Mack’s players. We forget that this isn’t his style of play. Mack is only 50, but he’s had a long enough career that he’s established what he wants out of a team, and the pieces don’t fit for the system that he likes to run.

The foundation of the program and the culture is still being built, and there’s still a long way to go. Let’s keep that in perspective less than two years into his coaching tenure.

Yes, Louisville is extremely talented, and, yes, they have shown flashes of brilliance. But comparing this team to one of the best in school history is doing it a great injustice.

We all do it from time to time. We love to look back and find commonalities between the current squads and our favorites from years past. But this team is its own kind of special, and I’m fine with that.

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