Louisville basketball: The biggest needs ahead of the 2020-21 season

Shooting 

Next year’s team with Jay Scrubb (assuming he bypasses the draft) ) and Samuell Williamson as the likely go-to scorers, it’s going to be all about finding capable shooters to put around them. Louisville’s team will look a lot more like what Chris Mack had at Xavier, meaning the team will be a lot more athletic top to bottom, long, quick, and most importantly versatile.

While guys like Edmond Sumner, Trevon Blueitt, Jordan Crawford dominated as the primary scorers, they always had big men who were capable of not only scoring around the rim but were comfortable stepping out and hitting jumpers as well as spot-up shooters.

Scrubb and Williamson are both players who thrive with space and being able to use their size and athleticism to take defenders off the dribble. In order to complement that style of play, Mack will need to make sure the floor is spaced with solid shooters – something he doesn’t really have on the roster at this point.

Louisville had arguably one of the nation’s deepest group of three-point shooters in 2019 behind Ryan McMahon (44 percent), Jordan Nwora (40 percent), Darius Perry (39 percent), Dwayne Sutton (35 percent), and Steven Enoch (33 percent), but much like with other parts of the roster, Mack will essentially have to retool from scratch. The cupboard won’t be exactly bare as Mack will return Williamson and big man Malik Williams, both of whom showed in flashes that they could be consistent shooters in 2019 at 33 and 30 percent respectively.

Assuming he doesn’t stay in the 2020 NBA Draft, Scrubb will be a monster addition to the roster for a variety of reasons. What could end up being his most important trait is his ability to score from deep.

As a second-year player at John A. Logan, Scrubb shot 33 percent from behind the arc on the season while hitting an incredible 41 percent against conference opponents in a stretch of play where he took his game to another level. Williamson and Scrubb will be relied upon to provide a large chunk of scoring for Louisville next season and while attacking the basket and hitting jumpers from mid-range will be their most dangerous abilities, hitting from behind the arc will prove to be most important.

The Cards will also return sophomore’s Quinn Slazinski and Josh Nickelberry, both of whom were well recruited because of their ability to shoot it from deep at a high clip, but played limited roles in 2019. Both will be expected to take big leaps in their second season as they transition into more prominent roles on the roster.

Shooting will be an important part of building a balanced offense next season and as of now there are pieces to work with but more will need to be done in order for the Cards to compete at the top of the ACC.