Louisville basketball: Finding closure after the 2020 season

Louisville basketball finished the 2020 season without a chance to achieve its postseason goals, but positive takeaways still remain.

We all need closure from time to time, and if you’re a Louisville basketball fan this season, trying to put things into perspective will never be an easy task.

In its second year under head coach Chris Mack, Louisville appeared to be rounding into shape in every facet. The Cardinals brought back three fifth-year seniors, a superstar junior with All-American aspirations, and one of the most hyped recruiting classes in school history.

In addition, the Cards faced perhaps the easiest slate of games that they will have in a long time. There was no dominant team in 2020, and many took solace in the fact that the team that could sweep the nation was on Floyd Street.

We all know how the season ended. Louisville dropped four out of its last seven heading into the ACC Tournament, and the day the Cardinals were scheduled to begin postseason play, the ACC Tournament, and eventually, NCAA Tournament was canceled.

The options at the end of this season are to sit and dwell on the negative- which I am sure we have all done by now- or remember this team for what they truly were.

Here are some of the positives to remember from the 2019-20 squad.

We saw flashes of what Chris Mack can do

Many will focus on some of the bad losses that Louisville took, or some of the big wins that the Cardinals let slip out of their grasp this season. But, all in all, the season should be labeled as a success.

Louisville finished the year only a half-game out of first place in the ACC, the Cardinals won for the first time ever in Cameron Indoor Stadium, they took out Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, they won on the road at Notre Dame, beat Virginia for the first time in ten tries, and were ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time since winning the 2013 national title.

There were trying times. The Cardinals began the season without David Johnson and Malik Williams, they dropped back-to-back games twice, and there were games where the most important players were no-shows.

For all the criticism that Mack took, however, the fact still remains that he proved he is a damn good coach this season.

Louisville began the season shooting lights out. Part of that has to do with competition, but part of it is a matter of being ready to play, and running an offense that is conducive to creating open shots. The Cards got a lot of good looks in the first quarter of the season until they met their match in Texas Tech in Madison Square Garden.

After the Tech loss, Louisville dropped back-to-back games later that month to Kentucky and Florida State.

Mack recalibrated.

From that point on, Louisville’s defense was a little tighter and the offense was a little crisper. The Cardinals edged Pitt, Notre Dame, and Duke all on the road in a time where there was a sense of pessimism or uncertainty among fans.

The Cardinals kept tinkering, fixing issues and making an effort to put the best lineups on the floor and run the offense or defense most conducive to winning.

You can’t blame Mack for not experimenting. After the transition to conference play, Louisville’s starting lineup changed on nearly a weekly basis. Nine different players started games and rarely was the occasion that the same players that started finished.

Louisville dealt with injuries to David Johnson, Malik Williams, Ryan McMahon,  Jordan Nwora, Steven Enoch, Josh Nickelberry, and Aidan Igiehon.

Williams, a team captain, sat out the first five games and was hobbled or did not play for the final five games. In between, he was rarely at one hundred percent. His back-up, Igiehon, dealt with a shoulder injury for the final quarter of the season.

The Cardinals were deep, but dealt with a plethora of injuries, yet Mack plugged along and Louisville, more often than not, took care of business.

The winning streaks

Louisville’s winning streaks are a part of the season that should not go overlooked. The Cardinals reeled off the first nine wins of the season, catapulting them into the No. 1 spot in the nation. They boasted a season-opening conference road win over Miami, a dominant conference victory over Pitt, and thorough domination of No.4 Michigan before their first loss.

After a tough December stretch, Louisville reeled off 10 consecutive wins from January 7th to February 8th.

When Louisville was at full health and able to get things rolling this season, it’s hard to question that the Cardinals were not one of the best teams in the country.

The graduating class was special

One thing that I’d hope fans never forget from the 2019-20 season is just how special the graduating class was.

Similarly to the Damion Lee and Trey Lewis class that never got a chance in 2016, the 2020 class consisted of a special group of guys.

From Ryan McMahon, who was a five-year player who has seen some high highs and low lows to Fresh Kimble, who only spent one year with the Cards, Louisville will lose some great talent, but even better people off the court.

Jordan Nwora and Dwayne Sutton stand out as two guys who, in the pursuit of winning, it never really felt like fans truly appreciated what they brought to the table.

David Johnson is different

The storyline that many hoped for, but nobody truly could have predicted was the emergence of true freshman David Johnson.

Most Cards fans expected Johnson to really help out with depth during his freshman season, but hanging 19 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks on Duke on the road at Duke far exceeded any of our wildest dreams.

Those are junior All-American Jordan Nwora type of numbers, not freshman hometown kid coming off of a serious injury number. Johnson’s poise and patience with the ball in his hands is something to marvel at, and he sees the floor and makes more plays than anyone else on the team did this season.

After a fully healthy offseason, the sky is the limit for Johnson, who will likely be playing his last season in 2020-21.

The future is bright

Maybe most importantly, the future is looking exciting for Mack and Louisville basketball.

Yes, the Cardinals will undoubtedly miss the graduating class next season and beyond, but the young talent that will fill the voids on the roster next year is something to behold.

Obviously, Johnson and Williams are likely to be the centerpieces of this squad. However, don’t sleep on Samuell Williamson, who waited in the wings, only capitalizing when the moments came for him during his freshman year. Williamson will be looking to take a massive step forward next year.

Quinn Slazinski, Aidan Igiehon, and Josh Nickelberry offered very brief glimpses of what they can bring to the table, but the deepest sleeper on the squad is Jae’Lyn Withers. The redshirt forward has a versatility that nobody the Cards have had upfront since Ray Spalding, and he will be looking at the potential to garner a ton of minutes in his redshirt freshman season.

Sprinkle in the possibility of athletic freak and hometown kid Jay Scrubb joining the roster, and all of a sudden, Louisville basketball is one or two transfers away from having yet another team with the complete package.

This time around, Louisville will be full of length and athleticism, and finally, be able to employ what Mack wants to do on both ends of the floor.