Louisville basketball: 5 things I learned from Chris Mack
By Jacob Lane
Louisville basketball is prepared for whatever the NCAA brings their way
Easily the biggest storyline surrounding Louisville basketball on and off the court for the last few months has been the NCAA’s investigation which led to official notice of allegations being served.
The only surprise about the NOA was the timing, as we’ve known for nearly two years that Louisville was going to be punished in some form or fashion for its role in the federal investigation into recruiting corruption in college basketball involving Brian Bowen.
While the NCAA has served the N.O.A. and Louisville has a better timeline of when they’ll be required to respond, and when they’ll be responded back to, we still are no closer to knowing what the official punishment may be.
Many, including Rivals.com Corey Evans who joined us on the BRL Podcast last week, believe that the punishment levied to Oklahoma State could be just the “floor” of what is to come for bigger programs like Louisville, LSU, Kansas, Arizona, and others.
As we’ve detailed all summer, recruiting is already being impacted both short-term and long-term. But even with that being the case, that hasn’t slowed recruiting down one bit as Louisville recently landed their second commitment in the class of 2021 in rising guard, Bobby Pettiford Jr.
When it comes to what Mack tells parents and players he’s recruiting, he said:
“This is something that when I took the job we knew it was impending. we knew at some point we’d receive an NOA. Being that Louisville is really the only school that took the proactive measure that they did, from the President, board, Athletic Director, entire coaching staff, those are some real strong mitigating factors. So in that sense, we feel really good about what we’ve done and who we are”
The challenges being presented now weren’t a surprise to the staff as I said and Mack knew when he took over they’d have to find a way both short-term and long-term to win. “We were going to have to think long-term and short-term,” Mack said, “that’s why we’ve put together the best teams we could the last couple of years. We want to lay a really good foundation, do things the right way, and continue to get guys to win an ACC championship.”
As far as what players are asking about and what Mack believes they need to hear, “There are some non-negotiables when you come to Louisville some things that are going to be in place no matter what the NCAA does. You’ll play in front of the best fan base in the country, that’s not changing. You’ll play in the best basketball conference in the country in the ACC. Historically whether it’s venues, hall of fame coaches, the amount of players going on to the NBA, it is the class of college basketball,” Mack told us.
Louisville will have every opportunity to present their case and who knows what may happen. Thankfully Mack finished the answer with some encouraging comments.
“Fortunately, the NCAA has also created this independent review committee we’re going to more than likely go through that process with them and we’ll have our opportunity to state our case which we’re doing now. We feel really good about the direction of our program regardless of what happens in the short-term.”
Knowing the staff was ready for this and is working harder and harder each day to overcome the challenges and not fall victim makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable about the future of the Louisville program.