Louisville basketball’s five most intriguing players in 2020
By Jacob Lane
On a roster full of intrigue, these three Louisville basketball players stand out.
Intrigue can be defined as “to arouse the curiosity or interest of or to fascinate” and it is the single most important theme for the Louisville basketball program entering the 2020-21 season.
Just as we don’t know what to expect for the Louisville basketball schedule that has yet to be released due to the pushed back start date, we have no clue what we are going to see from team 108 when they step foot onto the court for the first time in 2020.
Gone are six upperclassmen from last year’s squad that combined to be responsible for 54 of the 74 points they averaged on any given night, including leading scorer Jordan Nwora, as well as Steven Enoch, Dwayne Sutton, Ryan McMahon, Fresh Kimble, and transfer Darius Perry.
Without question, head coach Chris Mack will have his most inexperienced and uncertain lineup as they enter the season that is filled with so much intrigue. While the Cards lose a ton of talent, they return five sophomores and one redshirt junior who made up their top 12 recruiting class in 2019, as well as welcome in two graduate transfers and two four star recruits.
The team will be led by sophomore’s David Johnson and Samuell Williamson as well as senior center Malik Williams, while transfers Carlik Jones of Radford and Charles Minlend Jr. from San Francisco, will bring much needed experience, leadership. versatility, and toughness that will be needed to compete for a top spot in the ACC.
There are bound to be growing pains in a season that will be played after a rather untraditional offseason. Talking with local media this summer, Mack said of his team:
“We have some in-experience that we’re going to have to try to wipe away through the preseason. We’re going to have some guys that have to step into roles that they didn’t play a year ago.”
Everything will be new this season which will lead to intrigue in and of itself. But the players who make up the roster all have so much to offer in a variety of different ways, and because of that we thought it was a perfect time to preview just that; intrigue.
So who are the most intriguing players? Let’s start with player no. 5