Louisville basketball: 3 takeaways from the win against PVAM

David Johnson is starting to figure it out again

It had been a rough couple of games for Louisville’s star sophomore David Johnson.

After not scoring in the double digits in his first two performances, he put up a cool 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting.

Johnson has a very unique skill-set for a 6’5″ guard. He is not typically the primary ball-handler for the Cards, but he has the most court vision of any player on this team.

He showed that in this game. He had the most assists on the team. But, it’s not just what he did in the stat sheet. It was the way he was doing it.

He had a multitude of cross-court passes that not a lot of players would even think to make within the course of a game in college. On one occasion in the second half, Johnson drove baseline and and threw a skip pass around the Pirates defense and right to a wide open shooter on the wing.

His passing skill is off the charts.

He’s also terrific in the post. That sounds weird for someone who is 6’5″ with a guard build. But it is absolutely true. Johnson can seal a post position and go up on bigger defenders and make shots over them. He even has a jump hook in his game. It’s strange but true that one of his strengths is post offense.

Johnson had a heck of a game on defense as well. It included two blocks and a steal on a pure pick pocket type of play. He needs to be careful with fouling in silly situations. But his defensive potential is quite high as he matures.

Now, Johnson is not a good shooter at this time and he does too much to force the issue leading to careless turnovers. Those are two things that certainly need improvement. But you can fix that. You would rather have a player doing too much and being overly creative than not thinking the game well and not making an impact at all.

I am sure Chris Mack and the staff will live with Johnson’s headaches as he looks to iron them out for a trade that consists of a player that can do a lot of unique things for a college guard.