Louisville basketball: 3 takeaways from the win against Western Kentucky

Do not doubt Chris Mack’s recruiting ’til further notice

This class Chris Mack just brought in was not highly coveted by any means. When now NBA draft pick and former Louisville commitment out of John Logan College Jay Scrubb announced his plans to declare for the draft, Mack caught some heat for his recruiting ability.

D’andre (Dre) Davis and JJ Traynor were not consensus Top 100 recruits. According to 247 Sports, Davis was ranked as the No. 148 ranked player in the 2020 class. Traynor was ranked as the No. 122 player in the class, according to the 247 composite rankings.

Both players are making big-time contributions as true freshman now. Especially Davis who just shot 7-for-9 for the Cardinals and scored 21 points.

Now, Davis only through four career games, is proving to be one of Louisville’s best five players very early on. He’s fantastic on the defensive end consistently and in this game he flashed his abilities on the offensive end at all three levels.

Traynor does not start, but he put up nine points and five rebounds in another solid performance. He has earned the right to be a consistent rotational player on this team even as players start to come back from injury. Traynor has a long way to go in his development that will consist of putting on muscle and developing his game at both ends. But him being good enough to contribute right now is a huge boost to this team.

The squad would have been in a heap of trouble if Davis and Traynor were not ready to contribute in 2020. Only playing a seven man rotation at the moment, these two players are playing well above and beyond what anyone could have possibly imagined in year one.

Davis’ minutes are going to stay pretty consistent as he should continue to earn the starting nod in Louisville’s lineup at least until Charles Minlend comes back. Even then, he still may not relinquish it. He’s been that good.

If Traynor’s minutes do start to diminish, it will only be because of players like Sam Williamson, Josh Nickelberry, and Charles Minlend carving into them. Traynor has proven he is ready now and he will be garnering minutes throughout the rest of the season.