Louisville Basketball: Reccaping the ACC Tipoff

Kenny Payne, JJ Traynor, and Mike James talked Louisville Basketball in the annual ACC Basketball Tipoff yesterday, here’s what you need to know:

Yesterday was the annual ACC Tipoff, in which all 15 teams essentially had a short type media day where the head coach and 2 players come as representatives to come and speak on the team’s behalf. The Louisville Cardinals had head coach Kenny Payne speak to media to start, followed by redshirt sophomore Mike James, and finally the hometown kid from Bardstown Ky, JJ Traynor.

Kenny Payne answered some questions for the media and he kept on the same stance he has had since talking to the media in year 2. Payne talked about how the team has to learn from last year, and how “matured” this team is compared to last years 4-28 team.

Payne had this to say when talking about the experience of the team, and how the transfer portal/freshman players have affected the team from year 1 to 2:

"I think it’s been pretty good so far, we have to play some games to really know. I see a level of maturity that you rarely see in players, in young players especially. But like these two guys up here, they now have some real game experience. Brandon has game experience. The guys we brought in, as well, with Skyy and Tray, they have a lot of game experience. I’m not going to overlook a guy like D-Lo who is coming in from Miami where he was part of a Final Four team. I mean, that’s pretty good, I’m challenging my freshmen to not be freshmen, to approach it with a different mindset, learn fast, grow fast, to have a maturity about it so that we can have a chance to win games. It’s very hard to win if your young guys are being freshmen, I need them to grow fast."

Payne seems to trust most of the players on this roster, and isn’t scared to play the newer players over the players that have been here longer. Payne seems like he will play the best players no matter how long they have or have not been here. Players like Brandon Huntley-Hatfield aren’t safe in the Louisville rotation, and that is a good thing. If the freshman are playing better then Payne should play them.

Mike James and JJ Traynor then answered a couple questions.

James and Traynor both seemed to acknowledge that last season was an extreme disappointment, and that they learned a lot from it. James talked about how he is a leader for this team and how as a returner he has to show the freshman how things are done in Louisville to avoid another season like last year.

Here’s what James had to say when asked about what he learned from last year, and how to help bring along this new freshman class:

"I think last year kind of motivated my experience of being a leader for the guys this year, just the stuff I went through last year as a player and as a team, just learning from the mistakes, the ups and downs of last year.Carrying that onto this year and teaching the guys what we should be doing and shouldn’t be doing so we don’t have the same things happen to us, same things that happened to us last year happen again this year to us. Just teaching the guys how to be a good teammate, how to go hard, and how to win."

JJ Traynor also talked about his experience as a senior and how last season affected him:

"Honestly, last year was really hard. Probably one of the hardest things I ever went through. But getting through that taught me a lot. It taught us as a team a lot. Even though you may not win, obviously we didn’t win, but we still could learn something throughout the games. Taking each game as a learning process, I feel like it’s really helped me, made me a better player as I am today."

Traynor in the last stretch of games last season was on a tear, and will be one of the X factor players when it comes to next season. Traynor is a local kid from Bardstown and will probably start this season as a starter. His role as a veteran on this team and as a presence down low is big for this team, and he should be a role model for the younger players on this squad.

Traynor also had this to say when talking about finally being a veteran at Louisville:

"I definitely feel like I have a different perspective. I’ve seen it all,  I’ve been through it all. So I just try to teach the guys when they need answers or come to me for help. I just teach them what I’ve learned. It’s definitely weird being the older guy now ’cause I’ve always felt like I was the young guy. I’ve had a bunch of teammates here throughout my time. Now that I’m the older guy, I gotta take that role and take that step."

Louisville has certainly developed some hype in the past couple weeks by talking to the media more and dominating an exhibition game. Only time will tell if this Cardinal team is ready to compete against quality talent this season.

It all starts in November, and for now, things are looking up for Kenny Payne and Louisville.