Louisville Basketball is Slowly Improving Under Kenny Payne

Louisville has won 2 games in a row for the second time in the Kenny Payne era

The Louisville Cardinals have had a rollercoaster of a season so far for Kenny Payne, and they improved to 4-3 last night when they beat the Bellarmine Knights. The Cardinals were down 22-27 at halftime, but in the 2nd half they eventually opened up to a 12 point lead. That was then eventually cut down to 2 points late in the game, but Payne’s squad came up with a win by sealing the victory with some free throws in the 73-68 win.

The Cardinals are one of the weirder teams in all of college basketball. They played Texas down to the final buzzer, held it close with Indiana, lost to Chattanooga by 10 at home, and had back to back come from behind wins over New Mexico State and Bellarmine in the past 2 games.

You never seem to know what you will get with Louisville basketball, but you can’t say it isn’t entertaining. Skyy Clark and Tre White are emerging as the stars for the team, and they keep making winning basketball plays for the Cardinals. JJ Traynor is also coming along nicely, and is the heart and soul of this Cardinal team.

Louisville has shone glimpses all season of what really good basketball can be, and they showed against tough teams like Texas and Indiana. They just need to harness it and put it all together for games against inferior opponents.

It is hard to gauge how good this team is because their performances are all over the place. If Louisville can play like how they did against Texas then they have the ability to win a decent amount of ACC games. But if they play like they did against Chattanooga, then it could spell disaster for Kenny Payne’s team.

December will be the most important month for this team, and the 6 games they play could determine how good this team can really be. We will see how the Cardinals come along, but for now they remain as one of the most mysterious teams in college basketball.