The Louisville Cardinals are in the midst of their final push of the season, with only 3 games remaining in the regular season. The Cardinals are coming off a disappointing loss on the road at Chapel Hill against the North Carolina Tar Heels. With 2 of the 3 remaining games on the schedule currently Quad 1 opportunities, the Cardinals have more tough competition on the way before the tournament season officially tips off.
Throughout this season, Pat Kelsey has continually gone deep into his bench, at times having 11 to 12 players see the court throughout the duration of the game. The North Carolina game was no exception, as 11 Cardinals checked in before the final whistle, giving Kelsey and Louisville a variety of performances. At times, it appeared that Louisville’s depth was a team strength, a powerful ability to interchange players without a lapse in production. However, as the season has progressed, this strategy may no longer be the key to winning hard-fought games.
Louisville needs to take a hard look at shrinking their rotations
Since ACC play began earlier this season, Kelsey has started to give an abundance of playing time to a select few players, most notably Ryan Conwell, J’Vonne Hadley, and Mikel Brown Jr. These 3 have been the major producers and the big reasons why Louisville has had the success they have experienced during this last stretch of the conference play. The problems start to arise when players who aren’t producing within that particular game still are supplied with a higher level of minutes than they really should be getting.
The biggest instance of players getting more minutes than they should have was when Louisville faced teams with great size, strength, and physicality. These have been games where players like Isaac McKneely and Aly Khalifa simply can not provide much in terms of production on either end of the floor. It’s games like these where Pat Kelsey needs to determine which lineup is providing Louisville the best chance to win and stick with it.
This “optimum lineup” is sure to change game to game, depending on the opponent and who has the hot hand from outside the arc. It’s not a set-in-stone rotation that has to be implemented as the only answer to each opponent they face. It’s up to Pat Kelsey and his coaching staff to identify this rotation and let them take the Cardinals to victory.
As tournament time quickly approaches, one thing is abundantly clear: in tough, competitive games, the many rotations and going deep into the bench simply do not work.
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