Louisville Basketball Has To Be Apart of The National Conversation Again

It has been a long time since Louisville basketball has gotten much national attention, and as fans, the drought has lasted way too long.

The last time Louisville basketball really felt releveant was the 2019-2021 season where the Cardinals were helmed by then head coach Chris Mack. Mack had the Cardinals ranked #1 at one point in the season, and it all accumlated in a top 4 matchup against Michigan in the KFC Yum Center, where the Cardinals defeated #4 Michigan in a sold out white out crowd in Louisville.

Those are the type of moments that fans die for, and moments like that is what has been severely missing in the Kenny Payne era. Louisville hosted #12 Duke last Tuesday, and the fact that the attendance was somewhere south of 8,000 is downright embarrassing. Hosting Duke in your home arena should always be a big attendance night for any team, especially if you are Louisville.

But the conversation has now shifted from " I can't believe that there were only 20,000 fans there for the Duke game" to " 8,000 is a high number for Louisville attendance this year." It is honestly sad how bad things have gotten under Kenny Payne.

Even if thing somehow get better under Payne this season, I am not sure he will ever be able to regain the faith, trust, and excitement of the fanbase. Louisville needs a new coach that will excite the fanbase for the future instead of just asking for "patience" and "true Louisville fans".

The community and people of Louisville cannot stand for more of this bad basketball, and that all starts with moving on from Kenny Payne.