Louisville's Next Two Games Are Key in Determining Kenny Payne's Future
By Caleb Hall
The Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team has not had a good January to say the least, and if Kenny Payne wants a job in April then the Cardinals have to stop settling for moral victories
Louisville started 2024 with a 5-8 record, and as of January 19th they now have a 6-11 record. That is a 1-3 record so far with games against at Wake Forest, Duke, Virginia, and at Clemson left on the schedule. Louisville started the year with a brutal 24 point road loss to Virginia, then a 13-point home loss to Pitt.
Things were looking abysmal for the rest of the season for Louisville, so what do they do next? Well of course they would go on the road and beat Miami by 9-points on the road for Kenny Payne's first ACC road win.
Louisville then played a good home game against NC State, and even showed some good signs of life against #4 North Carolina on the road. However, the Cardinals did not win either of those 2 games, and these are the types of games that Payne needs to win if he wants to be retained at Louisville.
Louisville needs wins over anything else, and even though the team is playing much improved, it still is not good enough at this point in Payne's tenure.
Louisville will travel to Wake Forest tomorrow and host the #7 Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night, and if Louisville can't at least win one of those games Payne is looking more and more dead in the water.
With the injuires and certain players be left off the team Payne certainlly has some excuses for not performing as well, but 6-11 in year 2 is simply unacceptable. The next 4 days are key in determining what the verdict will be for Payne in the offseason.
All he has to do is will his team to win, but has proven to be tough for Payne in his 2 years at Louisville.