[ad_1]
Indiana’s 2023-24 non-conference schedule was finalized on June 27 and Contained in the Corridor can have a team-by-team take a look at every opponent. At the moment: Louisville.
Louisville’s 2022-23 season was unforgettable for all of the improper causes.
The Cardinals are one of many three groups Indiana may find yourself going through within the Empire Traditional from Nov. 19-20. UConn and Texas are the others competing within the occasion, whereas first-round matchups have but to be introduced. Within the all-time sequence historical past between the 2 historic packages, Louisville leads the sequence with an 8-7 file in opposition to the Hoosiers. The 2 squads final met in December 2018, a 68-67 win for IU in Bloomington.
Louisville enters the 2023-24 season coming off its worst 12 months in program historical past. The Cardinals underperformed all expectations in Kenny Payne’s first 12 months on the program’s helm. Louisville misplaced a program-record 28 video games and gained simply 4. It was the primary time this system had suffered back-to-back dropping seasons since World Struggle II.
Heavy roster turnover felt inevitable for the Cardinals this offseason and that’s exactly what occurred. Louisville returns simply 4 gamers from final season’s roster. 5 true freshmen enter this system together with three energy 5 transfers. The Cardinals additionally lose two of their top-3 scorers from final 12 months in El Ellis (Arkansas) and Jae’Lyn Withers (North Carolina).
If Kenny Payne has carried out something properly since he’s returned to his alma mater, it’s recruit. The Cardinals 2023 recruiting class is ranked No. 7 within the nation by 247Sports. Payne inked 5 top-125 recruits. Prime-30 prospects Dennis Evans, a 7-foot-1 heart, and Trentyn Flowers, a 6-foot-8 ahead, headline the record.
The Cardinals’ additions from the switch portal additionally show to be an instantaneous assist. Former four-star Tre White transfers in after his freshman season at USC. As a Trojan, the 6-foot-7 ahead averaged 9 factors and 5.1 boards in 26.7 minutes per sport. The Dallas native began 29 of 33 video games. White had a really productive first 12 months of faculty basketball and appears to be a cornerstone of Louisville’s 2023-24 season.
A reputation that may sound acquainted to school basketball followers additionally joins Louisville after an odd freshman season. That’s Skyy Clark, the previous Kentucky commit who performed 13 video games for Illinois earlier than leaving this system this previous 12 months. The speedy guard posted inefficient taking pictures splits with the Illini, taking pictures 41.1 p.c from the sphere, 33.3 p.c from deep and 69.6 p.c from the foul stripe. Clark additionally averaged the identical quantity of turnovers as he did assists, 2.1.
Clark is extra of a piece in progress than White, however each are younger and coming into their second seasons of faculty basketball. Miami (FL.) ahead Danilo Jovanovich is the third and remaining portal addition to the Louisville roster, he performed simply two minutes final season for the Hurricanes.
Out of the 4 Cardinals coming back from final season, Mike James, JJ Traynor and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield are the headliners. James was second on the crew, scoring 10.1 factors a contest, and Traynor largely got here off the bench averaging 25.5 minutes a sport.
James missed his freshman season because of a torn Achilles and began to get again right into a groove later within the season, seeing extra pictures from the sphere.
Huntley-Hatfield is the best-returning defender on the Louisville roster as he led the crew in blocks however struggled to search out his method across the basket. The previous top-five prospect within the class of 2022 had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 15 to 46. At 6-foot-10 and 250 kilos, the previous Tennessee Volunteer has the instruments to be an elite rim runner and shot blocker, he simply must discover a back-to-the-basket sport and handle the ball.
An upside to the Louisville roster in Payne’s second season is that there aren’t any seniors. It is a revamped group that must develop chemistry over time, however they’ve the time. From top-to-bottom, this 12 months’s Cardinals squad is best on paper than final 12 months’s regardless of dropping Ellis, their main scorer.
It’s nonetheless going to be an uphill climb for one in every of faculty basketball’s most historic packages. Bart Torvik has Louisville because the No. 141 crew in his rankings coming into the autumn. The Cardinals completed final 12 months ranked No. 263.
Filed to: Louisville Cardinals
[ad_2]
Source link
