Tag Archives: Kenny Payne

Seedy K Game Caps: Wright State & Clemson

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On the hardwood: Louisville 72, Wright State 73.

On the Gridiron: Louisville 16, Clemson 31.

It goes without saying, but it shall be said here anyway.

Saturday was not the best of days for the University of Louisville Cardinals.

What follows are a few thoughts without any in depth analysis of either loss.

For which in depth breakdowns, to be quite honest, your scribe has zero inclination.

 * * * * *

In advance of Kenny Payne’s impending arrival as U of L’s next hoops mentor, it was well supposed that Nolan Smith would be joining the staff. Which he did not long after Payne’s introduction.

Given that KP had never sat first chair, your BW/LTCD opined to any all who might listen that his fondest hope was that there would be an astute,  knowledgeable, successful, long time coach, old head named to the staff. Like Penny Hardaway added Larry Brown. Or Phil Martelli at Michigan. Ralph Willard right here.

It did not happen. Your scribe’s advice was not sought out.

Such a lack of experience and acumen seemed apparent at the end of the Cardinal’s L to Wright State in the embarrassingly empty Yum! Center. Continue reading Seedy K Game Caps: Wright State & Clemson →

Cardinal GameCap: Lenoir-Rhyne

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There are lots of questions about this year’s U of L Men’s Basketball Team.

The answer to just about all of them is the same.

Patience.

Not a virtue that comes easy in these what’s happening right this nanosecond times.

But one the University of Louisville team and Red & Black Faithful must dig deep and find and hold onto.

How long has been the wait for the NCAA ruling?

The answers regarding the Kenny Payne Era will come sooner.

But, alas, not soon enough for some.

The Cardinals’ opening exhi L to Everick Sullivan’s Lenoir-Rhyne squad was inauspicious to say the least. Continue reading Cardinal GameCap: Lenoir-Rhyne →

A Media Day Like No Other

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If you have attended too many basketball media days, like some of us around here, it’s impossible not to discern the general pattern.

HC makes an opening statement, starting with how excited he and his troops are for the beginning of the season. He’ll extol the virtues of the players in the weight room, how they’ve drilled working on their deficiencies from the previous campaign(s).

He’ll talk about leadership. He’ll generalize about what the offense and defense will look like.

During the ensuing Q & A, the assembled media will inquire about last year’s underperformers, which of the newcomers have impressed, is the five star McD’s A-A the real deal? Are there any injuries? Has the wing who had to sit out the end of last season with a bum ankle fully healed?

What have the new assistants brought to the table?

What does he think of preseason rankings?

How worried is he about the opener against a Top 5 opponent?

Yada, yada, yada.

Kenny Payne’s first Media Day presser as HC for the Louisville Cardinals was for the most part pretty darned different. Continue reading A Media Day Like No Other →

Hoopaholics Gazette: Countin’ Down

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One hundred sixty eight hours and seventy nine minutes.*

Until U of L Basketball Media Day.

*It’s the kind of lede anxious scribes use to let their readers know that they are really looking forward to something.

Hoops is in the air. KP and El and Syd were in Charlotte for ACC Media Show & Tell.

More about that in a bit, but first . . .

. . . a couple of ideas that hit the media wave today.

One horrid.

One, a b-ball junkies’ fondest wish.

 * *. * * *

Negativitude first. Continue reading Hoopaholics Gazette: Countin’ Down →

Last Friday before Football (Practice)

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Before we get on to other matters, a moment of silence please for the dearly departed.

In a world that seems to be falling apart before our very eyes, now we have to deal with yet another significant loss.

Flags at half mast please in memoriam of the demise of the Choco Taco.

(Silence.)

Of course this frozen treat wasn’t Graeter’s, or a trip to Polly’s Freeze for a shake or Gelato Gilberto.

But at those times, like 10:30 at night and you need something cool and sweet and the freezer is empty, and those places mentioned above are either closed or too far to drive at that hour, and you don’t want to hassle with a full grocery, there’s always Convenient.

(Whatever those places are called these days, they’ll always be Convenient to me.)

The freezer case is by checkout with the array of drumsticks and Klondike Bars and Fudgesicles. I most always went for the Choco Taco.

Not that it really tasted any better than any of those other mundane choices. But, it was a legit mix of ice cream, chocolate, nuts and soggy taco wrap in appropriate proportions for each bite*. It could be consumed before it melted.

*Grew up with Drumsticks, but after you’ve eaten the top, there’s no nuts or chocolate left to counterbalance the ice cream and cone underneath, a functional flaw. Continue reading Last Friday before Football (Practice) →

Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Back on the Beat

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Inquiries have been made.

So I’m advised.

“Why hasn’t Seedy weighed in on the whole NIL deal?”

For one, I have. Kinda.

Back when railing against those fat cats asking for the return of a former U of L AD, I suggested they put their energy, and significant disposable wealth into forming a collective. So there’s that.

Plus, I have nothing to add to the rampant dialog about the accelerating phenomena. It’s the Wild West out there. Those under the table envelopes of cash are now Bitcoin deposits into off shore bank accounts.

You thought the Oklahoma Land Rush was a clusterfuck on meth? Silly you. Google up Isaiah Wong to see how the culture of college sports has changed, seemingly overnight.

 * * * * *

Speaking of that Miami Hurricane, I tried to go Wong on Glorious Editor and the guy controlling the purse strings in Finance on the 73d floor, a fellow named John Beresford Tipton IV.

“How about a little bump for the kid,” I inquired? “I’m read. I’m nothing if all but about name, a nom de plume affectation, image and likeness. Have you seen those mashup vanity portraits I post with my articles? Some would say that stuff is more important to me than quality of content, but there’s always going to be nabobs of negativitude. I’ve been nothing but NIL for years.” Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Back on the Beat →

Nolan Smith Comes Back Home

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Spoiler Alert: The only addition to Coach Kenny Payne’s staff announced at U of L Basketball’s Monday press conference was the one we already knew about, Nolan Smith. Meaning the following contains essentially no breaking news about other members of the staff or roster changes.

Early in the presser, one anxious scribe, poised to jump the gun — guilty — inquired, when we might expect announcements about others on the staff?

To which fellow, KP gently chided that the question was premature, saying, “Good timing. I just hit a home run.”

Sufficiently chastised, allow me this observation: Nolan Smith checks all the boxes.

In fraternity parlance, he’s a legacy. He lived in Louisville until he was six, attending preschool at The Temple, then summered here through his youth. His father, you may have heard, was a starter for U of L’s first title team in ’80.

He’s intelligent and articulate. He’s a family man with an engaging wife Cheyna, a daughter and son.

To this point, he was tutored in his coaching career by the GOAT, at Duke, where Smith was an All-American and national champion.

Sitting in the jam-packed conference room, the inner Cardinal diehard in me had goose bumps.

Actually, truth be told, what I felt was verklempt.

This whole Kenny Payne/ Nolan Smith reformulation of University of Louisville Basketball Just Feels Right. Continue reading Nolan Smith Comes Back Home →

Hoopaholic Musings: More on U of L’s CKP

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Doc checked in Sunday morning.

Seems his son, a similarly addicted chip off the block, has been checking out message boards around the land. Where, it seems, Louisville is getting a measure of grief for hiring a fellow who has never been a head coach before.

Doc referenced Michigan’s JuWan Howard and Memphis State’s Penny Hardaway, alums at their schools who seem to be doing fairly well.

To which I responded with one thing that duo has in common staff-wise.

An experienced old head  in the next chair. Phil Martelli for the Wolverines. Larry Brown for the Tigers.

In addition, IU grad Mike Woodson has Thad Matta in the program, as director of basketball ops or something.

Which is to reiterate, one fan’s hope is that when Kenny Payne is assembling his staff he does the same. An available guy, like Bruce Weber or someone of that ilk. A seasoned veteran. Continue reading Hoopaholic Musings: More on U of L’s CKP →

It is Just Right: Coach Kenny Payne

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Driving to the press conference to introduce Kenny Payne as head men’s basketball coach at the University of Louisville — Let us let that resonate for a sec, U of L Coach Kenny Payne — there was this on a vintage Jeep in front of me at a light.

The tire cover on the back was festooned with images of flowers.

It read “Good Vibes.”

Which is as good a place to start here as any.

Today is not about assistant coaching hires.

Not about looming NCAA sanctions.

Not about recruiting Milt Wagner’s grandson.

Not about Nike.

Not about offensive schemes or defensive philosophy or the transfer portal or which of the current squad Coach Kenny Payne hopes to keep for next season.

Today is about the symmetry that is the hiring of a former Cardinal Kenny Payne to lead the program.

Today is about the attendant JOY, plain and simple. Continue reading It is Just Right: Coach Kenny Payne →