By: Raashaan Myers
The 2015-16
Edition of the University of Louisville Men’s Basketball team gave fans a
preview of things to come for the upcoming season. I intentionally have kept
pretty much kept quiet during the trip as I wanted to be able to really digest
a full sample size of the trip. I wanted to see how much the team improved over
the 6 days as well as get a good feel for the individual player’s games and how
they guys worked as a unit. So I decided to take my breakdown and analysis of
what I saw in two parts – The Team and The Players. In this first article I
will take a wide scope look at the team as a whole.
First off I truly believe this trip will do more for this team because of their considerable youth and having so many new players on the team. As I look at this team as I have stated all year long I think the talent is undeniable. The amount of overall length, speed, athleticism, and quickness of this team in my opinion makes this group one of the 10 most talent laden teams in the country. Unlike many of Coach Pitino’s teams during his tenure at UofL this group has elite size, athleticism, and talent to spare. And because of that the prospects for this team are immediately better because of the considerable talent at his disposal. When you look at what I feel is the best lineup of PG Quentin Snider, CG Trey Lewis, WF Damion Lee, F Mangok Mathiang, C Chinanu Onuaku this still leaves five tremendously talented players available off the bench in G Donovan Mitchell, F Deng Adel, F Ray Spalding, F Jaylen Johnson, F Anas Mahmoud. In my estimation you would have a hard time finding five teams that could name a comparable 10 players on their team in terms of talent let alone ten.
Now all that
being said like Coach P indicated none of this guarantees a successful season.
This team’s attitude is outstanding and they seem to genuinely like being
around one another. And while it is true that doesn’t guarantee wins it can
great help build on court chemistry and trust in one another. One thing I
always saw from last year’s team especially pre-Chris Jones dismissal was a
clear lack of trust on court between the “go-to guys” and everyone else on the
team. That manifests itself in an abundance of bad shots, a lack of ball
movement, and stagnant offense that would lend itself to scoring droughts. I saw some of the same things starting last Tuesday
in the first game vs the PRNT where it was almost exclusively one on one with
very little ball movement, player movement, and passing. But by Friday night
and Saturday afternoon I saw a team that showed signs of being much more
patient, sharing the basketball, cheering each other on, and really looking to
work together as a collective group offensive. I think that is a very good sign
of things to come for the upcoming year.
In terms of style of play its fitting UofL was
playing with international rules as I think this team has a very “Euro” style
feel to them. Coach Pitino really started recruiting to this style of play
about 5 years ago to really looking to bring forth a team that focused on
having 3 versatile perimeter playmakers that could all shoot, attack, and pass
and pair them with 2 bigs that could run the floor, rebound, block shots, as
well as step away and shoot the ball. You can really see the influence of that
philosophy on this team and it is a very European style of basketball. All the
big men sans Matz Stockman showed a consistent ability to handle the ball away
from the basket and all were very comfortable attacking off the dribble. This
puts tremendous pressure on the big man defending and can really cause issues
for help defenders leaving shooters for good open looks. While they still have
a ways to go in terms of efficiency running this offense the skill is there to
have a very potent offensive attack. Add to that 2 deadly perimeter shooters in
Lee and Lewis who showed the ability to easily and consistently knock down the
longer international 3 pt shot and you have a team with excellent offensive
potential.
Defensively this
team will be tenacious as ever with even better depth off the bench which will
allow for a very aggressive style of man and press zone defense. The questions
about Lewis and Lee having the ability to come in and sacrifice and put in all-out
effort on the defensive end of the floor in true Pitino fashion were all but
answered. This team has very good length defensively, are very quick on their
feet with the 3 freshmen Adel, Mitchell, and Spalding as good as advertised on
that end, but they still have a ways to go in terms of understanding the
helpside principles and rotations to keep from allowing easy layups which the
PRNT took advantage of on several occasions. That will come with practice and
just time in the system. Having the
opportunity to play against an extremely experienced and talented offensive
Puerto Rico squad will help speed up that process as UofL will not likely face
many teams that can spread you out, shoot, pass, and attack the ways these
professional players could. Also on the defensive backboard Lewis, Lee, Mitchell,
and Adel proved to be willing and able to help the big men mix it up and
rebound in the paint. That is another key to being a good defensive team it the
ability to hold a team to one shot. The team rebounding, block out responsibilities,
and guys really going after it improved as the week went on as well.
All in all this
trip worked out as well as could be imagined for this group of young talented
Cardinals. I really liked the way this team competed off the bus and really
gave the PRNT all they wanted game 1, then came back and really showed good
character coming off a demoralizing game 2 getting blown out of the building playing
hard and competing the rest of the week. The Captain Mangok Mathiang lived up
to his considerable praise leading this young team and being very vocal and
supportive of everyone on and off the court. Damien Lee to me looks like a
lottery pick with his play the past week which is huge for a team that needs a
go to guy. I also like the fire shown by Chinanu Onuaku really starting to be
that physical enforcer for this UofL team and being the team’s toughness on the
court while he may have gotten a bit too riled up off the court. Every team
needs that toughness a la Ellis Myles and I can see that development in Nanu.
This UofL team has a long way to go to get ready for March Madness, but they
have done nothing be reaffirm by belief that they will have an opportunity to
make another deep run when it is all said and done. Now if we can just find a
way to get November here already!
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