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The Louisville men’s basketball program plummeted to a new low Wednesday. The team lost 75-63 at home to terrible Arkansas State team, and that may not have been the most embarrassing blunder of the day for the program. Earlier in the day, Louisville announced that Koron Davis was transferring from the program, which apparently was news to him.Â
Whew. That’s a lot to unpack.
The defeat follows terrible losses this season to Chattanooga and DePaul. Cardinals fans, however, must wish that embarrassing play — once-mighty Louisville is 4-6 — was all they had to worry about regarding this program. Second-year head coach Kenny Payne, though, has ensured the embarrassment continues off the hardwood, too.
On Nov. 20, after a loss to Indiana, Payne admitted his team hadn’t practiced playing against a zone defense and that Hoosiers head coach Mike Woodson had “tricked” him.
Nine days later, he unnecessarily revealed a peek into the dysfunction of his team when he told reporters that Ty-Laur Johnson missed almost an entire half because he apparently didn’t have the right tights. Â Â
Not all the blame for Louisville’s woes can be pinned on Payne.Â
The downward spiral began in 2017, when an FBI investigation into “bribes and corruption” resulted in 10 arrests and the firing of legendary head coach Rick Pitino. Then, in January 2022, Pitino’s replacement, Chris Mack, was fired after another scandal and more struggles on the court.
After the 2021-22 season, Louisville hired Payne, who inherited a 13-19 team awaiting judgment for that 2017 investigation. With the possibility of a postseason ban looming, combined with the natural roster turnover that comes with a coaching change, Louisville returned just 22.7 percent of the minutes played in Mack’s final season and 32.1 percent of the points. Â
Of course, expectations were understandably low heading into the 2022-23 season, with the Cardinals picked to finish in 12th of 15 teams in the ACC.Â
Nobody knew how hilariously lofty those expectations would become in hindsight.Â
The Cardinals started Payne’s first season 0-9, with losses to lightweights Bellarmine, Wright State and Appalachian State at home. Payne earned his first win over Western Kentucky and finished the season 4-28, winning two ACC games.
The best news last season came Nov. 3, when Louisville learned it had avoided major sanctions from the NCAA. So, there was hope this season that Payne could turn around the program.Â
That clearly isn’t happening as Payne, a former Cardinals player, has shown repeatedly that he can’t get results on — or off — the court.Â
For a school with such a proud and successful basketball tradition, this cannot continue. The Payne experiment is a disaster. Louisville must start over with a new coach.
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