Louisville Returns From Empire Classic with Renewed Optimism and Enhanced Frustration

While the Cardinals took big steps forward at Madison Square Garden, it also raised a bunch of questions in the process.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program's appearance in the 2023 Empire Classic is now in the books. Like many expected their return trip to Madison Square Garden to go, the Cardinals are returning back home with an 0-2 mark in the event, and 2-3 over their first five games of the season.

That being said, the manner in which Louisville went 0-2 in the event was vastly different than how many, including myself, expected it go. Because of this, the team is coming back from the Big Apple in a very odd situation.

On one hand, there is a renewed sense of optimism regarding this team's previously perceived ceiling and what they can accomplish. On the other hand, there is also an enhanced feeling of frustration as it pertains to their consistency and their coaching.

I'll address the first part of this conundrum. Given how the first five outings of Louisville's season - two exhibitions and three regular season games - had gone, most observers had very little hope that the Cardinals would be even the least bit competitive in the Empire Classic. Me personally, I expected their first trip away from the KFC Yum! Center to go how last season's did with the Maui Invitational: complete and thorough beatdowns from start to finish.

However, in Louisville's first game of the event against No. 17/19 Texas, they looked like a completely different squad. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield was playing like a lottery pick, Tre White and Skyy Clark were scoring nearly at will, and Ty-Laur Johnson had a coming out party with how well he was drawing fouls and getting to the line.

Offensively, there was an influx of actual set plays instead of the standard dribble drive offense that we have been accustomed to over the last year-plus. Defensively, the Cardinals played tight and communicated offense, not letting the hot-shooting Longhorns get to the basket with relative ease - at least for the most part. On both ends of the court, the was consistent energy, effort, communication and decisiveness. Not just from the players, but from the coaching staff as well.

"Like I've said all along, I like my team," head coach Kenny Payne said. "It was the first semblance that we had all year of the way we look in practice. That's the team that I want to show up every night. We're not perfect, we have a long way to go, but we have the components to cause people problems."

While this was a game that Louisville ultimately lost courtesy of a heartbreaking fadeaway jumper from Division I's active leading scorer, it was hard to come away from that game feeling like progress had been made.

Sure, most people aren't one to play the moral victory card, but there's no denying that the version of Louisville that showed up against Texas is something fans have been dying to see since Payne took over. Something that, quite frankly, hasn't been present in the slightest in his tenure. This was a version of Louisville that could very easily go at least .500 in ACC play and potentially give Kentucky a run for their money when they visit the KFC Yum! Center.

Then, there's the second part of the conundrum. With as good as Louisville looked against Texas, it was going to be imperative that they continue this moving forward against Indiana. While having a great outing against an AP Top 25 opponent is fantastic, this sort of progress was something Louisville needed to continue to build on, otherwise the Texas game would potentially get written off as an outlier.

Instead, almost the exact opposite came to pass against the Hoosiers. Louisville's backcourt duo of Clark and White kept playing hero ball even when it was evident that neither was shooting it well, Dennis Evans gave Louisville almost nothing despite starting, and there was an odd amount of lineup substitutions, especially in the second half,

Almost from the jump, it was apparent that this was not the same Louisville team that suited up against the Longhorns. The offensive flow and execution was all but gone, and it only got worse as the game went on with shots having a hard time finding the bottom of the net. On defense, Louisville routinely found themselves just a step behind Indiana, and one of the main reasons they weren't blown out of the water was because IU's own decisions on offense were befuddling to say the least.

Then, there's the coaching aspect. With as poor of a three-point shooting team as Indiana was, you would think Louisville would want to utilize more zone defense, right? Instead, we hardly saw any of it, the Hoosiers continually pounded the paint, and there were seemingly no adjustments to stop it.

Offensively, it wasn't much different. It's bad enough that the players started to hang their heads and abandon any sort of game plan when shots stop falling. But when Indiana switched to a simple 2-3 zone in the late stages, something that is taught in organized basketball from a very young age, the coaching staff had absolutely no answers for it, and it cost them.

"I knew Woody (IU head coach Mike Woodson) wouldn't play zone, or I thought. He tricked me," Payne said. "To be honest, that would be the last thing I think we would have a problem with, because we have been really, really good vs. zone. Even in practice."

Here's where the frustration aspect of this conundrum comes in. Payne and his staff looked like they not only had a game plan against Texas, but were able to execute it. Then they immediately turn around and look lost vs. Indiana, particularly when the game was on the line.

Against the Longhorns, the players were operating with much more energy and effort offensively, and were communicating with frequency on defense. The very next game, this budding offensive identity melted away as soon as shots weren't falling, and they let Indiana freely move the ball around for large parts on defense.

The Empire Classic made it even harder to gauge what Louisville - specially head coach Kenny Payne - can actually accomplish. On one hand, there were tangible signs that he could indeed get things turned around and craft a competitive team. On the other hand, there were instances where he and his coaching staff - and the players as well - struggled to grasp even some of the most basic basketball concepts.

There's no doubt the Louisville took big steps forward while at Madison Square Garden, but it also raised a bunch of questions in the process. Where was this effort beforehand? Why did it take until year two to look even remotely competitive against an upper tier non-conference foe? How come they weren't able to parlay their efforts from the Texas game to the very next day against Indiana? What team should we actually expect to see moving forward? 

We'll likely know the answer to that last question sooner rather that later.

(Photo of Tre White: Vincent Carchietta - USA TODAY Sports)

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