Kenny Payne Wants Louisville to Play a 'National Schedule'
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Over the last few seasons, the non-conference portion of the schedule for the Louisville men's basketball program has been relatively lackluster.
The Cardinals have played in some solid MTE's such as the Baha Mar Bahamas Hoops Championship and NIT Season Tip-Off, as well as gotten some good draws in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Of course, there's always the annual rivalry showdown with Kentucky. But outside of those games, UofL hasn't played many recent non-conference opponents that would bring in huge crowds or draw a national television assignment.
New head coach Kenny Payne wants to change that.
Speaking at the KFC Yum! Center earlier this week as part of a Q&A with roughly 2,000 season ticket holders, Payne was asked about his thoughts and goals regarding future scheduling. It seems that his philosophy on the topic more closely resembles Denny Crum's than Chris Mack's.
"I want to play a national schedule that's competitive," he said. "That people will get to see the type of players that I'm bringing in here. But I first have to get those players in here. I want to put together a schedule that's conducive to winning championships."
But that stance did come with one very important caveat. While he does want to take on the best of the best, he doesn't want to completely overwhelm his current roster. Louisville returns just six players from last year's 13-19 squad, with one of them having to miss the entire season. Instead of throwing his first team in the fire every night, or any subsequent teams of his that may not have top-25 caliber star power, he wants to make sure there are a few contests where the competition is not so stout.
"To me, scheduling is two parts, and some of you may not like this," Payne said. "The first part is, what do I have on my team? What if I go out and schedule all these great schools, and my players can't handle that kind of competition and they don't gain confidence?
"If every night is a dogfight, and they're not as talented as other teams, then that's discouraging to them. I need to be able to put a schedule together to where it's competitive, but it also give them an opportunity to gain confidence. That's important."
During the Q&A, Payne confirmed that both Indiana head coach Mike Woodson and Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway had both reached out about wanting to play this upcoming season. However, don't anticipate either school to be on the schedule for the 2022-23 season.
"Mike Woodson called me from Indiana. He said, 'Kenny Payne, we gotta play right now. I know you're gonna say no, but we're playing right now.' I'm like, Woody, you don't know where my team's at. I've got five guys from last year on the team. Why in the world would I play you? You'll look good, I'll look bad. I know why you wanna play.
"Penny Hardaway called me too, like 'KP, we gotta do this.' I'm like, yeah, I bet you do want to do this. Let's wait until I get a little better feeling about what's going on with my program."
So far, Louisville's non-conference schedule for Payne's first year at the helm is starting to take shape. The Cardinals host Bellarmine at the KFC Yum! Center in their season opener on Nov. 9, as well as Appalachian State on Nov. 15.
They'll also travel to Western Kentucky on Dec 14, Kentucky on New Year's Eve, and play three games in Hawaii on Nov. 21-23 as part of the Maui Invitational. UofL will also face a yet-to-be-announced opponent in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
(Photo of Kenny Payne: Pat McDonogh - Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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