Louisville Head Coach Chris Mack Talks NCAA Tournament Snub, End of Season
(Photo of Chris Mack: David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Finishing the 2020-21 season at 13-7 and 8-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Louisville men's basketball program found themselves on the outside looking in, and were not named to the NCAA Tournament.
The day after Selection Sunday, head coach Chris Mack took time to meet with the media, and discussed the snub from the tournament, as well as a variety of other end of season topics.
Below is the transcript from his press conference as well as the video:
(On his thoughts upon seeing Louisville was excluded from the tournament)
It was incredibly difficult. It was not the news that we wanted to hear,. We had gathered the team a little differently this year because of COVID. It was simply the team, we were in the practice facility, we were spaced out, we had dinner for the guys. It was a tough show to watch, and it's tough to be a part of. It's not certainly something that, I won't say prepared for, but it was difficult. Certain teams that had been mentioned about being bubble teams and below us, maybe slightly above us, as they were going off the board, it gave you a sickening feeling. As much as the players were aware, I think the coaches were even more keenly aware of just being in it, and having an eye on all those things that affect you. It was a tough moment. I don't think I've ever been a part of a room where we didn't get in, in the 24 years I've been at coach or player.
(On the disappointment of not making the tournament)
It's incredibly disappointing. It's everything that you work for in the offseason. It's everything that do you prepare for, to be a part of March Madness. It didn't happen. It wasn't reality. I think that we came here as a coaching staff to be a part of the big tournament. I tell you that there are a lot of things that go into play. Had we been selected, we would have been the youngest, most inexperienced team out of the 68 teams. We would have been. We replaced all five starters off of last year's top 15 team. All five. It's not just as simple as pressing a button and saying we want to be a tournament team again. You have to earn it, you have to work for it. With an incredibly young team, and not a true offseason, the inability to work with our players in the offseason, the two COVID pauses that our team experienced, Malik Williams, one of the best defensive players and the voice of our team, goes down for basically the entire year. A grad transfer that we were expecting to play a significant role in Charles Minlend got hurt, and never was quite the same. All those things equate to us sitting here not being a part of March Madness. But I think that we know what we need to do, and where we're going. But at the same time, yesterday was very, very difficult. When we took over here three years ago, it was a mess. It was a mess. We knew there would be some tough days, and yesterday was maybe the toughest we've had. But we understood the challenge, and it still is a challenge. As I said, when you lose five starters off last year's top 15 team, with a bunch of guys that are inexperienced, and then you lose a couple key experienced players. You're not just going to roll into the NCAA Tournament like things have been in the past at times. That's just reality. Our staff is committed to making sure we get back to where this program is used to being.
(On being named the first replacement team, and if he has time to reflect on what they could have done differently)
I would tell you as far as being a replacement team, I think that's nice language that the NCAA put out. It's a great safeguard for them in the tournament. But the reality of it is, I don't see any team missing the NCAA Tournament, at least when it once it begins. Now, once it begins, that could be a different story. But let's face it, if you can still have five players, not even have to have a coach on the sideline. Most rosters with with walk ons and scholarship players, are 16 or 17 players. I just have a hard time believing in the next 28 hours or so that an entire roster is going to be decimated to the point where they can't play. I don't even think that's a consideration.
Things to do differently, hindsight, as you know, is always 20/20. We made a lot of choices going into the season believing Malik was going to be a significant part of our team. Those aren't just captain choices and experience, but that's X's and O's and whatnot. That didn't happen. We lost an all-conference defensive player in Malik. We lost the voice of our team. When we lost him, we had a very, very different frontcourt. We had three freshmen basically trying to man the five position. That was very, very tough to handle. It's something that we couldn't have predicted with all the injuries. We couldn't have predicted two COVID pauses, and a young team like ours, we needed to be in practice every single day. I mean, you saw the results when we came out of COVID. We were too young and inexperienced to get through it the way that we wanted to. Having said that, we followed every possible COVID guideline. When we traveled to Syracuse, we were a whole team. No positive tests. We land, and the test that basically confirmed our Georgia Tech game from the night before, which was different from the COVID test that you take in preparation to play somebody - Syracuse, that was actually the day before. We were testing dang near every day, there's a positive, there's one positive on our team. Now we're traveling together. As much as you want to distance from one another, as much as you want to follow everything that you did, we're going to practice. We're in a bus together, we're in an elevator together. It took out multiple players. It took out the head coach, which some might say that was a good thing. But, when I'm at home for 16 straight days and can't go to practice, and can't be on the floor with, again, one of the youngest teams in the country, that's hard to make up when you're in late January and February. The continuity that some of the other teams have had, just difficult. Hindsight is always 20/20. If you told me before the year, 'hey, you're not going to have Malik', we probably would have done some things differently. But it is what it is, and we got to learn from it. We got to get better in the course of this hopefully normal offseason.
(On the process of deciding to not play in the NIT, and if the reports of Aidan Igiehon transferring are accurate)
Aidan is transferring. He put his name in the portal later this morning or early this afternoon. It's been a tough road for him. I know he had massive expectations coming in. But he just, he wasn't ready for college basketball at any level when he first came in, through no fault of his own. Then throughout his two years, he's just been injured almost consistently. When I talked to him this morning, I felt bad for him. Because again, a little bit like our team this year, if you can't be on the practice floor each and every day, how do you get better? It's not just about talking about it. I don't know if there have ever been two, three weeks in a row where Aiden was able to practice. It was just one tough thing after another. Some minor, some a little bit more major. It's just sort of what he's had to deal with first two years. I think him getting a fresh start at a new place, hopefully sort of turns the tide in terms of injury and being able to be a consistent player.
As far as the NIT, I mean, it's a class tournament. It is. It certainly isn't what we work towards, or what our goal is, but that decision was probably made a week or two ago. Between myself and Vince (Tyra, we were really on the same page. The health of our team this year just wasn't very good, even down the stretch, I mean, we had days where we're practicing with seven and eight players. When you go on two COVID pauses, you're losing your captain, you have guys that are injured, it wasn't the right decision for this team to play in the NIT. It's been a long and challenging season for a lot of reasons. It didn't have anything to do with the disappointment of last night, not playing in the NIT. It's a great tournament, it's a class tournament. Maybe we would have felt a little bit differently, had we been able to play in front of our fans and play in the Yum. But to go to Dallas, sit in hotel rooms, spaced apart with seven and eight healthy players, it just wasn't for this group.
(On what the program needs to do moving forwards)
We need to have a great offseason in front of us, one that we needed last summer to be quite honest. When you welcome three new freshmen, two grad transfers, and you're bringing back sophomores that didn't play a year ago, that virtually practiced and played mop-up minutes, we needed an offseason. Both in the weight room and on the court to develop our players, so that we could we could be a better team. That's what this team needs. We need to add a few pieces, and we're going to continue to do that as time rolls on. But the biggest thing is we need a really good offseason.
(On how being excluded compared to not having a tournament at all)
It's hard. It's what you work for, and it's what you want for your players. To see those guys have to sit down and watch team after team after team scroll by, I think by the time the end of the bracket was showing, I knew we weren't going to be a part of it. There's too many teams that were projected a little bit below us, and some brackets that were already being included, and there just wasn't much space left. By the time the bracket had a few teams left, I didn't hold out much hope. It's a tough job that the committee has. It's a tough job. You're not talking about major discrepancies between the last few teams to get in the tournament. It's paper thin, it's what do you value? Do you value in a year like this a team that's played more games? Or do you value great wins, or that bad loss? What do you value? People say the eye test, who did they beat? But at the end of the day, still a paper thin margin. You can argue on both sides of it. Had we been included, I think there'd be another team that said, 'why aren't we included?' It's tough. I think that there are a lot of things that sort of went into it. We played more road games in the ACC than we played home games. Did they take into account the fact that Carlik (Jones) didn't play and Jae'Lyn (Withers) played 10 minutes before couldn't breathe anymore at Wisconsin? We made the choice to play that game coming off of COVID. There's a lot of things, and I don't think there was one thing that necessarily pushed us out and could have got us in. Obviously, we could have won more games, and that would have done the trick. But it is what it is, and I don't fault the committee one bit. We put ourselves in that position.
(On addressing effort and energy during the offseason, with a possible correlation to pace of play)
Well, the lack of urgency that you guys like to point to, we never played or prepared like we were a shoo in for the tournament. Maybe that's how it appeared on TV, but we never thought that. When when you say lack of urgency, I say like - we've got a young team. 331st in the nation in inexperience. 331st! We took our most experienced team, a top 15 team a year ago, and we lost all five starters. And again, no offseason, we're asking these guys to be urgent every second. It's a very tough transition from high school to college. From never having played meaningful minutes, to now being counted on for 30 minutes. It was frustrating. It's frustrating as heck. But that lesson hopefully got learned last night when we watch the Selection Show play out. Listen, the pace of play - like we want to play faster. We're not going to be Rick Pitino and pressing all over the place, but we want to play full court, and we want to push the ball. We had two guards that played dang near 40 minutes again, and David (Johnson) and Carlik. 40! Josh Nickelberry was hurt almost more than half the season, as was Charles Minlend, those are our other two backup guards. So I'm going to ask those guys, for 40 minutes each, hey, we want you to pick up full court, turn the ball handler, we want you guys to push the pace, any defensive rebound that we ore made shot, we want to we want to push the pace like our hair's on fire. We want you to guard the best guards in the country, we want you to stay out of foul trouble, and by the way, be our two leading scores. Their wheels are going to fall off. So we recognized that we were a better team when we played faster. We recognize that. We made efforts to try and play faster. But again, we had conditioning issues, and we had injury issues where two of our fastest guys played 40 minutes a game. You couple that - we had 12 scholarship players, three of which were out almost the entire year, we're still limited on scholarships that we're allowed to have and hopefully that goes away after this season. But it is what it is. So to answer your question, yes, we felt the lack of urgency as a coach. Do we want to play faster? Yes, we want to play faster. Saying it and being able to do it are two different things.
(On the future of Carlik Jones & Malik Williams, and where they could turn to for improved three-point shooting)
We need to improve the three point shooting. There's no question. I would tell you that, one day after the Selection Show, I haven't had an opportunity to really sit down with Malik and Carlik. That's not something that's going to be hashed out in a day. Love to have both of those guys back, as you know. They're terrific players, they're great representatives of the university. But, we've also, and they also, have to look out for their future. I want whatever is best for them. Whether that's being in a Louisville uniform, or that's moving forward professionally, we're going to be very supportive of that. But I don't really have an answer right now, as to what those guys are going to do.
(On how he adjusts to dealing with stuff nobody's ever encountered prior)
It's a tough pill to swallow for those guys. We would have certainly been a part of it a year ago. We aren't a part of it this year. They, quite simply, came here to play for those type of expectations. I think failure is the greatest teacher, and the greatest motivator. I would like to think that how we felt last night, sitting in front of that video screen, will do wonders for our motivation and our understanding that every little thing that we do, as a player, as coaches matters. Everything. They're going to have to take that. They're going to have to take that that tough experience they had last night, and they've got to let it motivate them, and fuel them, and push them to be leaders of our program so that it doesn't happen again. So we're not in the same position, again. Guys are going to have to get a lot more mature, and a lot more grown up and soak in details a hell of a lot better than we did this year, so that it doesn't happen again. But, I think we have some guys that made some strides this year, but I don't think those strides were long enough to put us in a position where we're in the tournament this year. That beared itself out. So we push towards next year, and hopefully with a great offseason and a few additions, and then failure being a really good teacher, we'll be in a much different position a year from now.
(On approaching this week as a potential replacement team)
We'll be ready. I think that the prerequisite is that you have all those negative tests in a row, so we'll be ready. I don't see that happening. By tomorrow night, there has to be a team that doesn't have five players able to play. So I don't see that happening. No one's wishing for anybody to get COVID. We're not on hands and knees here praying for an outbreak. That's just not us. So I hope every team that got selected is able to play in the tournament and have a great experience. As I talked about, the tournament committee has a tough job. We're not a part of it, and I don't see that changing.
(On if there could be any more roster or coaching staff shakeup)
I think there's certainly going to be changes. I think it's too close to the tough news that we got last night, still trying to digest that. But some decisions are going to happen sooner than others. We talked about Aiden. College basketball is always about change, and I think this offseason will reflect that.
(On if the infractions case has been impacting the program and recruiting)
I think we have good players, and we're getting good players. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a factor, a huge factor.
(On if he expects any other players to enter the transfer portal)
I think that in 2021, with the opportunity to play right away looming, I would not be surprised if there weren't some decisions made on our team.
(On if he expects Charles Minlend to come back)
I think this is a really tough experience for Charles. He came here having scored almost 1500 points in college, and the injury really, really hurt him, and really set him back more than just the six weeks that was forecasted. I don't see Charles making the decision to come back. I think it's been a tough experience, I think he's done a terrific job of endearing himself to teammates. He was never a guy that was a malcontent. He was always for the team. I love that about him. But I think it was a tough playing experience, which I can relate to. I went through that my last year in college. But I don't anticipate him being back next year.
(On how he will handle the the NBA process with David Johnson)
Well, the thing with David is, I have a longer relationship with him. Obviously, I didn't recruit Jordan Nwora when he first came in here, but I built up a lot of trust with he and his family, and he made the decision to enter his name, and then ultimately pulled it out and had a really good junior year and got his degree. Got a guaranteed contract with the Bucks. I say this about every player that has that opportunity, I want what's best for David Johnson. I don't know what that is yet. I don't think he knows what that is yet, because that process really gets crystallized when you put your name in, and you get feedback from the entity that ultimately selects you. You can hear message board fodder, or draft board fodder, or people in the know, but the NBA gives you all the real feedback that you need to know. We see it played out all the time. Some kids make decisions, and you're like, 'why would he go?', and then the next thing you know, he's a top 15 pick. Then you see the opposite is true, where you say, 'why would that guy go?' and he doesn't get drafted. David's going to learn all about that with his family and the agent that sort of helps him through that process legally over the next couple months. I'll have a sit down, and I'll be as involved with any of my players as they want, or as uninvolved. I just want to be a supporter, and I'll give him my two cents. He made throw that two cents on the ground, or he may listen to it. Everybody's got to do what they feel like is in their best interest for their career, and I'll always be incredibly supportive of them.
(On of Carlik Jones will go through the same process as David Johnson)
I think he should. I know if he was my son, I'd try to get as much feedback as I could, and not make that decision on March 15, but when I have to make that decision. The good thing for our program, at least with with Carlik, is that he comes back, he's in essence to free scholarship. Maybe Vince doesn't feel like that with the budget, but he doesn't, he doesn't count against our scholarship count of 13 for next year. But again, I think it's always wise if you're being mentioned, if there's a legitimate chance for you to play at that next level, to get as much possible feedback, and to give it the best shot you can. Then make the decision based on the feedback you get. That's what my take would be for both of those guys.
(On if they are practicing in preparation for potentially being a replacement team)
We are not. Our guys are getting in the gym on their own. But it's tough to ask those guys to come in on the on the disappointment of last night, and say, 'hey, let's go out there and practice our butt off'. So no, we are not.
(On self-criticism)
I think having as much humility as you can to try to figure out 'what do I need to do better? Where do I need to grow as a coach? How can I put the best coaching staff forward that works together to help our team improve?' I ask those those questions in the offseason every year, and they probably have to be a lot more critical questions this year. I read an article that was really interesting about (Purdue HC) Matt Painter this morning on The Athletic. He talked about he had that time where he sort of went in a cave and reflected on why the program wasn't maybe what he had envisioned. Last night was really, really tough for a lot of people. But no tougher than the guy that you're looking at, whether people believe that or not. I've been to 20 NCAA Tournaments out of the 24 times I could have. I'm not used to being in a position where we don't make it. The one time that we did not make it at Xavier, we kicked off our best player, and then the other one got thrown out of school. Those were two first team all-conference type players. We took a step backwards to take a step forward. This was the, obviously in my mind, the first year that our record just wasn't good enough to be in the NCAA tournament for again, a lot of reasons. I'm gonna have, and still have, and do throughout the year - this isn't like an end of the season vision that I have all of a sudden. You're constantly trying to figure out ways to improve your team. But now I can do that without the crux of preparing for the next opponent, without worrying about what we're going to do at practice today. It's going to be good for for our program.
(On the transfer market)
24 hours ago, I was preparing Monday's practice. I wasn't preparing for end of the season meetings with our players. It's way too early. I think it's been, with Aiden, probably building. He hasn't been able to practice for the last month and a half, or play in games. That's why I think that decision was made so quick, at least quick in your guys's minds. But again, I was preparing for today's practice, not end of the season meetings. Those will happen over the next, seven to 10 days, and we'll sort of see what change comes about.
(On if there's an urgency to get ahead of the transfer market)
There's always an urgency. I think that we want to be quick, but we don't want to be in a hurry. We don't want to make wrong decisions either. It's a little bit of both. We've got to make sure that we're getting who we need to help us have the best team for next year. There's a balancing act there, I'd be lying if there wasn't. There's kids that are going into the portal each and every day, some of you have firmer relationships with because you recruited him at one point, some of them you've never heard of. We have to find the guys that can really help this team do the things that we want to do.
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