Takeaways From Louisville Men's Basketball's 2022 Media Day
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program held their annual Media Day on Wednesday, and you can imagine, the Cardinals had plenty to discuss regarding the upcoming 2022-23 season. Below are some of the more impactful takeaways from the availability with the head coach Kenny Payne and the players.
Louisville is set to tipoff the season on Wednesday, Nov. 9 vs. Bellamine at the KFC Yum! Center
Payne's Culture Change Focusing on Getting Players to "Conquer Themselves"
Since his hiring back in March, new Louisville head coach Kenny Payne has talked about the culture that he wants to establish at Louisville on a couple occasions. Over the summer when speaking at a season ticket event, he said that he is not focused on wins and losses in year one, and simply wants to focus on building a "championship culture" during his first year at the helm.
Between the ACC Tipoff earlier this month and at Media Day, Payne expanded upon this topic by saying that his culture at Louisville is going to be predicated on "a work ethic that’s probably borderline impossible," particularly when it comes to conditioning. Payne is implementing this because he believes that, before Louisville can truly conquer an opponent, they must first "conquer themselves."
"You only can tell what character is through adverse situations, and that's what we're trying to do, establish who we are as players," he said. "I can't talk about another team. I can't talk about an opponent until I get players to conquer themselves. We get players to conquer themselves then we can talk about being a unit and caring for each other, protecting each other, and being a team. Then we can talk about an opponent.”
Payne says that this type of approach is both something that was partially inspired by his head coach at Louisville, Denny Crum, and one that is is crafting on his own. He believes that players can't truly embrace what it is to be part of a team until they are able to overcome what's holding themselves back.
"If you’re insecure as a player, you’re not worrying about what the other guys are doing, you’re only concerned about ‘I missed that shot.'," he said. "I want you to get past that, I want you to be secure in knowing that you worked hard every morning, every practice, every night you got in this gym, you shot the ball… you’ve watched film with the coaches… you understand what you’re doing so that you feel good about your development. At that point, you’ll care about the team."
Louisville Confident in Team-Wide Ability to Handle the Ball
One of the biggest storylines throughout the entire offseason regarding Louisville has been the perceived lack of ball-handlers. The Cardinals have just three scholarship true guards on the roster, with just one of them being a returner from last year's squad in El Ellis.
But as far as the other two guards, true freshman Fabio Basili and transfer Hercy Miller, Payne admits there might be a nit of a learning curve, but he is confident in their abilities to be meaningful factors for the Cardinals in the backcourt.
"Fabio is a good basketball player, still has a lot to learn," he said. "Playing before in high school, you're just worried about you. I'm asking him to worry about everybody else. I'm asking him to know the five spot, the four spot, the three spot, the two spot. Know their positions and be able to play their positions. That’s different, he's a kid. But he's embracing it. He comes to work every day, he's fighting.
"Hercy Miller, I'm just asking him to be solid. Just be solid for me, and I'll play you. I know what you'll give me defensively. I know where your heart is, I know you work very hard. I don't care about talent level. I don't care that it may look like on paper that a guy may be way more talented than you. Will over skill, I'll take that.”
However, Louisville is comfortable with letting someone else besides these three bring the ball up the court. Guys on the wings like Mike James, Kamari Lands and Devin Ree will also have opportunities to have the ball in their hands, and even bigger guys like Jae'Lyn Withers or Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. To the Cardinals, they don't view being short in the backcourt as a weakness, and think that several guys will have a hand in running their offense.
"That's what so special about our group, we have guys that can do everything," Ellis said. "That's why we're going to be so good, because they're going to take a lot of pressure off of me, and they're going to be able to help me a lot. Having guys that are versatile, that can do multiple things, is what is going to make us very good."
Team Captains Embracing Leadership Roles
It's no surprise that, out of the just six players who opted to return from last year's team, three of them are captains. Earlier this offseason, Payne tabbed Ellis, Sydney Curry and Jae'Lyn Withers as the Cardinals' captains for the 2022-23 season. He says that all three are embracing their newfound roles, but does admit that Curry is still trying to "figure it out."
"He’s fighting the conditioning, just to be honest with you," Payne said. "I know he wants to do it. And it’s hard. ... But leadership is more than just using your voice. So I am telling Syd, ‘Syd, you’re a leader, you can’t come in last in the running, and you’re a leader. You have to fight, even if you come next to last, that’s better than last.’ And then when you do, give your all, don’t give 80%. Because giving 80%, the other guys see it. Be a leader by example as well.”
When discussing Withers, he describes him as being a lot "more vocal" than how he has been in the past, and has taken a step up in terms of "orchestrating guys, telling them where to be.' As far as Ellis goes, he backed up his claim from earlier in the offseason that he is "embracing" the program.
"Louisville basketball means so much to this community, and I've really taken that to heart," Ellis said. "I've really taken to heart being a leader of this team, trying to be better for the guys because of what we went through last year."
Payne Guiding Big Men Jae'Lyn Withers, J.J. Traynor Upwards From Down Seasons
While both Jae'Lyn Withers and J.J. Traynor were able to get relatively on track towards the end of last season, they are each coming off of down seasons. Withers struggled immensely over the first couple months, whereas Traynor couldn't even crack the rotation for long stretches of time.
Over the years, on top of being great with cultivating relationship, Payne has made a name for himself when it comes to developing big man. He's dead set on helping both Withers and Traynor realize their untapped potential, especially Withers, even if both guys have yet to realize it themselves.
"(Jae'Lyn)'s talented, he’s really talented," Payne said. "But at times, he second guesses. When adversity hits, he backs up sometimes. He gets frustrated with himself. ... What if you hang your head, you are our leader. We’re following you. So, when your head goes down, everyone else’s head goes down. We are expecting you to lead us. You have to lead us the right way."
With Traynor, it's more so about getting him to be less reserved and recapture his confidence. Payne fully admits that there is still a ways to go with Traynor, and that Traynor has occasionally struggled with how hard he has been getting pushed, but that he is proud of the progress he has made in his time at Louisville.
“I saw a kid whose confidence was wavering in the beginning. We addressed it," Payne said. "I saw a kid that was searching to find out who he is. I saw a kid that was maybe nervous about opening up and saying ‘look at me and who I am and tell me who I am or what I am… what type of player I am.’ Now I see a guy that’s growing."
Louisville to Take Full Advantage of Preseason Court Time
Louisville has gotten plenty of offseason work in the gym, there's no doubt about that. But given the amount of new faces with the program, both amongst the coaching staff and the player roster, it's hard to truly evaluate what the team is or what they are capable of doing.
Before the season gets underway against Bellarmine on Nov. 9, the Cardinals will hold their Red/White Scrimmage, as well as play exhibitions against Lenoir-Rhyne and Chaminade. Payne isn't going to take these opportunities lightly, and is going to take full advantage of these moments to figure out what he has on his hands.
"It’ll be one of the first few times we get to truly evaluate," he said. "It’s an evaluation time. I want everybody to play. I want to see who everybody is when the lights are on. When fans are in the seats, who is going to be nervous, whose hands are shaking and who is going to embrace it. Who is going to get a rush, who is going to be fighting within a team concept. So this will give me that opportunity."
Cardinals Using Low ACC Preseason Poll Ranking as Motivation
Due to the lack of success Louisville has last year, and the amount of new faces with the program, it's not surprising that many aren't very high on the Cardinals this year. In the 2022 ACC Preseason Poll, Louisville was picked to finish 12th in the league, just ahead of Boston College, Pitt and Georgia Tech.
As you can imagine, the team is using this as motivation heading into the new season. In fact, Payne wishes they'd had been picked even lower.
"I want this team to earn everything they get," he said. "I want this team to prove to people that they are willing to fight and that nobody else controls their destiny. It’s better when it is the way it is now. I don’t even know where we were picked, 11th or whatever. That’s great. I wished they had picked us 12th. How many teams are in it? Pick us 16th.
"I want my players to understand what that means. Go fight to prove that they belong in the upper echelon. Now, they have to want that. It doesn’t matter that I want it. They have to want it and they have to come together and fight for it together.”
(Photo of Kenny Payne: Cindy Rice Shelton - Louisville Report)
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