Charles Minlend & Co. Continuing to Craft Chemistry For Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The current college basketball offseason has not reached the finish line just yet, but it's starting to look promising that it will indeed get there.
While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic still could strike the Louisville men's basketball program at any minute like it has the football program, there are signs that we will indeed get to see the Cardinals in action during the 2020-21 season.
The program was able to create the 'Wade Houston Tipoff Classic' to salvage their non-conference schedule after the NCAA pushed back the season's start date. A plan is in place to hold a reduced amount of fans for the upcoming season. According to reports, the ACC will finally unveil their conference schedule sometime next week.
"It's kind of strange putting it into perspective," guard Charles Minlend told the media on Thursday. "But it's exciting. It gets a lot of guy amped up. Guys have been pretty focused, pretty locked in."
The Cards won't have to wait much longer, as their first game of the season is set for Wednesday, Nov. 25 against the Southern Illinois Salukis. So far in preseason practice leading up to the season opener, Minlend and others have been in 'high spirits' despite the uncertainties of COVID.
"We've just been kind of figuring each other out, still competing really hard," he said. "People are trying to define and carve out roles & niches and stuff like that. It's been really hard competing every single day."
With the Cardinals losing six of their top eight scorers from last season, chemistry is something that the program has been working hard to build in a truncated offseason. Minlend is one of several newcomers within the program, coming over from the University of San Francisco as a grad transfer where he averaged 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals as a redshirt junior
"We have a lot of unique players, and figuring out how those attributes work well together has been something that we're still trying to figure out," he said. "We have a lot of young guys who haven't really played that much, and guys coming in like me and Carlik (Jones)."
Minlend notes that roles are not "straightforward" yet, but many guys have stepped up and stood out over the course of the preseason practice period. He is especially impressed over the performance of fellow grad transfer Carlik Jones, who came over from Radford University and is the reigning Big South Player of the Year.
"He's an extremely talented player," Minlend said. "He does a lot of really good things, he's a really smart player too. He knows how to take advantage of what the defense gives him."
Chemistry might be a work in progress, but drive & competition most certainly is not. Minlend says that practice has been extremely competitive since it started last month, and that the players are working hard to silence any existing doubt regarding their capabilities.
"People have different opinions about how we're going to be this year, and we just want to prove everybody wrong and be the best team we can be," he said.
(Photo of Charles Minlend: University of Louisville Athletics)
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