Kenny Payne - Louisville
- Thread starter TheSpecialSauce
- Start date
The ACC just doesn't take basketball seriously. On paper, for a near-blue blood, this is an atrocious hire. Now, you can't screw Louisville up too bad. Even Mack did much better there than you would think so Payne will win....but not at an SEC level.
They did. And the Michigan, Georgetown, UNC route. Thing is, Woodson did an ok job but that team had talent. BJD is as good of a big as there is the nation and their supporting cast is good. Not great. But good. That Geronimo kid came off the bench and looked like he'd be one of the best players at Pitt in years. So I'm not even sure I'd say Woodson did that good of a job.
They’re a long way from Pitino in the coaching department these days. This hire should keep them mediocre for the forseeable future.
Assistant coach, former NBA player who had never been a HC. That's what I was going with.
The SEC getting serious about basketball really hurts the ACC more than anyone else. 10-15 years ago, a guy like Pearl or Nate Oats runs from Auburn/Bama to get Louisville but now there’s just no need if you’re happy where you are.
No one else has been affected. The SEC and ACC simply swapped places. The SEC used to get in just Kentucky plus 2-3 other schools. Now the ACC is just Duke, UNC + 2-3 other schools in terms of NCAAT teams. I understand not being able to get Oats or Pearl but Louisville had to do better than Kenny Payne. I mean Pitt fans were up in arms when we heard we might hire Scheyer. Yet, Duke can name their next coach and they choose a guy Pitt fans didnt want. We also would have hated a hire of Hubert David and Kenny Payne but blue bloods pick them. The ACC needs to do better.
Payne is fine. He’s not a “home run” hire which you would expect from Louisville but he can certainly succeed there. The problem isn’t that they hired Kenny Payne but that they couldn’t get Bruce Pearl or someone similar.
You cant screw up Louisville that bad. I think he'll have them a little better than Mack level which wasnt that bad:
Year 1: NCAAT 7 seed 1st Round loss
Year 2: would have been 2-3 seed but canceled
Year 3: 13-7, 2 Covid pauses, didn't make it
Year 4: half a season
His 1st 2 years were fine. Year 3 was a Covid mess but his record wasnt that bad. His biggest problem was that several very highly regarded recruits like Williamson and Igiehon were complete misses. He didn't forget how to coach but didn't have enough talent in Years 3 and 4. That's on him but was just a bit unlucky.
I would expect Payne to make the NCAAT more often than not but I see them as that 8/9 seed type under him which for your ACC #3 or #4 program, isnt good enough.
