The Louisville Cardinals have been the most intriguing team in college basketball this season. The team is ranked 4th in the AP Top 25 poll, and garnered two 1st place votes last week. Louisville is 12-0 on the season and heads into Big East play tonight with a matchup against Georgetown. On the surface, all looks well in Louisville and the Cardinals appear to be a top 5 team. In fact, two weeks ago freshman forward Chane Behanan predicted that the Cardinals will go undefeated this season. However, there are serious questions about this team under the surface that have yet to be answered.
Louisville has been down at home in the second half in the last two games, first to The College of Charleston and then to Western Kentucky. Although the Cardinals were able to steal both these games, the struggles of Louisville during these games illuminated a few concerns about the team. First, Louisville’s scoring has been inconsistent this season. The team has considerable talent on offense, with Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith as knockdown 3-point shooters, but the constant reliance on the 3-point shot has gotten the team into trouble against teams it should have beaten easily. Second, the Cardinals’ center, Gorgui Dieng, is 6’11” and is very talented, but as a sophomore from Senegal, he still has a lot to learn about the game of basketball. He is averaging nearly 11 points and over 10 rebounds per game, but he is still unable to score at will or make individual offensive moves with his back to the basket. That leaves Peyton Siva as the lone consistent offensive threat for Louisville. Siva is one of the quickest guards in the country, but opens scoring opportunities before he scores for himself. He is averaging 6.4 assists per game, and scores 9 points per game.
Louisville is a team with so much talent at so many positions, but still has not put it all together. If Gorgui Dieng continues to grow as an offensive force, and Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith can hit three pointers consistently, Louisville will undoubtedly be a top 5 team in the country. However, the team isn’t ready to take that next step as it enters conference play. Tonight Louisville will host #12 Georgetown, and then will travel to in-state rival Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Saturday. Louisville is not prepared to compete at the level necessary to go 2-0 in this brutal stretch, and I would not be surprised to see Louisville drop tonight’s game against Georgetown at home and start 0-1 in conference play, followed by a loss at Kentucky.