Louisville Basketball Has To Be Apart of The National Conversation Again

It has been a long time since Louisville basketball has gotten much national attention, and as fans, the drought has lasted way too long.

The last time Louisville basketball really felt releveant was the 2019-2021 season where the Cardinals were helmed by then head coach Chris Mack. Mack had the Cardinals ranked #1 at one point in the season, and it all accumlated in a top 4 matchup against Michigan in the KFC Yum Center, where the Cardinals defeated #4 Michigan in a sold out white out crowd in Louisville.

Those are the type of moments that fans die for, and moments like that is what has been severely missing in the Kenny Payne era. Louisville hosted #12 Duke last Tuesday, and the fact that the attendance was somewhere south of 8,000 is downright embarrassing. Hosting Duke in your home arena should always be a big attendance night for any team, especially if you are Louisville.

However, the topic of discussion has now moved from “It’s unbelievable that only 20,000 people attended the Duke game” to “8,000 is a record amount of people to attend Louisville this year.” Sincerely, it is depressing how awful things have gone under Kenny Payne.

I don’t think Payne will ever be able to recapture the faith, confidence, and enthusiasm of the fan base, even if things do manage to improve under him this season. Instead of merely pleading for “patience” and “true Louisville fans,” Louisville needs a new coach who can energize the supporters for the team’s future.

Moving past Kenny Payne is the first step in ending this terrible basketball for Louisville’s community and citizens.