LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- If you pay attention to the recruiting gurus or NBA scouts, John Calipari has stacked guys on his bench more talented than two players Chris Mack starts at Louisville.
Of course, if you pay attention to the team ratings by the writers, coaches or computers, Mack has overcome the talent gap to build a more complete and fearsome basketball team.
On Saturday afternoon, this is a Louisville team that needs to prove it can do something the last five Cardinal teams failed to achieve in Rupp Arena:
Show how the better team in this rivalry does not always have to be the one with better players.
Ignore the noise, shrug at the whistles and overcome the talent gap to defeat a Calipari team in Lexington.
Evansville, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Florida have all won in Rupp Arena since Louisville celebrated success there on Jan. 5, 2008. There’s no excuse for the Cardinals to keep misfiring.
Generally, the explanation has been the string of first-round NBA Draft picks Calipari has collected. Sometimes the Wildcats have been slightly better, but often, they have been considerably better.
The Wildcats are not considerably better this season, although the recruiting gurus and NBA scouts remain more dazzled with Calipari’s guys than Mack’s guys.
According to 247Sports, Kentucky has seven 5-stars and a pair of 4-stars. The Wildcats don’t have anybody who matters with the dreaded 3-star tag that the talent evaluators hung on two Louisville starters: guard Ryan McMahon and forward Dwayne Sutton.
I asked Sutton if he received any interest from the Kentucky basketball staff communicated by text, email or carrier pigeon when he was a senior at duPont Manual High School and committed to North Carolina-Asheville.
“I did not,” Sutton said. “No, sir. Not one.”
No biggie. Sutton played less than two miles from Rick Pitino’s office, and the Cardinals generally ignored Sutton, too, until he excelled as a college freshman.
Despite the Wildcats’ 8-3 record, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic wrote earlier this week that Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey was No. 7 on his 2020 NBA Draft board, that UK guard Ashton Hagans has done “an awesome job of helping himself this year” and that freshman forward Kahlil Whitney is “a premier athlete in terms of explosiveness.”
I can’t imagine what Vecenie would have written if Kentucky had actually beaten Evansville or Utah.
But that’s another cue to re-emphasize my point:
This is the year for Louisville to finally show that although NBA scouts and recruiting guys slobber over Kentucky, it’s time for the Cardinals to show they have the better team.
The Cardinals are ranked 16 spots ahead of the Wildcats in the Associated Press Top 25, 15 spots better in the USA Today coaches’ poll, 13 places ahead in Ken Pomeroy’s computer formula and seven spots in Jeff Sagarin’s predictor formula.
Get this: There is a 65-team gap between the Cards (No. 7) and the Wildcats (No. 72) in the NCAA NET formula that was created for the Tournament Selection Committee.
Outside the 859 area code, it’s essentially unanimous. Louisville is better.
If you listened to Mack or Sutton discuss the game Friday, it was clear they agreed on what the Cardinals had to do:
Not play with fear. Be the aggressor. Make no excuses.
“When you play UK, it’s important that you take care of the ball, be smart with your decisions but also be aggressive,” Sutton said. “I think when you get in the paint, pump fake, use their athleticism to your advantage … I don’t think we played as aggressive as we should have (in past losses). I think we kind of played timid in spots.
“But coach Mack and his staff have made it clear that we’re going to go down there and be the enforcers and let UK know. Just play hard and have fun.”
It was relayed to Mack that Sutton made the point about Louisville being the aggressor — several times.
Mack was pleased. He was also skeptical. I don’t blame him. That’s the same thing the Louisville players said last season and two years ago when David Padgett led the Cardinals into their last appearance at Rupp, a punishing 29-point Kentucky rout.
“Good,” Mack said, when he was told of Sutton’s analysis. “I’m glad he mentioned it. We said the same thing last year and weren’t very aggressive.”
Kentucky is more talented. Louisville is a better team.
But nobody is going to believe that until the Cardinals actually prove it.
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