LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The ground vibrated when Chris Mack signed his "dazzling" six-player 2019 recruiting class for the University of Louisville men's basketball program.
What a fun four years loomed for the Cards.
Kentucky insiders were concerned after national recruiting guru Evan Daniels broke the jarring news that silo-sized center Aidan Igiehon, the No. 55 prospect in the nation, was on the brink of picking U of L over Kentucky. Who does that? Igiehon's best basketball was absolutely ahead of him. His athleticism was off the charts.
Hours of talk radio chatter affirmed that Mack and Louisville were on the brink of becoming a force for Kentucky to take seriously.
David Johnson would come to Louisville from Trinity High School and play one or two seasons before moving to the NBA.
Ditto for Samuell Williamson, the do-it-all, Texas McDonald's All-American, who picked the Cards over Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and a cast of thousands.
Louisville's Samuell Williamson dunks during Louisville's victory at Pittsburgh on Dec. 22, 2020.
When I asked an AAU basketball coach in North Carolina for a player comp for Cardinal signee Josh Nickelberry, the coach never hesitated: Buddy Hield, a first-team all-American and first-round draft choice from Oklahoma. I believed him,
Quin Slazinski was on board coming to town to serve in the role of project. A bigger guy who could make three-pointers.
And Jae'Lyn Withers was a legitimate sleeper with offers from Arizona, Texas, Clemson and North Carolina State.
No wonder rivals.com ranked Mack's signature class the sixth-best in the nation, with the 247Sports.com composite class calculator ranking Louisville No. 12. You can make big NCAA Tournament runs with talent like that.
Time for some modern math: What is the sum of one five-star (Williamson); three four-stars (Igiehon; Johnson; Nickelberry) and two three-stars?
The answer is zero — as in how many of those players will participate in the Cardinals' 2023 Senior Night farewell ceremony at 9 p.m. Tuesday when Virginia Tech visits the KFC Yum! Center.
It's a Senior Night Without the Guys Who Were Supposed to be The Seniors.
Only Withers remains in the program, and with at least one more season of eligibility, he can return to Kenny Payne's program or play elsewhere next season.
Louisville freshman forward Quinn Slazinski was hospitalized with an appendix issue on Wednesday.
The answer is zero — as in zero NCAA Tournament appearances by the class that created considerable hyperventilation and hours of talk radio blather.
What happened?
What didn't happen?
The recruiting gurus should be fined for excessive use of stars and syrup adjectives. You could argue that at least four players in the class were wildly overrated. I'll let you decide which four.
The players did not respond or develop under Mack and his coaching staff. Four left after two seasons. Another departed last spring.
The toxic mixture of COVID-19 (which canceled the 2020 NCAA Tournament and turned the 2021 season into a bizarre series of starts and stops); the ongoing distractions of NCAA investigators; the availability of the transfer portal creating instant eligibility and the overall challenging environment that has lingered around this program.
But in a time when players have been empowered with more freedom and opportunity, they also deserve more scrutiny and responsibility.
And not one of the six delivered for Louisville basketball the way that everybody said they would.
Johnson played two solid seasons, likely suffering during his second season because Mack insisted in putting the ball in the hands of Carlik Jones. Bad move for Johnson's future. No wonder he wanted out even though time has shown Johnson was not ready for the NBA.
In nearly two full seasons as a professional, Johnson has played a combined 1 minute and 59 seconds in two NBA games. This season, he has done all of his work in the G-League, averaging 6.8 points who has played off the bench in 10 of 13 games for the Raptors' G-League team.
Yes, he's been paid, but it's reasonable to wonder how much more money Johnson might make in the long turn if he was a senior at Louisville this season averaging close to 20 points per game and a first-team all-ACC player.
Williamson left for SMU after last season, hoping to find his misplaced confidence and 20-foot jumper. He's the fourth-leading scorer on a 10-19 team who has made three of 16 shots from distance. Another year outside March Madness.
Igiehon is the 11th-leading scorer on an 18-11 Grand Canyon team that will have to make its conference tournament to advance in March. The recruiting gurus who went gaga over Igiehon should turn in their credentials.
Nickelberry is the second-leading scorer for a 13-16 LaSalle team that is tied for ninth place in the Atlantic 10 Conference. He's made an impressive 67 of 170 (.394) of his three-point shots. That makes him a likely candidate to transfer back to a Power 5 program next season, even if people have cooled on the Hield comparisons.
Slazinski performed like one of the best players on Rick Pitino's Iona team that won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season title until an ankle injury ended his season in mid January. He found the correct level for his skills. Nothing wrong with that.
And Tuesday night, Withers, a starter in 26 games as well as the Cards' third-leading scorer, will watch as the program honors two seniors: El Ellis and Sydney Curry.
But they won't be the seniors who were supposed to change this program and be honored on this Senior Night.
Jae'Lyn Withers follows up a 3-point make in Louisville's ACC game against Syracuse in the KFC Yum! Center on Jan. 3, 2023.
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