CRAWFORD | For Payne and Louisville, the 'elephant in the room' bears watching | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The elephant in the room, Louisville coach Kenny Payne said on Friday, is, "I know we’ve got to win games."

Payne spoke with local reporters for the first time since Denny Crum’s memorial service Friday afternoon, but his comments didn’t differ significantly from prior press gatherings.

This isn’t a criticism, just an observation. The elephant in the room isn’t that Louisville needs to win games. The phrase "elephant in the room" is a euphemism for an obvious problem or difficult situation that everyone can see but nobody wants to talk about.

But everybody wants to talk about Louisville needing to win more games. I can’t go to the grocery store without a discussion of it. The elephant in the room, frankly, is whether Payne is capable of winning enough games. And that’s not even an elephant in the room, really, for fans, who are all too willing to tell you where they stand right now.

It's an elephant for media types like me, who don’t know whether he will or not, but believe he deserves at least this season as a chance to show improvement in all areas.

So far this offseason, Payne says, the team has. The group he has been working with, he said, is "a step better, or two, in the right direction."

"We have a bunch of players that are pretty good basketball players," Payne said. "And my hope and goal is that when you guys look at them, they pass the eye test."

Beyond that, Payne wasn’t about to fall into the trap of putting a tangible number or level of accomplishment on what sufficient improvement would look like.

"One thing I cannot do is hype it up, because it’s unfair to these kids," Payne said. ". . . I cannot, in my mind allow you to take that question to NCAA Tournaments or to a number of wins."

Oh, we’re going there. Because that’s the main question of the summer for Louisville basketball fans. How much is enough? Is a "step better, or two" going to be enough?

How many wins are enough for Payne to earn some breathing room? How many losses are enough to send him packing? Is the NCAA Tournament a requirement in Year 2?

I don’t need to be "allowed" to place a number or a bar in place. But the bar is meaningless. The only bar that really matters is whatever bar Louisville athletics director Josh Heird decides to impose, and it’s highly likely that Heird’s bar includes some intangibles. I know he’s watching the program closely. He’s at practices. He’s in the locker room. He knows how important all this is for his overall department’s health.

Here's what I’m going to say about the standard Payne must meet next season: If he has reached it, the vast majority of us are likely to know it and agree that he has. And if he hasn't met it, we’ll most of us know and agree on that, too. I honestly believe it will be self-evident.

I’m not saying the decision can be made in January, because in college basketball the final exam is the most important part of the grade.

But this team – regardless of its talent level or accomplishments on the court – will either look like an engaged, hard-working, well-coached team by February, or it won’t.

And then we’ll all get to have our say.

Payne, on Friday, reprised some of his greatest hits. He noted that the program he inherited was not in good shape. In a 40-minute press conference, he used the word "inherit" a half-dozen times.

"I inherited something that was broken, or I wouldn’t have gotten the job, right?" he asked reporters.

Again, later, he said, "We inherited the players, but we also inherited a schedule that was daunting. Now I feel like it's the first step where we can have our imprint on the schedule. It wasn't done before we got here. I think we have a competitive schedule. I think that's important that we play competitive teams, teams that are really good. But it's also important that we play teams where we learn about ourselves, I think we have a good mix of both."

I don’t think most Louisville fans would say opening with Bellarmine, Wright State and Appalachian State is particularly daunting – though the subsequent six of Arkansas, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Maryland, Miami and Florida State were no picnic.

An easier opening schedule would have, no doubt, helped last season’s team. The problem is, if it couldn’t beat Division II Lenoir-Rhyne in an exhibition, who were they going to get who could fit that bill?

Regardless, the talent level should be greater. The "cloud" of NCAA sanctions is gone. Payne said his returning players have improved. His new players have worked hard. One newcomer, Ty-Laur Johnson, remains an unknown.

The roster has promise. It also lacks anyone who has proven the ability to lead a team to a high level Power 5 finish over the course of a whole season. It doesn’t mean they can’t. Just means they haven’t done that yet.

I’m not here to predict anything at this point, especially not having looked at the team even once. Like most people in Louisville, I like Payne, and want him to succeed. But also, like most, I think last season was worse than it should have been, by a pretty good bit.

One thing we should have learned is that none of this preseason stuff really matters until we see this group on the court, against real competition. We wrote a lot of words about Payne's first season before it began. Nobody envisioned 4-28.

So here we are.

Oh, and have you met my pet elephant?