CRAWFORD | It has to be said: Exhibition win represents hoops healing to Louisville | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- If this column is going to bother you, then just skip it. With my apologies. I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm not living in the past. But I'm a big believer in putting the past and present into a context.

I will, I promise, let this go. But not today.

I can't just let Louisville's opening exhibition under Pat Kelsey slide by without remembering the program's last exhibition game against a Division II opponent: last year's 71-68 loss to Kentucky Wesleyan. Or, for that matter, his predecessor's first exhibition game, also a loss to a Division II opponent, Lenior-Rhyne.

I want to say at the outset that this year's opponent, Young Harris College, is probably not as good as that Wesleyan team that beat Louisville a year ago. I don't know. That KWC team did finish 21-9 and did go to the D-II tournament.

From KP to PK: By the numbers

That is, of course, not going to stop me. It might surprise you to know that Louisville's tempo in its 106-59 win over Young Harris was actually slower than the season average from last season by a possession and a half. Turns out, it's not so much the number of possessions but what you do with them.

UL YOUNG Terrence Edwards Jr. — Terence Edwards Jr. drains one of his six three pointers in a 24-point performance for Louisville in its exhibition victory over Young Harris in the KFC Yum! Center.
ERIC CRAWFORD

I had a previous commitment Monday night, a Zoom lecture on the Changing Landscape of College Basketball to give to a class at Bellarmine, so I missed the first 10 minutes or so of Louisville's exhibition win. I gave the lecture in the press conference room in the arena, then walked into the game late.

If I'd been in there from the opening tip, I'd have seen that Louisville made more three-pointers by the first media timeout (six) than it made in the whole game against Kentucky Wesleyan (five). I walked in with just over 10 minutes elapsed. Louisville had 31 points at the 10-minute mark Monday night. Last season against KWC at that point, it had eight.

I also soon noticed that Louisville matched its first-half assist total from that KWC loss (three) in the first minute and 33 seconds of the game and matched its entire game total (seven) in the first 6:31 of action.

What it means

There's not much point drawing too many forward-looking conclusions from a first exhibition. There's a lot to like in the way Louisville moves the ball, passes up good shots for better ones and makes the shots it takes. There are some concerns about how the interior will hold up in the ACC. A team with some tough pieces will need to get tougher overall, but I don't think anyone would dispute that.

This was a first game. There will be time for more serious evaluations as the competition gets more serious.

The key point, for me, is that we're not sitting here evaluating a loss. And that, this team with 13 new players who have not played together, displayed more team attitude than any Louisville team the past two-and-a-half seasons. They looked like they knew what they were trying to do. The coaches seemed like they knew exactly what they were looking for.

"I thought it was great to be out there with the lights on," Kelsey said, by way of opening statement. "I told (athletics director) Josh (Heird) that I have coached hundreds and hundreds of games as a head coach. I have coached in a bunch of NCAA Tournaments and things like that – this preparation today and these hours leading up to this game might be the most nervous I have been as a head coach. I am just being honest. It was the culmination of a crazy seven months or so. Just to be out there for the first time, standing out there on those sidelines was so nice. The ovation that we got when we came out was great. Our guys jumped on them from the tip and banged a bunch of threes in the first half. We played really hard and got us off to a great start."

I kind of rewound, at that point, to Kenny Payne's opening statement after his first exhibition, a loss to Lenoir-Rhyne. He first gave credit to Cardinal alum Everick Sullivan, who coached the winners, then said this: "We needed this. We needed this whoopin'. We needed this loss, because there's something that happened to this program before I got here that hasn't been healed yet."

The last word

I don't know if the program has been healed. The season will tell. Things aren't back to normal, if ever they will be. I do know this – nobody is talking about the need for the program to be healed. Nobody is talking about whether it's broken.

One more Payne quote, for old time's sake, from after the loss to Lenoir-Rhyne in his first exhibition. In praise of the team that beat his, he said, "They moved the ball. They played well together. They've got veteran players. They were doing the things that I want my team to do."

At long last, coach, it is.

Louisville Basketball Coverage:

Breaking:

Kentucky man killed in officer-involved shooting in Frankfort, KSP says