CRAWFORD | Payne wanted substance from 'Louisville Live.' He provided it | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – It was a different kind of admission from first-year coach Kenny Payne ahead of the University of Louisville’s now-annual Louisville Live extravaganza downtown.

But by now you should know, Payne is a different kind of coach. Payne admitted to being a little wary of all the hype. He said he wanted the program to be about substance. And when he took the microphone Friday night in front of more than 10,000 fans in Louisville Slugger Field, he delivered it.

“I want this program to be a program that’s different,” Payne said a day before the event. “I want it to be about character. I want it to be about work ethic. I’m a little afraid of the hype of a Louisville Live. I want substance. But every program needs the hype. We need the attention. We need the notoriety of having something that’s special. We for need Jack Harlow to be there. But also, we need to know that that’s not the main thing. The main thing is substance.”

These events, of course, exist largely for recruiting. You bring prospects in, and put on a show. The very locations of these shows are tied to NCAA recruiting rules. You can’t put one on outside a one-mile radius from your campus. Fortunately for Louisville, its Health Sciences Campus allows for these downtown events.

In the past week, a top recruit from New Jersey, Aaron Bradshaw, committed to Kentucky. Earlier this week, Kentucky coach John Calipari was in Louisville making reference to how he loved coaching the sons of his former players. One he figures to be coaching next season is D.J. Wagner.

Kenny Payne and Pervis Ellison — Kenny Payne embraces Pervis Ellison at Louisville Live.
ERIC CRAWFORD

Wagner is the grandson of former Louisville great and current Louisville director of basketball operations Milt Wagner. Both he and Bradshaw play on an AAU team directed by former Louisville All-American, and Payne’s college roommate, Pervis Ellison.

Ellison was in the house Friday night. When all of the former players present were brought onto the stage, Payne introduced them to the crowd as a group.

“Hey guys,” Payne told the crowd. “I really need you to understand this. This is Louisville basketball. These are my brothers. These are your brothers.”

And then he said he needed to do one more thing. “Where’s my roommate? Where’s Big P?”

Ellison came forward, and Payne embraced him.

Nothing else needed to be said. That embrace exemplified what Payne is about better than any story could have.

Relationships won’t be defined by what recruits decide to do. They run deeper than that. Recruiting is the highest-stakes world college coaches operate in. But there are bonds that transcend it.

IMAGES | Louisville Live basketball event at Louisville Slugger Field

Payne wanted substance. He provided it. At an event designed for display, he showed something.

Ellison doesn’t come back to Louisville often. Payne’s gesture said to him, and all of Louisville’s former players, “come back home.”

Behind the scenes, there were a couple of letdowns. A.J. Johnson, a major recruiting target of Payne’s, had to cancel because his mother was ill. A four-star 2024 wing, Carter Bryant, also had to reschedule.

Even so, Payne had more high-level prospects at the event than the men’s program has had in years, and women’s coach Jeff Walz had his usual collection of highly ranked recruits.

Walz also punctuated his remarks with an endorsement of Payne’s work with the men’s team, and a request to support the men in the KFC Yum! Center this season.

The program itself was typical. The first hour was strong. Harlow is enthusiastic. His presence created a buzz, and his eagerness to support his hometown should be commended. Angel McCoughtry and Peyton Siva are All-American people.

The players were introduced and made the long walk from home plate to the temporary court through a corridor of fans. It was a nice visual. The introduction of former players was a high point, and when the current men’s team waded into the large contingent of former Cardinals and started hugging them, it was a nice moment.

But once the players and coaches have been introduced, these events disintegrate pretty quickly into various skills competitions with a bunch of players and others milling around the court.

IMAGES | Jack Harlow appears at Louisville Live 2022

Peyton Verhulst won the 3-point shooting contest. And Brandon Huntley-Hatfield won the slam-dunk contest, though for a second straight year, the dunk contest didn’t inspire hope for the team’s overall season prospects.

Regardless, on a night of hype, it was some historic Louisville names that provided the home run moments, with the hope that a former player can restore the men’s program to the stature of its past.