Rick Pitino excited about the upcoming basketball season
University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino was in good spirits on Wednesday, providing player-by-player updates on his 2014-15 team and talking with excitement about the Cardinals' challenging schedule this winter.
Pitino, who along with his staff started the critical July evaluation period on Wednesday night, said his team, fresh off a Sweet 16 run in March, looks energetic and enthusiastic during summer workouts.
"I like this team's potential a great deal," Pitino said.
"The positive: We have a lot of talent and size. The negative: We've got to get guys ready much quicker than ever before because of the schedule. We've had tough Big East schedules before, but we've never had a non-conference schedule like this. The schedule's a bear."
In addition to the challenging new league schedule that the ACC presents, Louisville plays Kentucky, Ohio State, Minnesota, Indiana and several quality mid-major teams before the new year.
It helps, Pitino said, that star forward Montrezl Harrell returned to U of L for his junior year. The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Harrell was the Cards' top rebounder and leading scorer among the post players.
Harrell opted to stay in college in order to work on his emotional maturity and his free-throw shooting, and his presence at team workouts this summer has Pitino feeling confident about this upcoming season.
"If he wasn't back right now, we wouldn't be as good I hope to be," Pitino said.
Around Harrell, Louisville has a core of veteran players.
Guards Chris Jones and Terry Rozier are back, with Pitino expecting both to have breakout seasons. Jones returned from his May workouts in Florida with an extra 14 pounds on his frame, but the 5-10 point guard slimmed back down to 172 and was "dominant" in workouts Wednesday, Pitino said.
Rozier, the 6-1 sophomore who had a strong freshman year, added 20 pounds of muscle and is up to 190 pounds. He's currently competing in the LeBron James Skills Academy in Las Vegas with 29 other top college players, and his presence back at Louisville has his coaches raving about his NBA potential.
That backcourt, paired with Harrell, senior wing Wayne Blackshear and redshirt sophomore center Mangok Mathiang, gives Pitino an experienced lineup.
"I don't think our frontcourt or our backcourt has to take a back seat to anybody," Pitino said.
But, he added, the bench is where Louisville needs some help. Sophomores Anton Gill and Akoy Agau have made significant strides in the offseason with their maturity, defense, strength and poise.
Agau, who played in 19 games as a freshman, has changed "physically, emotionally, mentally," Pitino said.
Pitino picked out Agau and the 6-10 Mathiang as the most impressive players this summer.
"Akoy is a different person," Pitino said. "That's a great thing for us because we need that position desperately.
"Mangok has gotten bigger physically. Not so much putting on weight, but he's almost muscle-bound right now. He's probably 5 percent body fat. He's cut."
But beyond those two, Pitino would like to have at least two more bench options. Freshman point guard Quentin Snider, a Louisville native and Kentucky's reigning Mr. Basketball, will play. The remaining freshmen will fight for the rest of the minutes.
Big men Chinanu Onuaku and Anas Osama Mahmoud arrived in June, and while Onuaku needs to get in shape, Pitino said Mahmoud will likely take a redshirt in his first year. The Egyptian-born center is 7-feet tall and just 185 pounds.
Small forward Shaqquan Aaron, the highest-rated signee in U of L's 2014 freshman class, came to campus earlier this week. He's talented enough to play right away, Pitino said, but the Cards want to add more muscle to his 6-7, 168-pound body.
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The other two freshmen haven't reached campus yet, though Pitino said neither is in danger of not making it to U of L.
Jaylen Johnson, a skilled 6-foot-9 forward, is waiting for his Ypsilanti, Mich., high school to send all of the appropriate academic paperwork to U of L and the NCAA.
According to the U of L registrar's office, Johnson is still listed as "applies status," meaning the school is processing his information.
Norwegian native Matz Stockman, a 7-foot-2, 235-pound center, is waiting on a foreign visa before he can matriculate to U of L, which already has him registered and enrolled in summer classes.
"They're going to be behind everyone else because of that," Pitino said.
But the picture he painted Wednesday suggested another contributor or two would be icing. Blackshear looks more dedicated than ever, Pitino said, and him elevating his aggression and assertiveness would be a huge boon for the Cards.
Alas it's July, and the 61-year-old coach knows as well as anyone that summer workouts are just the beginning. Louisville will start implementing plays in August and hopes to be ready to go in mid-November, when the Cards open with Minnesota, the team coached by Pitino's son Richard.
"Their work ethic and dedication is terrific," Pitino said. "Their enthusiasm level is very, very high."
Reach Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_CJ).