After a shaky start, and even being down 47-44 at half, the Cards came back in the second half versus SMU on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center to win 88-74. Louisville in their last four games have been outscored by 26 points.
Louisville Starting Five Right Now
PG: Mikel Brown Jr. (6’5 , 190 lbs)
SG: Ryan Conwell (6’4 , 215 lbs)
SF: Isaac McKneely (6’4 , 195 lbs)
PF: J’Vonne Hadley (6’7 , 210 lbs)
C: Sanada Fru (6’11 , 250 lbs)
Constantly starting down is not a recipe for a success. The problem with this starting five is down low. Specifically in the four or power forward spot, J’Vonne Hadley cannot compete with most power forwards. The average height for a power forward is 6’10 in the ACC. I’m not calling for J’Vonne Hadley to be benched; although he is undersized for a PF, he’s not the problem.
The problem is Isaac McKneely. He should NOT be starting. Isaac is good for what he brings: three-point shots. Besides that, he is very one-dimensional. When he’s not hot from three, he doesn’t bring enough on defense and doesn’t create shots enough to justify his position in the starting five. Khani Rooths should be starting instead. No, Khani is not as much of an offensive threat as Isaac, but our defense is very improved with him on the court. As a 6’10 sophomore, there is only room for growth and improvement.
The energy and intensity Khani brings to the team when on the court is unmatched for this Louisville squad. He is by far the best defender on the team. When Khani Rooths plays 20+ minutes, he averages 10.7 PPG and 7.7 RPG. Louisville is also 7-1 in those games. He needs to be getting close to 30 minutes per game. Will our offense take a hit? Maybe a little, but our offense is good enough to take a big hit if it means our defense will improve significantly. With our interior defense and interior offense being our kryptonite, trading someone out who is 6’3 for someone 6’10 would certainly address this issue. His last two games he is averaging 12 points and 11 rebounds.
My Proposed Louisville Starting Five
PG: Mikel Brown Jr. (6’5 , 190 lbs)
SG: Ryan Conwell (6’4 , 215 lbs)
SF: J’Vonne Hadley (6’7 , 210 lbs)
PF: Khani Rooths (6’11 , 215 lbs)
C: Sanada Fru (6’11 , 250 lbs)
While Khani isn’t much of a shot creator, he is a very good defender. Either you take out Isaac or J’Vonne, and the easy choice is Isaac as he brings less to the table on both sides of the court. I think Khani playing significantly more minutes is only good for Louisville; it addresses the issue of interior offense and defense.
Not having Mikel hurt us against Tennessee, no doubt. But a prime example of this is when 6’3 Isaac McKneely kept getting scored on by 6’11 Nate Ament. A clear mismatch. Put 6’10 Khani Rooths on 6′ 11 Nate Ament and you limit him significantly.
The point of this is for Khani Rooths to start at the power forward spot, to put J’Vonne Hadley at the small forward. I feel like this balances out the starting lineup perfectly, as the “small ball” lineup doesn’t work as well against big interior teams. I also think him starting would balance the defense out to start where Louisville stops going down early to good teams, then having to play catch-up, like in the SMU or Virginia games
