This past Monday, the day after Chris Jones was dismissed from the University of Louisville basketball team, I wrote that their “new season” would begin that night at Georgia Tech. It was a battle, but the Cards prevailed and started this new season 1-0. In just a couple of hours, they will try to improve to 2-0, with two regular season games left before ACC Tournament play. This will be their second game in a row on the road, and I think that is right where they need to be right now.
The road is a place where a team can come together, and this team needs that more than ever right now. Sure, they may hear some nasty things from the student section about Jones, but I am sure they can handle that. Coach Pitino will have them prepared for anything they may hear. After all, it wasn’t long ago that student sections were definitely chanting certain things at Pitino. I don’t see that as being an issue.
There are already enough distractions at home as it is, especially with this team. They don’t seem to play their best basketball at home for whatever reason. Maybe they get too relaxed in their own place. Or they have ticket requests to take care of and then they know their friends and family are in the crowd and they try to do too much. Whatever the reason, home has been somewhat of a distraction for the Cards this season. Today would be no exception. They probably wouldn’t hear negative stuff from the fans, but there would surely be constant questions to them about Chris Jones and there would just be that negative buzz in the air. It is so fresh on everyone’s mind, and this is the first game since the allegations came out.
This team needs some more time away from home, away from the city in general. This is a great time for them to be away from it all and come together as a team to get another conference road win. If they do that, they come home 2-0 in this “new season” with games left to play against the top two teams in the conference, Notre Dame and Virginia. By then, a few more days will pass and the Yum! Center should be rocking and should be very ready to get behind this team and show support for this stretch run.
We can’t wait for the Cards to be back home. But for now, the road is exactly where they need to be.
Go Cards. Go Krogering. Beat Florida State. Beat Purdue.
