The Overreaction Of Louisville Twitter

It sucks…….we know.  You know, I know, CardNation knows.

While we all wished Donovan Mitchell luck and will cheer like hell when his name is called next month in the NBA draft, part of us now only have to wonder what could have been had he returned. But he isn’t and all we have is great memories and insane one handed dunk highlights.

I pride myself on looking at the positives especially when it comes to Louisville basketball. Since that damn book was released we have all been forced to try to smile through the BS of an ongoing NCAA investigation into a scandal.  But there are still more than a few of the pessimists inhabiting Louisville Twitter.  Some are die-hard fans, others are former players, some are local media. Mitchell’s decision knocked Louisville from a top 5 team to a team ranked in the low teens probably.  But what I read the other day makes me think the entire team left and we would only be returning Snider and a bunch of walk-on’s.

Every year people make is seem that the sky is falling when indeed it isn’t.  Remember when Pitino made the “Reece Gaines and some guys named Harry” comment?  Remember the “bridge year” team?  Remember at the beginning of this year the question was “where would the scoring come from”?  Remember when Ellis Myles blew his knee out and David Padgett broke his kneecap?   Louisville basketball has been counted out nearly every year. There has been doubts every year and people have continue to overreact every year.  And EVERY year Pitino and crew prove us wrong.

How about this for a change, wait to see the team before putting a nail in their coffin.  Mitchell had a monster sophomore year, who’s to say VJ King won’t?  Who’s to say Ray Spalding doesn’t become one of the most dominant power forwards in the ACC next year? Who’s to say Dwayne Sutton won’t slide right in and fill a void in scoring next season? Who’s to say Deng Adel won’t return and provide adequate scoring. Who’s to say?? None of us, not you, not me, not any of us. Not even Joe Lunardi or Jay Bilas. You have to let things play out ladies and gents before casting judgement.  People forget that Ryan McMahon can shoot 3’s and got better each game last year. People forget that we have a great, underrated, senior PG who rarely turns the ball over and dishes out assists like candy on Halloween.

Oh yeah, there is also the fact the we have a top 10 recruiting class coming in next year. How do you think it makes them feel to read that this team has no shot because one guy decided to pursue his NBA dream?  Social media plays a huge part in a lot of athletes lives, especially 18 and 19 year olds with Twitter accounts.  My favorite thing is watching bandwagon fans freak out and then get crucified for it.  You gotta love the screenshot feature, bless the individuals who created it.  Have faith in Darius Perry, Malik Williams, Jordan Nwora, and Lance Thomas.   I say it on Twitter at least 5 times each season, maybe more.  “WE WILL BE FINE”.

I hope Mitchell works his way into a lottery pick, that would speak volumes on what our staff can and has done. I hope people continue to count Louisville out each year and then look silly when the Cards are curb-stomping their team.  Pitino is not a HOF coach because he wears nice suits, the man coaches his a** off, stop doubting what he can do.  A few months ago our starting PG went down and we had no idea how we would function. We won. Matter of fact we beat a PITT team by 55 and a Clemson team by 30+.  Stop judging this team in the off-season or early December folks, it is really getting old. Let some of you tell it we may as well not even play next season, it’s almost comical.

Keep doubting, the Cards will keep winning.  They do it every year.