#289 R.P.I. Louisville vs. #81 R.P.I. Virginia Tech: 

Virginia Tech men’s basketball is nearly rolled… up.

The Hokiebird may have just turtled and spit the bit a bit down @Duke. As that was a lotta things and one of those things was NOT a high-industry nor a high-octane Abrams rocket-fueled tank effort. Mo’ parts tanking itself if anything… as something(s) is just plum off/’rong with this squadron here this year. Rebounding and Defense are the two hooping things that should be insulated (by raw: sweat) from temp-checks or from going cold itself. Now we draw a rather lowercase All Coaching Conference club. Former basketball factory and 3-time NCAA champion Louisville deals from the bottom at 4 up against 25 down! Good, or rather bad for a last place (.111) at 2-16 in-league play. So, someone has gotta go’on and win this 3rd from last vs. last-place game affair. Nevertheless, what you wanna know is… who is gonna be that someone and by what sum, right? So, read on… to finds, out!

Louisville ‘Associate‘ Head Coach: Kenneth Victor Payne: age=56, 4–25 (.137) overall and at Louisville. Does have a rep for winning Titles and recruiting.
$3,500,000.oo

Baller Payne… a 6 ft. 8 in. (2.o3 m) and 195 lb. (88 kg) small forward, Payne played college basketball at Louisville and was a member of the 1986 NCAA championship squad. He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 19th pick of the 1989 N.b.a. draft.

In four Associative seasons from 1989 to 1993 for the Philadelphia 76ers, he averaged 3.5 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. He was waived by the team in January 1993 after failing to live up to expectations. He also played professionally overseas in Italy, Japan, Brazil, the Philippines, Cyprus, China, Argentina, and Australia. And a sporty enuff stint in the C.B.A. after all of that, (16.3 ppg).

Payne served as an assistant coach for the University of Oregon from 2oo4 to 2oo9. From 2o1o to 2o14, Payne served as an assistant coach for the University of Kentucky; from 2o14 to 2o2o, he was the associate head coach. In 2o12, Payne met with Mississippi State University’s athletic director about its men’s basketball team’s head coach vacancy, though ultimately, he was not hired.

Prior to being hired at Louisville, Payne spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (N.b.a.)

On March 18, 2o22, Payne was introduced as the new head men’s basketball coach at the University of Louisville.

As an Ass.Coach, Coach Payne has bling(s); plural! 1 NC2A (and another one as a NC2A baller), six, that’s (6) So.Eastern and one P.A.C.-1o ring! wowow!

Daddy Payne and his wife Michelle have two children. One of his children, Zan, is a player for
the Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball team.

Louisville at a glance:

• 83rd best in free-throwing.
• 316th best in Scoring D allowed!!
• 333rd best in FG percentage D allowed!!!
• 337th best in Fastbreak Points!!!
• 34oth best in Swipes!!! (Play da man not the ball).
• 343rd best in Scoring Margin!!!
• 349th best in Win Percentage!!!
• 35oth best in Assist:Turnover ratio!!! (BONUS: VT=9th best!!!)
• 2 injuries listed (Coach God twice bless).

READERS observe: …worst; ever! Statistically ranked A.c.c. team Eye’ve seen and by faaaaaar!

Close to ½ of the 32 National Team Rankings I track were totally rank here.
300th or worse! D— to F+++ team on a near ≅48% of the time clip; wow!
3o outta 32 Nat.Ranks ≥177th, worst; wowow!!!

Returning Starters=one, that’s (1*) as nearly everyone from last year kicked rocks and… went Exit Stage… Left.

L‘ville Strengths:

• BIG ole team… and members of the wimminz species rejoice, Size does matter, here!
• P.T. is old-school hoops factory available here! Nearly 8 different starting line-ups and all 15×15 guys have seen at least token mpg balled this year! Looooottta sorting, tinkering, and puttering going on here over in grass terms.
• Louisville Bio pages… ALL kinda interesting even oddball 411 to be found here. Very modern, tho’ the enemy of ‘dull’ itself as well to be sure.
• ex-Tallahassee Community College best-baller ever, and one #3, El Ellis got himself included in this section only because he leads Louisville in 3-point shooting. And he only leads Louisville at: 35%, in 2o22 terms! Tallahassee Community College transfer baller who checks in at: 6′3″, 18o lbs. Senior, who gets you an okay-looking: 18.1 ppg on 2.8 rpg and 1.6 apg. As said, ‘okay’ and he is the alpha deep shooter here. Was named first-team 2o21 All-America by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), becoming Tallahassee’s first two-time All-American. Was also ranked as the top junior college prospect in the nation in the 247Sports.com composite rankings! So, there is some Talent(s) here, somewhere? ~15 ppg on 41% deep @T.C.C. says so. As does his Human Genome of: his poppa-bear (Elbert Ellis, Jr.) was merely a football and track athlete at the University of Pittsburgh before playing with the Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers. El Ellis is also said to be a fair-to-middling diamond or seam-head in baseball who could prolly ‘walk’ on at the next level in that sport had he chosen so. Says: He is: “Most proud of himself.” And his favorite thing is seeing the same on television. This is from 247Sports’ #1 rated JuCo recruit last season. (Does keeps orange-frosting in his twist-top ‘fro, so there is that, too). “Okay” was my word here last year… then I bothered to run his maths and found that El has hit the 2o23 campaign up for a whopping: +2o5% increase in pointing itself and that may indeed point the way to mo’ than a few A.c.c. Most Improved voters in just another week or so. As 42% overall married to 33% long pared with 81% FT’s is at least serviceable when you see that the rest of his help(ers) are nearly outta-service themselves. Good for El… he’s prolly played his way into something of an export backup lifer contract and there are worse ways to go out than that; let me a$$sure you. (The near A.c.c. leading 3.9 tpg however, need some tighter handles to be sure). Has been on a scoring output tear of late. Nearing high 20s on average in the last 3 weeks!

 

• PRODUCTIVITY …gap… (insert____here, ✅)

 

• * 6′9″ and 22o lb., r-Jr. or debut year+1 -now, somehow reclassified as +2 in class rank- Jae’Lyn Withers is a leaner looking than he is listed P/F by way of the Queen City of Charlotte, Nc. He is also said to be a high riser who can and will dunk all over you off the dribble. The fact that Jae’Lyn won the team slam dunk competition at the preseason “Louisville Live,” a preseason outdoor event at Fourth Street Live in downtown Louisville might just speak to this. His pops (Curtis) was only all-conference U.S.A. in hoops down at Charlotte his own self. Ditto his 1st-cousin: (Jaire Alexander) who played football for three seasons at Louisville (2o15-17) and is currently a Cb for the Green Bay Packers, where he was a first-round draft pick in 2o18. So, the N.b.a. D.n.a. could be at least a recessive gene here. Maybe mo’… as the relative athletics are all in place. As 10.2 ppg and the team lead at 8 rpg in relief are none too shabby on just 25 mpg. Or, at least they were not last year. This year Withers has withered to: 9.3 ppg on 5.4 rpg and steal. And his 57% from the floor has gone a negative Sweet-16 all the way down to 43.2% this campaign. Said to be a finisher who keys the paint. Interesting 100th ranked national prospect by Rivals who could blossom if his shooting (23.8%) deepens a bit more in time. AND… it did… all the way up to a sharpshooting and team-leading 42.6 percent. Again, mo’ should be happening, here. He has too much Talent for dis. Which is most interesting… when you see that he found 1-inch in verts and then cut a 1o-plate in, weight this off-season; go fig’ on that? Tho’ do fig’ on his dunk contest wins; plural. As Rivals 100th ranked ballers who can shoot and dunk may just (barely) qualify for fringe overseas work— here’s hoping he do. Plus… his bio’ says: “he loves anime.” So, there is that… too.
• BIG ole 6′1o″ and 257 lb., Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is your Four or P/F1. Tennessee transfer who volunteered to git dat Louisville work. 7.0 ppg on a so-so looking tho’ team pacing 5.6 rpg and 47% from the floor and you wonder if UT cares fo’ his… welfare? As mo’ was expected here. What with the penta or ***** or five-stars and only topping at 19th in the Nation per ESPN.com. Big VeeTee recruit and everyone you can name S.E.C. and A.c.c. wise alike. VERY limited scholastic info exists here… and you gotta wonder: ‘why’? Transferred around in H.S. and again in collegiate terms alike. Had reasonable digits at the IMG Academy (FLA.) hoops factory of: 11.4 points and 6.o rebounds. Only coaching sewing circle ‘whisper’ Eye could glean was that he has had trouble: ‘finding his footing’. Not code for anything shiny, is it? Tho’ still… Top-20 American recruits tend to be good for something(s), beyond being so mercurial or suffering Elden Campbell syndrome 1o1. As this four seems mo’ 110v or domesticated at times to me. And yet everyone says he does have 220v or industrial capacity. Time or a 3rd school=tell…

  

• Mike James G (2o22): (OUT). James is expected to miss the entire 2o21-22 season after tearing his left Achilles tendon. Yikes! St.Achilles bless and intercede. Also out would be James’… 6′5″, 215 lb., as a 1st-year, S/F. NO STATS last season… per: a pre-season hurt. This season however and M.James is getting you: a 2nd-place: 9.5 ppg with 3.2 rpg and 1.1 apg. All on a near solid 36% deep and 44.8% from the floor. James is one of those rare guys who looks heavier/mo’ muscular or mo’ physical upon breaking tape. Not a soft touch this off-G here. 66th ranked Rivals kid in USofA terms and the  2020-21 Orlando Sentinel Boys Basketball Player of the Year award does not suck. Neither did M.J.’s best Oreo Milkshake mixer swagg either. Whatever that means/memes? Brings all the boyz to the yard notwithstanding… said to be the enforcer of the team or a mini-me Maurice Lucas of yesteryear terms if you will. And every team needs a hard-hitting, clampdown backcourt stopper like this. All the mo’ so during our 3-point kra-kra era to boot.

Louisville Weaknesses:

• Most of my preview mag’s panned L’ville for: nearly no (returning) Backcourt depth and a general lack of: ‘playmakers’ as well.
• Lotta roster turnover on the big-whistle blow-out here. Lotta unfamiliarity for it accordingly.
• ZERO, that’s (0’fer) 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-string All-A.c.c. ballers or award winners are typically unkind in forthcoming seasonal terms. Makes you wonder if (broken) Payne is not having any Knickers in a twist second, thoughts?
• Hate dis… tho’ there sure is an inordinate amount of beat-up-looking career guys here. M*A*S*H’ed potatoes over in bourbon county. Sucks. God Bless.

Cardinal nest: (depth=)

Emmanuel Okorafor, P/F, goes; 6′9″ and 22o rookie or nugget year lbs. This is by way of; Lagos, Nigeria/NBA Academy Africa. He is of no N.B.A. relation that I could find. He is however a dancer of some measure; no joke. Prior to that he won all kinda African merits/awards and averaged a double-double last season for BC Espoir Fukash out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the highest of any BAL Elevate program player in the league. He too was unlisted as a Four in all of my pre-season mags— so you can see the latent rush to assemble this roster here. E.O. gets you: 4.4 ppg with 4.2 rpg and the team blue-ribbon with 1.4 bpg to boot. As Okorafor is a year or three away from being much mo’ than a development/project at the Four. Tho’ he does chef-up mad: Egusi and Fufu dinnertime game. Whatever that means… {sic: African goat, stew!} wow. Yet again, time=tell here…
(UPDATE: Okorafor has sat out the last three games with an ankle issue, (St.Philip bless), and it is undetermined if he will face Virginia Tech on Tuesday.)

Hercy Miller G5 and Roosevelt Wheeler F5 play a lot, see? And mpg is about all they, do. ΛΟΛ! (Greek: laughing out loud). 3 ppg and 3 rpg on ’bout 25-minutes combined are outlying just like dat. Lindy’s says that combo P/F-C Wheeler (6′11″ and 24o lbs. second-season) is: ‘inconsistent’. He is big… so there is that. Lindy’s said nothing about Hercy Miller as he was not included in their pre-season wrap: (i.e., last-sec’ roster addition). Rivals no.43 Roosevelt is a Richmond, Va. / John Marshall H.S. escapee. Where ‘Big Rose’ did pocket two Commonwealth State Champ blings; so, there is that. St.Achilles help as he has a history of Achilles ding(s) as well. And he got an AAU VA squad perfect 4o-o record during the summer of 2o18. When he won the Adidas Gauntlet Championship and was the top-ranked 15U team in the nation. So, there is that too. He also says he will ‘never let fatigue win.” K. Mister Miller goes 6′3″ and 18o lbs. in his sophomoric season by way of: Tennessee State. He too has a history of various dings/dents along the way; (Coach God help). Tho he also nabbed a quad-peat or four straight Class 3A Minnesota state championship rings. So that fourplay counts too. Said to be some kinda kart-racer and was a *** three-star guy who may or may not have been a bit overlooked in scholastic terms. Hard guy to get a literate read on. As he was an L.a. inner-city baller prior to ‘Sota. Time=tell here as well.
(UPDATE: Miller missed the last contest due to a hip injury, and it is undetermined if he will be active for Tuesday’s battle with Virginia Tech. St.Wolfgang bless!)

Relationsionally typing… Sydney Curry (a: 6′8″ and (now): a whopping 272 lb.,) John A. Logan College transfer baller got included here JI surname C. Negative on any relation(s) that Google or Eye could spy here. This Curry is a bulky guy who can flat-out, rise! Real springs in his twigs to be so burly or thickset and that is inclusionary fun enuff. Two years back s.Curry was honored as the 2o2o-21 Great Rivers Athletic Conference Player of the Year when he averaged 12.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, and shot a keeper or a smoking 69.4 percent from the field to lead John A. Logan College to an 18-5 record and to a Conference Title. That’s not a bad bling to finger the rest of your game-of, of life. Where Syd’ was something of a JuCo or lowercase double-double machine last season(s). In the off-season, he was only ranked as the No. 8 junior college prospect in the nation by 247Sports. Hoosier State’s 019 ABC21 Boys Basketball Player of the Year. He led the state of Indiana in offensive rebounds as a senior. Had good digits on everything else, tho’ not quite great. Said to be the best cook on the team although he has simmered down to a seniorific: 5.2 ppg with 4.4 rpg, and 0.3 apg; all married to o.o Blutarski shooting from behind the arc. Again, Talented kid who is not even ceiling; never minds roofing itself. 54.2% overall is nice enuff, and the lesser 52.4% free-throwing is brickish or masonic in part(s). BIG-ole beefy-looking kid from what I Sunday nite saw… seems like he sees it as playing out the 2o23 string to me.

Zan Payne… who only got nepotistically included here… is dropping a paternal looking: o.3 ppg with o.7 rpg and  o.1 apg on 27% overall. Z do be having his UK (Wildcat-striker) transfer u.grad’ degree. That’s good; +1 there. 6′5″ kinda bulky looking 233 lb. 2-Guard or S/F ‘tweener. Said to have the nicest shoe collection on the team; nepotism/connections prolly ain’t hurtin’ that one-iota (1ι) either. Has a history of knee dings/dents (St.Nikon help) and of Academic Honor Rolls (St.Catherine bless). Glue/practice worker-bee guy… who has 15 mo’ career collegiate total (Σ) points than you and Eye do combined.

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of 'cards who could deck @Tech=.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is…

…not to be too taken with either underachieving team’s 2o22-2o23 effortings here.

L’ville is rebuilding, VeeTee is retooling— or so we all (now) hopes…

---

---

As this is gonna take a minute or three for Payne to cook and M.Young’s Owens Dining Hall ’23 crockpot may have cracked and gone to pot

The superior gone inferior thing is… Louisville is ~about 5 spots south of their September A.c.c. forecast on mean, median, and mode average. Whereas VeeTee is ~about the very same 5 spots south of their September A.c.c. forecast on mean, median, and mode average.

Maybe 2o24 will average this out for one of these two?

Though they are both the same (sub)-Standard Deviation underwater in Conference calling terms.

 ***

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a mind-numbing -and I will TSL Podcast eat these words- 112-point Tech Triumph in this one here. When taken per capita it settled down to a far mo’ reasonable +9.33-point VicTory dance. I can also tell you that VeeTee went 11-2 and produced a very shapely Fourm Guide vs. common opponents. I can also tell you that the margin was widening; as it appeared that L’ville let go about 3-4 weeks ago on caring give/take. Then, however, the most recent roundball round-robin (A.K.A. Duke) was 1-point similar as outcome margins go. Which may not be the best sign… if VeeTee just resigned, too?

The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… VeeTee is up a useful looking +8% in shooting percentage margin (from: VT is a bit better in O&M O, tho’ L’ville has not played much D anywhere this year); with VeeTee up another ~+4% in 3-point percentage margin (due to: basically, same as above, VeeTee wins on 3-ball O and yet L’ville two-times you on 3-ball D), and then nobody won much of anything in rebounding margin terms for the duration. (’cause: both clubs are right at –1 rpg in Windex Wipes for the season. Neither is awful, both are trading and can’t touch {sic: the bottom} underwater, however).

The most recent 5-game metrics say that… nearly shockingly enuff, (so, I ran it twice); the ‘Cards are now up +3% in shooting percentage margin (per: (somehow) L’ville O has warmed up a bit of late (+6%!), maybe the next-year looksee guys have not flushed ’23, yet? ¦ That, and the Hokie D is now up to 347th best in the last couple of weeks; wow!!! The O&M O is O-kay enuff (35th best, actually)); curiously as well, the Cardinals are now up ~+3% in 3-point percentage margin (from: exactly the same as above, better L’ville 3-point O (+5%) and holding on on D ¦ VeeTee has however cooled on 3-point shooting and the next 3-pointer they defend will be the, 1st! 339th best here FYO&MI), and in a race to hit (rock) bottom from two negative teams, the birdies won in |absolute value| terms, as L’ville is less negative than we are and that hit them up for +2 caroms corralled in rebounding margin. (due to: L’ville is a scosche better off the O and the D fiberglass in rebounding ¦ VeeTee is worse on O and on D. More so from not much in the way of O-backboarding at all).

BONUS: the coaching sewing circle says that our paint defense is mo parts polyGONE.
Not much resistance next to the O&M basket is to be defensively found.

Armchair Pt.Guard’s:

“Streaks are meant to be…”

Virginia Tech seeks its first road win at Louisville in more than 32 years on Tuesday. As in… the Hokies (16-13, 6-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) have dropped each of their past nine visits to Louisville since a victory back in January of 1991, wow!

Louisville had won its past 17 games against Virginia Tech overall before getting beat by 75-43 to the Hokies in the teams’ lone meeting last season.

Louisville (4-25, 2-16) fell for the sixth time in its past seven games and for the 16th time in its past 18 contests following an 83-67 setback at Georgia Tech on Saturday.

1st to… worst?

Louisville is limping toward the end of what could be the worst season in school history.

The Cardinals have already set school records for most total losses and most losses in league play with two games remaining before the A.c.c. Tourney. The last time Louisville finished a season with a single-digit win total was when it went 7-1o during the 1941-42 season. wowow!

The ‘cards are +3 in R&R in the last 2 weeks.
Louisville is a .25o host; whereas V.Tech is .1 as a guest.
L’ville is up a nominal +1% at the charity stripe for the year.

The Call…

No.3o7 Net Ranking Louisville vs. no.73 Net Ranking Virginia Tech:

So, I’ma not entirely sure about this one— or at least not so sure as most of my counterparts in the 4th Estate appear to be.

Why?

’cause the Pt.Guard1 in me -same as last time (‘thx’ @Coach God) sensing the blow-out- senses that we are about to learn a lot lot lot about Mike Young @Virginia Tech.

–oOo–

Censors need not apply.
Censers -as G.Lent ’23 dawns always apply- though I tangent…

My point is…

…for the time being, going 385 miles West-by-Nor-West out to Louisville and beating a (mere) 4-win team with .9354838709677419 of 2022-2023 already in the books prolly don’t mean a whole helluva a ’23 V.Tech lot. Right?

Nonetheless, getting beat by a dippy, doormat, lowlife 4-win team could very well give us a real live shot at finishing 2o23 as a mere .5oo team. This after peaking at no.24 at 11 against 1 to begin the defending All-Championship Chase. Since then, mind you… we have gone 5 vs. 12 or .2941176470588235 for our rather uneven ending-looking troubles. This encodes for 319th best in: win percentage in all the land.

Which is to say… what if L’ville draws a joker or cuts to an A♠ and 5♣ upside our head(s)?

We may just conclude 2o23 spring… broke.
No N.I.T., no C.B.I., and not even a C.I.T. for dear ole v.P.i.

Though there Eye go again… always putting the 🛒 before the… 🐎.

The Verdict:

That’s mo’ like finishing as the All Chumpionship Cuck.

That may also say a lot mo’ about ’24— ’cause at least a little sompthin sompthin is ‘rong here. Trust me. And if it is anything science-fact worse than that… you could just begin to wonder out loud if M.young has peaked @v.Tee?

The Closer:

As things stand right now… methinks VeeTee eliminates L’ville 4-1 in an N.b.a. style Finals series. (NOT worse than 4-2). Although, what if that 20% “1” pops-dirty come ~midnite Tuesday nite?

Do you see what I mean?
This one should mean a whole helluva a lot (mo’) to VeeTee than to Sr. Nite L’ville.

So, go’on and hunker down and play like it Younglings! As your lack of ‘want to‘ as the other Coach Foster once struck it on D and on the fiberglass is growing old.

L’ville IS available to be beaten… the question is… are you?

🤔🏀🤔

 

(5o% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=77, Louisville=66

please support the VT F.C.A.!

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**