U of L intrasquad scrimmage sends message

At first, I thought it was a mistake, a late-night email with an odd subject line that looked like it had been accidentally sent out from draft mode by Louisville media relations boss Kenny Klein.

But the actual email made it abundantly clear that this was not a mistake. Rick Pitino wanted his team's intrasquad scrimmage on Thursday publicized, and he wanted it to send a message to everyone on his team but the four core players.

Louisville held the scrimmage after practice on Thursday, and none of the four leading scorers on the team were allowed to play. Instead, Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell coached the White squad to a 67-65 win over Chris Jones and Wayne Blackshear's Red squad.

Related:What we learned in Louisville's win at BC

Freshman big man Jaylen Johnson, U of L's release said, made the game-winning 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds to go.

The release came with some stats, too: Johnson had 20 points and eight rebounds; Anton Gill had 23 and seven; Quentin Snider had 23 points and four assists; Mangok Mathiang had 14 points and 13 rebounds; and Chinanu Onuaku added 10 points and 19 rebounds.

The bigger picture here is smacking all of us in the face.

U of L just isn't getting enough from its starting centers (Mathiang and Onuaku) or its bench. There isn't much help at guard, either. I literally just wrote today that Jones and Rozier are playing crazy minutes in the ACC (and producing at a high rate). And as we saw on Wednesday night at BC and a few other times this season, when Harrell, a preseason All-American, gets in foul trouble, Louisville just doesn't have any other help right now at power forward.

Cue the intrasquad scrimmage and the big ol' message that comes with it.

Louisville needs more from its six freshmen. It needs more from Gill and Mathiang. And if the Cards want to roll through February the way they have the previous two seasons, they need those guys now.

Pitino made that abundantly clear on Thursday.