SPORTS

Blackshear: Too early to know U of L identity

Jeff Greer
Louisville Courier Journal
University of Louisville Cardinals forward Wayne Blackshear gets interviewed  during media day in the practice facility at the KFC Yum! Center.
October 19, 2014

This season's Louisville team, Montrezl Harrell said, has a chance to be special if the younger players buy into "what we do here."

There are all kinds of ways to interpret that statement, which the 6-foot-8 Harrell made in the early going of Wednesday's ACC basketball media day here in Charlotte.

Harrell, a more and more vocal leader of the team, most likely meant how Louisville wins, or at least how the Cardinals define their brand of basketball.

The players say Louisville is defined by defense and effort, a playing style tailored by Rick Pitino, who Wayne Blackshear called a perfectionist on Wednesday morning.

There are myriad defensive schemes, multiple presses and matchup zones. It took, by his estimate, one season for the 6-5 senior Blackshear to truly to grasp the defensive strategies that Pitino employs. Others have said it takes much longer.

That learning curve might be the biggest factor in Louisville going from a six- or seven-man rotation to nine or 10, a deeper bench that would allow Pitino to employ more of the pressure defense and frenetic tempo that he wants.

"They just have to get used to it in practice," Blackshear said. "For me, when I was a freshman, I picked up on it easily. What helps you is guys talking to you ... You're going to make a mistake. You can't hold your head down. You just have to make it up on the next play."

Right now, at least in the early going on the 2014-15 season, Pitino says playing more than six or seven guys may not be possible, not with such an inexperienced bench and so much for them to learn. Check with him in January, and things might be different. That's usually how things go for Louisville.

That's why both Blackshear and Harrell offered up their caveats on Wednesday:

If the six freshmen on the team grasp the concepts of a furious defense and NBA-style offense.

If the six freshmen build some confidence.

If the six freshmen understand why their new coach is so hard on them.

If, if, if.

Those are big ifs right now, but they're not ifs that say Louisville will struggle to win or compete for an ACC title or earn a favorable seed in the NCAA tournament. Louisville's first six or seven is good enough to do those things.

They're ifs, however, that say Louisville is a few freshmen contributors away from, as Harrell put it, something special.

"It's still kind of early to determine what type of team we are right now," Blackshear said when asked to compare this current team to Louisville's 2013 title-winning squad. "We have a lot of talent on this team to be the team we were two years ago."

The talent -- the young talent -- just has to learn what Pitino wants and what their elder teammates expect.

They can't, Blackshear explained, cower from their expressive, ready-to-shout coach when he yells at them. Pitino on Wednesday called his coaching style "mother-in-law basketball -- constant pressure and harassment," and he's going to use that approach rather significantly this season.

"He's not a hard-nosed coach, but he wants everything to be perfect," Blackshear said. "He always preaches effort. He wants you to play as hard as you can. Like, extremely hard."

How well the new guys adjust to that desire -- really that requirement -- may well be the difference between good and special, and the baby Cardinals are on the clock.