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The Louisville Cardinals are in the midst of a major scandal involving the alleged (and now confirmed) use of escorts in recruiting by an ex-assistant. How and if the team will be punished remains to be seen, but, at least for now, Rick Pitino and Co. must buckle down and focus on the 2015-16 season.
The top four leading scorers from last season, Montrezl Harrell, Chris Jones, Wayne Blackshear and Terry Rozier are gone. No player who returns averaged more than 19 minutes per game or more than 4.1 points per game. The best player on this team might be the transfer from Drexler, Damion Lee, who averaged 21.4 points per game in his last season with the Dragons. Lee will hope to bridge the gap, as talented young players like Deng Adel, Raymond Spalding and Donovan Mitchell adjust to the college game.
As always, I expect Louisville to be one of the better teams in the ACC. However, teams like the Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, Virginia Cavaliers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish should all be better teams, at least on paper. These four teams are locks for the 2016 NCAA tournament, with teams like the Cardinals, Florida State Seminoles, NC State Wolfpack and Miami Hurricanes in the next tier of teams capable of making the Big Dance. Louisville will have to avoid bad losses, but the NCAA tournament is not out of the question, barring NCAA sanctions.
Watch for young players to step forward, as the Cardinals spend the season trying to cope with the loss of their two big stars. This is a transition season for Louisville, and with the threat of NCAA sanctions looming, I expect the Cardinals to be one of the more disappointing teams in the country with an average season.
Taylor Sturm is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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