The Floyd Street Tribune: JJ Traynor and Jae'Lyn Withers are big early Kenny Payne test cases
Inside: Why two forwards who struggled last season are the perfect players to follow to understand how Kenny Payne is impacting Louisville basketball.
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There are several unequivocal aspects involved in Kenny Payne’s approach to his first head coaching job, but he has placed the concept of love above every other key tenet.
Love of his former teammates and all Louisville hoops alumni. Love of every corner of the community. Love in every corner of the university. But most of all, love of his players.
Perhaps that is the not-so-secret sauce to why so many former players adore Payne and speak so highly of him. It feels like the right note to strike with Louisville right now, too. In time, we will learn more about how this part of Payne’s approach to coaching impacts his ability to win over top recruits, win basketball games and turn around a massive college basketball program.
With this current team, two case studies can provide a glimpse of what the strategy of love looks like — how it builds confidence, how it perks players up and, ultimately, how (or if) it influences them to play to their potential, whatever that might be. Those studies? JJ Traynor and Jae’Lyn Withers, two players who put together strong 2020-21 campaigns in their own ways — Traynor a solid freshman year; Withers a breakout season — only to seem like shells of themselves (or hardly even play) for most of the 2021-22 slate. They are the two players who needed love the most, and they are our guides to the top tenet of the Kenny Payne Coaching Approach. They are also critically important to any semblance of success for the Cards this season.