The Floyd Street Tribune: Kenny Payne talks recruiting strategy, and conditioning is en vogue
Inside: What does Kenny Payne look for in recruits? His ACC media day answer offers detailed insight. Plus, thoughts on conditioning to run, Louisville Live and more.
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Certainly feels like college basketball is here, doesn’t it? Media days underway, Louisville Live and the Red-White scrimmage coming, open practice for students, tipoff luncheons very soon.
You just flat-out love to see it.
We’ll continue with the rapid-fire columns for two more editions — this one and next — and then we’ll have real basketball to break down. What a time to be alive. We start this week’s mixed bag of thoughts with Kenny Payne’s answer to a question about his recruiting strategy and El Ellis’s comments on conditioning this season.
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Kenny Payne on Wednesday was asked about his recruiting and roster-building strategy, and he answered in a detailed manner, part of which confirmed what we discussed a few weeks ago after the Curtis Williams commitment.
Here’s the full Payne quote, courtesy of ASAP Sports transcribers, then we can dive into more:
“Recruiting strategy is I need high-end talent that has a high-end character. I need givers. I don't need takers. I need guys that, whether they know it or not, they bring something to their team, regardless of if they can really explain what they're bringing.
“For example, I go watch a player play and I watch how the other four players relate to him and I watch how he relates to those other four players. If there's a positive energy there, I want that player. I want a player that instinctively can make a pass and take joy when the guy he passed it to scores.
“I want a guy that can post up, can shoot a three, can shoot a mid-range, can make layups, can pass the ball, that can rebound the ball above the rim, can run the lane, can push the ball. I want complete, versatile basketball players that have a unique ability to fight for what they want and that are dream chasers.
“I'm not really looking for the good player that isn't willing to fight for his dream, who assumes it's just going to happen. That's delusion. I can't help that kid. I can only help the ones that are realistic about what they want in life, and those are the kids that I want to recruit.
“I hope I have a bunch of seven-foot guys that can play the point, the 2, the 3, the 4, the 5.”
Usually when a coach details what they’re looking for in recruiting, they don’t give us the really minute, small details that set prospects apart for them. But Payne did here, especially about the positive energy and teamwork aspects. That’s a really interesting note, because coaches get to see recruiting targets at summer camps and AAU tournaments and then high school games, and that’s a wide range of talent those prospects are interacting with. The ability to judge those interactions is an important one in building the right team.
It’s a really good answer to the question, and a really helpful look into where the coach’s mind goes in the recruiting and roster-building process. Then he just throws an absolute haymaker of a last line.
“I hope I have a bunch of seven-foot guys,” Payne says, who “can play the point, the 2, the 3, the 4, the 5.”
Louisville may not get that big, but this season’s team is already constructed in a way that length and size are prevailing themes. This week a friend told me Jae’Lyn Withers has described himself this offseason as a guard in Payne’s system. (Withers will be on my podcast Thursday morning so I can ask him more about it then.) Kamari Lands, who is also listed at 6-8 like Withers, is expected to get some time at the 2-guard, too.And with two 6-6, 6-7ish forwards already in the mix for next season, Payne is living up to that philosophy.
I always find a coach’s first year fascinating — what takes shape, what holds, what doesn’t feel right, etc. If going big and staying big becomes a hallmark of Payne’s Louisville squads, then we’re about to witness a real sea change in style of play.
* Which leads me to this El Ellis nugget from Wednesday, too. I listened to Ellis’s brief interview on ESPN Louisville, and he had a particularly interesting thought on the change in conditioning Louisville has gone through under Payne.