It is officially two weeks away from the start of the 2022-23 college basketball season.
This also means we are two weeks away from Jeff Walz’s 16th season as the head coach of Louisville Women’s Basketball, and Kenny Payne’s first season coaching games for Louisville Men’s Basketball.
When Payne was announced head coach back in March, he talked about community and bringing everyone together. He also talked about alumni, or “his bothers”, and how vital it is for them to be a part of the culture.
Well on Friday night, both the community and alumni came together for “Louisville Live!”, a Midnight Madness type of event started in 2018 by Walz and then men’s head coach Chris Mack. This year’s edition was held at Louisville Slugger Field, and seats were packed with fans excited for the season. Students were down on the field level for the night surrounding a red carpet that players and guests walked on toward the stage.
Introductions
To start out the night, superstar rapper and Louisville native Jack Harlow came out on the red carpet as the special guest of the night. He was incorporated in games throughout the event including one of the dunk contest judges. Harlow came out to the tune of his hit song “Nail Tech” and addressed the fans to get them excited for what was coming.
Following Harlow’s entrance, legendary Louisville Women’s Basketball and WNBA player Angel McCoughtry was introduced. McCoughtry is beloved in Louisville and is always greeted with a warm welcome when she returns. She helped introduce the women’s basketball team, who reached the Final Four last season and are looking to do it again and win a national title.
After the women’s team was brought out, another legendary former Louisville player came out on stage. Peyton Siva, a member of the Cardinals’ 2013 national championship team, walked across the red carpet and was greeted by Cards fans with lots of love, like McCoughtry. The men’s team was then brought out, which featured some new and old faces. Fans are excited to see this team under Payne in his first season.
The last introductions were all the former players that came out to the event. Louisville legends such as Darrell Griffith, Pervis Ellison, Asia Durr, Milt Wagner, and so many more were back in Louisville to celebrate their alma mater. However, there were other alumnus who sadly could not be there, but did send in a video to say hello to the players and fans. Former players such as Gorgui Dieng, Dana Evans, Kyle Kuric, Emily Engstler, and Donovan Mitchell sent in their videos to show support.
Contests
Following the introductions came the contests of the night. First there was the three-point contest, followed by a new game called “Hot Shot” and lastly was the dunk contest.
The three point competition was a battle between the men’s and women’s team. Payne’s son, Zan Payne, was the winner from the men’s side, and sophomore Payton Verhulst was the winner from the women’s side. Both performed well in the final round and ended up tying which forced a shoot-off. Whoever made it first won, and Payne, while he gave it a good effort, missed his first shot. Verhulst on the other hand was ice cold and secured the victory. Her teammates and fans cheered her on as she was handed the championship belt.
Next was the Hot Shot competition. Six teams of three (an alumnus, current women’s player, current men’s player) tried to score as many points as they could in the time frame. Layups were worth one point, elbow jumpshots were worth two, and three-pointers were worth three. Team Smith, which featured assistant coach Nolan Smith, men’s player Mike James, and women’s player Morgan Jones, won the competition.
Lastly was the dunk contest, which featured junior JJ Traynor, transfer sophomore Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, and reigning Louisville Live! dunk champion Ell Ellis. They had a panel of six judges including Harlow, Griffith, Durr, and head baseball coach Dan McDonnell. Ellis and Huntley-Hatfield beat out Traynor for the two spots in the finals. Ellis gave it his all with what would’ve been show stopping dunks if he was able to complete them, but the difficulty level was very high. Huntley-Hatfield secured his victory by nearly jumping over Harlow who stood near the basket.
Overall, it was a night of love and celebration between the current and former players and the fans. Louisville has not had the success in the past few seasons that Louisville fans expect. However, with Kenny Payne in the head coaching chair, Louisville will hopefully be able to become a national powerhouse again. Maybe it’s not this year, and maybe it’s not next year either, but it will probably be soon.
Either way, both the fans and players are ecstatic to get this season started.
The Cardinals will have an exhibition game on Oct. 30 against Lenoir-Rhyne. They’ll have a second against Chaminade on Nov. 3. Both games will be at the KFC Yum! Center. They will start their start their regular season at home against fellow Louisville, KY school, Bellarmine, on Nov. 9.
Stay tuned for more college basketball news, among other sports and esports news!
You can “Like” TGH on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter for more news from TGH columnists! You can also follow Zach on Twitter as well!
“From Our Haus to Yours!”