Chris Jones' dismissal further cripples Louisville's offense
It took all of 21 words for Louisville to announce it has jettisoned its starting point guard three weeks before Selection Sunday.
The school released a terse statement Sunday afternoon that read only "Chris Jones has been dismissed from the University of Louisville men’s basketball team. There will be no comment on the matter."
Jones' dismissal ends a tumultuous senior season rife with disciplinary issues for the junior college transfer. Louisville coach Rick Pitino benched Jones against Long Beach State in late December three days after a 3 of 15 shooting performance against Kentucky in which the point guard also drew intense criticism when TV cameras caught him blatantly flopping to try to draw a foul.
The best stretch of Jones' Louisville career followed that incident, but he soon became a frequent target of criticism for his questionable shot selection and on-court attitude. Pitino suspended Jones indefinitely before Louisville's Feb. 18 loss at Syracuse only to reinstate him prior to Saturday's 55-53 home win against Miami.
Jones scored 17 points and dished out two assists in that win. By the following afternoon, it was clear it was his last game in a Cardinals jersey.
The loss of Jones further cripples a Louisville offense that already lacked sufficient scoring options. Terry Rozier is a premier perimeter scorer and Montrezl Harrell is one of the nation's best interior players, but the only other remaining player on the entire roster averaging more than 3.3 points is the highly erratic Wayne Blackshear.
The player whose role is likely to increase most is freshman Quentin Snider, the only other point guard on Louisville's roster. The Cardinals also need more scoring from Blackshear, who fouled out in 19 scoreless minutes at Syracuse in the game in which Jones was suspended.
Louisville (22-6, 9-5) was shooting only 43 percent during ACC play prior to Jones' dismissal and was dead last in the conference in 3-point shooting. Unless some unexpected contributors emerge off the Cardinals bench, those numbers may only get worse.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
