3 questions for Louisville basketball, Kenny Payne heading into Red and White scrimmage

Figuratively speaking, Kenny Payne knows an elephant will await him at the KFC Yum! Center when he walks into the arena Wednesday to begin his follow-up effort to the worst season in modern Louisville men's basketball history.

"I know we've got to win games. Every single time we take the floor, our job is to win games," the second-year coach told reporters July 28 — his first formal news conference since the end of a 4-28 inaugural campaign.

"But, I am building a program; I am changing a culture," he added. "And, in order to do that, I got to first get them to understand the process of winning."

Payne will see how far along his new-look Cardinals are with a game that is, in theory, impossible to lose: the Red and White intrasquad scrimmage, which tips off at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

With no Louisville Live on the docket, the scrimmage will be the public's first glimpse at Payne's overhauled roster of eight newcomers and four scholarship returners. U of L has two more trial runs — exhibitions Oct. 18 against Simmons College and Oct. 30 against Kentucky Wesleyan — before the 2023-24 season officially tips off Nov. 6 against UMBC at the Yum! Center.

Here are three questions facing the Cards heading into the scrimmage:

Will Louisville pass the vibe check?

Payne said last October he prefers substance over style, but even he couldn't deny the importance of having a flashy preseason tipoff event like Louisville Live.

"I think it's big for everybody," he said. "It'll be the first time that we get to show that we can bring people together."

He later added: "We need the hype; we need the attention. We need the notoriety of having something that's special about us."

Fan support was brought up several times Monday, when the team held its annual tipoff luncheon inside the grand ballroom of the Galt House Hotel. Payne told those in attendance their presence and unwavering support of his players at the Yum! Center is a cornerstone of the culture he's trying to build at his alma mater.

"I got to have people in the stands who are supporting them — supporting them knowing that they're not going to be perfect, supporting them knowing I'm not going to be perfect," he told emcee Peyton Siva.

"These guys need to know that you're fighting with them," he later added, "so that they fight with everything in their body."

Without Louisville Live — U of L in September said it's "opting to take a break" from the traveling pep rally "before determining the next iteration" — Wednesday's scrimmage will be the first opportunity for fans to either embrace or signal their apathy toward a team looking to pick itself up from rock bottom.

If the turnout at Freedom Hall this summer to watch The Ville, a group of mostly ex-Cards headlined by Siva and Russ Smith, compete in The Basketball Tournament is any indication, the latter couldn't be further from the truth.

Payne in July said he had members of his video staff put together a package of plays from The Ville's first TBT game to show his players "what this program is built on." Their challenge is to show fans they have picked up on what the greats who came before them put down to separate themselves from last season's disaster.

Perhaps shelving Louisville Live, an event that thrived off venues and celebrity sightings but offered little by way of on-court action, is just what the doctor ordered. Putting on a show Wednesday night with player introductions and a post-scrimmage autograph session should remain a point of emphasis, however; especially if there are recruits in attendance who will no doubt take notes on the atmosphere.

Louisville basketball recruiting: Where do things stand between the Cards and their top 2024 targets?

Will Louisville pass the eye test?

This question comes straight from Payne's summer news conference.

"We have a bunch of players who are pretty good basketball players," the coach told reporters. "My hope and goal is that, when you guys look at them, they pass the eye test. That's the first order of business for me — the eye test."

What does that mean? Payne wants those who watch his team to walk away thinking, "This program (is) taking a big jump." To help his cause, he and his staff assembled a collection of incoming talent that ranked among the top 10 on 247Sports' national leaderboard: three Division I transfers, four high school signees and one junior college product.

"I'm not going to overhype them," Payne told reporters Monday. "I want the people who see them play — for the first time, the second time, throughout the season — for them to say, 'Wow, this is totally different. They are connected; they are one; they are fighting; they are competitive.' Doesn't mean they win every game; they're going to have highs and lows, but there's going to be — there should be — a connectedness with this group that jumps off at you after what we had and what we went through last year."

On paper, Louisville boasts more talent and depth than it did last season. Payne in July reported positive returns from summer workouts, most notably that this group needed just three days to precisely execute a passing drill that took his inaugural roster months to grasp. It's a reassuring detail but highlights the glaringly obvious.

The bar can't be set any lower heading into Year 2.

To pass the eye test Wednesday night, U of L must show off the connectivity its coach is harping on. It'll be interesting to see how second-year Illinois transfer Skyy Clark and consensus four-star freshman Ty-Laur Johnson initiate the offense at point guard, how the Cards space the floor, how active they are off the ball, what kind of shots are being set up most often and for whom. Remember: last season's team ranked 251st of 363 Division I teams on KenPom.com in terms of offensive efficiency and posted the country's second-worst assist/turnover ratio (0.63).

On the other side of the ball, Payne wants to create "havoc" after Louisville finished the 2022-23 season 312th on KenPom in defensive efficiency and dead last in DI with a -4.8 turnover margin. Look for the most disciplined and unrelenting players who prove themselves capable of switching perimeter assignments; their coach said these are prerequisite for playing time.

What will the lineups look like?

Payne took the approach last season of dividing his key rotation pieces among the Red and White teams' rosters. With starters Mike James and Jae'Lyn Withers sidelined because of injuries, every scholarship player saw at least 26 minutes of run.

Louisville as of Monday evening had not ruled anyone out from Wednesday's scrimmage, meaning playing time should come at more of a premium and the coaching staff must manage accordingly.

If it chooses to assemble teams like it did last go-around — Payne on Monday said it's likely, but the rosters had not yet been finalized — we could get more insight into how it plans to stagger the lineup during the regular season.

Clark and Johnson are likely to oppose each other as the two true point guards on scholarship. On Monday, Payne told reporters he was thinking about throwing at Clark a mix of his tallest perimeter players — James, a redshirt sophomore, second-year Southern California transfer Tre White and freshman Curtis Williams — so he is challenged with "elite length."

“That's what we've been doing in practice," he said. "I don't know yet how we're gonna do it in the scrimmage, but that's what I've been doing — trying to keep Skyy from being too comfortable, coasting through practice and it's looking easy for him."

From there, how the staff divides its wings is anyone's guess.

If the goal is to mix newcomers and veterans, Williams and fellow freshman Kaleb Glenn could be split up and matched with senior JJ Traynor and second-year Miami transfer Danilo Jovanovich, who appeared in one game for the Hurricanes last season before opting to redshirt. There's also JUCO transfer Koron Davis, a 6-foot-6 native of Gary, Indiana, who played everywhere from point guard to power forward before his jump to the DI ranks.

Regardless of how things shake out, take note of each player's role on the court — and how it changes if they are plugged in at different positions.

The most intriguing pairings, however, will be in the paint, where U of L has 7-1 freshman Dennis Evans, junior Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10) and sophomore Emmanuel Okorafor (6-9). The Cards suffered from a glaring lack of production at the five spot last season and will need to assert themselves more in the frontcourt this year to bolster their performance on both ends.

Evans, who has a 9-8 standing reach and 7-7 wingspan, offers elite rim protection from the get-go but is the rawest talent of the bunch — how he's fitting in offensively will be a key story line to monitor Wednesday night. Maybe slot him next to Huntley-Hatfield, the most experienced player at the position who also saw time at the four last season?

That would allow Okorafor a chance to showcase the motor Payne has praised but fans didn't get to see much because of what proved to be a season-ending ankle injury he sustained less than a month after joining the team in January from NBA Academy Africa. However they're matched up, it should be an all-hands-on-deck approach at center this year.

Measuring sticks: 5 key games on Louisville basketball's schedule in Year 2 under Kenny Payne

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball: 3 questions for Kenny Payne ahead of scrimmage