Kenny Payne says Louisville has gotten ’70% better’ since start of season

Finding bright spots during a season where you’re 3-20 is a tough task to accomplish at times. Still, even with their record being what it is, Kenny Payne maintains his point that Louisville has improved this season and is still improving.

Payne shared those sentiments after the Cardinal’s latest 81-78 loss versus Florida State. If he were to put a number on it, he said his team is 70% better from where they were which, at this point, says plenty about how far they’ve come over the course of this season.

“We’ve gotten better as a team. I can’t sit here and tell you we haven’t. We’ve gotten better from day one to today,” Payne said. “I know it’s hard to believe but I’d say we’ve gotten 70% better.”

“You can look at me and say ‘Well how bad were you?’ and I’ll tell you we were really, really bad. For us to be competitive from where we came from? It says a lot about what these young men have done,” said Payne. “I know nobody wants to hear that because it’s win or your life is over. But we’ve gotten better.”

To a degree, Payne is correct. Their record still reflects a very poor season overall for Louisville. However, they’ve been much more competitive as of late. Over their first ten losses, their defeats were coming by a margin of 16.2 points. Over the second ten, that number has dropped to 13.6 points. That may not seem like much but, of their 11 losses in ACC play, four have been within 10 points.

Their latest loss to the Seminoles suggests the same kind of progress. Back on December 10th, Louisville never led and lost in Tallahassee by 22 points. Now, just under two months since then, they lost to that same FSU team by just three in a game they had a chance to win within the final two minutes.

During a season like the one the Cardinals are enduring, it’s all about finding the silver linings. Considering their growth this year, Payne is happy to look at that as a form of that solace.