Louisville A 7-foot-5 prospect ranked land as commitment from Illinois to Cardinals….

I sound like I’m trying to be smart when I say this, but I’m going to quote Winston Churchill right now. He said something about, this is this kind of the end of the beginning. It’s not the end, obviously, it’s the end of the beginning.

By that, I mean, the last eight weeks have been a lot for our guys. They showed up on June 5, didn’t know anybody from anybody, and worked their tails off every day. In the weight room, on the court, off the court, to grow closer together and to start sharing in a positive way. I couldn’t be prouder of this group for that.

It’s been a long, long, four months. I say long, sometimes I feel like it went by like a whirlwind. But from the time Josh (Heird) called me, and offered me the job to be the head coach at the University of Louisville, to kind of right now. it’s been a blur to say the least. I give my staff a ton of credit for the work that they’ve done. Putting this roster together, recruiting like crazy, leaving their families as we did all this.

As this first chapter comes to a close, it’s important for our guys to get away from me, to probably get away from each other. Refresh their minds, refresh their bodies. Obviously, some guys have some academic stuff to finish. But then to kind of recharge as we get back in a couple of weeks for the start of the fall, and kind of jump into the next chapter full steam ahead.

I appreciate the administration for allowing us to take this trip. A lot of people have done a lot of things in conjunction with that, whether it’s the donors, the fans, people that contribute to NIL, specifically with this game. Chris Brown and L&N Credit Union really stepped up in the sponsorship of some of the stuff they did with Floyd Street Media. It’s hard to just single out one, but I mention Chris because of today’s game specifically. But there’s been so many people that have been wind at our back, that have continued to support us. We’re all new. I’m new, my staff’s new, all of our players are new, and the city of Louisville has embraced this team. We appreciate that. We have a great, great fan base that’s passionate. I was talking to a lady last night, she’s telling us how excited she was. She loved watching us play, and then she said, ‘Man, do you have enough size inside?’ Guy over there, lady over there, 100 year old grandmother, everybody knows their hoop in his town, and that’s one of the things that makes it special. I’m excited to be here. I know our guys are excited about representing this great city and university over the next six or seven months.

(On the influence of Skip Prosser, and his thoughts on the passion of the fanbase)

Coach Prosser is a major influence in my life. Obviously, we lost him just about 17 years ago almost exactly. Wverything I do every day, so many things I do every day and I say, are things that I was taught by him. I think that’s the way that people’s legacy lives on. A guy like Skip Prosser was a phenomenal coach, and mentor and teacher is things I teach our guys. Like never delay gratitude, which is one of the Skip Prosser’s favorite quotes. And I mention his name, because I want them to know the source, and I want his name and his legacy to continue.

Our fan base is special. There’s so many college towns around the country, this is a college city. That’s no disrespect to the [Louisville] Bats and to the soccer team (Louisville City FC/Racing Louisville FC). … In this town, the biggest and brightest spotlight is on Louisville and Louisville basketball. That’s one of the things that makes this job, this opportunity, Louisville basketball, great. It’s the greatest fan base in the country. They had 15,000 people at a TBT game. Chris Paul’s an investor in TBT, and he was there the other night here talking about it. He was talking about how crazy the fans are. Crazy in a good way, how passionate. It was one of his first trips to Louisville, and he was wowed. Kudos to our unbelievable fans.

(On Kasean Pryor’s hot start, and if he expects him to be an X-Factor)

My expectation is for Kasean to play like a big time player, because I think he is one. Got us off to a great start yesterday, he’s had a really good summer, he’s grown in a lot of ways. He’s going to be a major piece for our team.

(On Aboubacar Traore’s versatility, and if his maturity rubs off on others)

I’ve referred to him as kind of a Swiss Army Knife. I know that’s kind of a commonly used word for guys that are very versatile, because that’s what he is. He affects the game in a bunch of ways. I said yesterday that you can’t really say he’s ‘this position,’ because he can play so many. I always say you are what you can guard, and he can guard a lot of positions.

Whether his mentality rubs off on other guys, yeah, I think so. But like one of the core tenets of the cultural blueprint of our program, and that’s relentless effort. Second is competitive excellence, third is the power of the unit. Relentless effort is the expectation. We’re not gonna throw parades because we dive for loose balls and crash the glass. That’s the expectation. … Kader is a very versatile piece.

(On which one of the hallmarks of his program he was