– Contemplating the starting lineup for the upcoming basketball season

Our Louisville Cardinals have arguably the top team in college basketball next season. We will return much of the rotation from the team that reached the Final Four. We are also bringing in two players that were ranked in ESPN’s top 100.
With all of that said, it is always a fun debate in the offseason to predict a starting lineup. Coach Pitino was asked this very question Saturday morning on his website but did not give any concrete group.

What Pitino says here is correct in that his system does not necessarily need a set amount of players taking up the bulk of minutes. Guys will be interchanging often, so who begins a game is trivial.

My prediction for the starting five is Peyton Siva, Wayne Blackshear, Luke Hancock, Chane Behanan and Gorgui Dieng. And I think we all would agree that Russ Smith will be the first guy off of the bench. And I’m not counting him out to sneak into the starting lineup at some point this season.

We have a very deep and talented team returning this season. It is good enough to get our Cards back to the Final 4.