Russ watch 2013 has come to an end today as Card Nation found out that the dynamic and energetic player will return to Louisville for his senior season. I’m very happy that he decided to come back and think he will really benefit from staying another year in college. Russ has been a pleasure to watch and to write about over the last couple of seasons. He played a big part in our back-to-back final four runs and his relentless effort on the basketball court along with his freestyle form of play will give the Cards a very good chance of reaching the last weekend again in 2014. It will be a long time before we ever see another personality this big in a Cardinal uniform so I’m going to enjoy every second of “Russdiculousness” next season.
What about next season?
I know it’s not easy for a college basketball team to win back-to-back championships but with the return of Smith it does make that task very attainable in my opinion. We are losing two really good players and two guys that were leaders in Peyton and Gorgui. But are gaining some very good replacements. Terry Rozier, Chris Jones and Anton Gill will share time in the back-court rotation and with the return of Russ it will give these guys time to develop into their roles on the team. And we already have an established back-up in place up front in Montrezl Harrell along with Stephan VanTreese and newcomers Akoy Agau will join them, as will big man Mangok Mathiang.
So with the pieces in place to make up for the production lost and key players returning in Kevin Ware, Luke Hancock, Chane Behanan, Wayne Blackshear and now Russ Smith this Louisville team will once again be loaded. There’s no reason to doubt that they couldn’t do what that Florida team did in 06/07 and repeat as National Champs.
FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: Russ Smith Stays At Louisville 4-24-2013: