Louisville Dismisses Chris Jones, On Pace For Early March Exit

On Sunday, the Louisville Cardinals announced that they will finish the season without senior guard Chris Jones. Jones was suspended for the game against Syracuse and didn’t travel with the team to the Carrier Dome. Jones was reinstated for Louisville’s home game against Miami this past Saturday. He played a vital role against the Hurricanes, fueling a Louisville come from behind victory with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Louisville has not only lost the team’s top assist man and third leading scorer, but they lose an elite defender and a tremendous play maker. Jones is able to create plays with his agility on offense and create havoc with his speed on defense. In the Cardinals’ road loss to Syracuse, Louisville only forced the Orange into seven turnovers without Jones.

It’s hard to believe that Louisville can make it past the first weekend of March without their veteran point guard. Louisville doesn’t have another player with the ability to make plays the way Jones did. Freshman guard Quentin Snider will be the likely candidate to replace Jones. Snider played well against Syracuse in Jones’ absence, scoring 13 points and dishing out four assists, but he doesn’t have the same type of impact on the game as Jones.

This also limits Louisville at the guard spot. Anton Gill played sparingly against Syracuse and didn’t play at all in Louisville’s win over Miami. Head coach Rick Pitino elected to play walk-on David Levitch over Shaqquan Aaron against Syracuse. After the game Pitino was quoted as saying, “He just doesn’t have a Louisville attitude. He’s not a Louisville man in terms of the way we practice, the way we go about it.

(Can he get there?)

If he doesn’t, he’ll be at another school. That’s the way it will be. He’s never going to step on the court until he gets that attitude.”

Aaron played nine minutes in Louisville’s game against Miami. He had zero points and one turnover in nine minutes of play.

It’s unclear what’s brewing in Louisville, but what is clear is that the Cardinals seem to have all the ingredients for an early upset bid in March. Consider it a success if Louisville can make the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

James Szuba is a college basketball writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesSzuba.