The theme of the Media Day card is "Culture Establishment"

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WAVE) – The season continues today at UofL as the men’s basketball team hosts its first media day under new head coach Kenny Payne. Coach His Payne spoke to the media for about 30 minutes on Thursday afternoon. Immediately after that, the card was photographed. Pain’s biggest motivation for this team is to make them realize that they need their power to defeat his opponents. “You can’t talk about other teams. You can talk about doing and being a team, and then you can talk about your opponent,” Payne said. , many players say it’s confidence. “Really, be confident. Be confident. When you’re on the court, just play. Have fun and don’t think too much,” senior captain El Ellis said.

This is a team that has seen a lot last season. Head coach Chris Mack was then suspended early in the season before being sacked mid-season. When Payne takes over the program, one of the things he’s in charge of is instilling confidence in the players. “Kenny Payne: They’ve been challenged, and some of them are accepting it, and some are saying, ‘This is tough.’ That’s what we’re trying to do and establish who we are as players. No. You could say there’s a sense of culture around the building, honestly around the campus,” said red-shirted junior captain Jerin Withers. The last year was especially difficult for his redshirt freshman Mike His James as he not only struggled with his coaching drama, but also dealt with an injury that would make him miss the entire season. “It was incredible. Sometimes you feel like you’re in a movie. Like, is this really happening? I mean, it was a roller coaster, but that’s a thing of the past.” “I’m looking forward to what we have now,” said James.

One of the things Kenny Payne is trying to reintroduce around the program is family, especially by bringing some former players back into the mix, but it won’t be the only family dynamic on the team for a long time. Payne welcomed quite a few newcomers to the program. One of them is his own son Zan, who transferred from England to his UofL. His father and son say they are reunited and feel good so far. “All I can say is that Zan texted me about a week ago and said, ‘Thank you Dad. Thank you for riding with me and pushing me to be better. I feel like I’m in good shape and I’m feeling more confident.I think if I get a little bit fitter I can contribute to the win.Kenny Payne said, “He’s always going to be tough on me and the team, so that’s why. , he wants us to be the best we can be, so it should be good,” Zan Payne said.

Card fans can check out their teams multiple times this weekend. Live at Louisville Louisville Slugger Field on Friday, Red his white scrimmage at KFC Yum! On Sunday he is the center at 3 o’clock.

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