Cardinals Spend Tuesday Afternoon with Media

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville men's basketball team and head coach Chris Mack spent Tuesday afternoon with media representatives at its annual media day in the Planet Fitness Kueber Center, its on-campus practice facility.

Mack led off the afternoon with 37 minutes at the microphone answering questions, including some about fifth-year senior forward/center Malik Williams, who was named to the preseason All-ACC second team earlier in the day. Duke 6-10 freshman forward Paolo Banchero earned Preseason ACC Player and Freshman of the Year honors.

Williams, who also served as a captain for the Cardinals the last two seasons and is the first three-year captain in UofL history, enters the season with 619 career points and 462 rebounds. The fifth-year senior played in just three games last season after recovering from a foot injury and then re-injuring the foot late in the season. He scored nine or more points in 15 of his last 22 games as a junior in 2019-20.

The 6-11, 245-pound forward/center from Ft. Wayne, Ind., pulled down five or more rebounds in 16 of his last 22 games in 2019-20, including a season-high matching 13 rebounds with 14 points against Syracuse on Feb. 19, 2020 for his fifth career double-double. The runner-up in the 2019-20 ACC Sixth Man of the Year voting, Williams scored in double figures on 10 occasions as a junior and 23 times for his career. He was 19th in the ACC in rebounding as a junior, averaging 6.1 per game, and averaged 8.5 points.

Also released today was the predicted order of finish as selected by media members at the 2021 ACC Tipoff event. Louisville, which received one first place vote, was chosen to finish sixth in the poll behind Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Louisville will face its first outside competition on Oct. 29 in an exhibition game against Kentucky State in the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals officially open their season in a home contest on Nov. 9 against Southern.

ACC Men's Basketball Tipoff - 2021 Preseason Poll
School, Points
1. Duke (47), 1,132
2. Florida State (14), 1,034
3. North Carolina (5), 1,001
4. Virginia (9), 949
5. Virginia Tech (5), 857
6. Louisville (1), 791
7. Syracuse, 781
8. Notre Dame, 599
9. NC State, 555
10. Georgia Tech, 524
11. Clemson, 430
12. Miami, 428
13. Wake Forest, 274
14. Pitt, 253
15. Boston College, 112
First-place votes in parentheses; 81 total voters

Preseason All-ACC
First Team
Name, School, Votes
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 68
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 52
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 49
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 46
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 37

Second Team
Name, School, Votes
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 25
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 23
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 17
Mark Williams, Duke, 12
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 9
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 9
Malik Williams, Louisville, 9

Preseason Player of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 28
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 16
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 13
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 12
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 5
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 3
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 2
Mark Williams, Duke, 2

Preseason Freshman of the Year
Name, School, Votes
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 64
Trevor Keels, Duke, 5
Terquavion Smith, NC State, 3
Dontrez Styles, North Carolina, 3
Igor Milicic Jr., Virginia, 3
Wooga Poplar, Miami, 1
Benny Williams, Syracuse, 1
Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 1

University of Louisville Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Malik Williams

Related Videos