No major conference team had ever started 0-7 before this season. Ever. This year, however, both Louisville and Cal have done exactly that. Cal, ok, they're usually a weak sister team, but I just can't grasp Louisville being that awful.
They play 1-8 Florida State in a week, so maybe that gets them over the hump. Despite the similarly terrible record, though, FSU has at least been competitive in most of their games. Louisville, on the other hand, has played four major conference games and lost by 26, 32, 19, and 25 points.
From what I've read, they had a mass exodus from an already iffy roster after last season, and Kenny Payne has been vocal that he opposes NIL deals, which hurt them in the transfer pool. They don't have a point guard on the roster, which would explain averaging 17 turnovers per game.
Yeah he took over as interim after Turg left. The players actually liked him, and after the initial shock period the team actually did ok and got some decent wins despite having a losing season. He never was considered at all for the full time job though. They had their sights set on Williard all along. People were very lukewarm about the hire when it kept getting rumored, but he really won everyone over starting with his opening presser. He's really embraced the history of the program and he and Gary have a strong relationship so Gary has been a vocal supporter of him and what he's doing. Beyond winning, his up tempo style of play both on offense and D has been a welcome step up from the walk it up no offense Turd era.