With over 600 victories, multiple national championships, and a slew of Final-4 appearances as head coach at Louisville, Denny Crum’s biggest coaching challenge could be this year’s team. After all, the Cards were hit with NCAA sanctions before the season started that limited future recruiting and banned U of L from the C-USA and post-season tournament games for 1998-99. What is their motivation?

Of all the scenarios, many figure Louisville to sleepwalk this year because the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is no longer there. Ironically, Crum’s team may find motivation in playing spoiler this season for other teams trying to get into the tournament. No mistake, this year’s team isn’t the same caliber that basketball fans have become accustomed to at Louisville. After last year’s 12-20 campaign — the worst in Cardinal history — few expect this team to turn heads.

While Louisville has no dominating center such as Felton Spencer, Clifford Rozier, or Pervis Ellison, and lacks the superstar guard like DeJuan Wheat, Crum has a handful of solid if not overlooked players who can have a big night and lead the Cards to victory. After five games, U of L has only lost to UNC by 5 in Chapel Hill and a road game against a talented Ole Miss team. The Cards destroyed DePaul recently, the same DePaul team that took Kansas to the wire in Lawrence.

Louisville’s Cameron Murray is a point guard playing like an All-American this year for Denny Crum. He’s shooting a staggering 25-34 (.735%) from the field and has nailed 8-11 from behind the arc. The only knock on Murray has been his ball-handling which has been average but not spectacular. Helping Murray in the backcourt is 6-3 Marquis Maybin, a quick player who looks to drive to the basket to exploit his athletic ability. Maybin has also been tearing up the nets, shooting .532% from the field through five games.

This season, Louisville mainstay Alex Sanders finally has the chance to slide to power forward as Dion Edward, a 6-9 JUCO product, gives Crum a legitimate center for the first time since Clifford Rozier. At 6-7, Sanders was forced to play center in prior years and struggled against taller players. Though Sanders is a load anywhere he plays, he is much better suited at power forward and sees the floor better than most competitors — Sanders has 13 assists and only 7 turnovers. Tony Williams, a 6-7 junior, adds some scoring punch at the quick forward spot and likes to step out to shoot the trey — very much like Coby Turner. Nate Johnson, a 6-6 junior who started at forward for Denny Crum a year ago, is now a bench player but has lost hardly any productivity.

Other Cardinals expecting to see playing time against the Flyers are 6-3 Eric Johnson, 6-6 Kevin Smiley, and 6-9 Tobiah Hopper. Johnson is a strong shooter and can handle the basketball when Murray and Maybin are on the bench while Kevin Smiley is more of a role player who’s primary goal is to get others involved. Hopper, a JUCO transfer, relieves the frontcourt starters and is a fine FT shooter for a big man (12-12).

As a whole, the Cardinal’s strength is clearly shooting. As a team, Louisville shoots a stellar .510% from the field and .412% from long distance. Combine strong shooting with great athletes and a bitter taste from NCAA sanctions and the Freedom Hall gang could be poised to surprise a few teams this year. Louisville’s achilles heel of the last few seasons has been a propensity to play to the level of their competition — beating Kentucky last season on their way to 20 losses. Though the Cards’ non-con schedule is once again one of the toughest in the nation, Crum’s team may be looking to Saturday’s game with Kentucky and overlooking the Flyers. Still, the UD Arena should pose little threat to Louisville’s gameplan — they play in a rowdy atmosphere nearly every contest.

The Flyers must get off to a strong start and stick to Oliver Purnell’s gameplan. If Dayton nails a few early treys it could be a bad omen. The Flyers must develop an inside game and avoid casting long-range jumpshots every trip down the floor. Mark Ashman must make more noise inside the paint than he did against East. Michigan and Coby Turner needs to hit some shots for Dayton to have a strong chance of winning. Edwin Young, Cain Doliboa, and David Morris should fare well.

Unlike years past, Dayton’s strength is on defense — a reality unseen in Flyer Country since Don Donoher. If Dayton can contain Louisville’s guards and limit Crum’s team to one shot per possession, the Flyers can win this game.

Actually, the Flyers SHOULD win this game. Dayton has too much talent to lose games at home — even to quality teams like U of L. Anything less than a Flyer win should disappoint all.