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Morning Kickoff | Louisville basketball team better without Chris Jones?

There was little to criticize or question about the first half of the University of Louisville’s blowout win last week over Houston given the Cardinals’ stat lines. They hit 11 of 15 3-pointers, and senior guard Russ Smith went 4 of 5 from deep in a performance seen mostly as a fluke.

But college basketball expert Seth Davis, speaking on CBS Sports Network’s halftime show, suggested U of L scored 57 points in the first 20 minutes because the Cardinals are better without starting point guard Chris Jones. And Davis stuck with that line of thinking in his weekly “Hoop Thoughts” column for Sports Illustrated.

Jones missed both the Houston game and Saturday’s win at Connecticut with a strained oblique muscle, giving both starts to freshman Terry Rozier. U of L beat Houston by 39 at home and UConn by 12 on the road, the latter seen as the Cardinals’ first major victory of the season.

“I do not believe this is a coincidence,” Davis wrote. “Jones is a gifted and speedy little guard, but he needs the ball in his hands to be effective. The problem is, so does Russ Smith. And last I checked, there is only one basketball.”

Jones has started 13 of the 16 games this season in which he has played. He has also battled an injured wrist and other minor ailments. He’s the Cardinals’ third-leading scorer at 11.3 points per game but has dished out just nine more assists than Rozier despite significantly more playing time at point guard.

Rozier came to U of L after a season at Hargrave Military Academy, while Jones arrived at U of L as the reigning junior college player of the year. Jones will battle the JUCO stereotype — individual before team — while playing for the Cardinals.

He’s not the only player facing that. ESPN’s Myron Medcalf pointed out in an article published Monday that nationally ranked Baylor also starts a junior college product, Kenny Chery, at point guard. Ole Miss’ Marshall Henderson played at the junior college level too, as did Memphis’ Geron Johnson.

“There are far more casualties than stars who have entered Division I basketball from the junior college circuit in recent years,” Medcalf wrote. “And even some of the players who have made it have had to battle a negative perception about athletes who come from those ranks. Concerns about prospects' academic aptitude, athletic ability and character have been obstacles for players…”

We’ll find out more about Jones’ role with U of L moving forward when coach Rick Pitino speaks with local reporters at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The injury has his status as day-to-day.


AROUND THE WEB


• Leading up to the NFL Combine next month, U of L quarterback Teddy Bridgewater will train at IMG Academy in Florida. (http://bit.ly/1motKPq)

• U of L’s recent men’s basketball victories boosted the Cardinals from 39th to 31st in the most recent Ratings Percentage Index released Monday by the NCAA. UK, despite its loss to Arkansas, last week, also moved up from 15th to 13th. (http://bit.ly/KK8pUG)

• It shouldn’t be too long before Atlantic Coast Conference logos make it on the field at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium if also new-conference-bound Rutgers is any example. The Scarlet Knights’ football Twitter account posted a photo of Big Ten Conference logos at its stadium on Monday. (http://bit.ly/1aHKxYq)