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- The Louisville social media team flashed out a graphic on social media as a way of promoting the basketball program
- That post contained a number of former Duke and Kentucky players, resulting in backlash on Twitter
- Read more COLLEGE BASKETBALL news here
The Louisville basketball program did its best to promote its program to both recruits and supporters on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, that attempt failed miserably.
The Cardinals’ social media team flashed a graphic of its new coaching staff with head coach Kenny Payne leading the charge. Payne was hired back on March 18th, and this week, he filled out his supporting cast with the hirings of Josh Jamieson, Nolan Smith, and Danny Manning.
The staff seems like a solid one that’s been around some of college basketball’s great programs.
Payne, himself, was as assistant at Kentucky following an 11-year professional career.
Manning was a former star player at Kansas, going No. 1 overall in the 1988 NBA Draft. He won a national title with the Jayhawks before going on to be a head coach at both Tulsa and Wake Forest.
Smith was an assistant under Coach K at Duke while Jamieson was at Oregon prior to joining the staff at Louisville.
Some pretty solid credentials.
But when the Cardinals’ media team tried to use those past experiences as a way to promote its own program, it backfired quickly.
Louisville basketball team posts Twitter image of former Kentucky, Duke players
Dreams ➡️ Reality#GoCards pic.twitter.com/ahDlHfknQC
— Louisville Men's Basketball (@LouisvilleMBB) May 5, 2022
In an attempt to feature some of the NBA stars that the coaching staff has helped develop, the media team used a number of examples from rival schools Duke and Kentucky.
In the graphic are players like Julius Randle, Jason Tatum, Devin Booker, and Brandon Ingram.
Louisville basketball roots run deep, and seeing some of the program’s biggest archnemeses being used to as a promotion didn’t sit well with supporters.
They’re now being crushed online for the image.
Social media rips Louisville basketball for using archrivals to build excitement
Using Kentucky player to make Louisville look good that's funny .
— James Willis (@JamesWi11047973) May 5, 2022
https://twitter.com/C_Bethel/status/1522018223683743753?s=20&t=Az5cqXMCW8sNpaSf2lSyyA
https://twitter.com/bgtheogBBN/status/1522013133958701057?s=20&t=Az5cqXMCW8sNpaSf2lSyyA
This gotta be the biggest reach I’ve ever seen
— Hunter Shiarella (@HunterShiarella) May 5, 2022
Many fans wondered why the Cardinals didn’t use some of their own NBA alumni instead. Donovan Mitchell was just seen in the NBA Playoffs with the Utah Jazz.
https://twitter.com/JamesCBundy/status/1522023628862369793?s=20&t=Az5cqXMCW8sNpaSf2lSyyA
What makes no sense is Louisville has players in the NBA… Donovan Mitchell is a pretty good one.
No player on this graphic played for Louisville
— Will (@willgtg901) May 5, 2022
It was a bold strategy to say the least. It doesn’t look like it’s paying off.