The horrific relationship between Louisville and senior point guard Chris Jones continues today as he was sent packing.
Not only does Louisville head coach Rick Pitino have to worry about his team’s tournament chances in a few weeks, he also has to deal with his senior point guard’s status with the team.
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A week ago the #12 Cardinals suspended Chris Jones for an unspecified violation of team rules.
He missed the team’s loss to Syracuse, but returned a game later on Saturday against Miami which saw Jones play a significant role in their 55-53 win over Miami.
Now, it appears Jones’ time with the program is finally done.
On Sunday, Kenny Klein who is the the school’s Senior Associate Athletic Director, announced that they have dismissed Jones from the team. In addition, they’ve decided to not comment on why.
Obviously something has been brewing for quite some time and it’s a miracle Pitino has been able to keep it under wraps for so long. Hell, we still don’t know the reason for this latest piece of negative news.
In fact, according to The Courier-Journal‘s Jeff Greer and Tim Sullivan, Pitino made it clear that he doesn’t believe in game suspensions and would rather dish out punishment in other ways:
“We missed him a lot but, you know, it’s his selfishness that hurt the team. I’m not one that believes in suspensions, game suspensions. I believe in punishment where you get up in the morning and lift weights and curfew at night, but this was not a decision by me.
This was a decision—it’s all cleared up—he could play the next game if he does what the assistant coaches tell him to do. If he doesn’t he sits again. And I don’t care if he sits the whole season, to tell you the truth. I could care less. Because if he doesn’t do the right things and act like a Louisville man, he can move on and try to go to Belgium somewhere.”
Despite the school not giving the reasoning for the dismissal, the probable cause is more selfish behavior on the part of Jones.
Pitino is a coach, like he mentioned himself, who doesn’t like the media to be involved with in-house issues. He wants his leaders and his coaches to take care of problems in the locker room itself.
The school must have felt Jones’ behavior had gotten to a point of no return.
For a senior guard who’s been such staple of a successful program for the last four years to be outright dismissed is an unbelievable and extremely rare occurrence.
Jones isn’t the greatest offensive player, only averaging 13.7 points and 3.6 assists per game, but will definitely effect the feel of the team, especially on the defensive end with his quickness.
This news will no doubt shake up the bracket projections in the coming days.
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