It was announced on Sunday afternoon that Louisville starting point guard Chris Jones had been dismissed from the team but no information why was said. He was suspended from the team earlier for the Syracuse game for fighting on 4th street. Then was allowed to play Saturday against Miami (FL) because he took care of the situation by the time Pitino got back from Syracuse. It’s a big loss for the Cardinals and here’s what to expect from Louisville for the rest of the season.

New Starter in town: The starting point guard job now falls on the lap of freshman Quentin Snider. He has started the past two games and has done a solid job. His first start was at Syracuse as he had 13 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and no turnovers. Snider did start against Miami but didn’t record a single stat because Jones came in and played for most of the game.

He is a more patient player on offense than Jones and won’t throw up ridiculous shots. But, the big difference from Chris Jones and Quentin Snider is that Jones was a much better defensive player. Snider will have to take care of the ball and either give it to Rozier to let him score or feed Harrell in the paint.

Even more struggling to score: Louisville is known to be offensively challenged in most of their games. They always had a tough time scoring but Jones was a reliable option to find his own shot or knock down a long range bomb. Other than Jones there were only three other options on offense; Rozier creating his own shot, Blackshear taking a three, or Harrell bullying away in the paint.

There were some games where the bench would not score a single point. Harrell will have to get a ton more touches in the paint if they still want to win games. Expect finding points to be a lot tougher for Louisville as they are down to only three reliable threats.

Remaining Schedule: The Cardinals next game is against a struggling Georgia Tech team. They are favored by four points and should defeat the Yellow Jackets with no problem on Monday. But the next three games are very important for Louisville. They travel to Florida State first, which won’t be an easy game after they gave Virginia and Duke challenges. The final week of the regular season is insanely difficult for the Cardinals. Both games are at home but they are against Notre Dame and a rematch against Virginia. Those will be extremely tough games for the Cardinals especially without Chris Jones. If they can defeat Georgia Tech and Florida State then win at least once against ND or UVA they will be in good shape.

ACC Tournament/NCAA Tournament Chances: Louisville has no hope for a Final Four run unless some miraculous happens within the offense. They are hardly a Sweet 16 team now but Pitino knows how to lead this team to the promise land. Their defense will be good enough to win a couple games in March to keep things interesting. Louisville currently holds the 4th seed in the ACC and will have to play even better to still clinch it.

If they are capable of keeping the 4th seed they will clinch a double bye in the ACC tournament. That would be a great seeding for the Cardinals as they would have a chance to face Virginia in the semi-finals who are still without Justin Anderson. It would be a great set up because they wouldn’t have to play Notre Dame or Duke in the ACC tournament until the championship game. Advancing to the semi-finals of the ACC tournament and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament would be considered great for this struggling Cardinals team.

Not much is expected from this Louisville team now because of the dismissal of Chris Jones. Pitino had to suffer the loss of Chane Behanan last season and still brought the team a conference tournament title and advancing to the Sweet 16.

As long as Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell are on the court, Louisville will have a chance in any game they play. Defense wins games in March, and there is no better defensive mind than Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino. If this team can finish the season with only three more losses it will be considered a successful season with the departure of Chris Jones.