This week the Louisville Basketball program announced what many fans had expected: Mason Faulkner will be joining the 2020-21 Cardinals roster. Faulkner had initially committed to Colorado after spending the past two years at Western Carolina, but he decommitted from Colorado two weeks ago to be closer to his family who lives in Kentucky. Below are five thoughts on Faulkner’s game and how he fits on this Louisville roster.
Stats at Western Carolina
Getting By Defenders
One of the things that stood out the most in watching Faulkner play at Western Carolina was his ability to shake defenders and create good scoring opportunities. Western Carolina's offense often stalled out and Faulkner was asked to create in one on one situations or out of pick and rolls. Faulkner relied on in and out dribbles and crossovers to blow by defenders and attack the rim.
The best examples of this came from Western Carolina's game at Florida State in 2019-20. That Florida State team finished the season as the 15th most efficient defense in the country, according to KenPom, and used their NBA length and aggressive switching scheme to stifle opponent offenses. Yet, Faulkner led Western Carolina to a 118 adjusted offensive rating, according to Bart Torvik's site, carrying them to the brink of an upset.
In the clips below, Faulkner beat three NBA level defenders (Trent Forrest, Patrick Williams, and Devin Vassel) off the dribble and scored over and around the crashing defenders at the rim.
This game and the clips above are the most encouraging signs for Louisville fans that Faulkner can contribute in big ways in high level ACC games. Faulkner comfortably handled Florida State's full court pressure throughout the whole game and looked completely at home playing on the court with future NBA lottery picks.
Pick and Roll Play
In many ways, Western Carolina's offense during Faulkner's time there resembled last season's pandemic affected Louisville offense. The Catamounts played with little pace, ball movement, or player movement, and relied in large part on high pick and rolls for Faulkner to generate offense. Faulkner was a solid, if not spectacular, pick and roll player. He would often look to reject screens Trae Young style, and caught multiple Florida State players leaning.
Faulkner also demonstrated an ability to read the defense and make the right passes out of pick and rolls. He was adept at making pocket passes to rolling big men for easy scores.
He showed an ability to spray out to open three point shooters when help defenders sucked too far in, and threw a couple of cross court skip passes that the best pick and roll ball handlers have in their repertoire.
Defensive Mistakes
While Faulkner demonstrated offensive creation skills in his time at Western Carolina, his defense left a lot to be desired. Faulkner did average a little over a steal a game in both of his years playing for the Catamounts, but in watching a few of his full games his defense did not stand out in good ways. As an on ball defender he was relatively engaged but could get overpowered and shot over by bigger and taller players.
However, the second his man gave up the ball Faulkner reverted to bad ball watching tendencies. This lack of engagement as an off ball defender led to a couple of embarrassing mistakes that cost his team in big moments. With three minutes left in the game against Florida State and his team up two points, Faulkner completely fell asleep and allowed Patrick Williams to cut behind him for a big dunk that tied the game.
Against ETSU in the 2019-20 season, Faulkner completely loses his man while seeming to talk to his bench leading to an open three with four minutes left in a 10 point game.
Faulkner also had the bad habit of unnecessarily helping off the ball. In the Florida State game he inexplicably helped off the inbounder leading to a Trent Forrest downhill drive that ended with a putback giving Florida State the lead with 50 seconds left.
Lack of Off Ball Movement
Like his defense, Faulkner's activity and attention drastically fell off when he was not directly involved in the play. Faulkner had the bad habit of standing and watching when others had the ball, rarely cutting or even being in a position to shoot or attack a closeout if the ball was swung to him. One example of this came in last year's game against ETSU: in the clip below Faulkner gives up the ball and ends up aimlessly wandering around the perimeter, missing an opportunity to cut when his man helps and ending up standing near the logo at halfcourt for an extremely long three.
In the games I watched he was mainly asked to play on ball and had very few opportunities to spot up and attack closeouts. However, in the limited chances he did have, Faulkner often did not make the quick decisions needed to take advantage of a scrambled defense.
These bad habits could be a concern for Faulkner's fit offensively at Louisville. New Assistant Coach Ross McMains' offensive system is built in large part on players making quick decisions on whether to shoot, pass, or attack, and emphasizes taking advantage of situations when the defense is scrambling to recover. However, McMains' offense could be a big benefit for Faulkner. He was an efficient player last year for Western Carolina on a high usage rate while not exploiting some of the best opportunities for easy points. Embracing McMains' approach and being a more active off ball player could help him maintain his production in the jump from the Southern Conference to the ACC.
Fit on the Team
Faulkner is the eighth new addition to Louisville's roster as a part of Chris Mack's overhaul of last season's team. Notably, he also marks the fourth guard who joined the Cardinals this offseason along with Noah Locke, Jarrod West, and El Ellis. This makes for a crowded backcourt with players who you would assume would expect to play big minutes for next year's team. However, Mack has handled full backcourts like these in the past: in 2019-20 Mack played four guards 15 minutes or more each (Johnson, Perry, McMahon, Kimble). Additionally, while West, Faulkner, and Ellis all played primarily in on ball roles on their previous teams, each are good or great three point shooters allowing them to more easily shift between on ball and off ball situations for this season's Louisville team.
Who this addition likely affects the most are the younger players who could be pushed to the fringes of the rotation. New freshman Mike James seems the most likely candidate to have his minutes cut, but Dre Davis' role could also diminish next season. Davis played nearly 30 minutes per game last year on a team hampered by injuries and COVID issues, and while he was a solid defender he was wildly inefficient offensively and struggled to hit the open spot up threes the team desperately needed him to make. Davis might benefit from a more limited role where he can develop as an offensive player and build on the good defensive tendencies he displayed last year. Some of these rotational issues could be pushed off to later in the season as Faulkner is recovering from right ankle surgery earlier this offseason.
Overall, I think Faulkner’s addition raises this Louisville teams’ floor more than it does its ceiling. He probably won’t be able to be the high end offensive engine that can carry a team to a deep tournament run all by himself. But Faulkner does add to the already deep group of experienced players on this roster, and ensures that the Cardinals won’t be putting out lineups with only one or two players who can create their own shot like last year's team.