Mangok Mathiang will be a Louisville captain in 2015-16

Hold on to your butts, the Captain Mangok era is upon us.

Rick Pitino announced Sunday evening that rising junior Mangok Mathiang will be a captain for the 2015-16 season, but added that another could be added at a later date.

"I know Mangok is going to be one (captain)," Pitino said after accepting the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Metropolitan Award on Sunday. "I don't know who the others will be. I'm hoping it'll be a fifth-year senior who has leadership qualities."

Mathiang is one of the many returnees to next year's team with, to put it gently, pedestrian statistics up to this point in their college careers. But Pitino has pointed to the evolution of Wisconsin big man Frank Kaminsky, who went from seldom-used reserve as a freshman and sophomore to national Player of the Year as a senior, as motivation for his returning Cardinals.

"(Kaminsky)'s proof in the pudding of hard work, staying in the gym, working at your trade, getting in the weight room, and now he's playing for the national championship and he's player of the year," Pitino said. "We've already put it in everybody's locker for (Monday) when they get to the gym."

I don't hate it.