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Could Kentucky basketball assistant Kenny Payne return to coach the Louisville Cardinals?

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Until recently, players on the Kentucky basketball team didn't know assistant Kenny Payne went to college at Louisville.

"And when they did find out they thought I was a football player," Payne said Monday.

Payne, in his eighth season on John Calipari's Wildcats' staff and a player on Louisville's 1986 championship team, continues to be mentioned as a candidate to take over the Cardinals' program after this season.

"Louisville changed my life," Payne said. "As a young kid coming from Mississippi to be able to be on the national championship team and learn basketball from a Hall of Fame coach (Denny Crum), I have love for Louisville.