Warner Louisville has some talent I think they can right the ship and likely still make the tourney. I dont think they contend for a big east regular season crown, but you never know who gets hot come conference tourney time.
The knock on Pitino to recruits is that nobody really improves while at school at UofL. Samardo Samuels came in as a 5 star top ranked PF and went undrafted by the time they were finished square pegging him. Countless other recruits have had high profiles and just fizzled out in Pitino's system. Francisco Garcia is the one exception to this rule he really shined in Pitino's system and improved every year he was there.
Blunder after blunder have plagued Louisville with guys like Derrick Caracter, Justin Coleman, Robert Sallie, Donta Smith, Terrence Jennings, Sebastien Telfair, Brandon Bender and countless others. All these guys were very highly sought recruits who either played very little or none for Louisville after commmitting due to grades, draft early entries, criminal enterprises, or just flat out being headcases.