It’s only January, but Pat Kelsey has drastically changed the conversation surrounding Louisville basketball.
Before the calendar flipped to 2025, it was: Will the Cardinals, winners of only 12 games the previous two seasons under Kenny Payne, prove themselves worthy of their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019? Now, with U of L sitting at 12-5 (5-1 ACC), it’s: How good of a seed can it get?
That’s what happens when you rattle off six wins in a row — one Quad 4, three Quad 2 and two Quad 1. And the program’s longest winning streak in five years can be attributed to a simple motto Kelsey has ingrained among his players.
“It’s the next thing,” sophomore forward James Scott said after the Cards escaped with a crucial road win against Pittsburgh last weekend. “That’s what it’s all about: the next thing.”
Considering Kelsey’s one-track mindset, it’s safe to say he hasn’t spent much time entertaining the question leading off this edition of The Courier Journal’s Louisville basketball mailbag. But, with his revival moving at such a rapid pace, it’s worth asking.
Where does the 49-year-old Cincinnati native stand among candidates for Naismith College Coach of the Year?
Let’s discuss that and more as the Cards look to keep the good times rolling with games against Syracuse and Virginia on tap this week:
If the season ended today, one would have to make a pretty tough case against Kelsey for ACC Coach of the Year. A bottom-feeder under Payne, the program most responsible for dragging the conference down the past two years, U of L entered the week with sole possession of second place behind No. 4 Duke — the only team that has beaten it thus far in league play.
After the Cards took down Pitt, KenPom.com projected they would finish the campaign with a 22-9 (15-5) record. The only game they aren’t favored in across their final 14 is a 9 p.m. tipoff on Jan. 21 at SMU. A few bumps in the road are to be expected the rest of the way, but the schedule couldn’t be more favorable, either.
The past few years, the ACC has unveiled its award winners before the start of the conference tournament. If Louisville heads to Charlotte, North Carolina, as a top-three seed, I’ll be of the opinion that Coach of the Year will be Kelsey’s to lose. Orchestrating that kind of turnaround in Year 1 would be a credit to not only his roster construction, player development and on-court decisions but also his ability to cultivate a culture strong enough to weather season-ending injuries to Kasean Pryor (knee) and Koren Johnson (shoulder) in addition to all the typical ups and downs of a campaign.
Being crowned Naismith College Coach of the Year during the Final Four in San Antonio will be far more of a challenge. As it stands, my money’s on whoever wins the cut-throat SEC; because their team should be in for a deep March Madness run — I’m thinking, specifically, of Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, whose Tigers have been among the country’s best since the jump.
Before moving home to Louisville in February of 2022, I spent eight months living in Philadelphia. While I was there, I latched onto the 76ers as my NBA team and, for better or worse, haven’t let go.
The Sixers, perhaps more than any basketball team I know of, lean on one winning blueprint: Let All-Star center Joel Embiid cook. Tyrese Maxey — sorry, Cards fans — has blossomed into one of the league’s best young guards. Trade acquisitions such as James Harden and Paul George have had their moments since I started following along. But the franchise goes as Embiid does — trust “The Process” and whatnot.
All that to say: The thing I’ve found to be the most eye-opening about the Kelsey era, especially during this winning streak, is just how many ways the team has found to emerge victorious.
Perhaps I’m being shortsighted. College basketball is, of course, much more of a team game. But it says a lot that, during the NCAA transfer portal era, and with its 3-point shooting not living up expectations more often than not, U of L has amassed multiple players who are capable of pushing it across the finish line — and plays in a manner that sets the table for anyone to pop off, if they are so inclined. It’s really fun to watch and write about.
If Kelsey has one Embiid-like centerpiece, it’s Chucky Hepburn; but the senior point guard has proven he doesn’t have to treat every game like it’s the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis scoring-wise to be at his most effective.
With his performance in the win over Pitt, Hepburn became the program’s first player to log seven or more assists in eight games during a single season since Peyton Siva in 2012-13. That’s a big reason why the Cards have had five different leading scores during this six-game heater. And we can’t forget about the decisive layup from Noah Waterman, playing through a thumb injury on his shooting hand that required surgery, with 1.2 seconds to spare against Eastern Kentucky. Seemingly everyone has had a moment.
Louisville was in desperate need of a spark plug in the wake of Pryor’s injury. It took a couple of games, but Aboubacar Traore lived up to the billing with 15 points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench on the road against Virginia — his third back from a broken left arm.
What Traore lacks in size, he makes up for with athleticism that allows him to punch well above his 6-foot-5, 205-pound frame. When the Cards have felt as if they can take advantage of a small-ball lineup, he has been solid in the post alongside J’Vonne Hadley.
“He’s another aggressive wing that we’re going to need down the stretch,” Hadley said after Traore’s first game back, against EKU. “He’s versatile, just like a lot of us. He’s another key piece that we need.”
Traore was held to two points on 1-for-5 shooting and as many rebounds in nine minutes against Pitt. For as many like that as there will be between now and March, I believe there will be just as many with his fingerprints all over them. With depth at a premium, Kelsey certainly needs that to be the case.
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Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
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