CBB Insider: 'Louisville's revival continues under Pat Kelsey'

Louisville had as big of a turnaround as any program in the country last season by more than doubling their win total of the past two seasons and still exceeding the win total of their last three, going 27-8 in year one under Pat Kelsey. Jon Rothstein now fully expects that to continue in year two of his tenure with the Cardinals.

Rothstein previewed the Atlantic Coast Conference during ‘Inside College Basketball Now’ on Monday. That included a preview of the next step of the ‘revi-ville’ ongoing at Louisville.

“The third big thing? Louisville’s revival continues under Pat Kelsey,” Rothstein said.

“Now, Louisville last year was one of the most improved teams in college basketball. Louisville went from a team that, again, we have to remember, was reeling in two years under Kenny Payne, to a team that went to the NCAA Tournament and was a top-tier team in the ACC,” said Rothstein. “Louisville was a team that got its respectability back. Louisville was a team that showed that it could be competitive. Louisville was a team that was in a situation where it went to the NCAA Tournament, lost to a good Creighton team but got back on the college basketball map.”

Again, Kelsey’s debut couldn’t have gone much better. Louisville had one of their better records in school history, mostly built on an 18-2 finish in the ACC as they would go on to reached the final of the ACC Tournaments, and the Cardinals would return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time this decade since their last appearance in 2019.

Now, Rothstein expects Louisville to be even better in ’25-’26 than they were in ’24-’25. That’s with the Cardinals bringing in a Top-25 portal class with a trio of additions for their backcourt, adding the No. 1 PG and a Five-Star+ prospect coming in as their lone recruit, and piecing together a frontcourt that’s being overlooked at this point because of the guard play.

“That (success) will only be amplified this season. Why do I say that? Louisville and Pat Kelsey have stocked things at a major, major level,” said Rothstein. “There’s three perimeter transfers of major cache Ryan Conwell from Xavier, Isaac McKneely from Virginia, Adrian Wooley from Kennesaw State. And there was also Kobe Rodgers, who sat out last year.”

“There’s spacing for days when you look at the ‘Cards and their ability to put shooters around Mikel Brown,” Rothstein continued. “Also think Louisville has an underrated frontcourt when you look at the bodies that have been added. Aly Khalifa from BYU, a point center of sorts who was obviously given the opportunity to receive a waiver and play this year. Kasean Pryor is healthy. Love J’Vonne Hadley as a big guard, small-ball four.”

With that, this season is highly anticipated for Louisville. That’ll start with their loaded non-conference schedule through December before putting themselves in play for a very high seed in the bracket, having not won a tournament game since 2017 or advanced past the first weekend since 2015, come March.

“f you’re a Louisville fan, and you’re looking at the personnel, and you have a five-star freshman like Mikel Brown alongside these veteran perimeter players? And you’ve got a non-conference schedule that is second to none in college basketball, with games at Arkansas, against Indiana, Kentucky, Cincinnati in downtown Cincinnati, Memphis, at Tennessee – brands on top of brands? If you’re a Louisville fan right now, there should be only one goal, and that’s to win an ACC regular-season title and be in a situation where you’re in play to be a high seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament,” said Rothstein. “That’s the goal.”

“Louisville is a much better team than it was a year ago,” Rothstein asserted. “I think, if you’re Louisville, you’re in position to be the highest seed you’ve been since Rick Pitino’s last year when Louisville was a two-seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament

Louisville had little to nothing going for the program since the turn of the decade. Kelsey has already changed that with his work so far with the Cardinals, having them already back as the clear second-best team for this season in the ACC.

“This is the most-anticipated season that Louisville has had since the ’19-’20 season,” said Rothstein. “To me, they’re the clear challenger to Duke in the ACC, and I don’t even think it’s close.”