Pat Kelsey addresses challenge of bringing former starters off bench

The first season of the Pat Kelsey era at Louisville was a profound success, as the ‘Cards compiled a 27-8 record (most wins since 2014-15) and clinched an NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since 2019. The injury bug however prevented Kelsey’s ‘Cards from making a deep run in the Tournament, as they fell to Creighton in the First Round.

Louisville‘s staff has completely rebuilt its roster heading into year two under Kelsey, as it hauled in On3’s No. 21 ranked Transfer Portal class. The class, consisting of former Virginia guard Isaac McKneely, former Xavier guard Ryan Conwell and former Kennesaw State guard Adrian Wooley is full of former starters who have thrived in their roles.

Kelsey discussed the challenge of bringing former starters off the bench at a media opportunity last week.

“I mean that’s the case with every team every single year,” Kelsey said. “Everybody wants to start and everybody wants to play. If you have guys on your roster – and I’m talking every NBA team and every college team – if you have guys on your team that don’t want to play more minutes, start or want a bigger role then they’re not competitors. You want guys that are that way. One of the strengths of our team is our depth. We talk all the time about the power of the unit. We thought last year the strength of our team was our depth but then we had injury after injury after injury. We get to the NCAA Tournament and we’re like ‘where the crap is everybody?”

Louisville boasts one of deepest teams in the sport

Heralded forward Kasean Pryor suffered a torn ACL in Louisville‘s seventh game of the season against Oklahoma, guard Koren Johnson missed considerable time with a shoulder injury, BYU transfer Aly Khalifa redshirted to deal with a lingering knee injury and sharpshooting guard Reyne Smith re-injured his ankle in the Tournament loss to Creighton. It truly was unbelievable bad luck for the program, which still preserved to have one of the best seasons in recent program history.

“The strength of our team is strength in numbers and we’ve got a locker room and program full of guys that are two feet in on winning and being a championship caliber program,” Kelsey continued. “All those things will play themselves out. We talk about competing every day in practice and we think we have some of the most competitive practices in the country. That’s where roles are defined and that’s where minutes are starting to be divvied up. That process will go all the way through fall and into the first game. I think everybody’s probably saying this time of year that depth is our strength, but I really believe we have one of the deepest teams in the country. It’ll be a major weapon for us.”

Along with big time returners such as Pryor and J’Vonne Hadley with the three big transfer pieces, the Cardinals hauled in superstar freshman Mikel Brown Jr., who was one of the biggest stars from this summer’s FIBA U19 World Cup. It will be like a game of chess when determining a starting lineup, but the 2025 ACC Coach of the Year is definitely up to the challenge.