Pat Kelsey declares Louisville, Kentucky both national championship contenders after rivalry game

In the earliest played regular season edition of the ‘Battle of the Bluegrass’ in history, No. 12 Louisville made a loud statement by downing No. 9 Kentucky 96-88 at home Tuesday night. The Cardinals led from start to finish and earned their first victory over the Wildcats since Dec. 2020.

Following the win, Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey declared both teams National Championship contenders. Since Kentucky won the title in 2012 and Louisville won the (since vacated) title in 2013, neither team has returned to at least the Final Four since 2015.

“Coach (Mark) Pope and his team and the program he’s building down there… I firmly believe that his team is a National Title contender,” Kelsey said. “I believe that to be the case for our team as well. It was a big time college atmosphere between two teams competing at a very high level. There was just genuine competition.”

“There wasn’t any extracurricular stuff. It was just good old-fashioned, loose balls, hard screens, and dude’s playing their butts off. It’s a great rivalry. It’s one of the greatest rivalries in all of collegiate sports and this was another edition of that.”

Kentucky and Louisville will be certainly both be contenders for National Championship

Tuesday night’s game marked the first between the ‘Cats and Cardinals since Dec. 2016 where both teams were ranked inside the top-15 of the AP Poll. The game certainly didn’t disappoint. Louisville took a 20-point lead with 12 minutes remaining in regulation, but Kentucky fought back and cut the deficit to four with four minutes left.

Led by freshman superstar guard Mikel Brown Jr. however, the ‘Cards slammed the door shut and earned their first win over the rival ‘Cats in the Kelsey era. Since Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey took over their respective schools prior to last season, the ‘Battle of the Bluegrass’ is now tied at one game apiece.

With the game occurring so early in the year, there is still room to grow for both programs. Prior to conference play beginning in early January, Kentucky and Louisville will continue to hone their crafts against high-quality opponents. Kentucky has non-con games against No. 13 St. John’s, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 18 North Carolina, and No. 19 Gonzaga lined up, while Kelsey’s Cards will clash with No. 20 Tennessee and No. 21 Arkansas.

There is a lot of basketball to be played this season, but I’m not sure anyone would be against a rematch between these two rivals in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky and Louisville have met six times in the NCAA Tournament before, with the ‘Cats winning four of the six games.