A “Special Season” On Tap? Cards, Kelsey Could End Two NCAA Tourney Droughts

By RUSS BROWN • Photos Provided By Louisville Athletics 

For all of Pat Kelsey’s success during his 13 seasons as a head coach at three schools, there is one glaring hole in his otherwise impressive resume’. In 10 seasons at Winthrop, 3 three at Charleston and now in his second at Louisville, Kelsey’s teams have never won an NCAA Tournament game in five appearances. 

That could change this year. Boasting a second straight 20-win season, the Cardinals are a cinch to receive an at-large bid to the Big Dance if they don’t earn the Atlantic Coast Conference’s automatic bid by winning the tournament championship to be held March 10-14 in Charlotte, N.C. 

U of L, which was 20-7 overall and 9-5 in the ACC heading into the last four regular season games at this writing, is projected to be a No. 5 seed, which means it would meet a No. 12 seed in the first round, a significant improvement in seeding over last year when the Cards were surprisingly slotted at No. 8 and fell to No. 9 Creighton 89-75 in a first-round game in Rupp Arena in Lexington. 

While Louisville would certainly be favored in such a scenario, it’s a notoriously dangerous spot. Almost every season at least No. 12 upsets a No. 5 and last year was no exception, providing clear examples in all three of the four regions. Not only did two No. 12 seeds prevail (Colorado State over Memphis and McNeese State over Clemson), but No. 5 Michigan barely escaped 68-65 against San Diego State. Only Oregon survived stress-free with an 81-52 rout of Liberty. 

Selection Sunday is March 15. The tournament will begin March 17-18 with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. First and second round games will be played March 19-22 and the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 are set for March 26-29 at four regional sites: East, Washington DC; West, San Jose, Calif.; Midwest, Chicago; and South, Houston. The Final Four will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis April 4-6. 

There will actually be two droughts in play this month because, incredibly for a storied program like Louisville, the Cards haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game in eight years, since defeating No. 15 Jacksonville State 78-63 in a first-round game as a No. 2 seed in Indianapolis before being upset by No. 7 Michigan 73-69. That was Rick Pitino’s final game as U of L’s coach; he was fired prior to the 2017-18 season. 

“There’s a lot of ball yet to be played,” senior guard Isaac McKneely said. “We want to play all the way into April, the Final Four in Indianapolis. We’ve got a chance.” 

The Cards will go into postseason play as one of the best offensive teams in the country. They are averaging 86.8 points per game, which is 16th and their 11.7 made 3-pointers rank 4th. 

Kelsey describes the offense this way: “We want fluidity in our offense. We want to be in that flow state, we want the ball to move, we want people to move.” 

But he says their success during March Madness will depend on the quality of their defense. That’s why he wrote this message on the locker room board prior to a game: “Our defense is the key to our destiny.” 

“We can score with the best of them in the country -- everybody knows that” forward J’Vonne Hadley says. “We know that it’s just holding each other accountable on the defensive end. If we can do that (we’re a) Final Four team.” 

Aside from playing a consistently high-level defense, the Cards will also have to perform far better away from the friendly confines of the KFC Yum! Center than they have for most of the season. 

They are 3-5 in true road games, have been blown out by Tennessee, Arkansas and Duke and have been upset by Stanford and SMU. Their average margin of defeat on the road is 15 points, although the embarrassing 83-52 loss to the Blue Devils tilted that margin considerably. 

“We haven’t been the best on the road this year,” senior guard Kobe Rodgers acknowledged. “But I think every opportunity we’ve had, we’ve kind of taken something away from it. That’s kind of helped us build up to get to this point. Do I think we are any sort of worried or anything like that? No. We know how good we can be. We know how good we are.” 

Now it’s time to show everyone else. 

MANY MORE NEW FACES ARRIVING NEXT SEASON 

In his inaugural season, Kelsey started from scratch and built an entirely new roster by attracting players from the transfer portal. He’ll be facing a similar task, though not quite as severe, for 2026-27. 

U of L will lose eight scholarship players -- seven seniors along with freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr., who is projected as an NBA lottery pick. 

Just how massive those departures will be was brought home on Senior Day when that group scored all but nine points in U of L’s 87- 70 win over Georgia Tech. 

“Those guys mean everything to me,” Kelsey told the fans in brief remarks following the post-game celebration on the court. “I love every one of them and that love is never going away. That’s an awesome group of dudes. The story of this team is going to be special and it’s yet to be written. Those guys are going to be remembered and revered like some of the great teams in the program.” 

CARDS GET A VIEW FROM AFAR 

Kelsey did something unusual the afternoon before Senior Day, taking his players to the last row in the upper level of the 22,000-seat Yum, from where the Cards and their opponent look like ants scurrying around to the fans in that lofty perch. It is no place for anyone with even a hint of acrophobia. 

“First of all, it’s an enormous building,” Kelsey said. “You don’t realize it until you’re up there and the floor looks really small. I told (his players) that it’s perspective. We’ve all sat in the cheap seats growing up and when you look down you just dream of being on that floor. You don’t realize it when you’re a little kid, but when you’re out there on that floor, you feel the pressures and the anxieties to perform on a big stage. 

“I talked to them about the privilege it is to have those expectations and those pressures. Coaches are always trying to figure out buttons to push. The season’s long, it’s a grind at times. So coaches are always trying to do some creative things to get their guys going or to make them think about things in a different way.” 

Senior walk-on Cole Sherman is one of those players who is familiar with the view from above, having grown up in Louisville and starred at St. X High School. 

“When I wanted to sit next to my buddies and there were no seats next to me (in the lower arena), we’d be in those seats up there,” said Sherman, who spent two years at Northern Kentucky University before transferring to U of L last year. “So it’s kind of funny, like a full circle moment. Being up there makes you think, man, we are really lucky to be playing in this big arena in front of all these great fans.”