Lot to be proud of: Kelsey’s Cards made more progress with March Madness win

By RUSS BROWN • Photos Provided By Louisville Athletics 

Louisville’s basketball season is over, ended by Michigan State 77-69 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament -- a place the Cardinals hadn’t visited in nine years -- so it’s time for a retrospective of 2025-26 and a look ahead to 2026-27. 

In many respects U of L’s second season under coach Pat Kelsey has to be classified as disappointing, given preseason expectations fueled by the Cardinals’ success in his first year and a roster that looked as if it was indeed capable of justifying Kelsey’s prediction that something “special” was coming. 

Many observers agreed with him. Louisville opened the season ranked in the Top-25 in both major polls and rose as high as No. 6. The Cardinals were in the discussion about the team’s potential for advancing to the Final Four. And they were picked to finish second behind perennial national powerhouse Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference. 

But neither scenario developed. U of L wound up a distant sixth in the ACC at 11-7, was eliminated from the league tournament in the quarterfinals by Miami, and by the end of the regular season had disappeared from the national rankings. For the most part the Cards handled teams they were supposed to beat, but struggled to beat elite squads and absorbed a humiliating 31-point shellacking at Duke in late January. 

Still, there was a milestone to celebrate that could signal more progress to come next season. 

U of L was seeded sixth in the NCAA Tournament and redeemed itself somewhat by defeating No. 11 seed South Florida 83-79 for its first NCAA victory since 2017 when Rick Pitino’s final Card team downed Jacksonville State (78-63) in a first-round game before losing to Michigan (73-69). It was also Kelsey’s first March Madness win in six tries during 14 seasons at three schools. 

Two days after the win over USF, however, No. 3 Michigan State ended the Cards’ hopes for earning the program’s first Sweet Sixteen berth since 2015. 

“We’re well aware at the University of Louisville what the standard is in our city for our program,” Kelsey said during his postgame press conference. “Losing in this round, in this game, is not the standard and we understand that. But these guys have a whole bunch to be proud of. 

“Unless you stand on that podium and the confetti is coming down, you don’t meet the standard. There’s three national championships at Louisville. I’m well aware. I know what I signed up for. Louisville basketball and Louisville athletics, the University of Louisville is the heart and soul of that city. Restoring the pride and restoring the excellence that is Louisville basketball has been something that has been very important to us for the last two years.” 

It might have been different this year U of L’s star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. had been healthy all season. Instead, the projected NBA lottery pick this spring missed 14 games, including the last six, with a lower back injury. In the five games before he went to the sideline to stay he averaged nearly 30 points and in the 21 contests he played, Brown averaged 18.2 points, 4.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds and shot 34.4% from 3-point range. 

Louisville will lose its top four scorers -- Ryan Conwell (18.8 ppg); Brown; J’Vonne Hadley (11.5) and Isaac McKneely (10.9), along with three other scholarship players, from this year’s team. 

McKneely, a transfer from Virginia who played only this season for the Cards, summed up his brief stay in The Ville, probably also voicing the thoughts of the other seniors. 

“We’re all one heartbeat,” he said. “It seems like yesterday I was walking on campus at the University of Virginia as a freshman, and then, in the blink of an eye, it’s over.” 

So now Kelsey faces his third straight massive roster rebuild, same as he did when he arrived to restore dignity and national relevance to the Louisville program under the banner of “ReviVille” after just 12 wins in the previous two seasons and a five-year absence from the NCAA Tournament. He led the program to a 27-8 record, runner-up finishes to Duke in both the ACC regular season and tournament and its first trip since 2019 to the Big Dance, where it lost to Creigton. 

Assuming no one enters the transfer portal next month, Kelsey will bring back four players for 2027 who made significant contributions this season: 

*Sananda Fru, 6-foot-11, shot a near program record of 75.3% (128-170) while averaging 9.0 ppg and a team-best 6.1 rebounds. He started 29 games and played an average of 22 minutes per outing. 

*Khani Rooths, a 6-10 sophomore forward, was the third-best rebounder at 4.4 per game as one of the first players off the bench. He also averaged 5.5 ppg in 16.5 minutes per appearance. 

*Adrian Wooley, 6-4 sophomore guard, turned in solid performances as a replacement for Brown after spending the early part of the season as a valuable reserve. He started 16 games, averaging 8.5 points on 44.4% from the field, including 34.3% from distance. 

*Vangelis Zougris, a 6-8 forward/center, improved throughout the season and brought energy off the bench and as a starter in the last six games, although he averaged just 2.3 points and 2.3 rebounds. 

No new recruits have been signed for 2027, but fans will get their first look at two players who redshirted this season -- former NBA G League guard London Johnson and 6-8 forward Mouhamed Camara from Senegal out of NBA Academy Africa.