By Ken Cross
Throughout history, the Louisville Cardinals have been one of the Top 10 dynasties in college basketball.
The program spiraled downward when Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino was unnecessarily fired by the university in 2017 but that was changed to a resignation in 2019.
Louisville had missed the NCAA Tournament in five of the past six seasons and Coach Pat Kelsey entered from Charleston where he had led the Cougars to a pair of CAA crowns and the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons.
Kelsey and his staff used the transfer portal to evaluate available players. They came up with a roster that has currently won 10 games in a row and they sport a 9-1 ACC record, which ties them for second with Clemson in the league.
“We are just clicking,” said Kelsey. “We have momentum, playing well together, and no matter what the score is, whether it is 20, 24, or 27, we get those media timeouts and I always ask ‘What’s the score?’ and they say ‘0-0.’ So we try to play like that in the next four-minute segment.”
Kelsey brought in a dynamic point guard in Chucky Hepburn (Wisconsin), a shooter-extraordinaire in Reyne Smith (Charleston), an athletically tough player in Terrence Edwards (JMU), a quality rebounder in J’Vonne Hadley (Colorado), and James Scott (Charleston), who shoots 81 percent from the floor.
Small forward Aboubacar Traore (Long Beach State), freshman Khani Rooths, Frank Anselem-Ibe (Georgia) and Noah Waterman (BYU) are part of the rotation. Waterman, is known for his toughness and aggressive play, and functions as an inside-out contributor. He and Kasean Pryor (South Florida) are injured with Pryor out for the season.
Kelsey recognized the art of finding the correct pieces that fit into a rotation as the transfer portal is now a major tool in putting together a roster.
In Tuesday night’s 72-59 win over talented Wake Forest, the rise of the defensive character of this team held the Demon Deacons to 41.1 percent from the floor as all-ACC performer Hunter Sallis made only 5-of-12 field goals and scored 13 points in 24 minutes.
Kelsey switched Edwards onto Sallis after he made three early triples and Kelsey also switched defenders onto Sallis as the game went forward.
“I keep telling you that Terrence has made a huge jump defensively; our entire team has,” commented Kelsey. “I thought we were fortunate to generate some good shots, make some good shots and just got rolling. The Yum! was rocking and I thought the crowd was phenomenal. They made a major impact on the game.”
Kelsey found players who would buy into his system as he is a deep thinker in all aspects of the game. As the Cardinals have risen defensively, the hustle, attention to detail, and focus are a tremendous upgrade under Kelsey as are the players’ attention and implementation of game plans.
Kelsey related how he was concerned with Coach Steve Forbes’ 1-3-1 defense, so Louisville changed the focus on how to attack it in Tuesday morning’s shoot-around.
“The staff and I – every possession of their 1-3-1 – I think they had 89 possessions coming in where they played 1-3-1,” Kelsey explained. “Yesterday at shoot-around, we scrapped what we have done the last two days and went to a new attack, and the guys, like they always do, picked it up and executed it really well.”
This type of focus onto details is a major reason for the giant leap that Louisville has made back onto the college basketball scene.
“There is a movement on our team from a defensive perspective,” said Kelsey. “It starts in the minds and hearts of each guy in a Louisville jersey. It just matters. Getting stuff matters, taking care of your assignment matters, and picking up an assignment for your teammate matters.”
Hepburn is the consummate quarterback on the point as he is close to a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Defensively, the 2.4 steals per game show his positive diversification on both sides of the basketball.
“I keep saying he is playing as well as any point guard in America and I wouldn’t trade him for anybody,” exclaimed Kelsey.
Forbes discussed the impact of how Hepburn is such a tough matchup.
“Chucky is playing at a high level as a point guard,” Forbes commented. “He is doing a great job running their team. I think they’re going to finish strong.”
The two coaches’ teams had matched before when Forbes was at East Tennessee State and Kelsey led Winthrop. Both programs took off in the Southern Conference and the Big South, respectively, as each coach led the programs to a high level with several combined championships.
“We played some home and homes with them and every time we play them it’s a knockdown, drag out,” summarized Kelsey. “They are so well schooled, so well prepared. We were fortunate to come out with a win.”
The Yum! Center is again selling out and rocking as the red and black now patrolize the Yum! once more.
“It’s a credit to Pat and his team,” explained Forbes. “It’s a really great team and they play hard defensively. They play really good defense and have great cohesiveness.”