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Louisville basketball: Pat Kelsey praises team after NCAA Tournament loss
Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey praises the Cardinals following an 89-75 loss to Creighton in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
- Louisville basketball’s 2025-26 schedule has been slowly coming into shape.
- The Cardinals are hoping to build off the momentum of a 27-8 finish to 2024-25 under reigning ACC Coach of the Year Pat Kelsey.
For Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey, a tough act to follow is a good problem to have.
The Cardinals are dreaming big after Year 1 of Kelsey’s tenure went down as one of the largest turnarounds in Division I history — taking them to the ACC Tournament championship game for the first time since joining the conference in 2014 and ending a March Madness drought that dated back to 2019.
For his next act, Kelsey has built a roster of five scholarship returners and five newcomers — and might not be done adding pieces before the team arrives on campus later this month. As of Tuesday, U of L came in at seventh in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25 for the 2025-26 season.
Can the Cards live up to the hype? They should have plenty of chances to prove themselves, considering how the nonconference schedule is coming together. Per a report from CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello, the ACC and ESPN have had discussions about reducing the conference slate from 20 to 18 games in an attempt to boost its standing among high-major leagues.
Here’s everything we know (so far) about what’s on tap for Louisville in Year 2 of the Kelsey era:
How about a matchup against Rick Pitino and St. John’s at Madison Square Garden out of the gate?
At the Final Four in April, the former Cards coach told reporters the Red Storm was “negotiating with Louisville to bring them in very early in the season to play us.”
“After they signed the backcourt that they just signed, I’m thinking of canceling that proposal,” he joked. “They’re looking at their schedule to see if they could do it.”
There have been no updates on that front since, but U of L fans will no doubt circle that date on their calendars if it in fact comes to fruition.
Louisville’s December slate was more certain at the time of publication.
Kelsey & Co. will reportedly spend the first weekend of it in Indianapolis — playing cross-state rival Indiana for a third consecutive season, on Dec. 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Prior to this run, the programs hadn’t met on the hardwood since Dec. 8, 2018, in Bloomington.
Up next: a Dec. 16 road trip to Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the second leg of a home-and-home series against UT. The Volunteers dominated Round 1 in Louisville, 77-55, which was only Kelsey’s second official game at the helm.
Then, of course, there’s the annual showdown with archrival Kentucky. At the time of publication, no date had been set; but we do know it’ll be at the Yum! Center — and that the Wildcats are scheduled to play St. John’s on Dec. 20 in the CBS Sports Classic, so that weekend isn’t an option.
There should be another SEC foe in the mix, too, as part of its annual showdown with the ACC. Last year, U of L got throttled at home by Ole Miss, 86-63. Will they be hitting the road this go-around?
The ACC-SEC Challenge is typically scheduled for a Tuesday and Wednesday in late November/early December. Last year, ESPN announced the matchups in mid-June.
The Cards are hoping to make back-to-back trips to the ACC Tournament championship game at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
If the tournament follows a schedule similar to years past, crowning a champion on Selection Sunday eve, it would run March 10-14, 2026.
The bottom three teams in the league standings at the end of the regular season will be left out of the field.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.
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