Takeaways From Louisville Men's Basketball's 2024 Media Day

A look at the more significant takeaways from the Cardinals' 2024 Media Day.

Oct 10, 2024; Charlotte, NC, USA; Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey answers questions from the media at The Hilton Charlotte Uptown. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program held their annual Media Day on Tuesday, and you can imagine, the Cardinals had plenty to discuss regarding the upcoming 2024-25 season.

Related: Watch: Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Talk 2024 Media Day

Below are some of the more impactful takeaways from the availability with the head coach Pat Kelsey and the players:

Louisville is set to tipoff the season on Monday, Nov. 4 vs. Morehead State at the KFC Yum! Center.

Team-Wide Experience Will Dictate Louisville's Ceiling

At this point in time, it's well documented that Louisville is heading into the 2024-25 season with a brand new roster. Following the end of the second and final year of the Kenny Payne era, all 12 scholarship players from last year's team entered the transfer portal.

In the weeks after his hiring, Pat Kelsey and his staff were able to replace the departed players with 12 Division I transfers and one high school prospect. While there are various strengths and weaknesses to each player that will help shape the Cardinals' identity in the first few weeks of the season, Kelsey believes the team's overall experience will help determine what that identity will be.

"The identity of our team, as well, I think is our experience and the veteran nature of our team," he said. "I said it the other day: the back of the bubble gum card of all of the guys on our team have a pretty darn long track record. They come from winning programs. They have winning pedigrees. ... We just got a bunch of grizzled veterans, guys with great experience that make it easy for me to coach."

Louisville in chock full of quality experience. Of the 12 transfers, nine of them went to the NCAA Tournament last year, and eight of them are heading into their final year of eligibility. In fact, only two transfer newcomers had no postseason accolades or didn’t reach NCAA Tournament last season: Kasean Pryor and Frank Anselem-Ibe.

"We have a lot of guys that played in March Madness last year," guard/forward J'Vonne Hadley said. "I don't have to feel like the weight is on my back when we have a lot of guys that can accomplish that as well. ... (The experience) provides everything. When (Kelsey) says something, we don't have to sit there and try to knock it out. We're focused on as much stuff as we can."

The Players are Fitting in Well to Pat Kelsey's System

Going out on and replacing an entire roster is already hard enough, but doing that while also bringing in players that cater to your system makes the roster rebuild even harder.

Offensively, Pat Kelsey was known for his up-tempo five-out system that places a heavy emphasis on the three ball. Defensively, it's pseudo-pack line approach that includes a lot of heavy ball pressure beyond the perimeter

On paper, his roster seems that it should fit his system perfectly. Eight of the transfer newcomers shot at least 32 percent from three, six of them shot 35 percent or better, while three connected on 39 percent or better. On the other end of the floor, nine of the transfer had either a steal percentage of over 2.0 percent, or a block percentage of over 3.0 percent.

While Kelsey has had to make some slight adjustments since Louisville started their preseason practice earlier this month, so far, his players have fell perfectly into place with what he wants to accomplish from a schematic standpoint.

"There's always going to be some adjustments that you're going to have to make as a coach based on getting out there into the fire, and playing against really good teams and high level teams, before you realize some of the major adjustments you have to make as you move forward in the season," he said. "But we haven't changed much from from who I thought we were to who we are right now.

"As I mentioned, roles are continuing to be defined. We're competing out there every day. We still have two and a half weeks before our first game played. ... Come conference play, we'll have a really, really good understanding- a crystal understanding as to who we are as we move forward in ACC play."

Kelsey is Treating the Exhibition Games Like Blue Bloods

On paper, Louisville appears to have one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the entire country. Based off of the preseason Associated Press Top 25 Poll that was released earlier this week, the Cardinals are in line to face six top-25 teams, and potentially up to eight depending on how the Battle 4 Atlantis shakes out.

"It's obviously a very, very challenging schedule. At the ACC Tipoff the other day, many people said it's the most challenging non-conference schedule in the country," Kelsey said. "It is what it is. It's the advantage of no choice at this time."

For any coach, much less a first year head coach, it could be easy to get caught up in having to play a team like Tennessee or Indiana. But for Kelsey, his sole focus is on the very first exhibition they will play next week against Young Harris College, and he is approaching it with the same mindset he did in the Bahamas earlier this summer.

"We'll prepare for this exhibition like we were playing Duke," he said. "It's the next thing. It's the most important game in the history of our program because it's the next one. You guys all want to talk about Gonzaga, Arizona, Indiana, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina. I'm worried about our first exhibition game, right? We'll prepare for those the same way we prepare for the games in the Bahamas."

The Players and Coaches are Embracing What it Means to Play for Louisville

While Louisville hasn't beem nationally relevant for a few years now, there's no doubt that it is still one of the premier programs in all of men's college basketball. Between the rich history spanning decades, as well as the local support it garners, it's a program that is ready to explode back to prominance.

Kelsey might be newcomer to the city and program, but one of the top messages to his team since they arrived on campus has been reiterating what it means to play for Louisville.

"From moment No. 1 on June 5th, when we had our first team meeting, it was basically the first thing we talked about," Kelsey said. "Many guys on our roster right now are going to be here for one year and one year only, but the thing that I wanted them to understand with crystal clarity was: you are a Louisville Cardinal, and you will be forever.

"It doesn't take the smartest person in the world to walk out into the open air in the city of Louisville, and hear from people as to how much they love Louisville basketball, and the expectation they have for it. That's unavoidable, and those guys know it. They've been hearing it ever since they got here."

Not only has Kelsey and Co. embraced what it means to play for Louisville, the fans and community as a whole have embraced him as well. While Kelsey admits that it has been a "whirlwind" relocating his family to the Derby City, he hasn't overlooked what it means for the people of Louisville to embrace him.

"The city's been awesome. ... They've welcomed us with open arms, and we're very proud and happy to call Louisville home," he said.

Pat Kelsey Open to Welcoming Back Rick Pitino

During Kelsey's introductory press conference, he mentioned that Kenny Payne - whom Louisville fired two week prior - was "welcome back here like everybody else." Well, the "everybody else" also includes another former Louisville head coach in Rick Pitino.

Over the last several week, Pitino has not shied away from getting back in good graces with those at Kentucky, where he coached before Louisville. In fact, Pitino made an appearance at Big Blue Madness and Kentucky football's game vs. Vanderbilt this past weekend.

Understandably so, the Louisville fanbase has been up in arms regarding Pitino's recent overtures towards the Wildcats. Adding fuel to the fire, Pitino himself has expressed doubt as to if he could ever reconcile with Louisville following his ouster.

But if Pitino ever changes his mind, Kelsey says he'll welcome him with open arms.

"The man loves his players, and he was there to support his player [Mark Pope]," Kelsey said. "I have one of his former players on on my staff in Peyton Siva, and Peyton Siva loves him, and I know he loves Peyton Siva. I feel like, in some ways, Coach Pitino is around here more than people think because of Peyton. I get a Pitino-ism every couple days or so. Bring them all on, man, because that cat's a Hall of Famer. He's one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball. Obviously we'd love to have him back, and he's always welcome here. He's an icon in this city, and an iconic in coaching."

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Jim Dedmon - Imagn Images)

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