College Basketball Analyst Tabs Louisville as Preseason Top-25 Team

The Cardinals are heading into year one under head coach Pat Kelsey.

Matthew McGavic | May 31, 2024

Mar 26, 2023; Seattle, WA, USA; Louisville Cardinals mascot Louie / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the two months since being hired as the head coach, Pat Kelsey has already generated an enormous amount of buzz surrounding the Louisville men's basketball program.

Inheriting a team in which all the scholarship players entered the portal following the firing of former head coach Kenny Payne, Kelsey has assembled a team that could be competitive in year one under his guidance. As such, the Cardinals are starting to be considered to be a borderline top-25 squad for the 2024-25 season.

Following the deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft process on Wednesday, the Field of 68's Jeff Goodman put together his "too early" preseason top 25 rankings. On it, he placed Louisville at No. 24 - one spot ahead of Kentucky. Kansas, Alabama, UConn, Iowa State and Houston rounded out his top five.

While Goodman's Field of 68 cohort Rob Dauster didn't have Louisville on his own too early top 25 preseason rankings, he has spoken highly of the Cardinals earlier in the offseason.

"I would make the argument that these pieces fit together about as well as you can," Dauster said earlier this month. "You can see how this is coming together. You can see what his plan was. You can see what he was thinking as he added each one of these guys."

Kelsey is bringing in 12 Division I transfers and one high school prospect for his first season at Louisville. Their transfer portal class ranks No. 1 in the nation, according to On3, and the Cardinals were recently tabbed as the No. 4 team in the ACC by 247Sports.

(Photo of Louie: Kirby Lee - USA TODAY Sports)

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Published May 31, 2024

MATTHEW MCGAVIC

McGavic is a 2016 Sport Administration graduate of the University of Louisville, and a native of the Derby City. He has been covering the Cardinals in various capacities since 2017, with a brief stop in Atlanta, Ga. on the Georgia Tech beat. He is also a co-host of the 'From The Pink Seats' podcast on the State of Louisville network. Video gamer, bourbon drinker and dog lover. Find him on Twitter at @Matt_McGavic