Pat Kelsey Impressed By Louisville's First Month of Summer Workouts

The Cardinals officially kicked off offseason workouts earlier this month.

Louisville guard Koren Johnson / University of Louisville Athletics

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The first of the game of the 2024-25 college basketball season is still over four months away, but the Louisville men's basketball program is already hard at work gearing up for the first year of the Pat Kelsey era.

Late last month, all 13 newcomers were officially announced by the Cardinals, and the baker's dozen slowly made their way to campus over the next few days. The program as a whole then officially kicked off summer workouts during the first week of June.

Over the course of the program's first full month together, the new head coach of the Cardinals has so far been pleased from what he has seen from his players.

"I think these guys going hard as crap every day," Kelsey said Thursday in his first press conference since being formally introduced in late March. "They're working hard. That's one of the things we hang our hat on, is competing. We compete in June, we compete in July, we compete in the preseason, we compete in practice in January and February. That is always at the center of what we do."

Related: Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Provide Summer Update

The players' efforts in the weight room hasn't been the only thing that Kelsey has been impressed with over the program first month together as a full team. Not only did he commend the entire roster for their buy-in and being "completely open and accepting" to the culture that Kelsey is trying to establish, he has seen several players start to step forward as leaders in their own way.

"With an older group, savvy veteran guys, they've all they've been successful where they been," Kelsey said. "They come from good programs and good coaches. They all, I would say, lead in their own ways.

"Some guys are a little bit more vocal. J'Vonne Hadley, for instance, I'm picking him out because you hear his voice a lot. Then there's other guys that lead more by what they do in their example. The guys that are in the gym earlier, that are in their late, how they go about their business. I like to think we have a team full of guys that lead, and that lead in different ways."

While Louisville does have a roster almost entirely of newcomers, Kelsey's first team with the Cardinals is one that is chock-full of collegiate experience. In fact, of the 13 scholarship players on the roster, eight of them are entering their final year of eligibility.

Even though the team has only formally been together working out and practicing for a month, they already have a clear understanding of the goal for the upcoming 2024-25 season: win.

"It's a very mature team," guard Reyne Smith said. "Most of us have one year left, and you kind of get this vibe that everyone's in it to win, and that's the most important thing. We've all got one year, so this is it for all of us. We want to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, and that's kind of the goal in mind throughout every workout, and just every day."

(Photo of Koren Johnson via University of Louisville Athletics)

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