College Basketball Analyst Places Louisville Outside Top-10 in ACC Preseason Power Rankings

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

Louisville guard/forward Aboubacar Traore / University of Louisville Athletics

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program is starting to generate some serious offseason buzz ahead of year one of the Pat Kelsey era.

247Sports ranked them at No. 4 in their way-too-early ACC power rankings, while the Field of 68's Jeff Goodman went so far as to put them on his preseason top 25. Their dominant outing in The Bahamas also further stoked the hype train ahead the upcoming 2024-25 season.

Well, as it turns out, CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein isn't as high as the Cardinals as most others seem to be.

On Monday, Rothstein published his offseason breakdown for the ACC. On the preseason power rankings portion, he tabbed Louisville as the No. 11 team in the conference. North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson and Miami rounded out his top-five in the now 18-member ACC.

For what it's worth, Rothstein showed love to Louisville in other areas of his ACC breakdown. He listed Khani Rooths as one his 10 ACC Impact Freshmen; Chucky Hepburn, Koren Johnson and Terrence Edwards were included in his "15 ACC Impact Transfers section; while J'Vonne Hadley and Kasean Pryor made the 15 ACC Under-The-Radar Transfers.

Not long after the end of Louisville's disastrous 2023-24 campaign, one that ended in the dismissal of head coach Kenny Payne, the Cardinals' roster began to flip. All 12 of Louisville's scholarship players entered the portal, with only walk-on guard Aidan McCool in line to return.

Fortunately, head coach Pat Kelsey and his staff have done a fantastic job of roster construction since his hiring on Mar. 28. They've brought in 12 Division I transfers and one high school prospect, with their transfer portal class ranking No. 1 in the nation according to On3.

(Photo of Aboubacar Traore via University of Louisville Athletics)

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