The time has come to say goodbye to the 2024-2025 Louisville basketball program and turn the page to the offseason.
After I watched Louisville basketball fall handily to the Creighton Blue Jays, 89-75, I turned off my phone, ghosted social media, didn’t get within two clicks of my Gmail (see what I did there?), and did basically everything in my power to avoid the inevitable bombardment of basketball information we endure during March.
Before the game, I was enjoying it, basking in it, seeking it out; losing has a way of coloring things differently.
The reluctant Cinderella
After getting hosed by the selection committee following a turnaround season, the likes of which nobody outside of the program thought possible, having the year conclude by falling in the ACC Finals to Duke before an NCAA Tournament first round loss to Creighton feels almost as unnatural as the eight seed the team received: a reluctant Cinderella.
The team left their glass slipper at the palace after the ball, but the castle’s maintenance man swept it up before the Prince could find it…not exactly a feel good story. Without that glass slipper, the fairy tale isn’t a very merry tale. It’s an essential stepping stone on the path to happily ever after, and without that piece, nobody gets there. Now that the season has concluded, missing pieces are the Cards’ next opponent: the ones that are already there, or not there, and the ones that will be.
Filling the glass slipper
The first glass slipper that comes to mind is literally on the glass: an interior presence. Now I absolutely love James Scott, and I’m so glad that he’ll be back. I know he engages in what Kelsey calls “GBT” (great basketball talk) and is a student of the game like no other. I know he goes pedal to the metal until he almost blacks out and is one of the best lob threats in the country.
Few players who have ever put on the Louisville jersey live above the rim the way Scott does. Yet, in spite of all of that, the fact that UofL struggled with interior defense this year is undeniable. Against Creighton, time and again efforts to chip down the deficit were stunned by the Blue Jays getting field goals within the free throw line.
Jamiya Neal absolutely lived in the mid-range, racking up 29 points on Thursday. Against lesser teams, the senior guard play of Terrence Edwards, Jr. and Chucky Hepburn made it possible for the Cards to get away with allowing too many easy shots for stretches of game play. Edwards, Jr. and Hepburn created compensating-offense out of thin air, drew fouls when shots weren’t falling, and knocked everything down from the charity stripe. A team like Creighton, whose defense funnels everything towards star center Ryan Kalkbrenner and almost never fouls, functioned like kryptonite.
Looking back: En Garde (On Guards)
So, in light of the fact that Louisville basketball is no longer dancing, I decided to look back to happier days: when they kept stepping until they were the only ones left on the floor.
First things first, the 2013 championship was never vacated, in this guy’s mind, anyways. The idea that our team’s success on the court can be nullified by a panel of non-athletes based on dorm room incidents is idiotic. That team was a joy to watch, both in play and interviews, and you can draw fairly analogous comparisons between pieces of them and Kelsey’s first one in Louisville.
The guard play of the 2013 National Championship team was most often spotlighted by analysts when explaining their success. Russ Smith and Peyton Siva were complimentary and absolutely tenacious on the defensive end: they frustrated opponent’s guards by leading them into double teams and getting easy transition buckets by forcing turnovers. Offensively, Siva was more the distributor and Smith was the gunslinger.
Looking back: The big hole
What really completed the 2013 team, though, was the evolution of Gorgui Dieng. In 2012, his paint presence and shot-blocking ability were the best parts of his game, because he was so raw. But he was effective enough to help the team get to the Final Four. By the time the next season came around, Dieng had added a really nice mid-range jump shot to his repertoire: now he was a threat on both ends of the court, which really opened things up for the guards, and the team.
I would argue that, going into next year, James Scott has to also evolve: he doesn’t need to become Gorgui, but adding another dimension to his game is essential, for both his, and the team’s, championship hopes. Whether it comes from James, a red-shirted current Cardinal (Aly Khalifa), or a newcomer, the idea of competing with the type of talent-and-size-saturated teams that make up the top half of each region this year is laughable without bigs that impact on both sides of the court.
Looking back: Moving forward
You know what else Gorgui had that James Scott doesn’t, besides a jump shot? Chane Behanan. Go back and watch any of the games during the big dance from 2012 or 2013: Behanan was an absolute monster. A game changer. He played big, but he was also quick. Chane thrived in the trenches, making life hell for opponents who dared try to grab a rebound, and altering shots enough for Dieng to swat them far from their intended target.
J’vonne Hadley was tasked with playing the power forward at times this year, and did a damn good job, considering how outsized he was. Louisville might have been able to get by in the regular season, plugging leaks in the lineup like this, but they will never get to the Final Four again without having complimentary backup down low from the forward position.
Having tall shooters like Noah Waterman is an interesting and useful tool on the offensive end, but the three point threat should be a garnish of the modern big man’s abilities, not the main course. I watched game after game in which lesser team after team got shockingly-easy bucket after bucket: Louisville will never get back to 2013-level success unless they fill those shoes.
Empty slippers
And then there’s the departing seniors: for the Cards, it’s like an everything-must-go sale at Foot Locker. Edwards, Jr., Hepburn, Smith, Aboubacar Traore, and Waterman are all major contributors who are in their final year of college.
That’s most of the productive core of Kelsey’s team. It’s not a John Calipari-type of one-and-done, but, in terms of where the team sits for next year, there is a similar uneasiness created by losses in the lineup.
A slipper of hope
Speaking of Calipari-caliber players, Kelsey has already secured a commitment from five star recruit Mikel Brown Jr., a McDonald’s All-American who played a game at Fern Creek earlier this year. He’s already drawing attention in mock lottery lineups of next year’s NBA draft. He’ll have a chance to live up to the hype, because he has huge shoes to fill in replacing Hepburn.
Thank God the NCAA no longer counts time players spend at the Junior College level following a December court ruling. As such, J’vonne Hadley and Kasean Pryor could return to wear the red and white for another year.
Coach Kelsey also has Sananda Fru coming in, a 6’11 big from the German Bundesliga with two years of eligibility to his name. Louisville will also be bolstered by th return of Aly Khalifa and guard Kobe Rodgers. Khalifa in particular should help with the interior problems, as the nearly-seven-footer is known for his passing ability from the post. His experience and basketball IQ, in combination with the returning James Scott and Hadley, could really give the Cards a huge advantage down low, where they had problems for most of the end of this year.
Here’s to next year
So all in not lost, although the team is losing quite a few of its members. Even though there is quite a bit of hurt and disappointment now, next season is already exciting and closer than it feels. Kelsey has a small core of returning talent and a big name recruit coming in. I have no doubt that his staff will succeed in getting exactly the same kind of players to come to Louisville next year, and the team will be locked and loaded by late fall. The question is, will they be able to go deeper in the big dance?
Will they gain enough respect in the season to be seen as more than a possible Cinderella, like this year’s eighth-seeded group? Invitations for the ball will be going out again before we know it, and I believe Kelsey’s Cards will get one. All in all, it was an incredible first-year performance by Pat Kelsey and his staff. It didn’t have the story book end we all hoped for, but this tale was destined to have more than one installment. Sequels are rarely better than the original, but, in this case, I really trust the author to deliver something amazing.
