LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville men’s basketball program is generating quite a bit of excitement in the offseason ahead of the first year of the Pat Kelsey era.
247Sport placed them 4th in their early ACC Power Rankings, while the Field of 68 Jeff Goodman even went so far as to include them in his preseason Top 25. Their dominant performance in the Bahamas further fueled excitement for the upcoming 2024-25 season.
Well, as it turns out, CBS Sports College basketball insider Jon Rothstein isn’t as excited about the Cardinals as most.
On Monday, Rothstein released his offseason analysis for the ACC. In the preseason rankings, he chose Louisville as the conference’s No. 11 team. North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson and Miami rounded out his top five in the now 18-member ACC.
Rothstein also showed Louisville love in other areas of his ACC analysis. He listed Khani Rooths as one of 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 were among the 15 ACC Under-The-Radar Transfers.
Not long after the end of Louisville’s disastrous 2023-24 season, which ended with the firing of head coach Kenny Payne, the Cardinals’ roster began to change. All 12 of Louisville’s scholarship players entered the portal, with only walk-on guard Aidan McCool set to return.
Fortunately, head coach Pat Kelsey and his staff have done a fantastic job of assembling the roster since he was hired on March 28. They have signed 12 Division I players and one high school prospect, and their transfer class is One3.
(Photo by Aboubacar Traore via University of Louisville Athletics)
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