EC put out a very good column this morning basically calling Kenny Payne on his BS. While he calls out some of the dysfunction of leadership within the university, he does a good job to lay a lot of the last 2 years at KPs feet.

"The program wasn't broken. It was just the victim of poor management. The car was running. It just needed somebody to hit the gas, somebody who knew how to handle the horsepower."

"Kelsey would not talk about what happened to create the program he inherited. He just moved into the Marriott downtown and went to work. And pretty soon, he didn't like the trip from downtown to his campus office so, with his family having not yet moved from Charleston, he just slept in the office. He got after it. No two weeks in New York. No taking his time." <- These last lines are a banger.

I had to ask EC on X if he and Bozich were still on speaking terms after putting this one out there.

Officially in his top 11, we're 1 of only 4 schools he's taken an official visit to. He has said previously he wants to commit in late February or early March.

If PK can keep stacking wins I definitely like our chances here. Hopefully Mikel Brown is in his ear too.

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After last night’s action, we inched ahead of Pitt/UNC/Clemson to move up to #28 in the NET Rankings. That makes us the 2nd highest ranked ACC team.

Bodes well for the stretch run for seeding. I love getting back to checking for articles, rankings and bracket projections in January again!! It’s been too long and hard to fathom with where we were in the Net Rankings a year ago at this time 😳

Started looking ahead at our schedule and boy is it rough. I think we are about to go on a big run to finish this season. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect 11+ wins. And 11-3 would probably mean one bad loss.

Part of this makes me scared because I don’t think 10-4 (22 total wins) is a lock to get in. That would mean multiple Q2+ losses and Pitt was left out last year with a similar resume at 22 wins. We’d have to win a game in the ACC tournament to feel confident going in to selection Sunday.

I know we haven’t helped the ACC image over the last few years but some rich alumni from these “top tier” academic schools need to start spending money. This conference shouldn’t be this bad.

Upcoming

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the first time in over three years, the Louisville men's basketball program is at least getting mentioned in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

The Cardinals (12-5, 5-1 ACC) garnered 17 points in week 11 of the AP Top 25 to jump into the "others receiving votes" section, earning a de facto ranking of No. 30. It's Louisville's first time receiving votes in the AP Poll since getting two points in the 2021-22 Week Four poll.

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Less than ideal… figured he was going to be a key guy next year.

Just curious if the ACC profits anything from Notre Dame ( Independent)

I would rather have OSU in the title game against Notre Dame instead of Texas. I don’t want Texas to win the championship and have to listen to all the SEC fans talk about how good they are because their conference foe won the championships.

Proposal sent to NCAA Council for review, and action starting with 25- 26 season. Proposal also eliminates any Spring Portal Period. Only allowing this one portal window per season. Action was taken to save the Post Season Play Bowls, and even Playoffs. January Portal allows enough time for players to transfer before the Spring Semester starts. While also allowing Teams to finish the season with most of their squads intact. Coaches say they expect NCAA to approve this proposal have it in place quickly.

Anybody have any to sell ?

So I've heard, according to the new rulings, that Hadley could return next season as well.

Wonder if both Pryor and Johnson will return to UofL too?

If so the Cards would have:

Brown
Rodgers
Johnson
Rooths
Hadley
Pryor
Khalifa
Scott

Pretty solid core there. Add in some transfers from the portal and maybe another freshman or two.

What's going on everyone. Hope you all are doing well and having a great Tuesday. No preview for tonight's game unfortunately. Have been out of town for work, and have been super busy, but we will be back at it for UVA on Saturday. I will provide a quick little rundown.

The Cards come into tonight's game on a 6 game winning streak, while Syracuse comes in on a 2 game winning streak. Cuse's overall record is 8-8 and 2-3 in conference play, with their 2 conference wins coming against BC and GA Tech. Regardless if this team is .500 or not, a conference away game will always be tough. Especially in the JMA Wireless Dome. Syracuse comes in with some talent, and definitely comes in with the size advantage against the Cards. I have no doubt PK and the boys will come out playing well, but we cannot overlook this game. I expect the team to win and cover, but it won't be as easy as everyone may think. The Cards are a -8.5 point favorite on FD.

Go Cards!

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville men’s basketball will look to extend its winning streak to seven games on Tuesday evening at Syracuse at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.



Louisville enters the contest on a six-game winning streak that includes three on the road, most recently beating Pitt in Pittsburgh 82-78 on Saturday afternoon. Syracuse also picked up a road win on Saturday, beating Boston College 79-71 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.



Louisville leads the all-time series between the two programs 19-14, but trails 4-8 when playing in Syracuse. The Cardinals haven’t beat the Orange at their place since an overtime 76-72 victory on Feb. 13, 2017 - UofL has lost the last three in Syracuse and last four overall.



GAME 18

Listen: Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9 FM & WGTK 970 AM flagship);

Streaming (Paul Rogers, pxp | Bob Valvano, analysis)

Watch: ACC Network (Doug Sherman, pxp | Eric Devendorf, analysis)

Live Stats: Syracuse Stats



CARDINAL NOTES

• Four of Louisville’s five losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 3 Duke (14-2), No. 6 Tennessee (15-1), No. 8 Kentucky (13-3), and No. 21 Ole Miss (14-2). As of Jan. 13, those teams, along with [RV] Oklahoma (13-3) are a combined 69-11.
• Against Clemson on Jan. 7, J’Vonne Hadley scored 32 points, the most by any player in an ACC game up to that point in the season.
• Against North Carolina on Jan. 1, Chucky Hepburn made 16 free throws, tying the program record for free throws made in a single game.
• Louisville played five ranked opponents before the New Year. The Cardinals have the 12th best strength of schedule according to KenPom as of Jan. 9.
• As of Jan.12, Louisville is ninth in the country in 3-point attempts per game (31.1).
• As of Jan. 12, Chucky Hepburn is 10th in the country in steals per game at 2.65 and seventh in total steals with 45. Reyne Smith is third in the country in total 3-pointers made (61), fifth in total 3-point attempts (156) and sixth in 3-pointers per game (3.59).
• Sophomore forward James Scott is fifth in the country in dunks as of Jan. 12 with 36 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is five dunks away from cracking Louisville’s top-15 dunks in a season list.
• Senior guard Reyne Smith was named ACC Player of the Week on Dec. 23 for his 27-point performance at Florida State. It was just the third time in the program’s 11 years in the ACC that Louisville has had multiple ACC Player of the Week awards as Chucky Hepburn also earned that title on Dec. 2.
• Against Florida State on Dec. 21, Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. both logged eight assists apiece; it was the first Louisville game to have two Cardinals log at least eight assists each in the same game since Peyton Siva and Gorgui Deng both had eight against Syracuse in the 2013 Big East Tournament championship game.
• Louisville’s 89-61 victory over No. 14/15 Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis was Louisville’s first win over a ranked team since beating No. 19/20 Virginia Tech 73-71 on Jan. 6, 2021. It’s the highest ranked opponent the Cards have beat since beating No. 3 Duke 79-73 on Jan. 18, 2020.

I admit I don't know or understand all the nuances and movements in real time without seeing them pointed out in more detail.

Pretty interesting stuff to me.

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Coach Kelsey just surpassed Kenny Payne on the all time wins list. Well done Coach! Climbing that ladder.

With NIL money, I would think more players would take the path of declaring for draft but retain the option to return to school for NIL rather than going overseas or G league. Free room and board makes a lot more financial sense.

Anyone have any to sell..?

Brown has withdrawn from the transfer portal and is staying with Louisville.

This is going to be a tough game it will definitely show us what we need to work on.

Go Cards!

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Honest questions:

Name the players that didn't live up to expectations coming into the program under Pitino and Mack.
How do you think they would have developed and played under Pat Kelsey by comparison?

Take Chane Bohannon as an example, do you think he would have played with the energy and effort to match his talent?

During last night’s game the announcers said we had either 4 or 5 players who have scored over 1,000 points in their careers and I think 11 who have played in the NCAA tournament. Even though only a few have played together for more than a year or two, this has to be the most experienced team top to bottom U of L has ever had. They probably are not going to reach the Final Four this year, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to face them in the tourney. Plus they are just fun to watch which is something I haven’t been able to say for the last several years.

When Pat Kelsey gets win #13, surpassing Kenny Payne’s two year win total.

I’ll go January 18th, 2025. Cards will beat Virginia at the Yum Center to push their record to 13-7 that day.

*Mike James injured his knee in October and was only supposed to miss 3-4 games but hasn't played at all this season and seems unlikely to play at all this year.
**Has only played in 6 games.
***Has only played in 7 games.