Louisville basketball starting lineup, Pat Kelsey recruiting, more in our latest mailbag

Posted by Admin October 15, 2024 Basketball

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Talking season is almost over for new Louisville men’s basketball head coach Pat Kelsey.

This time next week, the Cardinals’ first exhibition game of the 2024-25 season, against Young Harris College at the KFC Yum! Center, will be in the books. And if it’s anything like their dominant tour of the Bahamas over the summer, there will be a lot of good things to dissect as the Nov. 4 season opener against Morehead State inches ever closer.

Until then, Kelsey’s stance on his veteran-heavy roster hasn’t changed.

“There’s a lot of evidence that these guys are very, very productive players,” he said last week at ACC Tipoff in Charlotte, North Carolina. “They’re bought into the system, bought into our culture; and I’m really blessed and lucky to coach them and excited about the season.”

This edition of The Courier Journal’s U of L men’s basketball mailbag begins with a discussion of who Kelsey may start Oct. 21 against Young Harris and throughout his inaugural campaign.

From there, it examines how the team’s lone freshman, Khani Rooths, fits into the equation and where the Cards stand on the recruiting trail.

When the dust settled on a busy NCAA transfer portal season in May, I predicted Louisville’s starting lineup would be Chucky Hepburn, Terrence Edwards Jr., J’Vonne Hadley, Noah Waterman and Kasean Pryor.

I still think we’ll see the combination at some point this season, but there are a couple more names to consider.

James Scott, who followed Kelsey from Charleston, started both games in the Bahamas; and everyone at the Planet Fitness Kueber Center is high on his potential. The 6-foot-11, 220-pound sophomore could slot in at the 5, with Pryor moving to the 4, and offer the Cards a more traditional rim-running, shot-blocking presence in the post.

Aboubacar Traore, a Long Beach State transfer, should also be in the mix. The 6-5, 205-pound senior forward from the Ivory Coast lived up to Kelsey’s billing as “one of the most productive players in college basketball” when he posted the highest plus-minus rating of the Bahamas trip (+71) despite scoring only 19 points between the two games. He’s an elite rebounder and a deft passer with enough athleticism to dunk over 6-11 center Aly Khalifa during Louisville Live. In short, it’s going to be hard to keep this Swiss Army Knife off the court.

Keep in mind that Kelsey said over the summer he probably won’t have a starting-lineup conversation until “the day before the first game.” It’s also important to note, again, that his teams like to play fast; so, in an ideal world, U of L has a relatively balanced minutes share to keep everyone fresh for key moments.

Rooths appears to have made a virtually seamless transition to the Division I ranks.

You don’t have to just take my word for it, either.

Kelsey had this to say about the 6-8 forward from Washington, D.C., at ACC Tipoff: “(He’s) an old soul. He doesn’t act like a freshman. He doesn’t want to be considered a freshman. Early on, when I was kind of handling him with kid gloves a little bit when we were implementing stuff and I felt like I had to over-explain stuff, he looked at me and he goes, ‘Coach, I got it. I got it.’ I love that. He has a high basketball IQ, great work ethic and a very, very bright future.”

Hadley, a fifth-year guard who transferred in from Colorado, attributed Rooths’ veteran mentality to the fact that he played his high school ball at IMG Academy, a prep powerhouse in Bradenton, Florida.

“That’s, like, basically a college,” Hadley said,” so he’s already (fit in) well into our program.”

Added Hepburn, a three-year starter at Wisconsin: “He plays like an upperclassman right now. “He’s really, really good; very mature for his age.”

Sounds like someone who will be called upon from Game 1, no? Only time will tell just how big a role Rooths has in 2024-25, but he’ll no doubt get his chances to make an impact.

I understand the cause for concern — Kelsey has not yet landed a commitment in the 2025 recruiting cycle, and the early signing period begins Nov. 13 — but try not to worry too much just yet.

Louisville went 12-52 the past two seasons under Kenny Payne. Kelsey and his staff hit the ground running in terms of making the rounds with marquee high school prospects in the Class of 2025 and beyond, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve been fighting an uphill battle with an abbreviated timeline. The most important thing they can do right now is to get this year’s team off to a hot start and put as much distance between them and the past as possible.

Look at it this way: Kelsey was able to flip Rooths, who ranks among the program’s top 10 signees since 247Sports’ inception in 2003, from Michigan and put together a highly regarded, 12-man transfer haul featuring formidable building blocks for Year 2 in Scott, Khalifa, Koren Johnson and Kobe Rodgers without winning a single game. Think about what he and his staff can do if the 2024-25 campaign is a success and they keep fostering relationships with the country’s top emerging talent.

Plus, at the time of publication, there was no shortage of 2025 targets still on the table in five-star recruits Nate Ament, Mikel Brown Jr. and Shelton Henderson, who have all visited U of L’s campus in some capacity over the past few months. The same goes for four-star point guard JJ Mandaquit. Even if they don’t pick the Cards, their interest and Kelsey’s success in the portal this past offseason are signs the program is moving in the right direction.

Questions can also be submitted via email (bholton@gannett.com) and X, formerly Twitter, to @brooksHolton.

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.