After just three seasons in Charleston with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, it was announced on March 28 that Pat Kelsey was hired as the head coach of Louisville.
Heralded as a program rebuilder between stints at Winthrop and Charleston with multiple conference championships, Kelsey has long been investing in the transfer portal.
As the Cougars climbed to a 31-4 record and a No. 18 national ranking in 2022-23, multiple transfers played integral roles including a trio of Division II recruits in Dalton Bolon, Ante Brzovic and Pat Robinson III.
However, with a move to Louisville and the ACC, Kelsey has taken his portal recruitment to the next level. This offseason, the Cardinals staff brought in a total of 15 Division I transfers which is the most in the country with a .2% minutes continuity rate from last season according to KenPom.
With just a single returner and one freshman newcomer, almost everybody within Kelsey 17-man roster joined after his hiring via the transfer portal including the program’s walk-ons.
Currently 5-3, Louisville’s only losses of the season so far have come from ranked opponents including No. 3 Tennessee, No. 21 Oklahoma and most recently, No. 23 Ole Miss.
Has all this transfer portal recruitment paid off for Kelsey and Co. throughout the early season though? With the Cardinals selected ninth in the ACC’s Preseason Poll, It’d be fair to say this program is exceeding expectations but will need to find more consistency before conference play.
Leading the production for Kelsey has been Wisconsin transfer and 2023-24 All-Big Ten Defense selection Chucky Hepburn who’s averaging 15.1 PPG, 4.5 APG and 3.5 STLPG.
After a slow start to the season he helped the Cardinals to some marquee wins with a 16-point, 10-assist double-double to defeat No. 14 Indiana followed by a career-high 32 points over West Virginia.
Following Kelsey from Charleston, Reyne Smith seemed the ideal candidate to help carry over and implement a new culture at Louisville as a consistent six man within this rotation.
Averaging 12.5 PPG while shooting 39% from three on nine attempts per game, the 2023-24 CAA Tournament MVP has proven he’s just as capable having an impact at the high-major level.
2023-24 Sun Belt Player of the Year Terrence Edwards has seen an inevitable decrease in production with a move to Louisville but managing 10.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 2.4 APG he’s carved out a role.
Filling out the rest of the rotation, former Colorado wing J’Vonne Hadley, BYU transfer Noah Waterman and another Charleston expat in James Scott have each seen time in the starting five.
The early season hasn’t been without injury woes for Kelsey and the Cardinals though.
After making two appearances, it was announced that 2023-24 Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year and Washington transfer Koren Johnson would under-go season-ending surgery and redshirt.
USF transfer Kasean Pryor put together a few solid performances highlighted by a double-double against Morehead State and 21 points against Bellarmine before he suffered a season-ending ACL tear on Nov. 29.
2023-24 All-Big West First Team selection Aboubacar Traore suffered a broken left arm in practice after the loss to Tennessee and isn’t expected to return until late Dec. to early Jan.
Lastly, both Charleston transfer Kobe Rodgers and former BYU forward Aly Khalifa will redshirt the 2024-25 campaign to rehab from injuries sustained during the 2023-24 season.
As I mentioned, even most of the walk-ons were recruited from the portal with Cole Sherman arriving from Northern Kentucky, Spencer Legg following from Charleston and Patrick Antonelli of Emory & Henry (D2).
Literally Louisville’s only remaining piece from last season’s roster: Aidan McCool, a 6-foot-3 walk-on who spent the first two years of his career at Maryland before transferring in 2022.
Besides him, former top-100 prospect Khani Rooths is with the Cardinals as a freshman and is the only other non-transfer on this roster but he’s struggled to find offensive stability.
Undoubtedly with so many new pieces building chemistry and instilling his gameplan has been a challenge but it’s clearly one that Kelsey has taken on fully.
It’s why we saw Louisville take a preseason trip to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League before playing several exhibition scrimmages back in Oct.
Kelsey understands how to build a program through the transfer portal and while at the high-major level the transition might not be as rapid, it would be tough to bet against him succeeding.
