—Watch list season is now officially in full swing, and Louisville QB Miller Moss and RB Isaac Brown have both been named to Maxwell Award Preseason Watch List.
—Louisville Report’s Matt McGavic is predicting a 9-3 season for Louisville football in 2025.
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—Reyne Smith has signed a two-year deal with the Cairns Taipans of the NBL back in Smith’s native Australia.
—The Summer of Mikel rolled on over the weekend with the Louisville freshman claiming the 1v1 title belt at Donovan Mitchell’s Spida Elite Camp.
—The Athletic’s updated early top 25 for the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season has Louisville at No. 6.
—Baylor, who will face the Louisville men’s basketball team in February, fell to Brazil in the Gold Medal round of the World University Games.
—Lou City claimed the Commonwealth Cup on Saturday with a thrilling come-from-behind 2-1 win over Lexington SC.
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—We are 100 days out from the 2025-26 college basketball season, and ESPN’s college hoops crew has 100 things to know as we approach the season.
Pat Kelsey will win his first NCAA tournament game — and get Louisville to the Final Four.
Entering last March, the one knock on Todd Golden was his lack of an NCAA tournament win. He erased any doubt in pretty emphatic fashion. Kelsey will be the next coach to go from zero to a Final Four. Louisville’s backcourt is among the best in the country, and the Cardinals have the perfect blend of experience, depth and star power. — Borzello
—Lamar Jackson is one of six NFL players to receive a 99 rating in this year’s Madden video game.
—William McDermott previews Louisville’s cornerback crew.
—Ian Rappaport talks about the Saints’ early thoughts on Tyler Shough.
—Cool story here on Miller Moss giving back to the Palisades community by hosting a youth football camp.
—Noah Waterman will spend the 2025-26 basketball season with the Yamagata Wyverns, a second-division team in Japan’s B League.
—The CJ highlights 10 top contenders for this year’s Kentucky Mr. Football award.
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—Like ESPN, CBS also has a “101 things to know about the upcoming college basketball season” feature.
3. Kentucky and Louisville are big and bad again
Kentucky was a good team last year under first-year coach Mark Pope, but it wasn’t scary. It didn’t have those bona fide pros. It was a darn good Mid-Major All-Star Team. No shame in that.
It was a similar vibe in Louisville. Pat Kelsey built a solid ball club for a fanbase that was just elated to be competent. 27 wins? 18-2 in a garbaggio ACC? A No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament? Sure, sign me up after the Kenny Payne-led debacle.
Kentucky and Louisville were feel-good stories last year.
After this spring, they’re back to being mean, nasty Big Dawgs who are coming for it all.
Both hated rivals massively unloaded the coffers in the transfer portal. Kentucky has built a roster that’s sniffing $20 million. Louisville has also invested heavily into basketball to build a powerhouse backcourt stuffed with five-star Mikel Brown Jr., sharpshooters like Xavier transfer Ryan Conwell and Virginia transfer Isaac McKneely and prized Kennesaw State transfer Adrian Wooley.
Both teams have National Championship aspirations, and they might have to go through one another to get to the mountaintop. Whew, how much fun would that be?
—Good read here on how the lack of talent in the basketball class of 2026 will affect how the top teams in the sport build out their rosters over the next two seasons.
—Good fundraiser here being spearheaded by a Cardinal fan.
—Class of 2026 ATH Joel Wyatt has Committed to Tennessee. Louisville had been among the schools in pursuit of Wyatt.
—Gates open at 6 for a $2 Happy Hour. Get your Card Chronicle reader discounted tickets here: https://loucity.com/cardchronicle/
—Matt McGavic wraps up his CFB26 preview of Louisville’s 2026 football season with the Battle for the Governor’s Cup.
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—Greg McElroy breaks down the path for Louisville to make the College Football Playoff.
—Mikel Brown’s transition to college life and basketball at the next level has been smooth so far.
“Coach recruited me and told me, ‘Hey, we want you to be you,” Brown said recently. “We want you to be that guy.’ We want you to be able to lead this team to where we where we want to get to.
“Then my teammates just encourage me to just be myself, and be able to play through mistakes, and don’t overthink and just go on to the next play. I truly can’t thank them enough for that, because I overthink sometimes a lot, just because of how I am as a person. I know I can do better, and I’m always wanting to better myself every single day.”
It also helps that Brown has an incredible supporting cast around him. Two of Louisville’s top players from last season, J’Vonne Hadley and Kasean Pryor, decided to return for one more year. The Cardinals also added three top-25 transfers in Xavier’s Ryan Conwell, Virginia’s Isaac McKneely and Kennesaw State’s Adrian Wooley. Then there’s guys like Aly Khalifa, Kobe Rodgers, Khani Rooths and Sananda Fru, who are all expected to be contributors this season.
Put it all together, and Brown isn’t exactly walking into a situation where all the expectations are placed on his shoulders. In turn, that not only makes his job easier, but takes some of the pressure off of him.
“That makes life a lot easier, just to know that I could trust other people with the ball in their hands,” he said. “They’re gonna make the right play every single time, that’s what we teach here. That’s what PK teaches, that’s what this whole coaching staff teaches: just to make the right play and the simple play. That’s how we’re gonna play, and it’s gonna free up a lot of things for me. I can’t wait, I’m excited.”
—Louisville is at the top of the list for 4-star wing Anthony Felesi.
—The Louisville area will experience extreme heat over the next three days.
—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show returns this afternoon from 2:30-5:30 on 1450 The Big X. Tap in.
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