Coach Pat Kelsey’s unwavering faith in his first team with Louisville basketball is the most important attribute that has led to their success this season.
Just look at their 3-point shooting. Through the first 13 games of the season, the Cardinals were trending toward being the worst 3-point shooting team in program history.
At the time, they were making 29.9% of their attempts from behind the arc. Kelsey believed then that they were generating good shots and that they would eventually start falling. He didn’t change the offense or start encouraging midrange looks.
The Elder High School alum stuck to the system, and he was right.
U of L is shooting 37.2% from 3 in ACC play.
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“If we’re hunting great — that means hunting high-percentage shots, great shot, shots that we really value,” Kelsey said. “And when we generate those, I sleep like a baby whether they go in or not. You can’t be on the whims of makes or misses. You have to be process oriented about generating great offense.”
Just like becoming a great team is about the process.
Chucky Hepburn, Koren Johnson and J’Vonne Hadley were the only players Kelsey signed for his first roster at Louisville who had proven themselves over multiple seasons playing in a major college conference.
With everyone else, he was taking a bit of a calculated risk:
The two players who followed him from College of Charleston had big question marks. Could Reyne Smith defend in the ACC? Could James Scott physically hold up against the league’s big men?
Then there was Terrence Edwards Jr., who proved he could score while capturing Sun Belt Player of the Year in 2024, but in his last game at James Madison, he scored 13 largely meaningless points with four turnovers as the Dukes lost to Duke 93-55 in the NCAA Tournament. How would he measure up during a full season in the ACC?
For Noah Waterman, who played during BYU’s first season in the Big 12, he had the height, but his slight frame of about 210 pounds raised a red flag on his durability.
Aboubacar Traore was blessed with a power-forward skill set in a small forward’s body. The 6-foot-5 senior made All-Big West first team last season with Long Beach State, but can anybody name three teams in the Big West if I spot you Long Beach State?
Kasean Pryor showed promise in his only year at South Florida, but based on two seasons of barely seeing the floor at Boise State, there was no sure way to project he would be successful at U of L.
The list could go on.
Kelsey put this team together with a vision and a belief. The risk paid off for the Cards as they’re headed toward their best run through the ACC regular-season schedule.
Hepburn started three seasons at Wisconsin and took a bit of a gamble coming to U of L to play in a new system. He’s having his career-best season, averaging 15 points and 6.2 assists per game for the Cards.
Hadley started two seasons at Colorado and is having a career-best season with averages of 12.4 scoring and 7.2 rebounding at U of L.
Smith is averaging a career-high 14.3 points per game and making a career-best 3.8 3-pointers per game. And if he were a weak link on defense, he wouldn’t average 31.5 minutes per game, either.
Edwards scored 21 points from off the bench against Duke and has shown off skills no one knew he had — like playing 40 minutes at point guard when Hepburn sat out against Miami, scoring 27 points and dishing a career-high 10 assists.
This list could go on.
“We’re as good of a gym-dude program as any program in the country,” Kelsey said. “That’s guys that are committed to working on their craft.”
They’re still a work in progress, but the Cards, who will be favored in each of their five remaining regular-season games, should set a record for most ACC wins in a season in program history.
It doesn’t take any faith to realize Kelsey has made the right moves.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball: Pat Kelsey’s faith in process pays off for UofL
