Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey will continue to have guard-centric teams that place added value in maximizing 3-pointers. But in order to for the Cardinals to truly get back to being a championship contender next season, Kelsey will need to upgrade the frontcourt.
A little less finesse, a lot more muscle.
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Looking back at recent NCAA Tournament champions, the pattern is there. March Madness is dominated by guard play, but the teams that cut down the nets all had frontcourts that helped lead the way.
Time and again in losses this season, the Cards were caught lacking inside. Sometimes that meant an inability to matchup with opponents who had size in the frontcourt like Duke, North Carolina or Clemson.
Against teams like Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia, that meant being turned into a one-dimensional offense that couldn’t make up for a poor shooting performance by scoring inside.
Their final game against Michigan State crystallized their weakness.
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UofL had to match up undersized power forward J’Vonne Hadley with the Spartans’ 6-foot-11 forward, Jaxon Kohler. Hadley, who entered the game averaging 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds, was nearly held scoreless. His lone basket came with 11 seconds left in the game, as he was held to two points on 1-of-8 shooting and grabbed three boards.
UofL guards took turns trying to defend the Spartans’ 6-foot-6, 230-pound small forward Coen Carr. The Cards just didn’t have anyone who could physically match up with him.
Carr bullied his way to posting his only double-double of the season, scoring a game-high tying 21 points with 10 rebounds. It was also just the third time this season Carr scored 20 or more points.
Hadley and reserve center Aly Khalifa have exhausted their eligibility and won’t be back next season. Kasean Pryor could play another season, but a seventh year in college seems unlikely at UofL, given how unreliable he was this season. (Pryor could have made a difference against Michigan State, but he played one minute, took an ill-advised shot, and was back on the bench for the remainder of the game.)
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It could be that Louisville already has the upgrades it needs on the current roster, given how young its frontcourt was.
Should Khani Rooths make a natural progression as an upperclassman next season, he’s shown the potential to be a starter. Just think back to his 12-point, 12-rebound performance against Notre Dame.
Mar 19, 2026; Buffalo, NY, USA; Louisville Cardinals forward Sananda Fru (13) shoots a lay up as South Florida Bulls forward Izaiyah Nelson (35) defends during the first half during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Keybank Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
Although freshman center Sananda Fru was replaced as a starter by Vangelis Zougris the last six games of the season, the biggest improvement he will make will likely come as a sophomore.
The Berlin native spent much of this season getting acclimated to how much more physical the college game is compared to the German league he played in before enrolling at UofL.
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Even Zougris, who plays with the toughness the Cards need, could be developed into a solid rotation player in the frontcourt. Since he didn’t start playing basketball until he was 15 years old, though, he still has much to learn. If he stays Louisville’s starter next season, it would more likely be a sign that no upgrades were made than that he became elite in a year.
It should be noted that no plan or roster construction will be successful if the central player or players are injured or otherwise don’t play. That was the quagmire Kelsey found himself in this season when guard Mikel Brown Jr. initially injured his back and missed 10 games in December and January.
Brown re-aggravated his back injury and, by missing the final six games, essentially put a governor on how fast the Cards could get back to contending this season. As frustrating as that experience was, it also underlies why a viable frontcourt should be a priority.
In just a few weeks, the transfer portal will open and Kelsey will begin to build a new roster for next season. He’s proven in his two seasons that he has an eye for signing guards who will make an immediate impact. But the Cards won’t truly contend until he makes sure the frontcourt isn’t just an afterthought.
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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 needs this for March Madness run with Pat Kelsey
