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BUFFALO, NY — Louisville basketball ended Wednesday's open practice at the KeyBank Center by shooting free throws. Each time a player stepped to the line, a group of teens observing the NCAA Tournament preparations whooped and hollered.
These weren't Cardinals fans — likely, just some locals having fun. Someone must have had the roster pulled up on their phone. Once they figured out a player's name, they let him have it. And the guys loved it. If their shot fell, they cracked a smile and pumped their fists like they had just iced a road victory, sending a rowdy student section home unhappy.
It's the noise off the court they have to worry about.
Moments before coach Pat Kelsey met with the media Wednesday to preview sixth-seeded UofL's 1:30 p.m. tipoff Thursday vs. No. 11 South Florida, the team released a statement ruling freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. out of the game and Saturday's Round of 32 — should it beat the red-hot Bulls, winners of 11 in a row and champions of the American Conference.
"It sucks for me," Brown told reporters during an open locker room period. "This is what you dream of as a kid, to play in these types of environments. But my health does come first, as the staff told me and my people told me. So that's what's going to happen."
"The unfortunate thing is, those guys in the locker room right now are answering questions about that instead of their experience of playing in the national tournament," Kelsey added.
But as the coach told reporters Monday in Louisville, this isn't some "eighth-grade trip to the nation's capital." If anything, that was last year, when the program ended a March Madness drought dating back to 2019 in front of the closest thing to a home crowd one can get this time of year at Rupp Arena — the only positive stemming from the No. 8 seed attached to its name.
After Year 1 of the Kelsey era ended with a first-round loss to Creighton in Lexington, the expectations skyrocketed. When the final buzzer sounded on Florida's victory over Houston in the national championship game last April, the Cards were No. 3 in ESPN's way-too-early power rankings for 2025-26. Because of Brown, the veterans the coach plucked from the NCAA transfer portal and a core group of returners.
High praise —and high stakes — for a program that hasn't won a game in the Big Dance since 2017, led by a coach who is 0-5 in the event. But this is what Kelsey & Co. signed up for.
"When we first got here, it was like, 'Hey, get us some wins. Get us some wins,'" J'Vonne Hadley said back in October. "Now, you go to the grocery store, and guys are like, 'Hey, J'Vonne, hang that banner up.'"
Five months later, UofL arrived in Buffalo with a 1-8 record in Quad 1A games. Its projected NBA lottery pick, in all likelihood the program's first one-and-done player, is hobbled. And it feels like seemingly everyone, aside from those who live in the 502 and those with ties to the hoops-crazed city and/or university who support from afar, is rooting for South Florida to pull off the upset — even though the Bulls don't take kindly to that word.
"We're trying to be as confident as possible in every single matchup," Hadley said Wednesday.
Meeting with the media Monday in Tampa, Florida, USF's Wes Enis upped the ante: "I think we're the better team. I don't really care what 11-6 says. I think we're the better team. I wouldn't really call it an upset." And he doubled down on that statement Wednesday — telling The Courier Journal, "We think we can play with anybody in the country."
That confidence comes from South Florida coach Bryan Hodgson, a western New York native who's dealing with his fair share of distractions this week, between his name being linked to openings at Providence and Syracuse and the 38 family members who will be in attendance Thursday. One of them will be his father, who adopted him at age 2. He has dementia and has not seen one of his son's games in person since he joined the collegiate head-coaching ranks two years ago.
"I think it's all part of God's plan, to be honest with you," Hodgson said Wednesday.
What's the plan for Louisville, then?
The Cards are 7-5 without Brown vs. 16-5 when he plays. And to their credit, they scored their lone Quad 1A victory of the campaign with the freshman sidelined — 92-89 at then-No. 23 Miami. And they've played more than three times as many Quad 1 games as the Bulls.
"We've still got to take care of business, even if he's not on the court," Ryan Conwell said.
"We're gonna ball until we can't anymore," Adrian Wooley added.
"Everybody's fighting for their life," Isaac McKneely said.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball vs USF, NCAA Tournament first-round game preview
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These weren't Cardinals fans — likely, just some locals having fun. Someone must have had the roster pulled up on their phone. Once they figured out a player's name, they let him have it. And the guys loved it. If their shot fell, they cracked a smile and pumped their fists like they had just iced a road victory, sending a rowdy student section home unhappy.
It's the noise off the court they have to worry about.
Moments before coach Pat Kelsey met with the media Wednesday to preview sixth-seeded UofL's 1:30 p.m. tipoff Thursday vs. No. 11 South Florida, the team released a statement ruling freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. out of the game and Saturday's Round of 32 — should it beat the red-hot Bulls, winners of 11 in a row and champions of the American Conference.
"It sucks for me," Brown told reporters during an open locker room period. "This is what you dream of as a kid, to play in these types of environments. But my health does come first, as the staff told me and my people told me. So that's what's going to happen."
"The unfortunate thing is, those guys in the locker room right now are answering questions about that instead of their experience of playing in the national tournament," Kelsey added.
But as the coach told reporters Monday in Louisville, this isn't some "eighth-grade trip to the nation's capital." If anything, that was last year, when the program ended a March Madness drought dating back to 2019 in front of the closest thing to a home crowd one can get this time of year at Rupp Arena — the only positive stemming from the No. 8 seed attached to its name.
After Year 1 of the Kelsey era ended with a first-round loss to Creighton in Lexington, the expectations skyrocketed. When the final buzzer sounded on Florida's victory over Houston in the national championship game last April, the Cards were No. 3 in ESPN's way-too-early power rankings for 2025-26. Because of Brown, the veterans the coach plucked from the NCAA transfer portal and a core group of returners.
High praise —and high stakes — for a program that hasn't won a game in the Big Dance since 2017, led by a coach who is 0-5 in the event. But this is what Kelsey & Co. signed up for.
"When we first got here, it was like, 'Hey, get us some wins. Get us some wins,'" J'Vonne Hadley said back in October. "Now, you go to the grocery store, and guys are like, 'Hey, J'Vonne, hang that banner up.'"
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Five months later, UofL arrived in Buffalo with a 1-8 record in Quad 1A games. Its projected NBA lottery pick, in all likelihood the program's first one-and-done player, is hobbled. And it feels like seemingly everyone, aside from those who live in the 502 and those with ties to the hoops-crazed city and/or university who support from afar, is rooting for South Florida to pull off the upset — even though the Bulls don't take kindly to that word.
"We're trying to be as confident as possible in every single matchup," Hadley said Wednesday.
Meeting with the media Monday in Tampa, Florida, USF's Wes Enis upped the ante: "I think we're the better team. I don't really care what 11-6 says. I think we're the better team. I wouldn't really call it an upset." And he doubled down on that statement Wednesday — telling The Courier Journal, "We think we can play with anybody in the country."
That confidence comes from South Florida coach Bryan Hodgson, a western New York native who's dealing with his fair share of distractions this week, between his name being linked to openings at Providence and Syracuse and the 38 family members who will be in attendance Thursday. One of them will be his father, who adopted him at age 2. He has dementia and has not seen one of his son's games in person since he joined the collegiate head-coaching ranks two years ago.
"I think it's all part of God's plan, to be honest with you," Hodgson said Wednesday.
What's the plan for Louisville, then?
The Cards are 7-5 without Brown vs. 16-5 when he plays. And to their credit, they scored their lone Quad 1A victory of the campaign with the freshman sidelined — 92-89 at then-No. 23 Miami. And they've played more than three times as many Quad 1 games as the Bulls.
"We've still got to take care of business, even if he's not on the court," Ryan Conwell said.
"We're gonna ball until we can't anymore," Adrian Wooley added.
"Everybody's fighting for their life," Isaac McKneely said.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball vs USF, NCAA Tournament first-round game preview
Continue reading...
