Louisville basketball men's head basketball coach, Pat Kelsey, has been listed as one of the 15 finalists for Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Watch List Friday afternoon.
The Cardinals were picked ninth in the ACC Preseason Poll, but thanks to Kelsey bringing in 13 new players, 12 from the transfer portal, Louisville basketball is on pace to have the biggest turnaround in program history
Louisville is currently 20-6, 13-2 in the ACC, and have had one of the biggest turnaround in all of college basketball. Last year Louisville was 8-24, and their 12 win swing not only is only tied with Michigan, Missouri and New Mexico State for biggest season turnaround, but if they win two more games they will break their program history of largest turnaround in program history.
Pat Kelsey's historic Louisville Basketball season just got even sweeter
Pat Kelsey brought Louisville basketball back into AP rankings for first time since 2021, and the Cardinals are predicted to be a six seed in the NCAA Tournament. Louisville basketball has already secured a bye in the ACC Tournament, and looking like a lock for a second-round bye as well.
Louisville basketball is on pace to break their regular season ACC win record as their current record is 15, and Cardinals are at 13 wins with five remaining games. Louisville is heavily favored in these games, and seem to set a program record against Pitt on March 1.
Louisville Cardinals have 15 double digit win and six 20-point wins on the season. Cardinals are currently ranked No. 17 in quality wins according to ESPN FPI rankings, as they have five quality wins over Indiana by 28, West Virginia by nine, North Carolina by 13, Clemson by 10 and SMU by 25.
Pat Kelsey has this Cardinal team dominating on the road as the win by an average amount of 16.8 points on the road, which comes in third in the nationally behind Duke and Auburn. On the road in the ACC they have won by 16.5 points, and have 11 double-digit road wins which leads the nation.
Pat Kelsey being one of the top 15 coaches named is much deserved, and it is good to see he is getting the recognition he deserves. Other notable names include former Louisville basketball coach, Rick Pitino, and Duke's head coach Jon Scheyer.
Full list of Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Watch List is listed below:
Greg Gard (WisconsinDennis Gates (Missouri), Todd Golden (Florida), Penny Hardaway (Memphis), Tom Izzo (Michigan State) Pat Kelsey (Louisville), Dusty May (Michigan), Grant McCasland (Texas Tech),Ben McCollum (Drake), Matt Painter (Purdue), Bruce Pearl (Auburn), Rick Pitino (St. John’s), Richard Pitino (New Mexico), Kelvin Sampson (Houston), and Jon Scheyer (Duke)