Louisville basketball fans, the day is finally here. The Cardinals will take the floor this evening in a highly anticipated matchup against the Kansas Jayhawks at KFC Yum! Center at 7:30 p.m. local time.
The Cardinals fans have been patiently waiting for this day, as this team enters the 2025-26 season with all eyes on them after Pat Kelsey's massive offseason. Louisville has the second-best odds to win the ACC and the No. 10 best odds to win the 2026 National Title. Louisville hasn't had a team with this type of hype around it in a long time, and the fans truly believe this year could be the year they not only earn their first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2017, but also make a deep run in March Madness and cut the nets down.
Entering this evening's matchup, Louisville fans have many questions about this new team, but the biggest may be the starting lineup. The fans have been going back and forth trying to predict the starting lineup since March and April, when they added players from the Transfer Portal, and now they will finally get to see who earns a spot.
Predicting Louisville basketball's starting lineup against Kansas
The Cards fans have come up with tons of possibilities for tonight's starting lineup, proving just how loaded this roster truly is. The fanbase is stoked for the season to begin, and a big reason is their key additions. The lineup is hard to predict because Louisville added four guards this offseason, and only three can start. On top of that, they saw key returners in the frontcourt and added big-time players from the international stage.
So, when trying to predict the starting lineup against Kansas, there are two obvious answers. Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell are the consensus starters. Brown Jr. will get the nod at point guard, and Conwell will start at small forward. Then, with Kasean Pryor's injury status remaining unclear this close to tipoff, it feels like if he does play this afternoon, he will be limited or out, making it likely he will come off the bench. So, then J'Vonne Hadley would start at power forward, leaving shooting guard and center as the two unanswered positions.
At the center, it comes down to Aly Khalifa and Sananda Fru. However, the vast majority is predicting Fru to start at center, and social media clips show the 6-foot-11 forward getting more reps with the starting lineup. Now, at shooting guard, it is between 5-star transfer Adrian Wooley and sharpshooter Isaac McKneely. The Virginia transfer made it clear he is ok with coming off the bench if Kelsey asks him to, but for this evening's game, we think he will start, giving the Cards more spacing and that elite shooting. Wooley will be the Cardinals' 6-man in this Kansas game, is our prediction, with Khalifa, Kobe Rodgers, Khani Rooths, and others joining the rotation off the bench. So, here is our starting lineup prediction.
PG: Mikel Brown Jr.
SG: Isaac McKneely
SF: Ryan Conwell
PF: J'Vonne Hadley
C: Sananda Fru
Louisville's biggest strength entering the season is its depth, which makes it so much fun to predict this starting lineup. Louisville fans haven't seen a roster with this much potential and this type of talent in a long time, and they will finally see it in action this evening.
The Cardinals' roster is loaded with talent, and this potential starting lineup has what it takes to win a National Championship. While tonight is just a preseason game, it will show the fans just how special this team can be. With all eyes on a Final Four run, that journey starts tonight from the KFC Yum! Center.
Related: 5 Louisville basketball players poised for a breakout season thanks to Mikel Brown Jr
For all the latest news and updates on Louisville basketball's 2025-26 season, stay tuned.