Louisville basketball is officially dancing. The Cardinals secured the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face the USF Bulls. The Cardinals are a team many feel can be dangerous with Mikel Brown Jr. on the floor, but if he remains out, they are on upset alert.
5 immediate observations from Louisville basketball's 2026 NCAA Tournament draw
There are a few things that have to happen for Louisville to make a run this postseason, and one of them is to see production rise from the Cards' bench. Entering the season, Pat Kelsey made it clear that one of the biggest strengths in his mind about this team was the depth. And with the first round just three days away, the Cardinals are going to need to see some bench players step up if they want to win their first game since 2017 and make it to their first Sweet Sixteen since 2015.
So, here are three Louisville bench players who could end up being March Madness heroes for Pat Kelsey.
Sananda Fru
Recently, Kelsey changed his starting lineup, starting Vangelis Zougris over Sananda Fru, and for the most part, it has been working. Fru has a chance to be a hero for the Cards this postseason off the bench as the 6-foot-11, 250-pound forward is one of Louisville’s biggest rim protectors, coming off a game in which he secured three blocks against Miami.
Louisville will need to have a paint presence and to play physical basketball, and the Cards will need Fru to step it up and push and shove some people around. The 4-star junior entered the season with high expectations, and if the Cardinals want to secure their first March Madness win since 2017, they will need him to step up and limit USF’s Izaiyah Nelson, who nearly averages a double-double.
Khani Rooths
Someone who saw his production dip in the past couple of weeks was Khani Rooths, but if Louisville wants to make a run, Rooths has to be the player he was earlier this year. The 6-foot-10, 215-pound forward is an athletic wing player who can play physical defense on one end, and is an elite cutter who finds open space and can slam it down for two on the other end.
The Cardinals are hoping this last game against Miami was the spark he needed entering the NCAA Tournament, as he scored 11 points, the highest total since Feb. 7 against Wake Forest. Before that game, Rooths put up two goose eggs on the scoreboard and averaged 1.4 points across the last nine games. Rooths is too good a player to be nonexistent on the floor, and with the energy and spark he brings, Louisville needs the version they saw in the quarterfinals vs Miami.
Adrian Wooley
All season long, Adrian Wooley has been a bench player for the Cardinals, and if he comes off the bench on Thursday, that is great news, as it means Mikel Brown Jr. is playing. Whether Brown plays or doesn’t play, Wooley has a chance to be a hero for the Cards. The 5-star transfer is an elite scorer, but just needs to get the shots up to prove that.
He is a shifty guard who can attack the rim or create a shot for himself from beyond the arc. Louisville needs Wooley to get around 10 shots, be aggressive on the floor, and help generate offense if Brown is on the floor. The biggest key for Louisville to advance is to shoot it well from beyond the arc, and for that to happen, Wooley has to chip in and shoot it well from deep, but also has to help get Isaac McKneely, Ryan Conwell, and Brown open.