Before setting off to enjoy an afternoon of waterslides and jet skis, Pat Kelsey urged against overreacting to his Louisville men’s basketball team’s dominant exhibition tour of the Bahamas.
That’s easier said than done, considering how impressive the Cardinals looked during their two convincing wins (against inferior competition) in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League and how low the bar was coming off the program’s worst two seasons in modern history under former coach Kenny Payne.
If there was ever a time for unbridled optimism, it’s now. Kelsey just doesn’t want the hype going to his players’ heads.
“Guys are going to look at their phones, and people are going to be telling them that they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread and they’re the ’84 Lakers and things like that,” he said. “We’re going to be really good. We’re not good yet; we’ve got a long, long, long way to go.”
It’s in that spirit we begin the second edition of The Courier Journal’s Louisville men’s basketball mailbag by playing a little Devil’s advocate:
Talk me down from thinking this team is going to run the table — James Nold Jr.
J’Vonne Hadley shoots during practice before the Cards head to the Bahamas. July 26, 2024
Well, for starters, that hasn’t happened since 1976.
Secondly, as Kelsey pointed out, there’s a long, long, long way to go.
Louisville’s nonconference schedule is daunting, and there are several opportunities for the Cards to fall short of those pie-in-the-sky expectations. The good news is two of those games are at home, against Tennessee and Ole Miss, and Kelsey’s veteran-heavy roster appears up for any challenge; including trying to beat archrival Kentucky at Rupp Arena for the first time since 2008.
But there’s also the tall task of winning three games in as many days against a Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis field that includes Arizona, Davidson, Gonzaga, Indiana, Oklahoma, Providence and West Virginia. ACC play won’t be a walk in the park, either.
For what it’s worth, college hoops…
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