← Eye On College Basketball
Eye On College Basketball
’25 Summer Shootaround: Louisville shaping up to be one of the most watchable + 3-point-happy teams in CBB
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- [00:01]
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- [01:45]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
One more week closer to the start of the season. But yes, summer's still here. The Shoot around series rolls on and no sheepy hits it. GP isn't back just yet, but we will be teaming up on the POD later this week. I promise. And after. By the way, our most recent episode spotlighted the fellas down in Lexington. Well felt only appropriate that our next summer shooter round would center on BBN's big rival. So we're going to talk about the Louisville Cardinals today. Norlander. Fact I lived in Louisville when I was younger. In fact it was. It was. I was like 3, 4, 5 years old. I had to text my mother and ask. Apparently we live Louisville locals. I lived on Bards or off of Bardstown Road I guess that's in the southern part of the city. Trafalgar Square Apartments according to my mother. So little Norlander lore for you there. I was a one time Louisville resident. There are pictures that exist in my mother's photo albums of me wearing Louisville Redbirds gear. Which is of course heresy because I am a Cubs fan. But nevertheless, the cars are ranked 15th in Paris's off season top 25 and 1. Is that high enough? Louisville fans don't think so, that's for sure. Parrish is dodging this episode. That's what this is about. Pat Kelsey has assembled himself quite a crew for upcoming season. My guest is a man who knows the program inside and out, Mark Ennis, who you can see here on YouTube. If you're listening, he's going to talk in just one second. He's a longtime Louisville pundit. He is the host of the drive on 93.9, the Ville, a show that I've appeared on many of times. Mark, thanks for joining the POD and being our latest guest on our summer Shoot around series.
- [03:22]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Well, thanks for having me on. Bardstown Road, by the way, an artery in Louisville. It runs from downtown to Bardstown, the city. So it's more than just in the southern part of the city. But you get instant street credit in Louisville for having some Bardstown Road reference.
- [03:36]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
For sure. I also get instant streetcut because I've only ever called it Louisville. Okay, that's exactly right. Yeah, the, the Louisville contingent is still heavy in this country. It's unfortunate. And yeah, Trafalgar, I think that's how, I think that's how you say these, these buildings probably aren't even there anymore. But once upon a win, I did, I did indeed lived in the, in the, in the great city of Louisville. Before we get to the team, genuine question for you, hosting Drive Time Radio mid August. What's the. Eliminate everything that's not Louisville football or basketball, which obviously will come up on the show. But if you just dissected both of those right now, what's the percentage breakdown, how much you're talking gridiron versus hardwood right now?
- [04:18]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
It's never a vast majority one way or the other. Like, you never really stop talking about basketball. It's just, that's what it's, that's life in this state. So like, even, even in the Lamar Jackson years, you know, you, you, you, you spend more time talking about Louisville basketball at any point in the schedule than you would probably just about anywhere else, except perhaps maybe Lexington. I mean, like this state, it's, it's an insanity here. It's one of the, the joys, I think it's, it's one of the reasons, I think if you're Pat Kelsey or Chris Mack in the past, like you take a job here because people are obsessed. You don't have to go chase people down to pay attention to what's going on with the basketball program in the city. And it's, as long as you see it, I think, as a weapon to be wielded as something to sort of be tapped into instead of something to avoided. It's an asset for a coach where I think most coaches know like somewhere I'm going to have to go really beat the bushes to sort of get interest in college basketball outside of the season or outside of the end of the season. You don't have to do that ever once in your life if you're the coach of the Louisville.
- [05:21]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah, that's, that's ultimately a good thing. Although it's sometimes it can be a thing that can scare some coaches away. Just the nature of the job. I actually would. I would argue that everyone knows how invested Kentucky fans are, but Louisville fans don't quite get enough credit for how consistently invested and obsessed with the program that they are. I know that you know that, and a lot of people that know you that are watching or listening to this podcast know that. But I'm talking like nationally, your average college basketball fan who's relatively informed on the sport probably doesn't quite understand that Louisville as a college basketball market would rank among the three or four, you know, most maniacal out there. And what you said kind of backs that up.
- [06:02]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about that. It's one of the surreal moments of last year and I've really tried to think if I've ever heard anything like it. But they beat Pitt in the game at the Young center last year and Jeff Capel comes to the post game podium afterwards and the first thing he says is, thanks, Pat, for, for bringing this back. And it was a full yum center and it was loud and it was a really raucous environment. And in my life I've never heard a coach like thank the other coach for beating him and bringing back a home environment. But I think last year, one of the experiences we saw from several teams and several coaches is just talking about, hey, this was always a fun place to bring a team. We got to sort of sell this environment. It's a 20,000 seat NBA arena full and they're loud and they're bought in. In a year like where the ACC is down and there aren't great crowds in a lot of places. Like, it was odd, but joyfully odd to hear a coach say like, I'm so glad we get to do this again. And I would imagine, I think maybe across the ACC there was some, some real joy that like, this was back the way that it was supposed to be.
- [07:05]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah. And that's a really, really good building for anyone that's listening or watching that hasn't been there. I've only been there for the tournament so not for, for a home game. But you know, it's for as much, I don't know, just cheekiness as the name got when it started. We've just, we've just gotten used to it. It's, you know, it's just the yum center. That's the yum. That's just what it is. But an awesome, it's an awesome building in a really good spot. It feels good to have Louisville back mattering. Feels good to be able to do a summer shoot around episode with Louisville. This was not on the table whatsoever for two straight years. But now here we're back. Pat Kelsey more than holding his own nearly 500 days into his tenure. I mean he wasn't Louisville's first, second, third or just basing this on my report, it wasn't even their fourth choice. But whatever, that doesn't matter now. He inherited a program that won 12 games over a two year span. The darkest period ever by far in the history of Louisville basketball. And just like, like that man Mark, he turned it back into what it's supposed to be.27 and 8 last season and 8 SE in the NCAAs partly because of how he scheduled and the ACC was down, but whatever. And the, the last game of the season did not go as anticipated obviously, but they were one of the actual few good teams in the ACC. Louisville went 18 and 2 in the regular season and yes a bad ACC, but I don't care. It's still high major conference, you go 18 and two in year one. What. That's big time stuff there. And you know, a season ago they obviously had a really nice portal hall right away for you. You know, floor is yours. Just an unabridged assessment of Kelsey's first 16 months of him holding the job before we truly look ahead, roster rundowns, all that good stuff. Just to this point here, middle of August. How would you grade out and assess what the man's been able to do since. Since arriving there?
- [08:57]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, I think it's good that you started with sort of like what he walked in after because it's only after following Kenny Payne and, and the way that things went with him in his two years. Could at Louisville an eight seed and losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament be like one for the record books, like people around who were like this is tremendous. But it was given sort of the, the demolition in the gaslighting that really had kind of gone on with how bad those, those two years Were. Yeah, he wasn't the first choice, and I think he embraced that, like, from the opening press conference.
- [09:32]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Didn't he say his wife turned him down, like, three times or something like that?
- [09:36]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, he talked about his wife multiple times last year, didn't he?
- [09:38]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah, his wife's hot.
- [09:41]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
I. I got such a kick out of you and Gary keeping that alive. It's, It's. It's funny.
- [09:47]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Parish will be bringing it back to little fans, I'm sure. Yeah, of course.
- [09:52]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
But his ethos, I think, really fit. He. He is somebody that's fed by the things that make Louisville fans kind of crazy and, and endearing for a coach. It's. It's one of the biggest place maybe where he was different than Chris Mack. Like, Chris Mack wanted the energy, but then wanted it to kind of go away and go home. And I think Pat just eats it. Like, I think he's. He is in terms of demeanor and approach to fans, just exactly what the doctor ordered. And then, you know, last year is kind of an. A paradox in that I think we got to see so much of what's good about Pat as a coach, but not really the way he'd like to play, like, at all. You know, injuries dramatically changed what they were going to try to be, you know, and in his entire career as a head coach, they only had two other years where they were a top 100 defensive team. And last year they ended up 25th on Ken Palm adjusted defensive efficiency, and it's the best he's ever had. And they kind of had to be a different team than he really would have intended for them to be. And certainly, I think, different than what they're going to look like this year. And yet you got to see the best of him as just kind of a on the fly. This is what we have to be based on what we have. Coach, they were really damn good by the end of the year. And so, like, you got a tease of kind of, this is what he is as a coach, and it's very exciting, but also probably a sense that we haven't hardly seen them play the way he'd like them to play at all yet. And so we get like another first year with him where a roster that's even more suited for the style of play that I think he'd like to play with, while also sort of feeling like, yeah, we know this guy's a good coach.
- [11:31]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah, that's actually really well said. And I agree with a lot of what you're putting out there, Mark. Louisville fans Know this, but if you're not invested in the program or weren't dialed into the ACC on a weekly basis, you might not realize that Louisville went through a three month stretch where it had one loss from December 15th until March 15th, one loss at Georgia Tech by seven. Everything else, of course, you know, that majority of that was the ACC schedule. Just even to be able to pull up the results after the fact and say, yeah, this is what we did. It's just such a necessary immediate turnaround. Particularly when you know the circumstances that led to Kelsey getting the job and, and then once he got the job and you know, he had his opening presser and then you, you know, checking on him, you know, a month after, like, it does feel this is like, okay, this is a guy that should be able to thrive there and is going to embrace everything about it. I think he said this at the presser, but he also, he kind of reiterated the story to me last mid. Last season. Like he just couldn't believe like how great the offices were. He was like, I'll live here, I don't care. This is mine.
- [12:39]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Like, yeah, well, they took him in his office and he is my office. Like he thought it was like kind of a conference room or something. So yeah, he's. And that plays. And especially in light of sort of the way the oddity of the things that happened, like, I don't know how it came to be that it felt like Pat had a better appreciation for and a better understanding of Louisville than Kenny Payne did.
- [13:00]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Right, right.
- [13:01]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
But there was, there was so much of that, that the contrast between the two were so great. He had so many just tap in putts that would have been good, that were goodwill things with fans that should have seemed obvious to anybody who's the head coach here. And he just continually sort of tapped them in. Things like that plays so well and Louisville has an overachiever kind of ethos for a place that's as good as they've been, you still have that. And he sort of manages to be kind of both of those things too. And so like just his demeanor plays really well with the fan base here. And we saw that over and over again last year.
- [13:37]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
No question about it. He's done, he's done a really nice job. I'm eager to see what he's going to do in year two. We're talking about him because there should be a good team, potentially even like a top 10 level team. We're going to get into who's gone, who's back, who's new big roster rundown, whole bunch of stuff. But first, nada. Let's take a quick break.
- [13:55]
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- [15:08]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
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- [15:25]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
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- [15:27]
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- [15:31]
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- [16:02]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Lot of schools and like a lot of second year coaches, you bring in this portal hall year one. But a lot of guys are going to have expiring eligibility or transfer after one year for whatever reason. So gone from Louisville. Terrence Edwards Jr. Chucky Hepburn, Rain Smith, James Scott, Noah Waterman, Abubakar Triore. I mean that's more than 75% of the school's offensive production. But there are names back. So starting for Javon Hadley, he was good for more than 12 points a game. Stretch big Case and Pryor, who they play seven games. He got injured, but he comes back. And where he factors into does he play himself into a starter? Is he the first or second guy off the bench? He's a stretch big. He'll be. It'll be interesting to see how he's deployed. Kanai Ruth is a reserve three man who's back and then two guys who sat last year. Kobe Rogers, formerly at Charleston with Kelsey and then Ali Khalifa, who is eligible and will play this season, which was definitely the right move. We don't need to go too far down that rabbit hole. But there was a lot of questions over that he would get this extra year. I think objectively he deserved it. He's going to get it. If he's going to be what I think he's going to be, he's going to be one of the five best passing bigs in college basketball. If he does, I think he will start some games and if he doesn't start more than half the season, he's probably going to be depending on lineups and rotations. Like he'll be the first guy off the bench if, if they got to bring in a wing. Like he's going to get plenty of minutes. He'll get borderline starter minutes in my opinion. Transfers Ryan Conwell from Xavier, more than 16 points a game, projected starter and Louisville has got firepower across the board here, which is why I don't know where I'll put them in my preseason rankings. But I, I have a hard time thinking I'll have Louisville like lower than 11 or 12. I just love the shooting. Adrian Woolley from Kennesaw State averaged almost 19 last season. Isaac Manili from Virginia average more than 14 last season. All those players were better than 40% comfortably from three point range. So those are transfers that come in and then we'll get to Mikhail Brown Jr. In just a second here. But before we get to Brown and the freshman 2 prong Question 1 Louisville, like the, the talk on the ground there in terms of Louisville's prowess in nil, is it because this is, this is. It's undeniably been a factor in roster building as it should like they in my opinion, Mark, Louisville has been a top five to seven school in spending in nil the past two cycles. And this was part of this. By the way, this is no surprise. The coaches that turned down Louisville when it came open, they knew what was on the table in terms of how Louisville was positioning self to say we are going to be one of the five biggest spenders in the portal. Here's what you're going to be afforded. In fact, I want to say the number was pitched as well north of 3 million the April that or the March April that Kelsey got the job. And obviously it's well north of that now. So two prong question one, how, how much is the nil stuff A talking point if it is much at all. And two, which I know Brown's going to be the most excited player people most excited about, so I'm gonna put him to the side for a second. Other than him, which guy are you personally most intrigued to see in a Louisville uniform by the time we get to November?
- [19:26]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, it's funny in listening to you sort of set that question up, I think you mentioned like, I think he'll be a starter maybe sometimes. I think he'll be a starter maybe sometimes. One of the the real challenges right now is I don't think you can really put together a starting five that doesn't feel like you've obviously made a mistake by leaving somebody out. It's really kind of shocking. They went from, you know, barely making it kind of to the end of the year remotely healthy and having enough guys to play to. I don't know how they're going to keep all these guys happy. But you know, Pat said explicitly as last press conference that he did with us, once everyone got here, they hit the portal and they wanted three guys and it was the three guys that they wanted. And I, I'm not naive like they all say that, but it was like we set up to get these three guys and got them.
- [20:11]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
And it's when he says that I think these were. I mean they might have had another big target mark that they didn't get. But I think all three of these three were prioritized. I think they were paid handsomely. And because of that, Louisville sets up as one of the best shooting teams in the country next season.
- [20:24]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
As far as the the nil portion of this, it's always Louisville's financial resources have always been kind of a point of pride around here. Even in the pre rev share and nil kind of era. The fact that Louisville is a big city in the state that doesn't have major pro sports has really allowed Louisville, I think, always to tap into the corporate support around here in a way that city teams in cities like Cincinnati or Memphis or others have to share that with the pro sports that are in their towns. Louisville is the pro sports in the towns, and they've always been able to, I think, kind of punch above their weight in terms of revenue generation sort of thing. And so once the NI got here, I was like, okay, like, we already know what we're going to do here. And they've never. You've never heard anyone in sort of athletic leadership say in any way, sort of hesitate to get into it with both feet. And the 502 circle got off the ground very early, and Dan Furman got to work very, very early. They were an early adopter, and I think they've been aggressive with it. And I. I don't think anyone flinches from letting people know that now it's not. It's not Texas Tech, you know, it's not a billionaire sort of benefactor like some places have. They're definitely dialed in and not shy about it and wield it, which I think is. Is wise.
- [21:43]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah, it's got to be so uplifting for Louisville fans also in this regard. I mean, I can't speak to most other programs that are happening on that campus right now, but it does feel like, knock on wood. Knock on wood. Louisville might be entering into a phase here where it is relatively drama free as a. As an athletic department. Is that fair to say? Because obviously, for the better part of 15 years, you could not go. Sometimes you couldn't go a week, but you really couldn't go two or three months without some sort of major negative headline. And now it feels like you've waited through the crap here and. And things should be decent. Again, not speaking to how good or not the football program will be just in terms of everything off the court or off the field. It feels like things. Things have finally settled. Right. There's. There's some good times ahead.
- [22:33]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, for sure. And just like you just did. So the knock on wood there, like, everyone sort of like, looks around. Like, I think we're. Yeah. You know, think of, like, we. We went through a lot around here to where, like, you get people that flinch when you start to sort of let your guard down a little bit or. Or you start to talk about things being good and be like, stop that. Stop. Like, we had multiple extortion attempts here.
- [22:55]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah.
- [22:57]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Like, it. It. Yeah. We, we went through some aware parents.
- [23:00]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Tried to give extortion advice on the podcast because of it.
- [23:05]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
It's. It feels like you've got the right people in charge who don't have the same kind of self destructive tendencies that some of the folks that were here before had for as great as they were. Like, this is not me. I think Rick Patino's maybe the best ever, buddy. He had his challenges and I, I think Bobby Petrino was the same way. And you sort of, you wrote you took the good with the bad there and maybe there's just a little bit less to be had of that with these guys and you can at least sort of let your guard down about that sort of thing happening. And that does feel nice for sure. Even though it made easy show content. Good Lord, Matt. I went years.
- [23:43]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yes.
- [23:43]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Without really having to prepare anything.
- [23:47]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Incredible. Yeah. The run there at Louisville was legendary. But I know a lot of people are happy to be, to be out of it. Let's get to the freshman. You've got Evangelos. I might butcher her name. Zugris. He's from Greece. You got Mohamed Kamara, he's Senegalese. He'll be like a three, four man. You've got Sananda fru, who's from Germany, who I think actually has a good chance at starting to start the season at the five. And then let's talk about the number two point guard in the class. Easy top ten player. Mikhail Brown Jr. Projected right now. He's projected to be a top ten pick in the 2026 NBA draft. He is a. If you're unfamiliar, Brown. Well, actually, you know what, I don't need to take the mic. You're familiar with them. Tell the people what Mikhail Brown Jr. Is all about and why they're so excited about him heading into the season.
- [24:41]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
He really a more physically gifted guy with kind of this a similar demeanor that Chucky Hepburn had last year who was such a. A huge hit with fans, but a very, an unselfish guy. A really skilled, tremendous court vision. I think if you. It's amazing what the under 19 performance did for his perception with of people and maybe their idea of what he could be for this team this year. Because I think you're like, all right, you're gonna have a, you're gonna go from Chucky Hepburn of, you know, a fifth year guy mature for days to a true freshman. And you love what you've got around it, but boy, are you sure you want that. And then I think seeing him on that stage with Guys that are going to be impact college players across both for Team USA and some of their opponents as well. Seeing him more than hold his own as an athlete and with court vision, you know, unselfishness, that sort of thing. On nights where it was falling, he poured it in. On nights where it wasn't, he was a distributor. And I think more than anything, maybe just physically he. He's been thin. He doesn't look like kind of an Adonis, like some of the.
- [25:54]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
He's slender. He's definitely slender. That's fair.
- [25:56]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
But he less so. And it looked like less of an issue, if an issue really at all by the time you were finished with that thing. And I think now the excitement of being able to sort of just drop him with the guys that you were talking about earlier around him, it's really off the charts. And so I think there's a tremendous amount of excitement and genuinely seems to be a good kid. Like this is not somebody like they wanted him. His demeanor, you know, Pat says this a lot. Like he's not. Pat says, like I'm not for everybody, you know, like you, you have to know what you're signing up for with him.
- [26:31]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
But.
- [26:32]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
But the demeanor here I seem seems to really fit. And so the excitement level was high before, but now it's off the charts. Especially because like Louisville doesn't get very many of that guy. Like in its history Louisville has not gotten sure fire, five star one and done lottery pick guy that looks like a surefire hit. And the ones that they have have really not worked out that well. So that's sort of the, the excitement level about him looking to be really different than any of those guys in the past is really. It's hard to quantify.
- [27:02]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Last time they had a guy like that was. It's like Donovan Mitchell wasn't even that because he wasn't expected to be that. Right. I'm just trying.
- [27:12]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Samuel's probably the last one.
- [27:14]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Has it really been that long?
- [27:17]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
I mean McDonald's all Americans, but nobody.
- [27:19]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Highly hyped Terrence Williams. Kinda maybe.
- [27:24]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
That's a long time ago.
- [27:26]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
I know, 20 years ago. It's been a long time. Yeah. Terrence Williams. We're talking like 17 years at this point. Something like that. You're right. Surprising because that program should be able to. And now it has one and may well get another one next year. We'll see what happens with. With Tyron Stokes who obviously has very. He's from Louisville originally. He's not. He's not living there now. What Mark was referring to if you kind of tune out a lot of the USA Basketball stuff, it's not the Olympics. I totally get it. That's fine. But the U19 team won a gold medal in Switzerland. And when that happened, Mikhail Brown Jr. I think he was the most consistent player over seven games. DeBanta got the MVP, but Brown probably should have had it. He averaged 14.9 points, 6.1 assists, 2.1 turnovers, shot 46 point. He actually shot better from three than two or from the field. I should say 46.5 from three and then yes, better from two as well. But 45.5 overall from the field. It he had, I think in all of college basketball, Mark, he probably had a top three off season in terms of just public performance. You know, it just. He really did step up in a major way to where now I don't know if he will or not be a second or he probably can't crack second, but a third team all preseason All American. I don't know if he'll get there. Freshman, kind of hard to do, loaded freshman class. But I will say this. If Mikhail Brown Jr. Is a lot shows a lot of what he did in the summer in Switzerland, if he can be that play, if Mikhail Brown Jr. Can be as good this season as he was over the summer and his supporting cast is going to be what we think they'll be in terms of shooting, then Louisville is going to be again one of the two or three best teams in the acc. Undoubtedly Louisville is going to be, if not a bonafide top 10 team knocking on the door of that and will be among the most entertaining and watchable teams in the country this season. Because Brown can be electric with the ball and when you have that much three point shooting support around him, I think the Cardinals have a real shot of being one of the five most must watch teams in all college basketball next season.
- [29:38]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
I think you're 100% right. And I think you went from after that under 19 performance thinking like as long as you don't have to ask too much of him, given what you've got around him, like you really could go somewhere and now it's like hell, ask of him like he looked good, like not only will he be somebody that you don't want to tax too much, but like let's lean into this. He's. He's got something to add as well. And it won't just be a matter of like making sure he can make the most of the guys around him, but he can do that too. And I think the, the pace that they play at this year will look dramatically different. And you know, last year, by the end of the year, you know, Chucky got to be a better three point shooter than he was when he got here. But it was like, all right, let's see what we can get. Rain Smith tonight from 3. And anything else we get is probably going to be gravy to where you'll probably have four, three to four guys on the floor that can reliably hit threes all the time. And, and I'm sure the pad is sort of chomping at the bit to get out there.
- [30:32]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah, it could be really exciting. It is. It's hard for me to see how. Not that it can't happen. I like, to listeners and viewers know, like I do like to not speak in hyperbole and kind of qualify. You know, you get one bad injury, it can really mess with the, with the alchemy. But it's just hard for me to envision a scenario in which Louisville. I'm not saying Louisville is a guarantee to be a top 15 team, but they're just, they should be so good offensively. Maybe there's going to be some defensive issues that we realize and maybe we look up and they're like, man, this just. They. They have an issue on that end of the floor that's going to prevent them from being a true title contender. Maybe that'll be the case, maybe it won't. But there's too many proven shooters for me not to think that this team is going to be able to really outscore some teams and have a lot of fun and look really good when they're doing it. Quick starting 5 projection. I'll offer mine if you want to offer any tweaks. I would say you obviously have Brown at the one and he'll be like, he'll be a true combo guard. Conwell at the 2. I. I think McNeely at the 3. Hadley obviously got starters minutes last year. He's at the four. And then I think you interchange Khalifa or fru maybe that's matchup dependent. I think it's too hard to tell right now. I guess I'd lean through slightly over Khalifa, but if you told me Khalifa was starting the opener, I wouldn't be surprised. Would you tweak my, my loose projection of a little starting five for game one this season?
- [31:56]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Did you see how uncomfortable that was to try and come up with a starting five?
- [32:01]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
I know because he's still got really good. I Mean, you still have really. I mean you've got really good talent. That's. That's going to be coming off like Casen coming off the bench in that. In that regard.
- [32:10]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Rogers will be coming off the bench.
- [32:12]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah. Yep. Yep. Willie. Willie. Who can really shoot it as well. I don't know. What do you think? What do you think it'll be night one.
- [32:17]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
I like yours. I. I think that that's right. I would not have thought like they went to the mat for Ali Khalifa and I would have thought like, oh, they're surely he's going to. To start there. But Fru is. Has impressed.
- [32:32]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
He's like a, he's a relatively solid defender. Like they're just gonna need his presence on the floor. That's the, like, you get Khalifa out there, the offense could be something of a pinball machine in a good way, but you're gonna leave yourself vulnerable on the other end. That's all.
- [32:46]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, a, you know, a lob catching, you know, good screener, that sort of thing. You know that. That's the starting five I think I would go with as well. And I don't really even like. The funny thing is the two guys that are back. Can I roost and Dr. Von Hadley, like, they're the ones that I have the hardest time figuring out exactly where they fit and they. It shouldn't be that way, but it's out here. We want to make like a bet or like a projection here now, like at some point we're gonna get Pat Kelsey to say some version of like, I have 10 starters.
- [33:22]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Marcus, you know, he is the rare coach that when he says it, he means it.
- [33:25]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah.
- [33:25]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Like he. If he can get 10 going and if he can get 10 guys averaging 10 plus minutes, he will absolutely do it. Maybe that'll be the case there. Louisville was not as up tempo as Kelsey wanted last season. They will, they will be. I don't see how. And anyway, they are not a faster team this season. That, that seems inevitable. I don't know if they'll rank among the top five or 10, but they'll be, they'll be more up and down than they were a year ago.
- [33:49]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, I think both in terms of style, play and schedule. Pat seems to have looked at last year and said that was super fun. Let's never do it again. We're gonna, we're gonna play entirely differently and we're never gonna get to the end of the year and have people be able to doubt our resume again like they did, you know, at the end of last year as well. And so the schedule that way too.
- [34:11]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Speaking of schedule, it's time for a little. You're from. Mark works in radio. He's familiar with the. With the old bumper music underneath while we always play it out here. So this is, this is where we look at who Louisville's got. You're gonna have to make a prediction here on how many. How many wins in the regular season. So going into the ACC tournament. But let me run down what we got here. So Louisville's notable non Conference opponents. Nov. 11 at Kentucky. In fact. Hold on. Music off. We're gonna stop right there. Pope didn't give me an answer. Do you have an opinion on Louisville and Kentucky playing not only before Thanksgiving, but in the first, you know, essentially eight days of the season?
- [34:49]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Not only do they play that early, they played before the football game.
- [34:53]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Oh, and when's the last. I don't know. When's the last time that happened? Has it ever happened?
- [34:57]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, it's never happened.
- [34:59]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
I hate it when you put it that way. That actually feels wrong. Like they should. The basketball team should not be playing before the football teams. Yeah, no.
- [35:05]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
It's the shape of the trash talk in this state that it's like you guys have already moved on to basketball. Now we can't even do that with. With the rivalry game. And you won't get anyone to give you a straight answer on why it had to be this way. Especially when you look as we'll go through the schedule here, they both managed to schedule decent non conference games right around the place where they would be playing their game normally. Some gamesmanship, maybe some, some input from the networks on when to play that game so that it's not buried. You know, one of the things that I've yet to really digest exactly how Louisville is acting in light of it is the ACC's revenue distribution based on eyeballs and how that's impacting moving games around and who they're scheduling both for. For football and basketball. And I suspect that it's at least a part of this, that they would rather play this basketball game super early in the year on a weeknight than have it get buried under football and bowl games in the playoff in, in late December. But if that's true, I hate it.
- [36:07]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Obviously we got to have the game every year. It's, it's now, I mean it's literally law in the state that they have to do it. So we're going to get it. I just. Louisville, Kentucky feels like it should. I don't know Christmas should be. The Christmas tree should be up when the game is played. I don't know. That's just me. Although I will say, and I talked with Pope about this as well. If you told me that these two teams actually played in February, like as we add another game the season after this upcoming one and they wanted to try and maneuver that I'd take it. Although it sounded like Pope was maybe not as as into that. We'll see. All right, I'll keep it going. November 11th that Kentucky is the first, first big notable one week before Thanksgiving they're going to play Cincinnati and downtown Cincinnati at. It's not at Cincy's home arena, it's at the Heritage Bank Center. You know what, I don't want to bug. I've got the date on that, but I don't know where it is. It's the week before because I don't think that's been publicly put out there yet. But they are playing that game either five or six days, I think before Thanksgiving, maybe a week before Thanksgiving. So that's Cincinnati. That's a two year series to play in Freedom Hall. December 3rd at Arkansas, which. Hell yeah. Like that.
- [37:16]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Exactly. Yes, that's right. Hell yeah.
- [37:18]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
December 6th against Indiana in Indianapolis. But Louisville and Indiana are playing. Okay, love to see it. They'll play Memphis at home. They will be at Tennessee on December 16th and then on Valentine's Day they will play Baylor in Fort Worth. So we've got three games this season that are going to be non conference games in February. It's, it's a wonderful trend we're bringing back into vogue. I think you'll see that number grow even more in the seasons after this one. But unless I'm missing one, I think Louisville has seven notable non conference games and then ACC wise their two plays are Duke and smu. Their home games are bc. This is where they can rack up the wins here because these are the home one. They don't go on the road, just home. BC, Georgia Tech, NC State could be tricky. We'll see Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia could be a challenge. And Virginia Tech road only is they got to go, they got to make the west coast trip. So they gotta play Callan. Stanford, they play Clemson, they play Miami, they play Pitt and they play Wake. The only team that Louisville doesn't play in the ACC this season is Florida State. So 31 game regular season. You can do the parish method. Although doctors advise you sometimes to be careful before entering into the parish method. If you want to use the parish Method and count backward non con losses and then, and then league losses. It's all you. But how many wins heading into the ACC tournament for the Louisville Cardinals? Mark Ennis.
- [38:41]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, I've, I've struggled with this but somewhere in if they can, they got eight non conference games. I think looking at that look like the ones that you just went over. I think if you can split those, I've got seven.
- [38:56]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
So if there's an eighth, I just don't have it.
- [38:57]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
I have Cincinnati, Memphis, Kentucky, Arkansas. Oh, I have Kentucky twice. That's my problem.
- [39:01]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Okay, all right, all right.
- [39:02]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
So seven. Yeah, I've got them like 23 and eight, 24 and seven somewhere.
- [39:06]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
There's no, there's no. Or it's either 23 and eight or 24, seven.
- [39:10]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
I'll go 24, seven. Yeah, I'll go to it. Since they only have to play Kentucky once and not twice like I wrote down.
- [39:15]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
There we go. Don't worry. I, I hold everyone accountable here we are, we are of the same. I also have them winning 24 games going into the ACC tournament. You got to consider at Kentucky, at Arkansas, at Tennessee, they've got Indiana away from home, they've got Baylor away from home, they've got Cincinnati. There's a lot of non con games not in Louisville against high major opponents. I think Louisville fans need to brace for dual reality. You could be beat up a little bit in the non conference portion of the schedule. Doesn't mean that you can't be one of the 12 best teams in the country. But this is appropriately aggressive by Kelsey. I love to see it, but it's two losses minimum and non con. I, I, if, if Louisville gets to the ACC schedule with one loss, then it might be the best team in the country. That's just a really, really healthy non con. And yet again we have a coach that's not afraid to schedule. Pat Kelsey, good on you. Oh, I forgot. By the way, I was gonna put on the Kelsey glasses. Let's do that.
- [40:10]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Come on. These, these Kelsey glasses.
- [40:12]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
There we go. Yeah, there we go. There we go. We're both going Kelsey glasses.
- [40:17]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
By the way, we forgot Kansas is a exhibition game as well.
- [40:20]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Yeah, I never mentioned the exhibition. It's nice, like it's cool, but it doesn't count toward the schedule. By the way, if you're watching, I also am repping the Bellarmine Knights shirt. Bellarmine, obviously in the city of Louisville. And Bellarmine was our first ever summer shoot around. Auctioned off bonus episode from a few years Back so we still had Paris went out and bought the shirts. So still got it. And by the way those auction winners will be revealed in like less than two weeks. So thank you to everyone who bid and we got some money for St. Jude. We appreciate all that. We both agree 24 wins for Louisville heading into the ACC tournament. But guess what? Last year when they were 25 and 6 going into the ACC tournament, that didn't correlate to a really good seed. This team is not going to be an 8 seed. I think Louisville fans expectations should be just the expectations. This isn't a hope, this is an expectation. This roster. How much money you spent? 6 seed at worst with number two and number three seed on selection Sunday very much on the table last year and it's to me was yeah, we're coming back and this year is we are staying back. We are here. This, you know, year two will be truly proof of concept. I think Louisville's got a shot to be in the running the way it was last season under different circumstances in the accident. What I appreciate about about you Mark, is that you are not a local drive time radio homer. No matter what, you're willing to be critical. So with that a setup, can Louisville actually win the acc? Can Louisville be better than Duke next season? What should fans have as their expectation, you know, purely from a league perspective going into 25, 26?
- [42:02]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Yeah, I think they can absolutely. They, they didn't get outclassed by anybody last year in the acc. Even Duke last year. I mean they made them earn those games last year. And I think look, if you get best case from this roster, like if last year was sort of Gideon's army where people just sort of keep getting peeled away from the roster. Like if you don't get that this year and you get Pat getting to play a full season, like I wouldn't want any part of Lou. I think by the end of the year once they sort of start figuring out exactly the best version of this team. And I think one of the fun things about this is like we're talking about the best among good options. Not are there pieces here but who are they and how are they best going to work together. And I'm sure pal tell you like this is probably not, not probably like this is the most town he's ever had and how you make that work, the excitement level, seeing what they were able to do as shorthanded as they were. Yeah, I think the sky is the limit. The best case scenario of this team. Yeah, they could win the SEC for sure.
- [43:08]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
Louisville fans get excited. I understand there's probably a party that's like, okay, we were good in Year one, but like, you know, are you looking for the banana peel? I don't think so. I just don't think that's on the table. It's why we're talking about them here. That's why they'll get some run for preseason top 10 status. I think when AP top 25 comes out, I think Louisville can be anywhere between 8 and 14 overall. I'll definitely have them in that range when I release my rankings come October. Mark Ennis, appreciate you. You can follow him on Twitter at Mark Ennis hosted the Drive Drive Time Radio in Louisville, so if you are within range, be sure to check him out. And I appreciate you adding to our diversity of guests here in the summer. Shoot around, buddy.
- [43:45]
Mark Ennis (Louisville Basketball Pundit and Guest)
Anytime, guys. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
- [43:47]
Podcast Host (likely Paris)
All right, we've got another one coming. Summer shoot round still coming. And yes, Paris will be on and back on the show later on this week. But the next one, well, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna give it away here. You can go back and listen to our order if you wanna really go find out. But it's another big time program with a lot of intrigue and looking to notably improve after a letdown season a year ago. We'll have that episode for you on Wednesday morning. Until then, take care. Paramount Podcasts. You say you'll never join the Navy, never climb Mount Fuji on a port visit or break the sound barrier. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Learn why@navy.com. america's Navy forged by the sea.