Pat Kelsey believes Louisville basketball is "one of the deepest teams in the country" entering 2025-26. Let's break down a few of his lineup options.
Pat Kelsey had his hands tied for most of his first season at the helm of Louisville basketball. The Cardinals couldn't catch a break on the injury front.
Six of U of L's 13 scholarship players combined for 80 absences across 35 games, and two others redshirted the entire campaign. As a result, three players shouldered minute shares of 81.3% or more — and the team operated at the fourth-slowest pace of Kelsey's 13-year coaching tenure, 69.1 possessions per 40 minutes.
Kelsey, of course, made the most of a bad situation, leading the program to one of the largest turnarounds in Division I history. But, with sky-high expectations looming over his second go-around, the coach is hoping to buck that trend in 2025-26.
"I think everybody's probably saying right now, this time of year, 'Depth is our strength,'" Kelsey told reporters in July. "I really believe we have one of the deepest teams in the country."
Just how important is depth in college basketball? Look no further than the 2025 Final Four field. There was only one player with a minute share above 80% (Houston's LJ Cryer). National champion Florida had seven players who accounted for 47.6% or more of the team's available minutes. Louisville, by comparison, had only five.
During Kelsey's winningest season to date, a 31-4 run at Charleston in 2022-23, he had nine players with minute shares of 37.8% or higher. The following year, he had 10 playing 25% or more of the Cougars' available minutes.
That's more in line with what we should see from the Cards in 2025-26, barring another bad case of the injury bug. Kelsey retained five players from his 2024-25 roster — three of whom missed most, if not all, of the campaign — and paired them with a cast of seven newcomers. As of Aug. 5, U of L ranked seventh in ESPN's way-too-early top 25.
How do all the pieces fit together? Kelsey is fluid when it comes to defining roles and divvying up minutes; the process begins when players arrive for summer workouts and will last as long as the season does. But the coach has, no doubt, been racking his brain to create lineup options. Let's have a little fun with the seemingly endless possibilities:
The starting five — if the season started tomorrow
Note the caveat. There's optimism throughout the program that Kasean Pryor will be ready to go when the season tips off, but something tells me he'll be eased back into action after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last November. Khalifa's no slouch, either; regarded as one of DI's best passing big men, the 7-foot Egyptian should make life easier for Brown — a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft — as the McDonald's All-American settles into the college game. Khalifa will, however, have to show improvement as a rebounder and a defender to keep this spot.
Brown is a surefire starter, regardless of who's taking the court alongside him. The same goes for Conwell and Hadley, in my opinion. The former was one of only two high-major players to make 90-plus 3s and 100-plus free throws; he also shot 50% or better from 2-point range last season. The latter was the consummate glue guy for Kelsey in Year 1, proving he can hold his own with just about anyone at the 4.
McKneely was coming off the bench in a way-too-early lineup projection I did in April. But, the more I think about it, the more he makes sense here over Adrian Wooley. His ACC-leading 42.1% clip from beyond the arc in 2024-25 speaks for itself, and he's less ball dominant than the Kennesaw State transfer, who could benefit from more of a headliner role with the second unit.
The second wave
- Kobe Rodgers
- Wooley
- Khani Rooths
- Pryor
- Sananda Fru
Rodgers tracks as a sneaky-good PG2. This will be his third season in Kelsey's system, and he's got no shortage of weapons around him in this full-on line change — starting with Pryor and Wooley, both of whom could very well play their way into starting spots. Not to mention, the 6-3 Cincinnati native shot 45% (18 for 40) from 3 across 30 games with Charleston in 2023-24.
Rooths will try to capitalize on the flashes of potential he showed as a freshman and should benefit from a faster pace. Fru is the most prototypical big on the roster — a rim-running, lob-catching, screen-setting and shot-altering machine who's competed against grown men for four years in Germany's top-flight Basketball Bundesliga.
As a whole, this second unit is one that can pick right up where the starters left off. Individually, its pieces should mesh well when mixed and matched with the first five.
The marksmen
- Brown
- Wooley
- McKneely
- Conwell
- Khalifa
Brown has zero collegiate 3s to his name, but we'll give him the nod here on the strength of his 20-for-42 (47.6%) clip during USA Basketball's seven-game run to gold at the FIBA U19 World Cup. Conwell, McKneely and Wooley each shot better than 41% from beyond the arc in 2024-25; they're locks when Louisville needs a trey. Khalifa adds some height to this small-ball lineup in addition to being a career 35.3% (97-for-275) shooter from deep.
The defenders
- Wooley
- Conwell
- Hadley
- Pryor
- Fru
Brown has been vocal about the pride he takes on the defensive end. He'll need to prove it during Louisville's daunting nonconference schedule before earning a spot in this lineup, though.
They're no Chucky Hepburn, but Conwell and Wooley averaged 1.3 and 1.4 steals per game in 2024-25, respectively. The latter is more than capable of running point, but his 109 turnovers as a freshman are concerning.
Going off BartTorvik.com's D-PORPAG (Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game) metric, Hadley was the 57th-best defender across DI in 2024-25 with a rating of 4.1. When he went down for the season, Pryor was among the top 200 on KenPom.com in defensive rebound percentage (22.3%, 146th), block percentage (5.9%, 150th) and steal percentage (3.8%, 161st). Fru, meanwhile, led the BBL in blocked shots with 58 — nearly doubling the Cards' best in Year 1 under Kelsey, James Scott (30).
The dunking Cardinals
- Brown
- Rooths
- Mouhamed Camara
- Pryor
- Fru
I doubt we'll ever see this wild-card combination on the floor together ... but, man, it would be a lot of fun.
Brown showcased his bounce this spring by competing in the dunk contest at the McDonald's All-American Game. Rooths had the second-most dunks on Louisville's 2024-25 roster — 17 on 21 attempts. If he had been healthy for the entire season, Pryor probably would have been the runner-up to Scott's team-high 79. Fru is going to get more than his fair share of alley-oop chances with Scott out of the equation; and Camara, a 6-8 freshman forward, has already turned heads with his athleticism upon arriving on campus from NBA Academy Africa.
Make it happen, Kelsey. Just once — please.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball's 2025-26 roster: Pat Kelsey's lineup options
Category: General Sports
