Louisville basketball mailbag: Grading Pat Kelsey's roster, Tyran Stokes recruiting update

It's been more than two months since the last edition of The Courier Journal's Louisville basketball mailbag.

In that time, Greek forward Evangelos "Vangelis" Zougris signed with the Cardinals, Aly Khalifa won his NCAA appeal for an additional season of eligibility, Mikel Brown Jr. impressed during USA Basketball's run to gold at the FIBA U19 World Cup, Pat Kelsey pulled back the curtain on summer workouts and the staff hasn't stopped working the recruiting trail.

Just like that, we're less than 75 days from the first exhibition of the 2025-26 campaign — Oct. 24 against Kansas at the KFC Yum! Center.

We begin this mailbag by putting a bow on U of L's offseason roster moves. Then, we'll address a question that's been floating around these parts for a while: How does Kelsey put the pieces of his Year 2 roster together in a way that leaves everyone involved happy?

From there, we'll take a look at where things stand in the Cards' recruitment of Tyran Stokes, a Louisville native who is the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2026. To close, we'll have a little fun crafting a baseball lineup with the members of this season's team.

Let's dive in:

What letter grade would you give Louisville's roster-building efforts for the upcoming season? — Ed Helinski

Kelsey has said since he arrived at Louisville that he wants to balance his rosters with a mix of impact transfers, talented freshmen and returners for continuity's sake. For that reason, I'm going to go with an A.

Kelsey and his staff worked quickly to land three of the most coveted guards available in the NCAA transfer portal, Xavier's Ryan Conwell, Virginia's Isaac McKneely and Kennesaw State's Adrian Wooley. The trio combined to make 273 3-pointers in 2024-25; the Cards lost 278 of their 328 makes from beyond the arc among the departures of six players on last season's roster. That's how you address a need.

Pair those guys with Brown and U of L can make a strong case for having the country's best backcourt in 2025-26. If the McDonald's All-American lives up to the lottery-pick hype, the importance of his signing will extend far beyond the win column.

Koren Johnson and James Scott were Louisville's only defectors through the portal. Maybe they'll thrive at Ole Miss, but I'd rather take my chances with the players Kelsey retained: J'Vonne Hadley, Khalifa, Kasean Pryor, Kobe Rodgers and Khani Rooths.

That leaves the three international signees who are new to the Division I ranks: Mouhamed Camara, Sananda Fru and Zougris. Of this group, I think Fru will be the most immediate and consistent contributor.

That would give the Cards a 10-man rotation, which is on par with what Kelsey liked to do at Charleston. If he can get meaningful production from Camara and Zougris, I'll change my grade to an A+.

It's so good having all these great players, but how does Pat Kelsey keep all of them happy? — Ken McIntyre

Kelsey was asked this exact question when he met with reporters in July. Here's what he had to say:

"That's the case with every team every single year: Everybody wants to start; everybody wants to play. If you have guys on your roster — I'm talking every NBA team, every college team — if you have guys on your team who don't want to play more minutes, don't want to start, don't want a bigger role, then they're not competitors.

"We think we have some of the most competitive practices in the country," he later added. "That's where roles are defined; that's where minutes are starting to be divvied up. That process will go all through the fall into the first game."

In short: earned — not given.

Assuming everyone stays healthy for the entire 2025-26 season, which is very wishful thinking, I'm of the belief that Kelsey will throw as many players as he feels confident in at opponents to maximize Louisville's pace. I also think we'll see a lot more matchup-based variance in the starting lineup than what was possible during the 2024-25 campaign.

Will the rotation shrink in crunch time? Yes, probably. But it's imperative to keep that group fresh throughout the game. And consider this: Of the teams that reached the Final Four in April, only one had a guy with minute share above 80%, Houston (LJ Cryer). "The Power of the Unit" and whatnot.

Is Louisville getting Tyran Stokes or not? — Dee Pari

High-profile recruitments like Stokes' can be difficult to handicap, especially when the 6-foot-7 forward still has visits to make — reportedly, Gonzaga, Oregon and Southern California — and John Calipari's looming in the background at Arkansas. At Peach Jam, his mother told The Courier Journal he may make a decision before his senior season begins.

This much is clear, though: Stokes loves his hometown and takes pride in representing it.

"I'm from 502, without a doubt. I don't claim nothing else,” he told SLAM during a recent (and rare) interview. "Any other city that y'all see me in — state, whatever it is — that's not me. I'm strictly from the 502. Louisville, Kentucky."

That said, Stokes is a Nike guy. Think that has anything to do with the recent buzz surrounding Kentucky?

On3 analyst Jamie Shaw logged a prediction of Stokes to the Wildcats on Aug. 5 with a confidence level of 35%. For what it's worth, this is the same guy who in June 2022 said DJ Wagner to U of L "has been done for a few weeks."

That's why I try to not read into things like the parallels between Stokes' "ducking smoke" comment and Kelsey's rant about the Cards' 2025-26 nonconference schedule. Or, for that matter, this viral quote from his mom during an interview with Kentucky Sports Radio in July: "You know we're from Louisville, right? Louisvillians don’t really watch a lot of Kentucky basketball."

We're talking about the No. 1 recruit in the country. Heartstrings be damned, after a few more plot developments, it's probably going to come down to which marquee program can put together the best financial package. Louisville has proven it can compete on that front, but at what point does Kelsey say, "Too rich for my blood" and redirect those funds toward other Class of 2026 prospects who could make an instant impact?

It's baseball season. If this year's Louisville team were a baseball team, who would play what positions? — Chucky Ball Game

Fortunately for you, I'm a championship-winning beer league softball manager.

• Starting pitcher: Brown — the promising young ace
• Catcher: Khalifa — a cerebral battery mate
• First base: Fru — big target, soft hands
• Second base: McKneely — consistent in the field and at the plate
• Shortstop: Conwell — the do-it-all guy
• Third base: Hadley — plays a gritty hot corner
• Left field: Camara — his range will surprise you
• Center field: Rooths — most likely to rob a home run
• Right field: Wooley — oozes big-play potential
• Designated hitter: Pryor — a power bat working his way back from an injury
• Reliever: Rodgers — reliable in a pinch
• Closer: Zougris — the intimidator you need on the mound in the ninth

Have a question for a future Louisville basketball mailbag?

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Questions can be submitted via email ([email protected]) and X, formerly Twitter, to @brooksHolton.

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 roster 25-26, Tyran Stokes recruiting news, more