In NCAA Tournament 2025, Pat Kelsey's Louisville basketball revival turns revenge tour

LEXINGTON — Pat Kelsey did not clap.

All those hours poured into leading Louisville basketball back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 — just to feel slighted on Selection Sunday.

Kelsey tilted his head back in surprise, then tapped J'Vonne Hadley on the leg. They locked eyes with perplexed expressions, then Kelsey looked around a room full of mixed emotions and held up eight fingers.

A No. 8 seed? Really.

"Right after that," Hadley said, "we got right to work."

The revival is over; welcome to the revenge tour. Next stop: Rupp Arena; where, after a loss to archrival Kentucky three months ago, fifth-year guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. declared, "We know this thing's going to click. It's going to click real soon."

For as impressive as the Cardinals (27-7) have been while pulling off one of the largest turnarounds in Division I history and reaching the ACC Tournament championship game for the first time since joining the conference in 2014, they must fire on all cylinders if they want to reach the second weekend of March Madness.

U of L tips off two days of nonstop hoops at 12:15 p.m. Thursday (CBS) against No. 9 Creighton (24-10), the Big East's regular-season and postseason runner-up, with, in all likelihood, No. 1 overall seed Auburn waiting for it in the second round.

Step 1: Forget about the seeding. Revenge, of course, is a dish best served cold.

"It doesn't matter," Chucky Hepburn said.

"It's kind of irrelevant," Edwards added.

"Whether the committee decided to make us a No. 16 seed, a No. 8 seed, a No. 4 seed, a No. 5 seed; we're here," Kelsey said. "All of our attention is on trying to beat a world-class coach and a world-class team."

Creighton, as Kelsey alluded to, is one doozy of a first-round opponent. The Bluejays boast top-45 offensive and defensive efficiencies on KenPom.com with one of the country's best big men, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and sharpshooters, Steven Ashworth, to boot. Not to mention: Longtime coach Greg McDermott has guided them to the second weekend in three of the past four postseasons — coming one win shy of the Final Four in 2023 at the KFC Yum! Center.

McDermott is eager to exorcise those Bluegrass State demons. But he has every right to be as biffed as Kelsey about having to do so against the team with the second-shortest trip to the first round in the field of 68 — an experienced one at that.

"I can't believe they're a No. 8 seed," McDermott said Tuesday in Omaha, Nebraska. "Whatever metrics the committee used to decide to put them as a No. 8 seed, I don't understand; because, when I watch them on film, they're a complete package."

Louisville will be playing at as full of strength as it can get for the first time in a while. The Cards' top marksman, senior guard Reyne Smith, is set to return from a sprained right ankle that has kept him sidelined since the first half of a March 5 win over California. Despite going 8 for 28 from the field during the four games leading up to his injury, the Australian should be a welcome addition to a rotation that has combined to shoot 26 for 93 (27.9%) from 3-point range in his absence.

"It's always better when Reyne is on the floor," Edwards said. "He spaces the floor. He kind of knows the system like the back of his hand; because he's been with the coaches (for four years). He helps us a lot with the offense; setting cuts up, setting things up. He makes your job much easier."

So, too, will the home-court advantage. Hall of Famer Rick Pitino said as much Tuesday, during a news conference before departing with his St. John's team to Providence, Rhode Island.

"Louisville in Lexington — because I've done that: as the Louisville coach, go to Lexington, where we had 12,000 people. That's a big factor," Pitino said.

Creighton players believe they're up for the challenge. The Jays did, of course, play Pitino's Red Storm in the Big East Tournament title game last weekend in its seconds home — Madison Square Garden.

"With a team that's as experienced as our team is," star center Ryan Kalkbrenner said, "you just know with road games that they're going to go on a run; the crowd's going to get into it. We know how to handle that."

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs Creighton: Pat Kelsey ahead of NCAA Tournament 2025 game

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