CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It wasn’t hard to find Pat Kelsey on the ACC Tipoff interview circuit Wednesday. Just follow the energy.
New season, same relentless bounce from the second-year Louisville coach, who, according to his players, often usually bounds into practice at a near-sprint.
There were official press conferences and talking points. And then there were these — a few outtakes, side moments, and other glimpses that didn’t make the mainbar but still give a glimpse into the coach and players who are helping shape Louisville’s identity.
Louisville’s “secret sauce”
Before talking threes, defense or tempo, Kelsey talks about love. As in, loving your teammate. That’s where he said the culture starts — even if it sounds corny to a 19-year-old.
Depending on a coach’s success level, fans might or might not want to hear it. But building relationships and trust within a roster is incredibly important, and increasingly difficult, in a day of transient talent.
Kelsey said before ever picking up a basketball, his teams put first things first. He establishes the expectation of building “the best culture in college basketball.”
“Our thing is to talk about love on Day One, Second One,” Kelsey said. “For 18-, 19-, 20-year old guys, all of a sudden, it seems a little corny. But no – if we’re going to be special, you have to love the guy next to you, and work at a level where your biggest motivation is not letting the guy next to you down. This is versus your individual goals and aspirations. I want guys to have individual goals and aspirations. I want self-starters. I want guys that want to achieve individual, personal things. But he power of the unit is what we talk about, and it’s the most powerful thing. You guys have heard me talk about that many times and probably get tired of it, but I talk about it passionately because it's the secret sauce.”
Speaking of corny …
If you want a visual on what Kelsey brings day-to-day, Louisville guard and Xavier transfer Ryan Conwell painted the picture:
Louisville guard Ryan Conwell talks with Jody Demling during the 2025 ACC Tipoff in Charlotte.
“Me and Kel laugh about it, but we’ll be in the gym shooting, and practice starts at 3. The scoreboard clock is counting down. And then, like, 30 seconds before it hits zero, he just comes in running and bouncing and stuff. We laugh about it. He’s just such a little guy, just bouncing, high energy.”
You might think for college kids, that would get old. Or they’d roll their eyes. But for Louisville players, just the opposite happens. They laugh. They start to bounce, too.
“It’s just great to be around,” Conwell said. “Louisville is just a great place, great culture, great program, great people. From the managers to staff to players and coaches, it’s a great place to be.”
On scheduling Baylor… and second thoughts
Louisville will play Baylor in Fort Worth on Valentines Day, 2026, a rare nonconference game deep in ACC play. Kelsey got some input from Duke coach Jon Scheyer before deciding to go out of conference in the thick of league play.
“I talked to Scheyer when we were thinking about scheduling that Baylor game late in the conference season, and he thought it was really good for them last year when they played, I think, Illinois,” Kelsey said. “Now, what I remembered is they beat (Illinois) by 43, so John probably felt really good about that when I talked to him about it this spring. Now, when we get down there and we're in the middle of the gauntlet, and our league is much better and we're getting ready to go play Baylor. I might say, ‘What the crap was I doing?’ But, you know, I just think it's a good change of pace. We get so used to playing each other. We're in league play just knocking each other's head off. So, just to go play a little one off he thought it got kind of got them ready, for tournament play.”
The Process, per Nick Saban
Kelsey spent time this offseason at an Alabama clinic and heard the legendary Crimson Tide coach talk about — what else — “The Process.” And he brought it back to Louisville.
“The dude was right in front of me at the podiums there,” Kelsey said. “I kept catching myself like reaching out to touch him. But he talks so much about the process, the process, the process, don't fix on outcomes. You can trip over what’s right in front of you."
Kelsey said his team last year typified a group that got singularly focused on process. He's hoping to see a repeat this season.
"Last year, our guys didn't get caught up in the noise when things weren't good going good early," Kelsey said. "They didn't get caught up in the noise when they were getting attaboys and pats on the back late. They just stayed focused and became the best version of ourselves late in the season. We had some injuries and guys beat up, so it didn't end exactly how we wanted it to, but that's how we did it. And if we're going to do what we talk about, being in that one percent of teams that are playing their best when it matters the most, it's just going to take us being consistently in that process.”
Threes aren't the goal
Louisville ranked 15th in the nation with 999 three-point shots last season (they couldn’t get one more?) Kelsey’s teams are going to shoot a lot of threes. But it’s not a gimmick or stat-chasing offense.
“We really don’t even talk about shooting threes,” he said. People ask why we shoot so many threes, I tell them it’s because they don’t let us shoot fours. We don't have a target number of threes we're trying to get up.”
Instead, Kelsey said, he wants his team to play an attacking offense, and the looks from three will take care of themselves, especially with three players (Isaac McKneely, Adrian Wooley and Chris Conwell) who combined ot make 273 threes by themselves last season.
“Threes present themselves if you play aggressively and you play on the attack,” Kelsey said. “Because you're going to generate free throws put foul pressure on the defense. You're going to generate shots at the rim, which are very high percentage and very efficient in terms of points per shot. And then by playing on the attack and getting paint touches, it opens up the three-point shots through kick outs and things like that. So, we have dangerous shooters, but because they're dangerous, they obviously draw gravity toward the outside, which should open up us being able to attack the paint as well.”
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