UL TENN Pat Kelsey

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Pat Kelsey took his University of Louisville men's basketball team to The Bahamas, scored a pair of solid victories and came within a possession or two of returning home with the trophy that went to Oklahoma.

The computer formulas that analyze and rank college basketball teams noticed.

The first NCAA Net rankings for the 2024-25 season were released Monday morning. The Cardinals sit at No. 30.

That is ahead of No. 55 Ole Miss, the team U of L plays at 9 p.m. Tuesday in the KFC Yum! Center but behind No. 4 Duke, the team that comes in Sunday night.

If this were mid-March, instead of the second day of December, Kelsey's team would be safely in the NCAA Tournament field, ahead of Memphis, Michigan, Oklahoma (the team that beat you in The Bahamas) and UConn (the two-time defending national champions) in the NET formula.

But there is no time to savor a second of that. Not at all.

Because Kelsey's most talented frontcourt player, Kasean Pryor, is finished for the season with a torn ACL, starting forward Aboubacar Traore will likely miss four more weeks healing from a broken arm, and backup point Koren Johnson has an appointment with another specialist to examine his injured shoulder.

"I'm not asking anybody to feel sorry for us," Kelsey said.

"I told the guys yesterday, outside your circle and those people close to you, like coach (Skip) Prosser, used to say, 'Half the world could care less about your problems, and the other half are glad you have them.'

"So we're not asking anybody to stinking feel sorry for us. We'll have two great days of preparation. Like I said, we're excited about the opportunity to compete tomorrow night."

Pryor has been Louisville's third-leading scorer (12.0 points per game) and second-leading rebounder (6.1). He also ranked second in steals and third in assists. He led the team in getting to the foul line and making free throws, going 29-33 (87.9%).

It's a significant hit to what Kelsey is trying to achieve with this team because Pryor is a 6-foot-10-inch forward who can play on the perimeter or on the block. His free throw total reflects his willingness and success at attacking the basket.

Without him, the Cards are likely to go with Noah Waterman and James Scott across the front with Chucky Hepburn, Terrance Edwards Jr. and J'Vonne Hadley around them.

Pryor averaged 23 minutes a game. Those minutes are likely to go to Scott, Waterman, freshman Khani Rooths, Frank Anselem-Ibe and others.

"Yeah, I mean, we're in the midst of kind of figuring that out right now," Kelsey said.

"Obviously, what we feared about Kasean came true, came to fruition, and that's just kind of the nature of the beast. That's sports. That's life.

"It changes the complexion of our team. And, obviously, having a couple other guys out, like, (Traore and Johnson), it's some things that we have to adjust to quickly, because we have a very, very good, physical, tough, well-coached team coming in tomorrow.

"That's one of the great things about sports and adversity. It's a microcosm for life. And our guys have an unbelievable mindset as we attack these two days, coming off, three really tough games down in The Bahamas.

"So you know, a big part of the last 24-48 hours is having our guys just freshen their minds and bodies and recover physically, and, at the same time, pour ourselves into preparation for the Ole Miss game.

"We have a next man up mentality, and that's not just let's use Frank and Khani as an example, who haven't played as many minutes. Obviously, they're going to have to step up. But it's all the way down our roster, right?

"Everybody's going to have to have that next-man-up, step-up mentality in terms of changing their role to a certain extent, increasing their role to a certain extent."

Ken Pomeroy's analytics formula favors Louisville by four points against the Rebels but the formula assumes that Pryor is available.

Ole Miss is 6-1 but the Rebels have played only a pair of top-100 opponents. They won an overtime game against Brigham Young, 96-85, but they lost to Purdue, 80-78, last week in San Diego.

Strangely, this Chris Beard team has better analytics on offense (No. 22 in offensive efficiency) than defense (No. 87).

The game is part of the Atlantic Coast Conference-Southeastern Conference Challenge and would be a solid credit to put in the Cards' NCAA Tournament resume.

"I know we'll respond the right way and I'm excited about seeing us compete tomorrow at what is it, 9 o'clock?" Kelsey asked.

Nine o'clock.

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