CRAWFORD | Louisville Live, arena version, delivers fireworks, fun and future stars

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Live, the semi-annual tipoff for the University of Louisville men’s and women’s basketball programs, got off the road and brought the show home to the KFC Yum! Center on Friday night.

The idea around the event was never to be bigger. The vision was to be unique, something different, smaller in scale but perhaps more striking visually.

So a more traditional setting did not necessarily make that job easy. There were fewer students and more curious fans – but also more paying fans, and perhaps more paying fans than paid to get into most men’s home games last season.

A crowd of 8,000-10,000 watched Jeff Walz’s new-look women’s team and Pat Kelsey’s entirely new men’s basketball team take the court to pyrotechnics, a large video wall in the south end zone and more dramatic lighting around the arena.

But they heard less from the coaches. Walz and Kelsey spoke for just a few minutes each. And certainly found themselves scrambling to put faces with names.

What did they learn through the glitzy player intros, some co-ed three-on-three games (featuring alumni with current players) and the usual three-point and slam-dunk contests?

Not a great deal, but it will have to do. The school will not hold red-white scrimmages – though the men’s first exhibition game is two weeks from Monday back in the arena.

“The revi-Ville is real!” Kelsey shouted to fans after being introduced. “. . . This team is going to make you proud.”

Players took it all in. The women’s team came onto the court dancing and playing to the crowd. The men’s team, largely, just took the court – some with jerseys turned backwards, a new twist to playing for the name on the front of the jersey.

But this was a night for fun.

Rayne Smith won the three-point contest.

And the slam-dunk contest actually featured made dunks – which was a departure from the last time this event was held, and Kenny Payne’s first Louisville team struggled to throw down anything of substance in what could now be said was a harbinger of things to come.

Freshman Khani Rooths won the dunk contest, But there was some history. Louisville women's freshman Anaya Hardy became the first woman to participate in the dunk contest, jumping into the event late with an attempt that was just short. It may not be long it isn't, however.

I saw former Cardinal Perrin Johnson in the alumni section during the night. He said he’d been to practice and liked what he saw from Kelsey.

“This guy gets it,” he said, and added he was impressed with the way Kelsey interacted with players.

The night’s biggest win – no visible injuries. Kelsey, who sat on the sidelines watching, can breathe easy.

There were some high-profile recruits in the house (the school asked media outlets not to report or publish photograph them, in accordance with NCAA rules), but suffice it to say that the biggest names are legitimate big names, one a Louisville resident, one from Louisville.

These big events, of course, are not the recruiting weapons they used to be. But they can’t hurt.

On this night, it was about getting fans back into the arena, and giving them a glimpse of their teams. They got their glimpse. They’ll have to save the getting-to-know-you stuff for later.

The event lacked some of the edge it has had in past years, and dare I say a bit of the energy. But it packed a bigger crowd, and more of a fan base hungry for more.

IMAGES | Louisville Live 2024 lights up the KFC Yum! Center

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