LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — On Tuesday night, Louisville basketball may produce its first top 10 NBA Draft pick since fax machines were modern technology.
It should be a Red Letter Day. Instead, it feels a little like a missing persons investigation.
Mikel Brown has his suit ready and will be in Brooklyn to shake Adam Silver's hand when his name is called. Half the city would still like to know where he was in March.
This is what makes Louisville such a wonderfully impossible basketball town.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford
For years, Louisville fans missed the days when they had elite talent. Then Louisville got elite talent.
It just never got the payoff that talent promised. A nagging back injury, which kept Brown out of the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, has tarnished his legacy here.
And a city not accustomed to one-and-dones hasn't quite known what to do as Brown has blossomed since his departure, adding weight, adding muscle and climbing into the Top 5 of some draft boards.
He was one of the best freshmen in America here, broke the school's freshman scoring record, made 10 threes in a game and tied the men's single-game scoring record, and led the Cards to a win over rival Kentucky.
But when it mattered most, he was going through walk-throughs, getting up jumpers, but not playing in games.
Naturally, reviews are mixed.
Only in sports can a man become fabulously successful and still leave behind a comment section that looks like a family Thanksgiving dinner.
The funny thing is that everybody is right.
Mikel Brown was terrific. Mikel Brown was important. Mikel Brown helped further Pat Kelsey's Revi-Ville.
And yet, somehow, Louisville fans still feel like he skipped the last chapter.
Pat Kelsey isn't even going to the draft.
"You know, there's, there's only so many spots and so many seats there," Kelsey said.
It may not be anything. But it's also not nothing. You won't be able to look at a cutaway shot without John Calipari edging into it. He turned the draft into a home game.
But Kelsey also sounds like a coach who has already turned the page.
Ask him about a lottery pick and he'll eventually start talking about defensive rotations. On Monday, he called Brown's draft status "a really, really, really big deal." He should know. It is.
Louisville's Mikel Brown gets a message from teammate Ryan Conwell after tying the men's single-game scoring record against N.C. State.
"Although he was only here for one year, that young man is going to be celebrated and remembered and revered around here for a long, long time," Kelsey said. "That night he broke the freshman scoring record, scored 45 points, made 10 threes … that's magic. And that's what that kid has. He's got an 'it' about him. … I'm well aware of how special of a player I coached. I'm more proud of how special of a human being Mikel is."
Louisville waited thirty-six years for a draft night like this. The Yum! Center didn't exist the last time. Denny Crum was walking the sidelines. Rick Pitino was about to take over — at Kentucky.
This should feel cleaner than it does. But sports rarely gives us clean endings.
Instead, it gives us human ones.
Mikel Brown came to Louisville. He helped Louisville matter. He played brilliantly. He got hurt. The season ended too soon. The arguments started.
None of that is logical. None of it is entirely fair. But it is very Louisville.
And maybe that's why this night matters so much.
Louisville waited three decades for a player like this. Tuesday night, they'll finally know where he ended up.
They just still don't know where he was in March.
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