LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- So, the first thing to note about University of Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey is that, in a 27-minute news conference last week, his first regular sit-down with the bulk of the Louisville basketball media since his introductory news conference back in March, I didn't hear the word "fight" one time.
And that's not a trick lead. I didn't hear it two times, either. Or three. In recent years, you got the feeling that there was a quota. If you played a drinking game where you downed a shot every time you heard the word, well, you had a pretty good time. Certainly better than if you watched the games.
But no, I double checked it. I fed the news conference through a transcription service and looked again for the word. Not there. Not a single "f" bomb.
So, I guess the first thing to note here is that the "f" is silent. It's a given. And for Louisville, that would be a good thing.
A search for the word "fight" from a transcription of a recent news conference by Louisville coach Pat Kelsey.
Put another way, asked for a moment in early workouts when he thought the team competed the hardest, Kelsey said, "I won't say pleasantly surprised or pleased with because I expect it. One of the things we hang our hat on is competing, right? And we compete in June. We compete in July. We compete in the preseason. We compete in practice in January and February. So that is always at the center of what we do."
The first rule of fight club is you do not talk about fight club.
Good, we get to move onto other things. And that's what Kelsey's Louisville basketball team will get to do over the next month, with 10 practices set in preparation for a trip to the 2024 Baha Mar Hoops Summer League from July 28 to Aug. 2. The Cardinals will play a couple of exhibition games against international teams to be named later.
Who the teams are doesn't much matter. For Louisville, with 13 new players, a whole new staff and who knows what other new stuff, the value is in the preparation time and in the time on the road and in the time in the hotel and on the beach and, yes, on the court, where they will get valuable experience against each other against outside competition.
"It really allows us to speed up kind of the growth curve of this team, both implementing what we do how we do it, our system, our terminology, teaching guys how we practice," he said. "The philosophy being that, you know, when we get to the end of those 10 practices, we get a great head start, you know? So when we get back together, when it really starts ramping up and counts for real, when practice starts at the end of September and the beginning of October, we can look back to these 10 practices and go, 'Man, you know, we're way farther ahead than we should have been.' So that was the main point of it. ... And the other part of it is just the team building, the team chemistry, the camaraderie, the rapport through getting to spend more time together on the floor."
Now, this next part, you folks need to digest slowly, like someone who has not had a great deal of solid food. I don't want this amount of straight explanation to be too rich.
Asked about his defensive philosophy, Kelsey was straightforward.
"Predominantly, I would say we are 99.9% a half-court, man-to-man team," Kelsey said. "I think it's an interesting dichotomy that we do play fast on the offensive, and there's a lot of possessions in our games. We tilt the floor. But our philosophy (on defense) is more of a half-court, man-to-man team. I compare us schematically a lot to Alabama in that regard. Both have a lot of possessions in their game. They push the ball offensively but hang their hat on the tough tenacious, nasty half-court, man-to-man defense."
Philosophically speaking, there's little ambiguity. Details will be on display later, of course. There's a lot of Chris Mack in what Kelsey's teams do, but his better Charleston teams looked to apply a bit more ball pressure, maybe get a bit more aggressive in gaps. They're not maniacally hunting turnovers but they are looking to be high-energy and definitely look to take offenses out of their comfort zones.
Offensively, Kelsey described a system based on reading and reaction.
"The installation process takes a while, and it evolves throughout the course of the season," Kelsey said. "The guts and the core of what we do and how we play offensively is based on more randomness. We call it 'the beauty's in the randomness,' and our flow and how we play after makes and after misses and after an action breaks down. And there is a method to that madness, as well. But, obviously, your ability to execute set plays and get certain players certain shots in different parts of the floor in different parts of the game is very important. And that's a process that kind of evolves. We've began to introduce some of those things, kind of the shapes we play out in some of our set plays."
One challenge is in taking complicated offensive structures and making them easy to learn, communicate and understand, Kelsey said. He praised his coaching staff, in particular assistant coach Mike Cassidy, for doing a lot of heavy lifting in this regard.
"Mike's really good at this. He he takes the complicated and makes it simple," Kelsey said. "So, in his mind, in my mind, in terms of the offensive coordinator, for instance, it could be complicated in his mind. But the way that maybe you organize or structure or label or name your terminology, it simplifies it for the players. That might not make a lot of sense, but, sometimes, it takes a ton of time, like hours and hours to come up with a method to simplify it for the guys. I think we've done a good job of that over the years. We've started to do some of that the last couple practices. The guys have been great and had fun with it."
Kelsey borrows a phrase from baseball manager Joe Maddon, who talks about his players having "GBT — great baseball talk," in the dugout and around the clubhouse.
"He loves guys talking Xs and Os in the dugout, in the hotels, on the airplanes," Kelsey said. "And we value GBT here — great basketball talk. We have a veteran group that loves to talk hoop."
Now, I know what you're asking. Where's the fight?
I wouldn't worry about it. At long last, it seems, we can move on to other things.
Louisville Basketball Coverage:
- BOZICH | Louisville basketball newcomers here to win now, starting with head start in Bahamas
- Pat Kelsey era of Louisville basketball will begin with Bahamas exhibition tour
- 1-on-1 | Louisville's Pat Kelsey talks players, expectations and his first 70 days on the job
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