LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former College of Charleston star Dalton Bolon could tell you about going from being a Division II standout at West Liberty to an All-Conference player in the Colonial Athletic Association under Pat Kelsey.
He could tell you about Kelsey sticking with him after a season-ending injury in 2021.
He could tell you about winning a conference championship with him or going to the NCAA Tournament.
He will tell you his former coach, the one set to be tasked with reviving Louisville men's hoops, is capable of doing that for a traditionally powerful program. But he wants to tell you Kelsey occasionally babysits his five-month-old son.
"This dude is such a good human being," Bolon said. "I can call him up and say, 'Hey, I got to go to the store for an hour. Can you take my son?' And he does stuff like that.
"I've been out of the program for a while. And this dude treats me like I'm the star player that's about to go to the draft as a lottery pick. He still treats me like that, even though arguably, I don't really bring anything to his program anymore. You know what I mean? So, the way he treats people that are involved in the program, that's how he's going to make his players better is they're going to want to get better for him. They're not going to want to get better for themselves, which they will. But they're also going to want to get better for Coach Kelsey."
The University of Louisville is banking on it, as it is expected to officially confirm Kelsey as its new head men's basketball coach Thursday afternoon. Kelsey comes to the Cards after taking Charleston to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. The Cougars had participated in March Madness just once over the previous 22 seasons.
"He's just a master at building a culture," Bolon said. "His ability to get people to buy into winning is what makes him special."
Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey looks on during an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament against Stony Brook, Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Bolon saw it firsthand while helping Kelsey lead Charleston during a historic 2022-23 season. The Cougars won 31 games, a record for the program in its Division I era, taking the CAA regular season and conference tournament titles before losing to eventual national runner-up San Diego State by six in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After going 17-15 in his first season at Charleston, Kelsey went 58-12 over the last two years.
What was Kelsey's secret to that success? Bolon thinks you will notice it quickly.
"It's his energy, man," Bolon said. "The saying is, 'He makes coffee nervous.' This dude, every day he came and he brought it. One thing that makes him so special is he expects a high standard of everybody that's involved in the program. And one thing that he always incorporated was '25 Strong.'
"That was from our players to our walk-ons to our donors to our athletic trainers. Everybody that was involved in the program, he held them to a high standard because he held himself to that standard. And so, his ability to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk... everything he says, everything he does, he goes 110% to make sure that he's living up to the standard that he wants. It makes you want to live up to that standard."
The former Cougar guard led the 2022-2023 team in scoring, averaging 12.2 points per game for a group that played nine players an average of at least 15 minutes per contest. Kelsey's teams have become known for scoring and attempting many threes, as made evident this past season by the program's ranking in the top 30 nationally in scoring and top five in three-point attempts.
Dalton Bolon was a walk-on D-II player before he joined @patkelsey's @CofCBasketball team."The way that he goes about his business is always going to be with that chip on his shoulder, to prove that he belongs." pic.twitter.com/R4aAAJfCSa
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 25, 2023
Between Winthrop and Charleston, his teams ranked in the top 50 in adjusted tempo in Ken Pomeroy's advanced metrics for eight straight seasons, meaning they played fast. The latest campaign did not rank in the top 50 because the Cougars ranked 51st.
Defensively, their highest KenPom defensive ranking was just 67th. They ranked in the bottom four of the Colonial Athletic Association in scoring defense in two of the past three years. But Bolon does not just see Kelsey's system as one that benefits offense.
"It's a good system, you have a lot of people that are going to be involved," Bolon said. "And honestly, it's a very defensively minded system. I know a lot of people talk about shooting the three and all this stuff. It's a great recruiting tactic because a lot of people like to shoot threes and a lot of people like to score a lot of points. But ultimately, he's a defensive-minded first coach."
Bolon believes the only thing that could match or exceed Kelsey's infectious energy is the coach's attention to detail. He remembers Kelsey going to the ground to point to the exact spot on the floor to show someone where they needed to be, pinching his fingers to illustrate the detail.
"This dude dives deep into a lot of things, but the top things are effort and defense," Bolon said. "So offensively, you do get to play with a lot of freedom. You do get to do a lot of things that maybe in other places, you won't be able to do. So, playing for him was always fun because as long as you gave max effort, focused and did the things that you were asked to do, you did have a lot of freedom."
Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey calls out instructions during the first half of a first-round college basketball game against San Diego State in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 16, 2023, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Some around Louisville will be skeptical of a guy who has never been a head coach in a power conference. While Kelsey has also been to four NCAA Tournaments, he has never won an NCAA Tournament game.
Bolon does not worry about all of that. He thinks Kelsey will do exactly what he did at Winthrop and Charleston. And he wants Louisville fans to know they can start believing early.
"Wait until you hear him talk and wait until you meet him," Bolon said. "You'll have everybody within a year getting excited about Louisville basketball. It's not just an opinion. But that's a fact.
"He's the greatest salesman I've ever met in my entire life and I say that in the best way possible. He gets people to buy in, and I'm telling you, that is his greatest attribute. It is because of who he is and how passionate he is."
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