'Let's run it back!' | Hadley says he'll stay with Louisville basketball for next season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville forward J'Vonne Hadley says he'll spend his final college season as a Cardinal.

In a social media post titled "Unfinished Business," Hadley sits behind a pair of microphones at a mock news conference and says, "Card Nation, let's run it back."

Hadley expected to have only one season at Louisville when he transferred from Colorado. But when Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia won a temporary injunction granting him an extra year of eligibility after he challenged the NCAA's policy of counting junior college seasons against their NCAA limit, the organization issued a blanket waiver for all athletes.

The waiver granted an additional year of eligibility to former JUCO athletes who had transferred to Division I schools and would have otherwise exhausted their NCAA eligibility after the 2024–25 academic year. This decision was made to address similar situations and prevent further legal disputes.

Hadley's announcement means that he'll spend that additional year in Louisville, instead of elsewhere. His first season here was productive. The 6-6 guard from St. Paul, Minn., started all 35 games for the Cardinals, led the team in rebounding at 7.3 per game and scored 12.2 points per game. He shot 51.8 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three-point range.

He scored 32 points against Clemson in a win on Jan. 7 and pulled down 13 rebounds in two games.

"It's fun to really be able to talk about J'Vonne right now, because he's so darn regimented in his daily process," Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said after Hadley's 32-point performance. "Like, he's 22 years old going on 40. Every day he gets his work in, he eats right, he gets his sleep, he gets his reps in, he's in the training room, he's doing his recovery, takes care of his business in the classroom. He's the type of kid you hope shows up at your door, you know to date your daughter. J'Vonne Hadley is the real deal."

Louisville fans will get to see a good bit more of him.

He'll be an important link from a group that restored Louisville basketball last season, taking the program back to the NCAA Tournament and finishing with a No. 21 ranking in the final Associated Press poll.

ESPN's Way Too Early Top 25 ranks Louisville No. 3 for next season, based on Kelsey's recruiting efforts and assuming that Hadley would be back for one more season.