Surprising 8 seed Louisville set for new chapter, studies up for Creighton

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- It will be a short trip across the Bluegrass State for eighth-seeded Louisville when it looks to continue a storybook revival season against ninth-seeded Creighton on Thursday in a South Region first-round contest.

The Cardinals (27-7) are in the midst of one of the biggest turnarounds in recent college basketball history. Under first-year coach Pat Kelsey, Louisville improved from 4-28 in 2023 and 8-24 in 2024 to a 27-win team that reached the ACC tournament final before falling to Duke.

The Bluejays (24-10) also made their conference tournament final, losing to St. John's in the Big East championship game on Saturday in New York.

Kelsey is trying to return Louisville to national prominence after titles in 1980 and 1986 and a vacated title in 2013.

After the Cardinals eliminated from the ACC tournament a year earlier, Louisville athletic director Josh Heird hired Kelsey from Charleston to take over the program from Kenny Payne.

"It's been a whirlwind of a year," Kelsey said. "It's coming up on 12 months since Josh Heird made that call to me and offered me the job to be the head coach at the University of Louisville. And when I say those words, I still can't believe it's real sometimes, and I get goosebumps on my arm."

The Cardinals had win streaks of 10 and 11 games in their final 23 games to finish one game behind No. 1 Duke in the ACC standings.

"When we accomplish things like this and have an opportunity to play for an ACC championship, it kind of makes you feel like you're doing your part, and you're earning your keep," Kelsey said.

The Cardinals are led by leading scorer Terrence Edwards Jr., averaging 16.6 points a game. J'Vonne Hadley is averaging 7.3 rebounds a game while Chucky Hepburn averages 5.8 assists per game.

The Bluejays are led by four-time Big East defensive player of the year Ryan Kalkbrenner, averaging 19.4 points and 8.8 rebounds a game. Point guard Steven Ashworth runs the offense, averaging 6.8 assists per game.

The battle between Hepburn and Ashworth figures to be one of the more intriguing battles of this first-round matchup.

For head coach Greg McDermott, he leads his veteran group into its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

"You have to celebrate when it happens. It's hard. It's been certainly an uphill climb for us with the way we started the season at 7-5 to get to this point," McDermott said. "So, really thrilled about the opportunity to continue to coach these guys this week. Obviously, we drew a very difficult opponent in Louisville, 18-2 in the ACC is incredible."

McDermott said he was somewhat surprised that both his team and Louisville did not receive better seeds and draws for a first-round matchup.

"My guess is they feel like they're a little bit overseeded compared to where I thought they would probably be," McDermott added. "And they probably think that maybe we're a little bit better than a nine seed, as well."

--Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media