How will Pat Kelsey adjust scheme to Louisville basketball roster?

De’Shayne Montgomery elevates for a breakaway dunk. Jackson Shelstad feeds Flory Bidunga for a left-handed layup. Alvaro Folgueiras whips the ball from under the basket to a wide-open Adrian Wooley standing behind the 3-point arc. The junior’s shot touches nothing but net.

All of that was packed into the first 16 seconds of a Louisville basketball summer workout highlight video the program shared to X, formerly Twitter, on June 7. To say it got Cardinals fans fired up for Year 3 of the Pat Kelsey era would be an understatement. “Don’t ask me how many times I’ve watched this,” one wrote.

“Not gonna be able to focus all week now,” another added.

That’s what this edition of The Courier Journal’s UofL basketball mailbag is here for — to help keep you occupied as Kelsey & Co. prepare for the Nov. 2 season opener against Chattanooga at the KFC Yum! Center.

We begin our first mailbag since early March by exploring how Louisville’s overhauled roster might lead to a shift in play style. From there, we discuss the red tape surrounding the specifics of how much money each Cards player is earning in 2026-27. Then, we identify some must-win games on UofL’s nonconference schedule.

<

There are bound to be changes. Louisville lost 11 members of last season’s roster and replaced them with nine newcomers who, until this summer, hadn’t shared the court with one another. Kelsey also brought two new associate head coaches into the fold, John Andrzejek and Sean Dixon, with the former being named defensive coordinator.

The thing is: I don’t foresee the Cards’ core principles changing. They’ll just be applied differently.

On offense, Kelsey preaches pushing the tempo and hunting high-value shots. There are capable 3-point threats on this season’s roster, but none have the prerequisites of past marksmen such as Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely. It feels safe to say UofL won’t take more than 52% of its attempts from behind the arc like it did in 2025-26. Instead, look for Shelstad and Wooley to initiate by attacking the rim, around which Bidunga can thrive as both a lob threat and a rebounder. That kind of downhill pressure can also create open looks for guys like Folgueiras and Karter Knox.

In a statement when Bidunga was introduced as a signee, Kelsey said the former Kansas forward has “another level to his game offensively that we’re ready to unlock when he steps on campus.” I’ll be eager to see if that’s the case — and, if so, what that looks like — when November rolls around, because it could dictate how Louisville operates on that end.

Defensively, Andrzejek told Mark Ennis during a June 5 appearance on WLCL 93.9-FM that the Cards will stick with a halfcourt man-to-man scheme. Don’t expect a sudden shift to zone. “It’s not a huge part of what I believe in,” the new coordinator said.

The difference this season? Kelsey has an elite shot blocker in Bidunga — plus 7-foot freshman Obinna Ekezie Jr. and 7-5 senior Gabe Dynes.

“I think we have some really good shot blockers in the program,” Andrzejek told Ennis. “I think the way we guard can be great for those type of guys, especially Flory. We’re in no-middle defense; when we close out on the wing, we want to keep them on the baseline and sort of funnel them into our rim protection (and) make them try to score over those guys.”

<

For what it’s worth, a May 6 report from On3’s Pete Nakos crowned the Cards as one of the country’s “most aggressive spenders” this offseason — with a roster “expected to surpass $20 million.”

But I’ve got some bad news for you: Last March, Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law a bill exempting financial agreements between Kentucky schools and athletes from public records disclosure. That means specifics are hard to come by.

My colleague Payton Titus asked one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Max Wise (R), whether he thought the communities emotionally and financially invested in the success of teams at public schools like Louisville had a right to know how their money is being spent on revenue sharing. He told her, “I do not think so at all.”

Payton also got her hands on a revenue-sharing contract template from Western Kentucky. It has a clause preventing athletes from sharing “in any way, directly or indirectly,” details of the financial agreement to any third party — not including, parents, guardians, attorneys or “other competent representatives.” I assume UofL’s contracts feature similar language.

Why the secrecy? Wise cited competitive advantage as one reason — despite the fact that schools are operating under the same revenue-sharing cap. “Differences in compensation, especially when it’s made public, that can affect team chemistry, team morale, team focus — so many things,” he said. “You could see teams start to crumble.”

I would highly recommend reading Payton’s story about this issue — and anything she writes in general, if you want to stay up to date on the (constantly changing) business side of college sports.

<

I find it difficult to apply the must-win label to any game on Louisville’s schedule at this point in the offseason. With so many high-profile opportunities before ACC play begins, the Cards don’t necessarily have to win one in particular as long as they pick up the slack somewhere else.

That said, UofL finished 2025-26 with a 1-9 record in Quad 1A games, losing both of its nonconference matchups of that variety (at Arkansas, at Tennessee). It would behoove Kelsey to have a better showing against the sport’s upper echelon in Year 3.

If I had to pick a few must-win games, I’d start with Kentucky on Dec. 12 at Rupp Arena. Louisville controlled last season’s showdown at the Yum! Center from start to finish, and the talent evaluators over at 247Sports believe Kelsey’s incoming class is 53 spots better than Mark Pope‘s eight-man haul. If the Cards want to assert themselves as the dominant force in a series they trail 40-18, they need to pick up their first victory in Lexington since 2008. They haven’t won two in a row against the Wildcats since the 2007-08 and 2008-09 campaigns.

I also think UofL needs to pick up at least one win during its first trip to the the Players Era — a 16-team tournament that guarantees three games during Thanksgiving week at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. Kelsey & Co. drew Texas Tech in Round 1 on Nov. 24 and will face either Oregon or St. John’s (and former coach Rick Pitino) in Round 2 on Nov. 26. Other participants include: Alabama, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas State, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, San Diego State, TCU and Tennessee.

That’s stiff competition, but Louisville can’t leave Sin City empty-handed heading into a Dec. 1 date with Texas at the Yum! Center as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. If that happens, the game against the Longhorns will enter must-win territory.

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball, Pat Kelsey roster, schedule 2026-27 questions