Louisville basketball mailbag: For Pat Kelsey, what are reasonable expectations in Year 1?

The first look at Pat Kelsey 's inaugural Louisville men's basketball roster will be here before you know it.

U of L departs July 28 for a two-game exhibition tour of the Bahamas . It will play at 7 p.m. July 30, against a team from the Caribbean island, and at noon Aug. 1, against the University of Calgary, as part of the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League in Nassau. And, yes, you'll be able to watch for free via livestreams from the 502 Circle collective's new media arm.

Just don't go into the games expecting to see a finished product.

Kelsey and his staff had to start from scratch after every scholarship player from former coach Kenny Payne 's final Cardinals team hit the NCAA transfer portal in the wake of his ouster. They reloaded with a dozen Division I veterans and one incoming freshman, but it'll take time for the group to jell — hence: a foreign tour.

Kelsey believes it'll be "a great head start" for the 2024-25 season; which begins Nov. 4 against Morehead State at the KFC Yum! Center . Will we look back at it as the first step on a storied program's journey back to national prominence? It'll be a while before we can answer that question.

And with that, let's get into the first edition of The Courier Journal's Louisville men's basketball mailbag:

What are reasonable expectations for Year 1 under Pat Kelsey? — Ethan Moore

This is hard to answer before seeing Kelsey's overhauled roster in action; and the bar is as low as it can get after Louisville won 12 games across Payne's two seasons.

But, on paper, Kelsey and his staff constructed a team that should be in the NCAA Tournament conversation.

Eleven of Louisville's 13 scholarship players have reached March Madness at one point or another during their careers. Some had roles bigger than others in getting their former teams there, but they are an experienced bunch that appears to have bought into Kelsey's mantra of, "The standard is the standard."

Historically, the Cards' standard has been at least earning an invite to the Big Dance. And remember: Eight players on this year's team are entering their final season of eligibility. They want to go out on the highest note possible.

"You kind of get this vibe that everybody's in it to win," Reyne Smith told reporters in June.

Fellow senior guard Chucky Hepburn went even further, saying, "We've got goals of getting a national championship (and an) ACC championship."

I wouldn't recommend setting expectations based off Hepburn's aspirations for Year 1; but, if you want to aim for ending an NCAA Tournament drought dating back to 2019, go for it.

What is your primary focus on the Bahamas trip? — Jeff Byrne

Before diving into this one, I should probably let you all know I'm unfortunately not going to the Bahamas and will cover the games from home.

On Tuesday, I had a piece published looking at five storylines for the exhibitions . I think the first of those is what I'll be focusing on most. It's, "How do the pieces fit together?"

We can learn a lot, through film and advanced analytics, about what the members of the 2024-25 team brought with them in their bags of tricks to campus. We know Kelsey prefers for his guys to play fast, prioritize 3-pointers and shots at the rim, pressure the ball in half-court man and rebound like hell at both ends. He and his staff are upfront about recruiting those who best fit their scheme.

Ideally, after 10 practices akin to what they will run during the season, there's some level of cohesion and flashes of potential. But, as Kelsey noted in June, "there's a rapport that has to be built over time on the floor."

We'll get to see that process in real time next week; and that, to me, will be the most interesting aspect of the Caribbean excursion. So many new faces. So many lineup combinations. Throw it all at me.

In your estimation, has the transfer portal been good or bad to the Cards' basketball program? — Ed Helinski

Ask me again this time next year!

Louisville has reached the NCAA Tournament only once during the portal era, and that happened five months after it launched. Granted, the 2019-20 team would have earned a bid had COVID-19 not canceled everything in its path; but, unless you feel a strong attachment to players such as Carlik Jones , I think the answer is bad.

Failing to win the portal doomed Payne's tenure, starting with the departure of Dre Davis to Seton Hall not long after he was hired. He didn't bring in enough talent to turn things around quickly at his alma mater; and those who joined him here for the Cards' two worst seasons in modern history are now suiting up for other programs.

How Kelsey fares this season — and what the roster looks like heading into Year 2 of his tenure — could change my tone in a hurry, though.

Should our expectation for (Kelsey's tenure) be that we are rebuilding the core of the roster with a crop of seniors/super seniors every year? — Charley Nold

Seemingly every time Kelsey has been asked about his recruiting strategy since being hired, he's stressed the need for "balance" between scouring the high school ranks and hitting the transfer portal. Then, he's said something along the lines of, "You have to get old and do your best to stay old."

After he and his staff put together under hectic circumstances a 12-player haul that both On3.com and analytics guru Evan Miyakawa of EvanMiya.com consider among the five best in the country, I think you're going to see them continue to swing big with transfers. They've proven capable of competing with anyone on that front and, if things get rolling on the court, should only see their resources grow from a name, image and likeness standpoint.

But I also think this year's one-member freshman class ( Khani Rooths ) will be an oddity, especially considering the last batch of players granted additional eligibility due to COVID-19 are on the way out. Kelsey and his staff have already been quite active in courting some of the top prospects in the 2025 cycle and beyond; and it's in every program's best interest to have a couple of high schoolers locked down before the portal opens.

What are Pat Kelsey and the team doing to maintain relationships with the alumni who got us to where we had been? — Paula Staples

Well, for starters, Kelsey made it a point to say during his introductory news conference that Payne is "welcome back here just like everybody else."

I haven't surveyed former players from the 1980s who perhaps felt slighted by their teammate's firing lately; but something Lancaster Gordon told my colleague C.L. Brown the day Kelsey was introduced as Payne's successor has been a theme I've picked up on over the past couple of months in observing interactions between guys from throughout the program's history.

"We have to go move forward," he said.

I saw Gordon's sentiment on display as recent as Monday, when Kelsey sat next to Darrell Griffith and Donovan Mitchell during The Ville's second-round win in The Basketball Tournament at Freedom Hall. During the buildup to the tournament, he allowed the group of mostly ex-Cards to practice at the Planet Fitness Kueber Center; and its head coach, former Payne staffer Reece Gaines , has publicly wished the new regime well.

Hiring Peyton Siva to serve as director of player development and alumni relations was a smart move, too. Siva recently went out to Las Vegas during the NBA summer league and connected with Gorgui Dieng , who now works in the San Antonio Spurs' front office. A week or so later, Dieng visited town to attend The Ville's first-round win over UKnighted .

And finally: After Monday's victory, when asked what he hopes the members of Kelsey's inaugural roster take away from seeing former U of L greats running the court in TBT, David Johnson said, "We're a phone call away."

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 mailbag: For Pat Kelsey, what are reasonable expectations in Year 1?