Speaker 1: Joining us now. Coach Kelsey here at acc tip off. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just grabbed the headset.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 1: We're good to go. It's up, coach. How we doing Hey, Nick,
Speaker 1: how are you, buddy? I'm doing well, man. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you making time for us. And then you've got a
Speaker 1: lot of interviews to be doing today. I'll ask just
Speaker 1: a few of them. Yeah, I mean it's NonStop. You
Speaker 1: go straight from live television to hear Do you do
Speaker 1: you enjoy this as a coach or does it seem
Speaker 1: like you know work. I'm sure what you do every
Speaker 1: days a lot of work, but it's probably something you love.
Speaker 1: Is this something you love? You can be honest, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I actually do.
Speaker 1: Okay, I mean, obviously I believe you at.
Speaker 2: This point of our season, like where we're at, like
Speaker 2: my mind is at the keeper center, My mind is
Speaker 2: on recruiting, my mind. You know, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: things going on so well, Obviously, when you prioritize as
Speaker 2: a coach, this might not be the number one thing
Speaker 2: that I would have on my list for today, But
Speaker 2: doing these interviews, selling our program, promoting Louisville basketball, I
Speaker 2: enjoy those things. Well. Some coaches may say it's a
Speaker 2: little bit of a necessary evil. I don't feel that way,
Speaker 2: whether it's being on campus and throwing T shirts out
Speaker 2: to students, or doing interviews or speaking engagements. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm a human being and I only have so much
Speaker 2: bandwidth and can't buy, locate and be two places at once.
Speaker 2: But it is aspects of the job that I do enjoy.
Speaker 1: Well, it's good that you enjoy because it's very important.
Speaker 1: I mean, those things definitely matter your first year in
Speaker 1: the ACC. I know you guys have had spring meetings
Speaker 1: and whatnot. How familiar are you with the coaches in
Speaker 1: this league? I know the coaching world is kind of
Speaker 1: like a fraternity. Are you familiar with a lot of
Speaker 1: these guys everybody?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And I think we have a group of coaches
Speaker 2: that are as good or better than any conference in
Speaker 2: the country. I have the utmost respect for the level
Speaker 2: of programs and coaching in the ACC.
Speaker 1: Now, before we get to your personnel this year, let's
Speaker 1: talk about this schedule really challenging in the non conference
Speaker 1: slate and of course a lot of really tough ACC games.
Speaker 1: As a coach, are you someone that wants to have
Speaker 1: a challenging non conference schedule every year? Regardless of your personnel.
Speaker 1: Are you somebody that's more so going to, you know,
Speaker 1: schedule based on what you have coming back. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's tough to know what your roster's going to look
Speaker 1: like this day and age. But when you see this
Speaker 1: non conference schedule, I mean a lot of big opportunities,
Speaker 1: but certainly challenging.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think when it all was said and done
Speaker 2: and it came out, you looked at it and its totality,
Speaker 2: it was like, holy cow.
Speaker 1: One of the toughest I've seen at Louisville maybe ever
Speaker 1: non conference.
Speaker 2: It's probably the toughest non conference schedule in the country
Speaker 2: for sure. At this point. It's the advantage of no choice,
Speaker 2: is what I like to say, is the way to
Speaker 2: look at it. Yeah, And the silver lining would be,
Speaker 2: you know, obviously we're going to be battle tested by
Speaker 2: the time we get to the guts of the ACC
Speaker 2: season like no other program there sure isn't going to
Speaker 2: have gonna be any questions about any quad one type
Speaker 2: games or anything like that like there is with some
Speaker 2: teams when it comes to their resume with the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 2: But I think it's obviously very challenging our fan base
Speaker 2: is obviously excited about it, and all we can do
Speaker 2: anything about is tomorrow's practice at three pm. So can't
Speaker 2: worry about the game on January something or something or
Speaker 2: November something. It's just let's just get better tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Coach bet Kelsey's our guest joining us here live at
Speaker 1: the ACC basketball tip off here in Charlotte. Obviously a
Speaker 1: brand new roster for you, and you talked about this
Speaker 1: a few times since you got to Louisville that at
Speaker 1: Charleston you guys were already having to adjust to the
Speaker 1: new world of losing players to the portal and having
Speaker 1: to go out and fill those spots. Very unique situation
Speaker 1: here where you have really almost an entirely new roster.
Speaker 1: I know you brought some guys with you from Charleston,
Speaker 1: but how has practice men? I know you guys have
Speaker 1: been working out for quite some time, but how is
Speaker 1: it as a coach to know that the majority of
Speaker 1: the guys you're going to be utilizing. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: sure you're acclimated at this point, but these are guys
Speaker 1: you've never coached before.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like you said, it's been a while now
Speaker 2: June fifth and now.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't feel new anymore, no good.
Speaker 2: And you know, I really felt from when we first
Speaker 2: started our workouts in early June, it was a connected group.
Speaker 2: It was a group that picked stuff up very quickly,
Speaker 2: a group that connected off the floor very quickly. So
Speaker 2: and it's a veteran group, right, They've logged a ton
Speaker 2: of minutes, They've had a lot of success, They've won
Speaker 2: a lot of games at the Division one level, at
Speaker 2: a high level of Division one, and you know, it
Speaker 2: was an easier kind of process than I thought it
Speaker 2: was going to be for the group to come together.
Speaker 2: The advantage of having the ten additional days of practice
Speaker 2: because of the Bahamas trip was very helpful, which allowed
Speaker 2: us to get in mid season mode. For about ten days.
Speaker 2: We were able to play against another opponent, which was nice,
Speaker 2: even though they weren't the best teams in the world.
Speaker 2: We played against two other teams, so our guys were
Speaker 2: able to kind of feel how it is in the
Speaker 2: game setting. We did some preparation, and then you know,
Speaker 2: the fall practices have been awesome in the last two
Speaker 2: weeks or so since full practices start. I love where
Speaker 2: this team's trending.
Speaker 1: When I look at your personnel and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not in practice every day. I feel like you definitely
Speaker 1: wanted to emphasize shooting, versatility, experience, as you mentioned these
Speaker 1: guys that played a lot of basketball. But what I
Speaker 1: hear more than any anything from anybody who has watched
Speaker 1: you guys play, and even watching you playing the Bahamas,
Speaker 1: is the ability to shoot the ball. You know, you
Speaker 1: got to make shots and games. You guys haven't played
Speaker 1: a game yet. But is it crazy to say this
Speaker 1: could be one of the best shooting teams that you've
Speaker 1: you've coached or the best? I mean, is that a stretch?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I haven't thought of it in that respect.
Speaker 2: You know, I think it's definitely a team that has skill.
Speaker 2: We have a lot of guys on the floor that
Speaker 2: can dribble, pass, and shoot. Whether it's one of the
Speaker 2: best shooting teams I ever coached, I think it's way
Speaker 2: way too early to say. But we have a lot
Speaker 2: of people that a lot of guys that can put
Speaker 2: the ball in the basket.
Speaker 1: Obviously, so from a leadership standpoint, you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of guys on this roster that have been leaders elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Is it is it collective? Are a few guys that
Speaker 1: have kind of emerged.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I've been asked that question about leadership,
Speaker 2: and I really think, you know, it comes from a
Speaker 2: lot of guys in different ways. You know, some guys
Speaker 2: are more vocal, some guys are more lead by example guys.
Speaker 2: But we got a team and a roster full of
Speaker 2: guys that are about the right things. You know, we
Speaker 2: talk about elite results, right, which is what we want
Speaker 2: to do. We want to be the best version of
Speaker 2: ourself that we can be. And I think it starts
Speaker 2: with leadership that drives your culture, that drives your behavior,
Speaker 2: and that gets your results. And if it's backwards, you
Speaker 2: got bad leadership, then you're gonna have bad culture, You're
Speaker 2: gonna have bad behavior, and you're gonna get bad results.
Speaker 2: So they've done nothing but prove to me that they're
Speaker 2: the guys that I thought they were. We recruited them
Speaker 2: by how they've gone about their business. My message resonates
Speaker 2: in the locker room and is echoed by our guys,
Speaker 2: which you know, you got great leadership when guys are
Speaker 2: selling your message when they're not around you.
Speaker 1: What's it like to see a group of mostly veterans
Speaker 1: guys who played a lot of college basketball in one freshman.
Speaker 1: I know you talked about Canai and they're in the
Speaker 1: press conference. That's a very unusual situation to see that.
Speaker 1: But from what I can gather, it seems like he
Speaker 1: really embraces that as a young guy who wants to
Speaker 1: compete and get better, and it seems like the older
Speaker 1: guys seem to really really, you know, look after him
Speaker 1: and try to make him better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think like Canai and James, although James sure's
Speaker 2: heck doesn't want to be called a freshman because he's not.
Speaker 2: He's a sophomore, but he was a very very young
Speaker 2: freshman last year. So to quote younger guys on our team,
Speaker 2: and can I and James both have kind of old souls.
Speaker 2: They're they're they're very mature for their grade level or
Speaker 2: their age level. Both are extremely mature in their approach.
Speaker 2: They're both gym guys, they're both high basketball IQ guys.
Speaker 2: They both love to watch film. They ask a lot
Speaker 2: of questions. They're the type of guys you have to
Speaker 2: tell them something once and they got it. I told
Speaker 2: the story and there in the press conference, how can
Speaker 2: I almost got offended early on when I was kind
Speaker 2: of you know, holding his hand and saying, can I
Speaker 2: on this set? You need to come here? And he
Speaker 2: looked at me, He's like, come on, coach, I got it.
Speaker 1: And that's going to make you feel good.
Speaker 2: Right Yeah, yeah, I love that. So you have those
Speaker 2: older veteran guys that really are grizzled veterans, some of
Speaker 2: them are twenty three, twenty four years old, and then
Speaker 2: you have these younger guys that are you know that
Speaker 2: that have those veteran qualities, which is which is a
Speaker 2: blessing for a coach.
Speaker 1: A couple more questions for you head to your next stop.
Speaker 1: I know you've got a lot of just endless interviews
Speaker 1: going on today. We certainly appreciate you making time for us.
Speaker 1: When it comes to recruiting. I know you can't talk
Speaker 1: about specific recruits, but you know you're in a position
Speaker 1: now where you have the ability to use the portal
Speaker 1: to build your roster. But obviously you're always going to
Speaker 1: recruit high school kids. Have you found yourself maybe adjusting
Speaker 1: when you pull the trigger and say, hey, we really
Speaker 1: want to put all of our focus on this this
Speaker 1: incoming freshman because we think he's that special. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe it depends on what the class looks like. But
Speaker 1: now that it's there are two different ways to build
Speaker 1: your roster. It wasn't like that a few years ago
Speaker 1: when you were coaching. How have you maybe made any
Speaker 1: adjustments as a coach when it comes to.
Speaker 2: That, Yeah, you know, I do think like with freshmen,
Speaker 2: like you can really really focus on certain guys and
Speaker 2: go all in. And if for some reason you would
Speaker 2: miss on a certain kid for whatever reason, whether he
Speaker 2: picks another school or he becomes you know, too expensive
Speaker 2: based on kind of like the the you know, his
Speaker 2: nil type stuff, then you know you have that. You
Speaker 2: know you have that safety net by being able to
Speaker 2: go into the portal and you know, add some guys
Speaker 2: with experience and veteran guys that can supplement your roster
Speaker 2: and make you older and more mature and things like
Speaker 2: we have this year. So our staff's killing it. I
Speaker 2: love where we're at from a recruiting standpoint. We're on
Speaker 2: the right guys, and how things fall into place over
Speaker 2: the next several months in terms of the freshmen that
Speaker 2: we're recruiting, will dictate, you know, our approach to the
Speaker 2: portal come April.
Speaker 1: So I got to ask you this, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: you're not going to give us a direct answer, and
Speaker 1: I understand, But when it comes to lineups and whatnot,
Speaker 1: I mean, how many may don't have to give me
Speaker 1: a number, But do you feel like there's you know,
Speaker 1: a variety of different combinations you can put on the floor,
Speaker 1: maybe not to play different styles necessarily, but just you know,
Speaker 1: you've got a roster where I feel like the bulk
Speaker 1: of them in any moment could give you big minutes
Speaker 1: if needed, if the matchup was there, if somebody's out
Speaker 1: or whatnot. I mean, when it comes to personnel, like,
Speaker 1: there's a lot you can do.
Speaker 2: I think, so you know, I mentioned experience, you know,
Speaker 2: and I think versatility. Depth and versatility would be another
Speaker 2: word to describe one of the big strengths of our team.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of different kind of you know,
Speaker 2: lineups that we could put together that bring certain things
Speaker 2: to the table. I feel really, really good going very
Speaker 2: deep into our roster and getting production from from everybody.
Speaker 2: So you know, we're still in that process where over
Speaker 2: these next several weeks, I mean, we still have three
Speaker 2: and a half weeks or so till our first game,
Speaker 2: official game. We have two exhibitions. Obviously, you know roles
Speaker 2: are going to continue to be defined as we go
Speaker 2: through over the next three weeks, and we've always been
Speaker 2: that way. We want practice to be cauldron of competition
Speaker 2: where guys are always pushing each other, and it'll be
Speaker 2: interesting to see where the pieces fall into place three
Speaker 2: and a half weeks from now.
Speaker 1: Well, Coach, I know you've got to run to do
Speaker 1: your next interview. I appreciate you making time for us
Speaker 1: and we'll see you when the season gets roll one.
Speaker 1: Thanks Nick, Thanks Joach.