Louisville Basketball: Reyne Smith, James Scott, follow Pat Kelsey to the Cardinals

The Cardinals completed another basketball season, but yet again, they were at the bottom of the ACC conference. Louisville suffered a 3-17 record against their ACC foes, unable to ever find any success amidst the poor outcome. However, with the new hiring of former College of Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey, things are projected to do much better.

Coach Kelsey, from Cincinnati, Ohio, led the Cougars to two NCAA Tournament appearances, finishing with records of 31-4 (2023) and 27-8 (2024). He made a huge improvement on the sidelines, beginning his career at CofC with a record of 17–15.

Now, a new chapter in his life as a head coach has arrived and takes place in arguably the best conference in all of college basketball—the ACC. The Atlantic Coast Conference in this current big dance saw four different teams reach the Sweet 16 in North Carolina: Clemson, NC State, and Duke. Three of the four eventually advanced to the Elite 8 (Clemson, NC State, and Duke).

If you can't call that competitive, then I don't know what it is.

The likes of Cougars leading scorer Reyne Smith who made his commitment on March 27th, a rising senior, completed this season scoring 13 points, grabbing two rebounds, and two assists on the season. Including an overall 41 percent from the field shooting and 39 percent from behind the arc.

Smith led Coach Kelsey's squad in points as forward Ante Brzovic found himself behind the guard with an average of 12 points per game.

The Australian native is known to be an absolute threat from downtown. Converting a season-high of 10 threes out of 15 attempts against Campbell this past February 29th. His knack for being unafraid to shoot is apparent considering his 20 attempts from three against the Saint Joseph's Hawks on December 21st.

Alongside Smith will be James Scott, making his decision on March 31st, a rising sophomore out of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Scott played in a total of 35 games, racking up 16 minutes per game. In terms of scoring, he put up outputs of five points, three rebounds, and one assist.

Scott dropped two back-to-back 14-point outings against The Citadel and Coastal Carolina. A high-flyer around the rim who loves to catch lobs in traffic, plus a shot-blocker on the other end of the court leading the Cougars with 1.3 blocks per game.

Smith and Scott look to help create a new era of basketball with their coach, just at a different university.