Creating Different Lineups for the 2024–2025 Louisville Men’s Basketball Team

Under head coach Pat Kelsey, the Cardinals may start the season with a variety of lineups.
LOUISVILLE, KY: The inaugural roster of the Louisville men’s basketball team under new head coach Pat Kelsey is now set, albeit college basketball won’t start for another five and a half months.

Following the dismissal of former head coach Kenny Payne, all 12 scholarship players on the 2023–24 roster chose to use the transfer portal, and Kelsey and his staff got right to work. The Cardinals have filled all 13 available scholarships, with 12 going to transfers and one to a high school talent, almost two months after he was hired on March 28.

Under Kelsey, the Louisvile roster seems to have the potential to be competitive in year one. Louisville boasts the best transfer portal class in all of college basketball, according to On3’s team transfer portal rankings, which account for both in- and out-of-state transfers. In the post-spring ACC Power Rankings published by 247Sports, the Cardinals were ranked No. 4.

Related: Louisville Head Coach Pat Kelsey Is “Thrilled” With First-Year Roster

You can put together a variety of lineups that play to different strengths on the roster with the amount of quality players Louisville is coming in. Here are our projections for several lineups that the Cardinals could use in the 2024–25 season, starting with *the* starting five:

First Five
Hepburn Chucky
Hadley J’Vonne
Edwards, Terrence Jr.
Waterman, Noah
Pryor Kasean
Dissection: Pat Kelsey could have a lot of options when it comes to their opening lineup for the season because the team is so productive and flexible overall. Nevertheless, it appears that this one makes the most sense.

Since Hepburn and Koren Johnson are the only point guards on the team, you won’t have a backup this season if you start both at the same time. Hepburn is a multi-year starter, so he is automatically selected.

Given that he won Sun Belt Player of the Year, Edwards is undoubtedly the team’s best player right now, therefore starting him is a given. He may be this team’s main player because he is the epitome of a playmaker.

Given that Hadley plays bigger than a guard overall and is a talented shooter, you may use him at the two or three position.

Sure, both Waterman and Pryor are stretch fours in theory. However, throughout their careers, both have been extraordinarily productive and are better fits for the system than conventional big men who drop to the basket.

Replicas
Johnson, Koren
Smith Reyne
Traore Aboubacar Khani Rooths
Anselem-Ibe, Frank; James Scott
Dissection: Regarding backup lineups, Louisville might be able to field one that is quite strong.

Given that he won the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year award the previous season, Johnson should have no trouble earning a spot in the starting lineup. However, he will probably open the season on the bench in order to have a primary ball handler on the floor at all times.

Smith will probably see a lot of run support from opponents that often allow the three-ball. He’s one of the top shooters in college basketball, therefore lineups will always include him.

Given that he is small for his play style and is not at all a shooter, Traore might not be the best fit for the current system. But because of his guts and hustle alone, he also has an opportunity to succeed in Kelsey’s fast-paced system.

Because of his adaptability, Rooths has a very high ceiling in college. He is a hybrid player who can play both stretch four and slashing wing extremely well.

The true center position is definitely up for debate. Both Scott and Anselem-Ibe are excellent rim protectors; Anselem-Ibe does have some ACC experience, and the coaches believes Scott has NBA potential.

Heavy on Defense
Hepburn Chucky
Hadley J’Vonne Abubacar Traore Pryor, Kasean
James Scott
Dissection: Granted, teams under Kelsey’s leadership haven’t exactly been recognized for their skill at defense, but he did add a number of transfers who have a lot of playmaking ability on that end of the court. To what extent? View below:

Hepburn was selected to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team and his 2.1 thefts per game placed him 37th nationally.
Among the 12 transfer newbies, Hadley’s 3.8 D-PORPAGATU (Bart Torvik’s defensive efficiency metric) ranks second nationally (Hepburn’s 3.9 was 71st).
With a steal percentage of 2.5 and a block percentage of 5.2, Traore was the only player in D1 under six feet six.
Pryor, who stands six feet ten inches or more tall, is one of four players in Division 1 with a 3.0 block percentage and a 2.6 steal %.
With 3.2 blocks per 40 minutes, Scott’s block percentage of 8.4 placed him 58th nationally among players who contributed at least 30% of their team’s minutes.
There are also additional players on the team that are strong defensive players. But for the time being, Louisville’s best chance of earning a stop comes from this group of five.

Shooting from three points
Hepburn Chucky
Smith Reyne
Edwards, Terrence Jr.
Hadley J’Vonne
Waterman, Noah
Dissection: This club has extremely few players that *can’t* make three-pointers. In reality, at their various former institutions last season, the 12 transfer pledges averaged 36.1 percent from three-point range. However, this bunch is the greatest of the best.

Hepburn shot a scorching 45.8 percent the season prior, despite shooting just 32.3 percent from beyond the arc the previous season.
In 2023–24, Smith made 39.5 percent of his shots and was seventh in the country with 112.
Edwards too had a “down” three-shooting season, finishing at 34.3 percent; but, in 2022–2023 he was 45.8 percent.
Hadley sank 41.7% of the 48 attempts he made in total last year.
In the previous season, Waterman shot 37.0 percent from outside the arc, which is 38.9 percent of his career total.
Tiny Ball
Hepburn Chucky
Johnson, Koren
Aboubacar, Terrence Edwards Jr. Khani Traore Rooths
Dissection: This upcoming season, Louisville will play a variety of teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cardinals’ “small ball” lineup is more than capable if they choose to play small in order to take advantage of mismatches.

It wouldn’t be ideal to have Johnson and Hepburn on the floor, as was previously mentioned. However, Louisville is more than capable of doing it if the matchup demands it. Johnson is more of a combo player who can play off the ball, whereas Hepburn is a proven point guard.

While both Edwards and Hadley are 6 feet 6 inches tall, Edwards weighs 15 pounds less. Even though both players had very successful seasons last year, Edwards is a lock to start at three in a small ball lineup because he is Louisville’s most likely focal point.

“Small ball four” is the ideal term to characterize Traore’s style. Even though he is only 6-foot-5, he has a lot of athleticism and aggression around the hoop. A small ball lineup would suit him well.

In the interest of being “small,” Rooths receives the nod over Pryor, even though starting him in this lineup would make some sense given his ability to handle the ball well for a large man.

Guard-Heavy
Hepburn Chucky
Johnson, Koren
Smith Reyne
Edwards, Terrence Jr.
Hadley J’Vonne
Dissection: You do realize that there can never be too many ball handlers? This is the lineup Louisville should use if they really wanted to go toward a small ball team and play a lot of guards. Here are the five scholarship players from Louisville; notice that “guard” is included somewhere in the list of positions. Although Edwards is a guard/forward in theory, Hadley is the tallest “guard” on the team.

Tall Ball
Aboubacar, Terrence Edwards Jr. Pakistani Rooths Traore
Noah Waterman/Kasean Pryor
James Scott
Dissection: Conversely, an abundance of teams in the ACC possess an abundance of length and size in general. Louisville, fortunately, has the pieces to counter that.

Scott offers the greatest solution at the true center. He is by far the finest rim protector and has NBA potential written all over him, as was already mentioned.

It all basically depends on what kind of tall ball lineup you would like to use at the four. Here, Pryor is the man to turn to if you want defense. It’s probably wiser to go with Waterman if you want a three-point threat.

Then you have Rooths and Traore on the wing. Given that Traore is a superior ball handler in this scenario, Rooths would probably be at the three. In addition, Rooths is far more adaptable.

Edwards is most likely your best option for an on-ball handler in a squad like this one. In addition to being a fantastic scorer, he was also adept at spotting teammates who were open.

*Amazing* Tall Ball
Aboubacar Traore Pryor, Kasean
Waterman, Noah
Anselem-Ibe, Frank
James Scott
Dissection: Do you want to act strangely? Now let’s go strange. All of the players in this lineup are six feet ten inches or taller. Here, not a single point in the paint is permitted.

Naturally, someone has to pick up the ball. I would start Traore in this entirely fictitious team since he has the game of a taller player and really contributed 4.5 assists per game last season.