Young Harris head coach has sent a stunning and brutal message to Louisville fans..
Louisville will kick off the Pat Kelsey era (or at least the exhibition era) with a preseason tune-up against Young Harris, a Division-II program from Georgia the Cardinals have never faced before.
The matchup came to be because of a relationship between Young Harris head coach Jeremy Currier and two coaches on U of L’s staff. Currier coached at Pfieffer University in North Carolina shortly after Cards’ assistant coach Thomas Carr played and graduated from there. Louisville assistant Brian Kloman and Currier also coached together at Daniel Webster College.
The Mountain Lions spent their first season in the Conference Carolinas a year ago, and had a bit of success. YHC went 17-12 overall, 11-7 in league play, and finished second in the Conference Carolinas’ Southwest Division with a 5-3 record. The 11 conference wins were the most for the program since 2014-15.
Expectations are even higher for the team in 2024-25, as Young Harris returns its entire starting lineup from a season ago.
Junior forward Carl Cleveland led the team in scoring last season at 17.7 ppg., and is a threat to score at all three levels. Fellow forward Karl Chavis (16.2 ppg) and guard Cole Deptula (14.7 ppg) also return after averaging double figures in scoring last season.
Notable:
—Monday night will be the first exhibition game for new Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey. Kelsey was hired on March 28, 2024 as the 24th head coach in U of L’s 110-year history, and the 10th in the past 79 years
—Louisville’s 39-game winning streak in exhibition play was snapped two years ago with a 57-47 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne. The exhibition loss was U of L’s first ever against a college opponent, and its first overall since Dec. 2, 2000 when Denny Crum’s final Cardinal team fell 87-86 in double overtime to the Global Sports All-Stars. The Cardinals also dropped an exhibition game to Kentucky Wesleyan last season.
—Louisville has the chance to potentially play eight teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25 all before January 2. The first of those opponents will be current No. 12 Tennessee at home in the KFC Yum! Center on November 9.
—Four of the Cardinal transfers arrive at Louisville with more than 1,000 career points scored: Terrence Edwards Jr. (1,414), Reyne Smith (1,212), Aboubacar Traore (1,033) and Chucky Hepburn (1,013).
—Louisville has 11 players who were on teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The roster in total has made 14 NCAA Division I Tournament appearances at their previous schools, playing in 20 NCAA Tournament games across their careers.
—Pat Kelsey has won 11 total conference championships across his 261-122 career record, including four NCAA Tournament bids. Kelsey has recorded winning seasons in 11 of his 12 complete seasons as a head coach.
Card Chronicle Prediction: Louisville 83, Young Harris 59
Leave a Reply