College Basketball Analyst Predicts Louisville Will Make 2026 Final Four

With the 2025-26 college basketball season just around the corner, the Louisville men's basketball program has been generating an insane amount of buzz over the course of the current offseason. Across a variety of preseason polls, the Cardinals have routinely been regarded as a team in the top 10 to 15 range.

However, one college basketball analyst is going a step further.

On Friday, ESPN released their '100 Days to Men's College Basketball' article, where they list 100 things to know about the upcoming 2025-26 season, ranging from Top Storylines and Contenders, to Breakouts and All-American Candidates.

In the section where they list '10 Wild Predictions,' ESPN college basketball insider Jeff Borzello predicted that not only will UofL head coach Pat Kelsey win his first NCAA Tournament game - he will guide the Cardinals all the way to the Final Four.

"Entering last March, the one knock on Todd Golden was his lack of an NCAA tournament win. He erased any doubt in pretty emphatic fashion," Borzello wrote. "Kelsey will be the next coach to go from zero to a Final Four. Louisville's backcourt is among the best in the country, and the Cardinals have the perfect blend of experience, depth and star power."

It's understandable why Borzello is picking the Cardinals to reach their first Final Four since winning it all in 2013. Between their crop of returners and newcomers, Louisville has one of the most talented rosters in men's college basketball.

For starters, guard/forward J'Vonne Hadley and forward Kasean Pryor, two of the Cardinals' top players from year one under Kelsey, took advantage of the Diego Pavia ruling and are coming back for one more year. Not to mention that Khani Rooths could be in line for a jump from his freshman campaign, plus Aly Khalifa and Kobe Rodgers - who both redshirted last season - are now fully healthy.

Additionally, all three of UofL's portal newcomers - Virginia guard Isaac McKneely, Xavier guard Ryan Conwell and Kennesaw State guard Adrian Wooley - were top-25 transfers in the cycle, per On3. In the Class of 2025, Mikel Brown Jr. is a five-star prospect who was the best high school point guard in the nation last season, and two of the their international pickups - forward/center Sananda Fru and forward Mouhamed Camara - are four-star recruits.

In other segments of the article by ESPN: Borzello said "don't count out Louisville's Mikel Brown Jr." in the race for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft," Brown was also tabbed as one of the '10 Freshmen to Watch,' the annual Louisville-Kentucky showdown was one of the 10 'Nonconference Matchups to Watch,' and Pryor was named as one of the '10 Players with Breakout Potential.'

Louisville is coming off of a successful year one under Kelsey. The Cardinals went 27-8 overall, winning more games than over the previous three seasons combined, resulting in Kelsey winning ACC Coach of the Year. UofL made their return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 - although it resulted in a first round exit to Creighton.