Two Cardinals Named Top-50 Midseason Players

As quickly as the 2025-26 men's college basketball season started, we're now roughly at the halfway point of the year. The calendar is set to flip to February in just a few days, and before you know it, March Madness will makes its return as well.

While Louisville as a team certainly has has ups and downs up to this point, at their core, they still have a talented roster with star power at the top. In fact, earlier this week, ESPN released their list of the top 50 players in the sport at midseason, and and a pair of Cardinals made the cut.

Kicking off the list at No. 50 was true freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., while senior shooting guard Ryan Conwell was higher up the list at No. 36. Duke's Cameron Boozer, BYU's A.J. Dybantsa, Iowa State's Joshua Jefferson, North Carolina's Caleb Wilson and Purdue's Braden Smith round out the top-five.

While Brown has missed eight games due to a lower back injury and has has some streaky shooting at times, he is still a bona fide playmaker when on the floor. In 12 starts, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound point guard has averaged 16.1 points, 5.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. However, he's shot it only 37.3 percent from the field and 27.4 percent on three-point attempts.

"Now that Brown is healthy, the freshman guard is worthy of a spot in the rankings," ESPN's Jeff Borzello wrote. "He was one of the best first-year players during the first 10 games of the season, averaging 16.6 points and 5.1 assists, with standout performances against Kentucky (29 points) and Arkansas (22 points)."

While Brown is arguably Louisville's most talented player, Conwell is currently their best. Only missing one of the Cardinals' 20 games, the 6-foot-4, 215 shooting guard is averaging 19.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, while shooting 40.6 percent overall and 37.3 percent on threes.

"With Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. on the floor together, the Cardinals produce 121.5 points per 100 possessions, according to EvanMiya," ESPN's Myron Medcalf wrote. "So when Brown missed five weeks because of a back injury, Conwell had to step up. Entering the week, the 6-4 guard was averaging 19.5 points and 37% from 3, ranking in the top 50 for scoring. He held together a team that was top 20 offensively and top 40 defensively through Brown's hiatus."

Louisville (14-6, 4-4 ACC) will be back in action this weekend when they welcome SMU to the KFC Yum! Center. Tip-off against the Mustangs is set for Saturday, Jan. 31 at 2:00 p.m. EST.