Louisville's Mikel Brown Jr. Making 'Great Progress,' Still Day-to-Day Ahead of NCAAT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Survive and advance season is officially here for the Louisville men's basketball program. The sixth-seeded Cardinals made the Big Dance for the second time in as many seasons under head coach Pat Kelsey, with 11th-seeded South Florida being the first team in their way.

While there is plenty to break down as it pertains to their on-court matchup against the Bulls, hands down the biggest storyline for UofL is the health and availability of Mikel Brown Jr. The star point guard for UofL has missed the last four games due to his lingering lower back injury.

One day removed from Selection Sunday, his status for this weekend is still up in the air - although it continue to be trending in the right direction.

"He made great progress last week," head coach Pat Kelsey said Monday. "We'll see how the next couple days of practice go."

Earlier in the season, Brown missed eight straight games due to the injury, and re-aggravated it in the game against North Carolina on Feb. 23. It had a notable impact on his availability and efficiency in the game at Clemson on Feb. 28, as he did not start against the Tigers and logged only five points, four assists and two rebounds in 21 minutes. He would then go on to miss the final two games of the regular season.

Ahead of Louisville's run in last week's ACC Tournament, the Cardinals announced that Brown would be sidelined for the entire ACC Tournament, with "the goal of being ready for the NCAA Tournament." Louisville took down SMU 62-58 in the second round before falling 78-73 to Miami in the quarterfinals.

Following the SMU game, Brown told the media in the locker room that he has made "steady" and "constant" improvement as it pertains to his back injury, and he "absolutely" believes there is a chance that he will be ready for the Big Dance.

"I am starting to get there," Brown said. "Like I said, I'm slowly progressing, I'm slowly doing more and more day in and day out, just trying to get a feel for it. Obviously, like coach said, the plan is I'll come back when I'm 100 percent and when I feel great."

In the five games prior to the Clemson game, Brown was playing at an All-American caliber level, putting up 29.2 points, 4.8 assists and 3.2 assists per game, and shooting 52.2 percent from the field plus a blazing 54.0 percent on three-point tries. Playing in 21 games and making 19 starts this season, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound point guard is putting 18.2 points, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

Louisville and South Florida will face off on Thursday, Mar. 19 at 1:30 p.m. EST from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

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