Louisville's Pat Kelsey Generating Midseason Coach of the Year Buzz

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - First year head coach Pat Kelsey has the Louisville men's basketball program flying high.

The Cardinals (15-5, 8-1 ACC) are currently on a nine-game winning streak, their longest in five years, and hold sole possession of second place in the ACC standings, only trailing Duke for the top spot in the conference. Louisville is also ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time in four years.

It's a far cry from where the program had been not only in the last few years, but also to start this current season. Dealing with a pair of season-ending injuries and a difficult non-conference schedule, Louisville started year one under Kelsey at just 6-5. Not to mention previous head coach Kenny Payne went just 12-52 in two years at the helm, and their last trip to the NCAA Tournament was six years ago.

Considering that Kelsey has Cardinals currently as a lock to make the Big Dance, the first year head coach is beginning to pick up steam as a potential Coach of the Year.

On Thursday, two different outlets - 247Sports and The Field of 68 - tabbed Kelsey as a midseason CoY candidate, and both outlets listed him as their No. 4 option. 247Sports had Auburn's Bruce Pearl, Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Kentucky's Mark Pope as their 1-3 selections, while The Field of 68 listed Pearl, Pope and Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger as theirs.

"Pat Kelsey has resurrected the program from a laughingstock to perhaps Duke's top challenger for the ACC crown," 247Sports' Isaac Trotter wrote. "Even amid injuries to rotation players like Kasean Pryor, Aboubacar Traore and Koren Johnson, Kelsey has the Cardinals flying high in ACC play.

"The roster construction just works. Chucky Hepburn looks every bit the part of a First Team All-ACC point guard and Kelsey smartly surrounded him with , arguably the best shooter in the sport, a physical three-level guard like Terrence Edwards Jr. and a Swiss-army knife forward like J'Vonne Hadley. Competency has returned to Louisville."

Louisville has the weekend off, and will be back in action next Tuesday vs. Wake Forest. Tip-off vs. the Demon Deacons is scheduled for Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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