Watch: Louisville WBB Players Provide Summer Update

The Cardinals' top four returners spoke to the media on Monday.

Mar 28, 2026; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Imari Berry (2) scores a layup ahead of Michigan Wolverines guard Syla Swords (12) during the first half at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - We still have several more months until the return of college hoops, but behind the scenes, the Louisville women's basketball program is hard at work.

Roughly a month ago, the Cardinals held their first practice of the offseason. Coming off of a 2025-26 campaign where they went 29-8 overall and reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years, the efforts to make a deeper run in the postseason have long been in motion.

"Summer's been great," forward Mackenly Randolph said. "It's been exciting. A lot of new things: new coaches, new players, new faces. But it's been really fun. We have a standard, so we just living up to it."

In an era of collegiate athletics where teams are shuffled greatly on a year-to-year basis because of the transfer portal, Louisville is a bit of an outlier. Randolph, Tajianna Roberts and Elif Istanbulluoglu - three of there regular starters from last season - are returning for the 2026-27 season, as is last season's ACC Sixth Player of the year in Imari Berry.

This core is infused with three incoming transfers in Virginia Tech's Carys Baker, NC State's Zamareya Jones and Tennessee's Deniya Prawl. Louisville's returners wasted no time communicating what the standard is here in the Derby City.

"Of course, there's a conversation about it," Randolph said. "Them being recruited here, they knew what they were getting into. But then we're just living up to it ourselves. We're showing it in practice: the competitiveness, the energy, the intensity, the alertness. We are living up to those standards.

"If it's six returners and the three new faces have to- they're either coming along or they're looking left out a little bit. If we're all sprinting on this side, and then you're the one jogging, it's gonna be real, real, real obvious if you're not living up to the standard."

On Monday, Berry, Istanbulluoglu, Randolph and Roberts took time to meet with the media. They discussed how summer practice has gone up to this point, how the returners have gelled with the newcomers, and more.

Below is the video from their press conference:

Forwards Mackenly Randolph and Elif Istanbulluoglu

Guards Tajianna Roberts and Imari Berry

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(Photo of Imari Berry: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)