Louisville came into the season carrying plenty of buzz, and most of it centered on the newcomers. The Cardinals landed one of the strongest transfer portal hauls in the country, adding eight transfers and headlined by 5-star transfer Flory Bidunga along with multiple 4-star additions like Jackson Shelstad, Karter Knox, Alvaro Folgueiras and De'Shayne Montgomery.
That kind of influx has fueled Final Four expectations around Pat Kelsey’s group, which is being viewed as his best roster since arriving at UofL. But one of Louisville’s most important pieces isn’t new at all. Adrian Wooley is back, and the season opener offered another reminder of why so many people believe he’s ready for a big jump.
Wooley arrived at Louisville with serious credentials after a dominant season at Kennessaw State, where he put up 18.8 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range. He was ranked No. 9 in the Transfer Portal and No. 2 among combo guards, and even with other guards drawing attention last year, he still ended up being Louisville’s biggest portal addition.
Now in his second season with the Cardinals, Wooley is expected to take on a larger role. He showed some of that upside in the opener, attacking the glass, playing with more force and making life difficult on the defensive end. He finished with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added four steals.
“I loved his aggressiveness,” stated Kelsey. “I want him to be that way. Adrian is great when he is leaning forward and playing downhill and playing on the attack, and you saw that today.”
That kind of performance fits the way Wooley started to come on late last season. He found his rhythm in the back half of the year, then delivered in some of Louisville’s biggest moments, including the step-back 3-pointer that beat Miami and a 17-point NCAA Tournament showing against Michigan State, when he went 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from deep.
His importance only grows now, with Montgomery sidelined by a foot injury for the first 4-6 weeks. Louisville’s backcourt is thinner because of that, and Wooley is going to be asked to do even more.
“I think AD has been tremendous,” Sean Dixon stated about Wooley this offseason. “A lot of times in basketball you see the sophomore year jump, right?
Freshman year to sophomore year, you make a big jump. Well, this is kind of his sophomore year in this program.
It is his third year in college basketball, but it is his second year here at Louisville. And so, we anticipate him to make a huge jump and be a very productive player for us this year.”
There was plenty to like in Louisville’s win over Chattanooga, and Wooley was one of the players who stood out most. If Monday was any indication, the leap people have been waiting for may already be starting.
In Other News...
Louisville Fans Still Need Answers From Jeff Brohm On The Defense
Jeff Brohms latest defensive overhaul came on Dec. 30, 2025, when he made significant changes to his staff and chose not to bring in outside replacements. Instead, Louisville promoted from within after moving on from its co-defensive coordinators, a decision that immediately put the spotlight back on how Brohm is shaping that side of the ball and whether the Cardinals are truly resetting or simply reshuffling the same pieces.
For Louisville fans, the bigger issue is still the lack of clarity around why these changes were made and what they mean moving forward. Brohm has a history of cycling through defensive coordinators, including frequent turnover between 2020 and 2021, and that track record only adds to the unease now. The staff changes may have been decisive, but they also left plenty of questions hanging about the defense and about how much confidence Brohm has in the people already in the building. [Read more 🡒]
Louisville Showed Early Promise But One Problem Kept Showing Up
Louisville had stretches against Stanford where the offense looked like it had a plan and the execution matched it. The Cardinals leaned on option looks, tried to isolate specific receivers, and found moments where Lincoln Kienholz made the kind of decisions that can keep a drive alive and put pressure on a defense. For a team looking for steady progress, those sequences offered a glimpse of what the offense can be when it is playing with structure and intent.
The problem was that the same comfort never really carried over to the other side of the ball. Louisvilles zone coverage repeatedly left openings, and the linebacker positioning did not hold up when Stanford needed key conversions. The scheme had trouble closing space and matching up consistently, which turned promising defensive snaps into another reminder that the Cardinals still have a lot to clean up before those early flashes start translating into a full game. [Read more 🡒]
Louisville Win Came With Kelsey Frustration And A New Rotation Concern
Louisville opened with an 84-70 win over Chattanooga, and the result brought enough good to feel encouraging while still leaving coach Kelsey with plenty to sort through. Flory Bidunga and Adrian Wooley helped carry the Cardinals early, but the second half got messy as the shooting cooled and the defensive energy slipped, the kind of stretch that can linger even after a comfortable final margin.
The bigger concern now may be how the roster holds together in the short term. Basketball transfer De'Shayne Montgomery is set to miss multiple weeks with a foot injury, which adds another layer to the rotation questions already hanging over the team, even as Louisville continues to build around its early pieces. Elsewhere in the program, football commit JaHyde Brown added a notable line to his resume by setting a Kentucky state record with 31 receiving touchdowns in a season. [Read more 🡒]