Pat Kelsey got his moment in Judge Brian Edwards’ courtroom last week, and by the time it was over, Edwards reached the same conclusion he had the first time around.
That leaves Louisville in the familiar place it seems to keep ending up: waiting on the next legal step while Seth Trimble and LJ Wells remain eligible for now, thanks to an injunction and stay.
For Cardinals fans, the phrase they want matters here is simple enough: “To stand by things decided.”
The NCAA, naturally, is expected to appeal. That’s its routine.
And now a panel of the Court of Appeals will sort through whether Edwards applied the law properly to the facts and whether Wells, Trimble and the other plaintiffs are likely to win at trial. If that happens, the case could be over.
Until then, everyone waits.
There was also a small win for Isaac Ellis, who earned what the column jokingly called the first Cardinal assist of the ’26-’27 season. In court, Ellis helped counter the NCAA’s argument that giving Trimble and Wells another season would hurt other players. His message was straightforward: yes, his playing time could take a hit, but he still wants those two on the team.
Monday morning brought a different kind of scene, with Kelsey facing questions before the Kansas exhibition. The early hour didn’t bring the same trademark fire from him; at 9:15 a.m., he was noticeably less amped than usual. Still engaged, just not at full throttle.
There was also a bit of behind-the-scenes housekeeping. After Mike Cassidy went through the Jayhawks’ scouting report, SID Dana Brown explained that Flory Bidunga and Jackson Shelstad would be a little late because they were in class. In a classroom.
That point was made for a reason, because there’s still a common assumption that “student athletes” spend all their time in online classes. Brown said it’s more complicated than that. Freshmen and foreign students are in the classroom, while others have a mix of in-person and online work.
Bidunga, in particular, kept standing out in person. The note from Monday was that his personality shows up just as much as his game - he’s bright, and he likes to joke around.
When Shelstad said Seth Trimble was “the best on ball defender” he’d ever seen, Bidunga cut in right away with a playful jab.
One reminder tied the whole scene together: Kansas is an exhibition game.
In Other News...
Louisville Showed Enough Against Kansas To Excite Fans And Worry Them
Louisvilles exhibition against Kansas offered plenty to like, even in an 89-83 loss that still felt revealing in the best and worst ways. The Cardinals showed real activity on both ends, with Obinna Ekezie Jr. making an impact through his defense and shooting, while the teams ball movement and defensive rotations suggested a group that already understands what it wants to be.
There was also enough inconsistency to keep the excitement in check. Louisville needed production from its bench and found stretches of quality in fast break and paint scoring, but the game still swung on the kind of details that tend to decide November and March alike. For a fan base looking for signs this group can compete, there were several. For anyone wondering how polished it is right now, there were reminders too. [Read more 🡒]
Louisville Just Exposed A Kansas Concern Fans Cant Ignore
Kansas fans got an early jolt in an exhibition loss to Louisville at Allen Fieldhouse, where the visitors walked out with an 89-83 win and a few clear answers about where this matchup was headed. Tre White led all scorers with 25 points, and the game had the feel of a useful October test for Louisville while Kansas was left sorting through some obvious issues, especially on the perimeter.
Bill Self also had to address fan behavior during the event, which added another layer to a night that already carried plenty of edge. There was visible tension between former teammates Flory Bidunga and Melvin Council Jr., and for Kansas the bigger concern may be how much work still remains before the shots start falling more consistently and the rotation looks settled. [Read more 🡒]
Louisvilles Second Quarter Turned On A Few Costly Decisions
Louisvilles second quarter against Syracuse was shaped less by one big swing than by a handful of small choices that kept tilting the field the wrong way. The game film points to a sequence of defensive coverages, route concepts and individual assignments that left the Cardinals trying to recover from mistakes instead of building on the rhythm they wanted, with players such as Myles Norwood, Lincoln Kienholz, Tre Richardson and Jaleel Skinner all factoring into the breakdowns and the effort to answer them.
What stood out most was how quickly the margin for error disappeared once the execution slipped. A few strategic calls and a few missed connections on both sides of the ball added up to a quarter Louisville could not quite control, and the details of who handled the pressure and who did not tell as much about the game as the score did. [Read more 🡒]