Indiana’s 2024-25 non-conference schedule was finalized on July 9 and Contained in the Corridor may have a team-by-team have a look at every opponent. Immediately: Louisville.
The Battle 4 Atlantis bracket was introduced Wednesday morning and Indiana’s ninth non-conference opponent for the 2024-25 season is confirmed: Louisville.
The Cardinals are coming off two horrendous seasons beneath Kenny Payne, ending 4-28 and 8-24 in his two seasons at his alma mater.
Payne was dismissed shortly after the conclusion of final season, a marketing campaign by which the Cardinals completed simply 3-17 in ACC play and No. 185 in KenPom. The Hoosiers and Cardinals locked horns final season in New York, with Indiana prevailing in a closer-than-expected 74-66 victory. IU leads the all-time sequence with Louisville 12-9.
With Payne’s dismissal, Louisville struck out on a number of of its teaching targets and settled on Pat Kelsey, who reached the NCAA event in back-to-back seasons at School of Charleston. The Cardinals turned over their roster completely within the offseason and there aren’t any holdovers from the Payne period.
Louisville did have the offseason luxurious of taking a overseas tour to the Bahamas, the place it simply received a pair of video games within the Mar Hoops Summer season League. The Cardinals beat Bahamas Choose 111-59 and the College of Calgary 111-71.
Louisville’s rotation will include ten new gamers from the switch portal and a freshman, Khani Rooths, who beforehand dedicated to Michigan.
Kelsey’s groups at Charleston and Winthrop thrived on the offensive glass, grabbing at the least 33.6 of their missed pictures in every of the final 5 seasons. In 4 of these 5 seasons, Kelsey’s groups ranked inside the highest 18 nationally in offensive rebounding proportion.
Wisconsin switch Chucky Hepburn, a senior, needs to be the starter at level guard after averaging 9.2 factors and three.9 assists for the Badgers final season. The 6-foot-2 guard was by no means a star within the Large Ten, however he was a gentle contributor on each ends.
Within the Bahamas, Louisville began Aboubacar Traore and Terrence Edwards Jr. alongside Hepburn and introduced guards Koren Johnson and Reyne Smith off the bench together with wing J’Vonne Hadley.
Traore, one other senior, is a 6-foot-5 athlete from Lengthy Seashore State who averaged 12 factors, however isn’t a lot of a shooter. He’ll, nonetheless, use his athleticism on the defensive finish, which can probably draw him some difficult assignments on the wing all through the season.
The go-to scorer could possibly be Edwards Jr., a fifth-year wing who averaged 17.2 factors final season at James Madison and shot 34.3 p.c on 3s. In late-shot clock conditions, there’s an excellent likelihood Edwards Jr. would be the one going to get a bucket.
Johnson, a senior, arrives from Washington and was briefly talked about as a possible Indiana goal final spring. The 6-foot-2 guard linked at a 37.3 p.c clip from deep for the Huskies. Smith adopted Kelsey from Charleston, the place he averaged 12.8 factors and shot 39.4 p.c from distance.
Hadley is a fifth-year wing who averaged 11.6 factors, six rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals and shot 41.7 p.c final season at Colorado.
The aforementioned Rooths is the youngest scholarship participant on the roster and the one freshman on the staff. The No. 34 participant within the 2024 class, Rooths is a 6-foot-8 ahead with loads of long-term upside.
Up entrance, South Florida switch Kasean Pryor and Charleston switch James Scott began within the Bahamas, with Noah Watterman (BYU) and Frank Anselem-Ibe (Georgia) logging minutes off the bench.
Pryor is a 6-foot-10 fifth-year participant who averaged 13 factors and seven.9 rebounds final season for the Bulls. The 6-foot-11 Scott is only a sophomore however averaged a strong 5 factors, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks final season whereas taking pictures 79.2 p.c from the sphere.
Watterman is a sixth-year massive man who likes to step out on the perimeter, the place he linked at a 37 p.c clip final season. Anselem-Ibe will function a depth piece on the 5 as a fifth-year senior who performed sparingly final season within the SEC.
As we wrote not too long ago, Battle 4 Atlantis is essential for Indiana’s non-conference resume. The Hoosiers don’t have a lot meat on their schedule outdoors of this occasion, with South Carolina as the one high-major opponent coming to Meeting Corridor earlier than Large Ten play.
Louisville is a formidable matchup and has the potential to turn into a quad-one recreation on the resume if the Cardinals attain a number of the lofty expectations they’ve been given within the preseason. The three-Man-Weave not too long ago ranked Louisville No. 34 within the preseason, and The Athletic picked the Cardinals to complete third within the ACC.
Filed to: Battle 4 Atlantis, Louisville Cardinals
