Louisville basketball: Pat Kelsey praises team after NCAA Tournament loss
Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey praises the Cardinals following an 89-75 loss to Creighton in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
- Louisville basketball big man Aly Khalifa is appealing an NCAA ruling deeming him ineligible to play for the Cardinals in 2025-26.
- U of L says Khalifa can make “a strong case” for an extra year of eligibility. Let’s break it down.
Louisville basketball’s 2025-26 roster took a hit last week, when the NCAA deemed center Aly Khalifa ineligible for the upcoming season.
Khalifa, a 6-foot-11 native of Alexandria, Egypt, is appealing the ruling. The Cardinals believe he can make “a strong case” for being allowed to suit up for Year 2 of the Pat Kelsey era.
What exactly does that entail? Here’s a breakdown of everything we know:
The plan was always for Khalifa to sit out of Louisville’s 2024-25 season.
Last July, Khalifa underwent surgery to repair a hole in the cartilage of his left knee. A couple of months prior, he told The Courier Journal that the injury had been bothering him since his collegiate career began at Charlotte — and got worse when he “tweaked it a little bit” as a junior at BYU.
“When I came to Louisville on the visit, we saw the doctors; and they told me, ‘Yeah, you need the surgery,'” Khalifa said. “I appreciate the coaching staff for believing in me and telling me, ‘We’re going to do the surgery for you; we need you for next year; we’re going to get you in the best shape of your life.'”
Khalifa was cleared for full-contact practice in mid-January. At the time, Kelsey told reporters he and another player sitting out due to a knee injury, Kobe Rodgers, would not be available to play in games the rest of the way.
“Being cleared to play and being able to play at a high level (are different),” Kelsey said. “They can give you a possession or two at a time, but it’s going to take time for them to get stronger.”
Division I athletes typically get five years to play four seasons. Khalifa is asking for a sixth to play his fourth.
Louisville could not file a medical redshirt waiver for Khalifa until after the 2024-25 season ended; at which point he needed an extension of his eligibility clock. That is the top priority in getting him cleared for 2025-26.
Regarded by Kelsey as “one of the best passing bigs in the world,” Khalifa joined the DI ranks in 2020, when he signed with Charlotte out of the NBA Global Academy in Australia.
Khalifa redshirted in 2020-21; according to a January report from The Cavalier Daily, he did so to catch up academically.
The NCAA announced in October 2020 it was granting an additional season of eligibility — and an additional year to complete it — to winter sport athletes who were competing in the 2020-21 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In denying Khalifa an extension for 2025-26, the organization essentially said that, because he redshirted in 2020-21, he did not qualify for the COVID-19 year.
Khalifa made his collegiate debut in 2021-22, when he was named Conference USA’s Freshman of the Year. In 65 appearances across two seasons with the 49ers, he averaged 9.8 points on 49.6% shooting (37.2% from 3-point range) with 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists against 1.2 turnovers per game.
Khalifa transferred to BYU, led by now-Kentucky coach Mark Pope, for his junior campaign. Despite his knee injury worsening, he appeared in 29 of the Cougars’ 34 games in 2023-24 and led the Big 12 (and all DI bigs) with a 3.6 assist-turnover ratio — to go along with 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds across 19.4 minutes per contest.
“I was doing conditioning only on the bike,” Khalifa said of his stint at BYU. “I didn’t really practice as much; I would only do half-court stuff; I didn’t run in practice. I didn’t even run in (pregame) warmups.”
In his appeal to the NCAA, Khalifa must prove extenuating circumstances for sitting out in 2020-21 and 2024-25.
No — and don’t expect one anytime soon.
A spokesperson for the NCAA told The Courier Journal that the organization “does not comment on specific eligibility cases due to federal privacy laws.”
There is no clear timeframe as to when the NCAA will reach a decision on Khalifa’s appeal.
In a statement last week, a Louisville spokesperson said Khalifa is allowed to continue preparing for the 2025-26 season while he waits on a ruling.
If the NCAA denies Khalifa’s appeal, there’s a good chance the matter will be taken to court. It would, by no means, be an unprecedented move; just last season, Southern Miss basketball player John Wade III had to sue the organization to get an extension on his eligibility clock.
Khalifa has retained Florida-based attorney Darren Heitner to represent him in the case.
Heitner, 40, is a graduate of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. He teaches a class on name, image and likeness regulations at the University of Miami School of Law.
Heitner has provided legal services to Antonio Brown, Draymond Green, Johnny Manziel, Rick Pitino and Manny Ramirez.
For the sake of this story, let’s say Khalifa loses his appeal and isn’t successful in court. That would leave Kelsey with 10 of his 13 scholarship spots accounted for in 2025-26, meaning there could be as many as three new additions on the way.
This is Louisville’s roster without Khalifa:
Before the NCAA’s ruling came down, Khalifa was viewed as a key piece of the Cards’ frontcourt. Without him, those minutes would in all likelihood go to Pryor, who is coming off a season-ending knee injury, and Fru, who is making the move to the DI ranks after playing four seasons in Germany’s top-flight professional league, Basketball Bundesliga.
With Khalifa and Pryor sidelined in 2024-25, Hadley punched above his 6-6 frame in the post. But he could benefit from taking on a more traditional wing role during his final season of eligibility. Camara, a 6-7 product of NBA Academy Africa who committed less than a week after the NCAA deemed Khalifa ineligible, could position himself third on the depth chart once he gets on campus, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s unproven at this level.
The best-case scenario for U of L is, obviously, Khalifa winning his appeal or emerging victorious in court, leaving Kelsey with only two scholarship spots to fill. None of the other bigs on the roster come close to matching his deft passing ability; and he very well could be in the best shape of his life after dropping nearly 50 pounds over the past year with the help of strength coach Eli Foy.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
