Louisville basketball received some good news Friday, when it learned Aly Khalifa won his NCAA appeal for an additional season of eligibility.
With that, it appears as if the Cardinals’ roster for Year 2 of the Pat Kelsey era is set.
U of L returns five players from Kelsey’s inaugural campaign, during which the program reached the ACC Tournament championship game for the first time and ended a March Madness drought dating back to 2019. Its seven newcomers include three Division I veterans from the NCAA transfer portal, three international products and one highly touted prospect from the high school ranks.
Here’s a rundown of the scholarship players on the Cards’ 2025-26 roster, which is garnering sky-high expectations:
Mikel Brown Jr.
Mikel Brown Jr. is the 29th McDonald’s All-American in Louisville history. The 6-foot-3 product of DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida, ranks among the top 10 players in the Class of 2025, regardless of position, on the 247Sports Composite. In February, ESPN had the incoming freshman point guard as a lottery pick in its first mock 2026 NBA Draft.
Mouhamed Camara
Mouhamed Camara, a 20-year-old forward, has been honing his game at NBA Academy Africa since 2023. The 6-7 Senegal native reportedly averaged 10.6 points, seven rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.8 steals and 2.5 blocks across academy events over the past year. As of Friday, he was the only new addition who had not yet been introduced as a signee.
Ryan Conwell
Louisville is Ryan Conwell‘s fourth school in as many years. The 6-4 guard from Indianapolis was Xavier’s second-best scorer in 2024-25, averaging 16.5 points on 45% shooting en route to third-team All-Big East honors. He led the Musketeers in made 3s (99) and attempts (240), good for a 41.3% clip, and also tallied 2.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists against 1.6 turnovers and 1.3 steals across 33 minutes per game.
Sananda Fru
Sananda Fru, a 6-11 forward, played in Germany’s top-flight Basketball Bundesliga from 2021-25. This season, the 21-year-old was named its Best Young German Player after averaging 12.3 points on 66% shooting with 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 29 games (28 starts) for Löwen Braunschweig.
J’Vonne Hadley
J’Vonne Hadley decided to run it back with Louisville after being granted an additional year of eligibility due to his time spent in the junior college ranks. The Minnesota native was the consummate glue guy for the Cards in 2024-25. He started all 35 games, led the team in rebounding (7.3), finished fourth in scoring (12.2) and punched above his 6-6 frame defensively.
Aly Khalifa
A deft passer, Khalifa led the Big 12 (and all DI bigs) with a 3.6 assist-turnover ratio in 2023-24 as a junior at BYU to go along with 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds across 19.4 minutes per game. The 6-11 Egyptian sat out of the 2024-25 season to recover from surgery to repair a hole in the cartilage of his left knee and proceeded to lose 50 pounds with the help of strength coach Eli Foy.
Isaac McKneely
Virginia transfer Isaac McKneely was the ACC’s most accurate 3-point shooter in 2024-25 with a clip of 42.1% (101 for 240). The 6-4 guard from Poca, West Virginia, led the Cavaliers in scoring with 14.4 points on 43.9% shooting to go along with 2.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds across 34 minutes per contest as a junior. For his career, he is 233 for 552 (42.2%) from beyond the arc.
Kasean Pryor
Kasean Pryor waited until the day the transfer portal closed to announce his return to Louisville for the 2025-26 season after a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee cut short his 2024-25 campaign in late November. Across seven appearances, the 6-10 forward from Chicago averaged 12 points on 36.8% shooting (5 for 33 from 3) with 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks across 23 minutes per.
Kobe Rodgers
Kobe Rodgers redshirted last season to recover from a knee injury he suffered during Charleston’s first-round loss to Alabama in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. In his first campaign playing for Kelsey, he averaged 9.7 points on 50% shooting with 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 steals and a 1.4 assist-turnover ratio. Before signing with the Cougars in 2023, the 6-3 guard from Cincinnati was part of a Nova Southeastern team that went 36-0 and won the DII national championship.
Khani Rooths
The lone freshman on Louisville’s 2024-25 roster, Khani Rooths, showed flashes of potential throughout the season. The 6-8 forward from Washington, D.C., averaged only 3.3 points on 39.3% shooting and three rebounds across 13.4 minutes per game but threw down some of the most electrifying dunks of the campaign.
Adrian Wooley
Kennesaw State transfer Adrian Wooley, the reigning Conference USA Freshman of the Year, had one of the most productive 2024-25 campaigns of any DI newcomer across the country. The 6-5 guard from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, finished the regular season ranked fifth among first-year players in scoring (18.5), sixth in field-goal percentage (51.3%) and 13th in assists (3.5) — with 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game to boot.
Vangelis Zougris
Evangelos “Vangelis” Zougris, 20, has spent the past four seasons playing for Peristeri B.C. in the Greek Basketball League. The 6-8 forward averaged 7.9 points on 68.5% shooting with 4.6 rebounds across 23 appearances during the 2024-25 campaign. He has also earned playing time on Greece’s senior national team, logging five games in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball roster: A look at Pat Kelsey’s 2025-26 team