Louisville coach Pat Kelsey and Kentucky coach Mark Pope overachieved this men’s basketball season, hastily assembling rosters without the benefit of any scholarship returnees. It’s a good thing they proved they can mold a team in that manner.

They’ll do the same thing again in their second years at the helm, possibly to a lesser degree, this offseason. As important as playcalling and scouting are to winning games, putting together the right personnel might be the toughest part of coaching in this climate.

Kelsey and Pope made it look simple last year. Better accept the fact now that there will be some guesswork involved and the roster and rotation may not all come together perfectly as it did for each coach this past season.

It’s not so easy to find replacements for two of the best point guards in the nation: U of L’s Chucky Hepburn and UK’s Lamont Butler.

Kelsey has maintained the recruiting philosophy that high schools will always be important to building a program. He’s chosen to replace Hepburn by signing Mikel Brown Jr., who is considered a top-10 player in the Class of 2025, according to 247Sports.

Pope still is looking for the next Butler. Kerr Kriisa, who was the Wildcats’ top backup until he injured his foot in December, made it official Monday that he’s transferring from UK.

Although UK signed point guard Acaden Lewis, who is ranked 35th in the Class of 2025 according to 247Sports, the Cats are looking to bring in another experienced lead guard from the transfer portal who might function as the Day 1 starter.  

Get used to it.

Until multiyear contracts become the norm in college basketball, continuity will be a luxury that most rosters just won’t have from one season until the next.

If the Cards are fortunate, their frontcourt rotation next season will come from players who were all on the roster this season:

Forward James Scott started 31 games. Forward Khani Rooths appeared in all 35 games as a freshman. Center Aly Khalifa sat out as a redshirt after transferring from BYU. And forward Kasean Pryor could choose to return on a medical redshirt after missing all but seven games with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

That would be a great starting point without even bringing up wing J’Vonne Hadley could choose to return, reclaiming a year he played in junior college. Kelsey was able to establish a locker room culture that they were a part of last season and could give next season’s team a head start in building.

But a little bit of luck has to be involved in keeping returnees intact for myriad reasons. Tampering from other coaches is an underreported problem. Agents shopping for better name, image and likeness deals could always be a factor. Or players searching for a specific role — be it more playing time or different responsibilities — could lead to someone assumed to be staying entering their name in the transfer portal.

The only players who seem safe to assume will return to UK next season are Travis Perry and Trent Noah, and that’s primarily because they’re both Kentucky natives.

Guard Otega Oweh has one year of eligibility left but could decide to enter his name in the NBA draft instead. Center Brandon Garrison, at the least, may go through the draft process. And there have been rumblings for a while that 21-year-old freshman Collin Chandler, who delayed playing for two years while on a church mission, would transfer after this season.

Roster overhaul is the new norm in college basketball. If this season proved anything, it’s that the Cards and Cats can take comfort in knowing they have coaches who have done it before.

The foundation was established for Kelsey and Pope, so rebuilding the roster should be much easier than what they experienced putting it together for the first time.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky lawmaker Pamela Stevenson, the top-ranking Democrat in the GOP-led state House, launched her U.S. Senate campaign on Monday, vowing to help “stop the recklessness” in Washington if elected. The seat has long been held by Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is not seeking reelection in 2026.

Stevenson, an attorney and minister, ran for state attorney general in 2023 but lost by a wide margin to Republican Russell Coleman. The only Kentucky Democrats to win statewide that year were Gov. Andy Beshear and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, who won reelection to second terms.

Known for a fiery speaking style at the Kentucky Capitol, Stevenson pledged to continue fighting for health care access and public education, noting in an introductory digital profile that her legislative colleagues “know they only have a problem with me if they go after” her causes.

Her Senate announcement came days after Kentucky lawmakers ended their 2025 session.

In the digital profile, Stevenson didn’t mention by name Republican President Donald Trump — who has dominated the political landscape in GOP-trending Kentucky since first winning the White House in 2016 — but the Democrat signaled her disapproval with the country’s direction since Trump started his second term.

“We need someone to stop the recklessness in Washington,” said, Stevenson, the minority floor leader in the Kentucky House. “Someone to restore the balance of power.”

Stevenson is the first Black woman to lead a legislative caucus in the Kentucky General Assembly. In her digital biographical sketch, the Louisville, Kentucky, native says her father was a union welder and her mother was a clerk. Stevenson says they lived down the street from her grandparents’ church, where Stevenson serves as a minister, and she talks about her military service as a judge advocate general in the U.S. Air Force.

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, announced in February that he won’t seek reelection next year but will retire when his current term ends. Kentucky hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.

On the Republican side, former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron has entered the Senate race, while U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and businessman Nate Morris are considering Senate runs. All three speak glowingly of Trump, hoping to land his endorsement. Beshear defeated Cameron in the 2023 governor’s race, and speculation continues to build over whether the term-limited Beshear will run for president in 2028.

One potential wild card in Kentucky’s Senate race next year is Democrat Rocky Adkins, a former longtime state lawmaker who has deep political connections statewide. Adkins lost to Beshear in the 2019 Democratic gubernatorial primary and now serves as Beshear’s senior adviser in the governor’s office.

“While Rocky continues to receive tremendous encouragement from across Kentucky, he has not made any decisions on any race,” said Emily Ferguson, a spokesperson for Adkins.

Lightning flashed and hail pounded down in Fancy Farm, Kentucky, as severe weather swept through the state on Sunday, March 30.

The National Weather Service warned of severe storms on Sunday, predicting large hail, damaging winds, and possible tornadoes.

Footage from Graves County Sheriff’s Office shows hail hammering the ground on Sunday evening, as lightning flashed. Credit: Graves County Sheriff’s Office via Storyful