Pat Kelsey not allowing Louisville to discuss eight-game win streak

One of the surprise stories in the ACC this season has been Louisville. Head coach Pat Kelsey came into the program and immediately turned things around. It’s now an eight-game win streak for the Cardinals, taking down Virginia on Saturday.

The wins are not a topic of conversation inside the Louisville locker room, though. Kelsey wants his players to make sure the only thing on their minds is the next day. While Kelsey admits he enjoys the outside noise, it’s not wanted internally.

“Next thing, next thing,” Kelsey said. “That’s all we talk about. I’ve said this a bunch of times in these press conferences. The most important thing in the history of our program is the next thing we do. That’s all we worry about. I love that you guys are talking about an eight-game winning streak because that’s good for our program. It puts people in the seats, recruits notice it. Keep writing it! But we’re not talking about it.”

Kelsey wants to leave the win streak talk to the media and it’s impressive when looking at it. The winning streak extends back to Dec. 21 when Louisville took down Florida State. Their last loss was to Kentucky in Rupp Arena, a tight one in the first-ever Kelsey vs. Mark Pope matchup. All but one of the wins have been against ACC opponents.

Quite a different situation from last season when Louisville won eight total games. A complete turnaround in a short amount of time.

Kelsey did admit there should be time for teams to celebrate in the moment. Things like dances taking place in the locker room are important for chemistry in his opinion. Having fun is important when going through the journey. He admitted to doing so after taking down Virginia.

But beginning Sunday, all focus is on recovering well. A short turnaround is upcoming, with a road game against SMU next on the schedule. Recovery, travel day to Dallas, and then getting ready for what should be another tough ACC matchup.

“We’re going to have a great recovery day tomorrow,’ Kelsey said. “It will be a mental day, it will be excellent in our film session. We won’t do anything physical, we’ll walk through. And this game will no longer exist when they wake up tomorrow.”