Louisville reveals status of star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. for first-round NCAA game
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Louisville’s first-round NCAA Tournament challenge just got a lot harder on the day before the Cardinals tip off against South Florida.
That’s because star freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. was declared out for the NCAA East Region opener because of a back injury. When No. 6 seed Louisville and No. 11 seed USF tip off at about 1:30 p.m. ET (TNT) on Thursday in Buffalo, the Cardinals will be short-handed minus their second-leading scorer.
Brown is averaging 18.2 points per game this season in 21 games, second on the team only to Ryan Conwell. The 6-foot-5 Orlando native is also averaging 3.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists in a brilliant freshman season that’s been interrupted by this back injury. Brown last played on Feb. 28, missing the final week of the regular as well as the ACC Tournament.
According to Wednesday morning’s statement put out by Louisville, Brown wouldn’t even be available to the Cardinals if they advanced to the second round on Saturday against either No. 3 seed Michigan State or 14th-seeded North Dakota State.
Louisville wrote in its statement that the team’s goal going into the ACC Tournament was to have Brown available for the NCAA Tournament.
“Unfortunately that is not the case,” wrote Louisville in the statement.
This means Louisville will have to advance to the second week of the NCAA Tournament to get its super freshman back in the lineup. If not, Brown may have already played his final game in a Cardinals uniform, with Brown being rumored to enter the NBA Draft after this season ends.
With Brown out of the picture for the Cardinals on Thursday, here is what the Kalshi market sees regarding Louisville’s chances to get past South Florida without him:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
