Brown: Louisville basketball losing Kasean Pryor changes things after Battle 4 Atlantis run

Having expectations are great especially when, as has been the past few years, Louisville basketball had a very low bar to clear.

The problem with the Cardinals raising the possibilities of what they can accomplish this season after an inspired performance during the Battle 4 Atlantis is that those expectations can get unrealistic in a hurry.

U of L is no more of an NCAA Tournament team now than it was before defeating Indiana and West Virginia in the Bahamas.

The promise was there for the Cards at full strength to meet high expectations. Mounting injuries, including Monday’s news that forward Kasean Pryor will miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, leave the potential for sitting at home another March just as possible.

The praise and recalibration of Louisville‘s season outlook didn’t faze coach Pat Kelsey in the least. After beating the Mountaineers, he said their plan and focus is the same now after beating its first ranked opponent as it was before the season started when not many knew what to expect from them.

“We do our best to not look in the past and not look out into the future, but look at what’s right in front of us and to try to be excellent and be great in that,” Kelsey said. “So what people said, what they’re going to say — it doesn’t matter. The most important thing in the history of the program is the next thing we do.”

Next up for the Cards is No. 24 Ole Miss on Tuesday at the KFC Yum! Center as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge.

The Cards face a crucial week with games against the Rebels and the ACC opener against Duke on Sunday. These games, more than the ones in Atlantis, will give a quick reading on where U of L stands without Pryor. (I’m not even sure how the win over IU will ultimately be viewed, as the Hoosiers look like they’ll descend into bubble team status.)

The Blue Devils are going to test Louisville’s frontcourt with an NBA-sized — most would say NBA ready — pairing of forward Cooper Flagg and 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach.

Depth is one of the strengths of how Kelsey built this roster. The ability to wear down teams and have waves of contributors showed throughout the three-game event, including their loss to Oklahoma in the Battle 4 Atlantis title game.

Forward Aboubacar Traore (broken arm) and guard Koren Johnson (shoulder) have missed the last five games. Traore is out indefinitely, and Johnson has been out long enough that even when he returns he’ll need a transition period to get reacclimated into the lineup.

But Pryor’s injury is the biggest.

The Cards frontcourt was thin to begin with, now Noah Waterman and James Scott will have to log more minutes. It could also put freshman forward Khani Rooths and senior Frank Anselem-Ibe in critical roles in Pryor’s absence.

Pryor went down in the first minute of the second half against the Sooners and did not play afterward.

Pryor had just moved into the starting lineup during the Battle 4 Atlantis. He has the kind of skill set for a big man that can’t quite be replicated by any of his potential replacements.

He led the team in rebounds up until his injury. He’s third in scoring at 12 points per game, second in steals (11) and blocked shots (8) and third in assists with 15. That’s not to mention he can grab the ball and initiate a fast break without having to wait for a guard to get the ball.

The combined injuries effectively made what was a 10-man rotation to start the season dwindle to seven.