Louisville basketball in toughest part of noncon slate. Any questions?

We're going to learn a lot about Louisville basketball in the coming weeks.

Pat Kelsey's No. 6 Cardinals (7-0) begin the toughest portion of their 2025-26 nonconference schedule Wednesday with their first true road game of the season: a 7 p.m. tipoff against No. 23 Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

"It's going to be a high-profile game," Kelsey said last week. "It's going to be under really, really big, bright lights."

After that, UofL will travel to Indianapolis for a 2 p.m. tipoff Saturday against No. 19 Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. From there, it's a renewal of a longtime rivalry with Memphis at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 13 at the KFC Yum! Center, then a trip to Knoxville for the final game of a home-and-home series against No. 13 Tennessee set for a 7 p.m. tipoff Dec. 16.

The Cards are in as good of shape as they could possibly be one month into the season: undefeated and ranked ninth in the first edition of the NET released Monday. The strength of their schedule to this point, however, was 288th out of 365 Division I teams.

Louisville finished Year 1 of the Kelsey era with a 5-7 record in Quad 1 games. With one victory of that variety already under its belt in 2025-26, picking up a few more before ACC play begins Dec. 30 at California would go a long way in strengthening its NCAA Tournament résumé.

This is where you come in: It's time for another edition of The Courier Journal's Louisville basketball mailbag. What questions do you have about the Cards that you'd like to see answered during the most difficult stretch of their nonconference slate? Anything else going on around the program piquing your interest?

If you've got a question, follow the instructions below to submit.

We'll also accept questions via email ([email protected]) and X, formerly Twitter (@brooksHolton).

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball in toughest part of noncon schedule. Questions?