Louisville stated on Tuesday that it has set up an exhibition series with Kansas basketball that will last for several years.
The Cardinals and the Jayhawks will play a practice game at the KFC Yum! Center on October 24. Both teams are still getting ready for the 2025–26 season. Then, Kansas will play Louisville for a game in Lawrence that will be on both teams’ schedules in 2026–27. The tip-off time and TV channel for the first practice game have not been decided, but it will be a big game no matter what.
Bill Self will add KJ Adams to the coaching staff of Kansas basketball “in some capacity.”
The head coach of KU, Bill Self, said, “I like the idea of the rule change because it lets me play someone like that, and I like road games.” “The last two years, we lost a road game that wasn’t really a game, but I think it’s good practice for a real game, especially early in the season.” Louisville should also be full. There will be a lot of work to do, and it will start off badly.
According to Louisville’s press release, the Division I oversight committee for men’s basketball accepted a plan that lets teams play up to two exhibition games against four-year schools, including Division I teams. In the past, this kind of show had to go through a waiver process before it could happen. The money made was also given to charity.
In 2024, Kansas’s road practice game was against Arkansas. The year before, KU played Illinois in a real game on the road. The Arkansas show helped mental health professionals and charities, and the Illinois show helped with the quick reaction and recovery from the Maui wildfires.
It was a rough season for the Jayhawks. They went 21-13 and made it to the round of 64 in the NCAA playoffs. In his first year as coach of the Cardinals, Pat Kelsey led the team to a 27-8 record and a spot in the round of 64 of the NCAA playoffs.
Louisville’s announcement didn’t say that this game would be played for charity, and Self wasn’t sure how it would all work out when asked if there was a possible benefit this game could have in terms of income sharing.
“The rule isn’t clear enough to me, and the settlement hasn’t been signed,” Self said. As far as I can tell, they will pay us a guarantee to go there. If we were to host a similar game, we would then pay that team a guarantee to come to our place. But in the past, that could go to NIL through a charity game if it was a real NIL chance.
I’m not sure how that will work out in this year’s deal yet, but it’s good that we can at least get some money to go somewhere. I’m not sure if that goes to NIL or the sports department at this point.
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