3) 2008-2009 Basketball
Highlights: Big East Champions, Big East Tournament Champions, Elite Eight.
This team was not far away from being number one.
Nobody in Louisville ever wants to talk about the Michigan State elite eight game in 2009, in which Louisville fell to an inferior team in their quest to what seemed like a sure-fire final four.
This was probably Rick Pitino’s most talented team. They had all of the pieces for success, but just ultimately could not get the job done.
Terrence Williams, Earl Clark, Samardo Samuels, the list goes on and on. The Cards had so much talent and depth that it allowed Pitino to just let them loose the whole game. Teams would get worn out with (name redacted) and Edgar Sosa on the floor, pressing make or miss, and then Pitino would bring in Jerry Smith and Preston Knowles. Any combination of Louisville’s four pesky guards, along with two elite forwards (Williams and Clark), the best big man in the country in Samardo Samuels, and a bench with Terrence Jennings, George Goode, and Jared Swopshire (not to mention, Kyle Kuric)- That is one of the best college basketball teams ever assembled talent-wise.
The Cards proved that they were worthy of a No.1 overall seed, going on to the elite eight, and absolutely dismantling a decent Arizona team by 39 points (it wasn’t even that close).
9 years later, most Cards fans look back at the 2008-2009 men’s basketball squad and think about what could have been.