Louisville Athletics: Ranking the Best Teams of the Last 10 Years
1) 2012-2013 Basketball
Highlights: Big East Champions, National Champions, Number 1 in my heart forever.
This was obviously the easiest decision to make.
One of the greatest teams in Louisville history, if not the greatest team the Cards have ever put on the court.
The 2012-13 team probably doesn’t stack up well to the 2008-09 team individually, but collectively as a team could not have fit more perfectly.
Peyton Siva and Russ Smith brought incredible energy and leadership in the backcourt. Luke Hancock, Wayne Blackshear, Chane Behanan, Gorgui Dieng, Kevin Ware, Montrezl Harrell… every piece fit perfectly into this team to make it a well-oiled machine.
They won games that were defensive battles, and they won a national title game where the opponent rarely missed. No matter what the circumstances, the 2013 Champs found a way to prevail- a common theme for any championship team.
Consider this: going back to the 2012 final four team that built the momentum going into the championship run, Louisville won 42 out of 48 games. 3 of those games were lost back-to-back-to-back.
That ignited the fire for an incredible run where Louisville was nearly unstoppable.
Even more impressively, Louisville did this in a Big East that may have reached its peak in the final season before conference realignment.
Regardless of allegations, scandals, vacated wins, or anything else, the fact still remains that this was one of the greatest Louisville teams of all time in any sports. Most certainly, they are the kings of the last decade.