The final buzzer has gone off and the 2018-19 college basketball season is over. Not even 24 hours after we crowned a new champion, people are already talking next season, and things are looking good for the Louisville basketball program.
For the next month, the college basketball landscape will no doubt continue to shift as coaching hires are made and as players make their decisions to go pro, or as players make their transfer decisions. But as it stands, the initial word on Louisville basketball in 2019-20 is sounding good.
Louisville is still awaiting decisions from Jordan Nwora and Steven Enoch, however, it seems like most analysts have a lot of faith in Louisville’s incoming recruiting class and head coach Chris Mack.
So far, Louisville is unanimously a top 15 team heading into next season, and in some cases, a top 10 team.
It’s hard to tell whether Jon Rothstein is expecting Nwora/Enoch to return since he didn’t give any comments with the Top 25. Nonetheless, it has to be exciting for Cards fans to see their beloved program return to the Top 10 so quickly.
Early 19-20 Top 25:
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 9, 2019
1. Michigan St
2. Michigan
3. UVA
4. UK
5. Duke
6. Auburn
7. Marquette
8. UNC
9. KU
10. Louisville
11. Maryland
12. Houston
13. LSU
14. Gonzaga
15. Iowa
16. Baylor
17. Cincy
18. FSU
19. Arizona
20. Purdue
21. Oregon
22. SHU
23. Florida
24. Nova
25. Texas Tech
Even if Nwora goes pro, I think you can expect Louisville to remain in the Top 20. The general consensus around the national media seems to be that Nwora will probably go pro, and a lot of the pre-season top 25’s were made with that in mind.
In fact, Jeff Borzello put the Cardinals at #15 while assuming that both Nwora and Enoch are gone.
"The Cardinals have to hope Jordan Nwora and Steven Enoch return to school next season, but if they do, this ranking might look way too low.-Jeff Borzello ESPN"
This honestly should be no surprise. Even without Nwora and Enoch, Louisville would still return a strong core of players. VJ King, Dwayne Sutton, and Ryan McMahon will be experienced seniors. Along with Darius Perry and Malik Williams having another summer under Mack’s system, you can expect them to be coming into next fall as improved, seasoned veterans.
Along with a top 5 recruiting class coming in, this next Louisville Basketball squad figures to be loaded with talent.
Here’s a full breakdown of all the rankings for Louisville that we’ve found so far:
Sports Illustrated (Jeremy Woo): 15th
Jon Rothstein: 10th
It no doubt has been a tough few years for Louisville Basketball fans, but rest assured, there’s a lot to be excited about with the future.
Louisville will have two things that it hasn’t had in a couple years now, lots of talent and depth at nearly every position, and that’s exactly why nearly every analyst figures Louisville to at least be a contender next season.