The biggest “what ifs” in Louisville basketball and football history

What if Louisville didn’t draw matchups with Kentucky in 2012 and 2014?

Could Louisville have two or more National Championships if they didn’t run into Kentucky in both the 2012 and 2014 NCAA Tournaments? Yes, 100 percent, absolutely.

2012 is a completely different animal than 2014, but let’s start there.

That season was supposed to be the “year before the year” and not many believed that Louisville had the ability to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Though Louisville was talented, they had a lot of unknowns entering the season.

Putting together one of his best coaching seasons, Rick Pitino helped a team made up of promising young players and talented, but limited vets, all reach their potential. No one expected a guy like Russ Smith to go from seldom used on the verge of transferring bench warmer, to the team’s second-leading scorer and the heartbeat of the team. No one expected Chris Smith to develop into the glue guy needed to help take the next step. No one thought Kyle Kuric could be the leader of a team, and score in double-digits on a nightly basis.

Louisville went 30-5 on the season, won the Big East championship, and still somehow managed to wind up with a 4 seed with a Final Run seeming unlikely. As the story goes, Louisville wins their first two games before upsetting one seed Michigan  State and two seed Florida, leading to match up with the nation’s top team Kentucky, led by Anthony Davis.

Fast forward two years.

Louisville’s coming off of a season where they ran through the AAC, aside from a few hiccups, win the AAC Championship easily and still somehow land a lower seed than many thought they would. With a solid mix of veterans in Russ Smith, Luke Hancock, Wayne Blackshear, Stephen Van Treese and Montrezl Harrell, along with the number three recruiting class that included Terry Rozier, Louisville was hot at the right time and seemed destined for a chance at winning their second title in two years.

Kentucky, on the other hand, struggled throughout the majority of the season with a young squad and is given an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament. To get to the Sweet 16 they have to first defeat no. 1 seeded Wichita State, who ran the table going 34-0 on the season and found themselves in a matchup that many sounded off on as being unfair.

Kentucky defeats Wichita State, leading to the second matchup in three years between Kentucky and Louisville in the tournament. This after the two teams hadn’t drawn each other in post-season play since 1983 when the rivalry had gone dormant.

For TWENTY NINE YEARS the two programs hadn’t met in a tournament game and somehow with two Louisville teams on the verge of making deep runs, the two programs are matched up TWICE in THREE SEASONS!

In 2012, Louisville really had no chance going up against Anthony Davis and Kentucky, who were on the way to the first John Calipari Championship at Kentucky.

But in 2014, it was a completely different story. That Kentucky team was an eight seed, and again should have never been there.

Shouldn’t Louisville have just beat them to avoid this question five years later? Yes, of course. But the odds were stacked for that matchup to ever take place. Wichita State, the nation’s only undefeated team, should have never had to play Kentucky and if that was the case, the upset of Louisville may not have happened.

I’ve said it plenty of times and I’m not afraid to say it again – the 2013-2014 Louisville team was one of the best in the entire decade and was on the verge of a repeat.