Six bold predictions for Louisville basketball in 2019-2020

Jacob Lane: Louisville beats Virginia twice in 2019-2020

To say that Louisville has struggled to beat Tony Bennett and Virginia would be the understatement of the century. In fact, as I’m sure you’re aware, Louisville is 1-9 over the last five years against Virginia since joining the ACC back in 2013-2014 with the only win coming in the final seconds’ thanks to an unlikely Mangok Mathiang jumper.

Along the way there have been plenty of close calls as Louisville has been competitive in just about every single matchup, including during the 2017-18 season under David Padgett and last year in Chris Mack’s first season. We all, unfortunately, remember 2017-18, a game in which Louisville had complete control from tip-off up until the last second shot before falling at the buzzer on an incredible game-winner from De’Andre Hunter.

You might also recall both of the close matchups with Virginia last season as the Cards had leads in both games before collapsing in the second half. It was a “different day, same story” type of year in 2018-19 against Virginia as the Cards showed incredible competitiveness and the talent needed to knock off the eventual National Champions, but as we’re all too familar with they couldn’t close it out.

In the first matchup, Louisville went bezerk from three in the first half going 10 of 16 only to 2 of 17 the rest of the way and fall 64-52. In the second game once again Louisville got off to a hot start, building a comfortable lead before collapsing late as they did in plenty of other games on the season.

This season will be different.

While Virginia is expected to take a step back in the ACC after losing Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter, and Kyle Guy from last season’s team – by no means will they be a cakewalk for any team, especially Louisville.

But with six players returning from last year’s roster who went through the ups and downs of playing against Virginia before ultimately dropping both contests – my guess is they’ve had enough.

It won’t be a Rick Pitino type of deal for Coach Mack, meaning there won’t be any more emphasis put on Virginia than another ACC team but you best believe that this year’s squad will want revenge for the struggles of the Cardinals over the last five seasons.

I’d be willing to bet we’ll see a motivated, determined, and focused team in both matchups against Virginia, that plays smart, heady basketball unphased by Virginia’s pack-line defense. They know they’ll be given opportunities for deep three’s early in the shot clock, but unlike last season and the four before, they won’t play out of their game.

Instead, they’ll play within themselves, take good care of the ball, and look to exploit the matchups they’ll possess in the post with Steven Enoch and Malik Williams as well as on the wing with Jordan Nwora.

Returning starter Mamadi Diakite and reserves Braxton Key and Jay Huff will continue to present a challenge, especially on the defensive end but it won’t matter as Lousiville will take both games in the season on way to clinching the number one seed in the ACC by seasons end.

Louisville is in the midst of rewriting their incredible comeback story behind Chris Mack and if they are going to make a deep Final Four caliber run, they’ll have to start by tackling the skeletons in their closet like Virginia.