Louisville Cardinals: Predicting the biggest storylines of 2020

Louisville Cardinals athletics are coming off of a successful 2019, but there could be a ton in store for 2020. Here are a few potential headlines for the year to come.

Reminiscing on the 2019 Louisville Cardinals athletics season that was will always be an odd one.

On one hand, the athletic department had a ton of overall success as a group. Many teams like men’s golf, field hockey, softball, and volleyball had their best seasons in school history.

Other programs are slated to continue their winning ways. Swimming and diving, track and field, cross country, women’s golf, and other sports are dominant year in and year out. That’s what is expected in Louisville.

But when it comes to the major sports, it still feels like there’s a lot left to be written.

Louisville saw improvement across the board, but often lacked the punch it needed in the biggest moments, drawing so close to big-time success that one could taste it.

But perhaps in 2020, a lot of the narrative of rebuilding changes and the Cardinals return to the dominance that was expected early in the 2010’s.

Here are some major storylines that fans could see in 2020.

Louisville basketball wins the ACC, goes to tenth final four

Yeah, yeah, you’re upset about the loss to Kentucky to end 2019. It stings, maybe more than the rest of the losses in the John Calipari era given just how good this team is.

But that’s the point. Louisville will rebound from its two losses in the non-conference, and it will have to. The Cardinals are set to play at least five more games against ranked teams before the postseason, and those challenges will serve to make them a stronger team come March.

If the Cardinals continue to get contributions from their backcourt, they are still one of the front-runners to cut down the nets in Atlanta in 2020.

Though they may not ultimately win the who shebang, it’s hard to see them flaming out earlier than the elite eight or even the final four.

Louisville women’s basketball follows suit, wins conference title

Though they have been challenged midway through the season, the Louisville women’s basketball team is once again positioned to make a deep run in the postseason.

That all starts by winning the ACC again, and the Cardinals have the weapons to do so.

Though Louisville lost Asia Durr from last year’s run, Dana Evans and Jazmine Jones have more than made up for what the Cards were lacking. The Louisville back court brings heart and energy to the floor, while their newcomers Elizabeth Balogun and Elizabeth Dixon, as well as true freshman Norika Konno, are a great balance of youth with experience and skill with athleticism.

The Cardinals frontcourt is among the best in the country. Bianca Dunham and Kylee Shook have taken their games up a notch in their increased roles, and are a big reason why the Cards boast a No. 3 RPI.

Louisville will face challengers in NC State, Florida State, and Miami, but overall, they are the heavy favorites to win the ACC again. They have already taken down what looked to be an undefeatable Oregon team and withstood the challenge of a likely top-three seed in Kentucky.

Of all the preemptive headlines one could write of the 2020 Louisville athletics year to come, this is perhaps the biggest lock. The Louisville women are too good not to get it done again and make a deep run in March.

Cardinals baseball goes to the World Series… Again

Maybe this time they go all the way.

Although the Cardinal nine hasn’t fared well overall in Omaha, getting there has become old hat since the arrival of head coach Dan McDonnell.

Five trips to Nebraska in eleven years, and guess what? Louisville is No. 1 in the preseason poll from Collegiate Baseball News. Sun rises. Sun sets.

The Cardinals bring back preseason All-Americans Reid Detmers and Michael Kirian on the mound, preseason All-American Alex Binelas at the plate, and a host of returning veterans.

There are bound to be a number of obstacles in the way, like the brutal ACC schedule and always difficult rivalry games against Vanderbilt, Indiana, and Kentucky- but that has not stopped the Cardinals often over the last six years.

Louisville football springs its biggest upset in years

It’s tough to predict a big-time run or even a conference championship when one of the most dominant teams in the last decade rules your conference division.

However, Louisville was the second-best team in the ACC Atlantic in 2019, and arguably a top three ACC team overall.

The Cardinals beat ranked Virginia handily and hung 62 on ranked Wake Forest on the road this season, and that seems like it could only be the beginning.

Louisville travels to Death Valley to battle the death star next season and will once again get a chance to challenge Notre Dame. They host Wake, Virginia Tech, and NC State, who all figure to be at least as good as their 2019 selves.

The Cardinals are likely to drop at least a few games next season given roster turnover. However, they are going to be under Scott Satterfield in year two. Another year under new coaching staff culture, another year of experience and installing a full playbook, and another chance at cracking the code that is Louisville’s ACC schedule.

But this is a prediction of 2020’s biggest Louisville storylines and with all due respect to the rest of Louisville’s schedule, a gargantuan upset could only occur against two teams: Clemson and Notre Dame.

While overcoming the challenge of Notre Dame would be much less daunting, don’t count out a Clemson upset.

The Cards are going to catch the Tigers in the early season, and in a similar match-up with North Carolina early in 2019, a game with the Tar Heels went down to the last play.

Louisville’s best chance of pulling a head-turning upset in 2020 could happen in week one and, well, that’d be a hell of a way to start of the decade.