Simulation places Louisville basketball in theoretical national title game

Louisville basketball’s 2019-20 season will never be played out in real life, but this simulation has the Cards in the championship game.

It may not be what fans had hoped for from the beginning, but perhaps this is the next best thing for Louisville basketball.

This week, we wrote about the simulation that had the Cardinals in the Final Four in Atlanta, pitted against a tough, offensive-minded Gonzaga team.

On Saturday, the account 2020 NCAA TOURNAMENT SIMULATION (@NCAAsim2020) tweeted out updates as their carefully crafted simulation kept Cards fans on pins and needles.

Even some of the players were invested in the end results.

The simulation was pretty true to reality. Louisville showcased its dominance on both ends of the floor as it got out to a 10-point halftime lead and stretched the margin to 18 with 14 minutes left to play.

But, as many Cards fans have become far too accustomed to, Gonzaga went on a run of its own to narrow the gap with only a few minutes left.

Louisville led by 5 with 2:19 left, and the Tweets stopped rolling in, causing Cards fans some anxiety. In the end, however, Louisville pulled out the simulated victory to head to the national championship game against overall No. 1 seed Kansas.

Dwayne Sutton led the way with 17 and Steven Enoch used a big-time second half to give the Cards the separation they needed.

It’s obviously not anywhere close to the real thing, but it’s still fun to know that had the season played out in its entirety that Louisville probably had as good of a shot as any to go on a run.

Now, Cards fans can follow along on Twitter as the account live tweets starting at 7:00 PM on Monday night.

A match-up against Kansas would provide a tough test for the Cards, but it feels like Louisville would have the upper-hand at the wing positions with Nwora, Sutton, and Williamson.

Frank Mason III is a crafty guard that presents a sizeable challenge for David Johnson and Fresh Kimble, and Kansas big man Udoka Azubuike would be a fun match-up to watch against Steven Enoch and Malik Williams down low.

Overall, every simulation has been a nail-biter, and this one will probably not be an exception to the rule.

Let’s see if the Cards can bring one home and take some sort of solace in a season that left us wanting more.