Louisville Basketball: WKU & SIU expected to join ‘Louisville Bubble’

After it was announced that UNC-Greensboro, Winthrop & Duquesne were committing to playing in the ‘Louisville Basketball Bubble’, it is expected that Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois will be joining as well.

According to Stadium Basketball Insider Jeff Goodman, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois are expected to join the ‘Louisville Basketball Bubble.’

On Wednesday, it was announced that UNC-Greensboro, Winthrop and Duquesne all committed to playing in Louisville, bringing the total of teams up to six now including the Cards.

Back in September, Chris Mack went to Twitter when proposing and introducing this “bubble” idea for college basketball and mentioned how Louisville would be hosting a non-conference bubble with 8-12 teams. With six spots already filled, it is expected that at least two more programs will be added to this round-robin type field.

Western Kentucky is a team a lot of Louisville fans expected to see on the Card’s schedule again this year as a result of COVID-19 restrictions limiting travel in collegiate athletics this season. The Hilltoppers are coming off a 20-10 (13-5) season in Conference-USA where they finished T-2 in the regular season and were set to be the #2 seed in the C-USA tournament before its eventual cancellation.

WKU is arguably the second-best team behind the Cards in this six team field so far as they return four double-digit scorers from a season ago, including junior and NBA Draft prospect Charles Bassey at center. Bassey is one of the best centers in college basketball as he averaged 15.3 PPG, 9.2 RPG and 1.6 BPG during the regular season last year. They are not the best shooting team in the field, but are definitely a very athletic and balanced team as they battled Louisville in Nashville last season, ultimately losing 71-54.

Southern Illinois out of the Missouri Valley Conference is another team to keep an eye on during the ‘Louisville Bubble.’ The Salukis enter the 2020-21 season after finishing 16-16 (10-8) a season ago and lost in the second-round of the MVC Tournament. SIU only returns two starters from a season ago, one of which being 6’6” wing Marcus Domask who averaged 13.6 PPG and shot 39.7% from 3PT. Southern Illinois ranked 99th in KenPom’s Adjusted Defensive Rating matrix last season.

Any of these five opponents will provide a challenge to Chris Mack’s Louisville team and help them out in a certain area down the road. Perhaps the biggest test in this field will come if the Cards take on the Hilltoppers just because of the Hilltoppers athleticism and low-post threat in Bassey. Expect to hear about a few more teams being added to this bubble before November 1st.