2. Louisville’s struggles against good teams
One of the stories of Louisville’s 2025-26 season is its struggle against quality opponents. The Cardinals are 1-7 against ranked opponents entering the NCAA Tournament, and are 1-9 in Quad 1A games. Those records aren’t necessarily a recipe for a Final Four run, and if Louisville wants to beat Michigan State in the round of 32 and UConn in the Sweet Sixteen, they must find a way to play more physical basketball.
The Cards' season has been summarized by the fact that they can beat the teams they are supposed to beat, but on the road or against a ranked opponent, Louisville hasn’t found the recipe for success. In Louisville’s games against ranked opponents, they have lost by an average of 14 points and have trailed by quite a bit in the majority of those games.
Louisville will need to get hot from beyond the arc, as we stated in our last point, get paint touches, and play physical basketball against these good teams. Louisville showed it can play physical in the ACC Tournament, especially against Miami, but now they will have to take it to the next notch in this loaded region.