March basketball is the part of the year that every college basketball fan lives for. It is the best time of the year, and Louisville Cardinals fans are happy to be relevant again.
Louisville basketball will be on its biggest stage in a long time this upcoming week as it battles the best teams in the ACC. The Cardinals officially know their path to the ACC Tournament Championship game, and their quest will begin tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. local time.
The ACC Tournament will have plenty of drama and headlines, but the Cardinals, being the No. 2 seed, are one of the top stories entering the tournament. No one expected this quick turnaround.
The Cardinals' ACC Tournament run will be action-packed and potentially their greatest conference tournament run in program history. Louisville has a 3-8 overall ACC Tournament record, and if the Cardinals want to make history and secure their first ACC Tournament crown, they must play their best basketball.
4 glaring stats prove Louisville basketball will win ACC Tournament title
Louisville basketball has been one of the hottest teams in the country, and they will keep their win streak alive. Here are four glaring stats that prove Louisville basketball will win the ACC Tournament title.
4. The best head coach in the ACC
Pat Kelsey officially earned the ACC Coach of the Year award, which was well deserved. Kelsey was picked to lead this ship due to his capability of building programs, and he has done just that. He brought this program back from the dead, as Louisville had a combined record of 12-52 in the previous two seasons.
The Cardinals ACC record was also 5-45 in those two years. Pat Kelsey has now flipped this program to a level no one can believe. The Cardinals are now 26-5, making the 17-win improvement from last year a new school record for the most significant turnaround in school history. Louisville secured an 18-2 ACC record, which is a new program record for the most ACC wins and conference wins in a regular season.
The whole nation has bought into Pat Kelsey, and Kelsey will be one of the glaring reasons Louisville basketball secures its first ACC Tournament title.
3. The Cardinals lethal shooting
Louisville basketball has the second-most three-pointers made in the ACC. The Cardinals' 299 threes this season are only behind Duke's, which is ranked No. 38 in the nation.
The Cardinals' ability to catch fire from downtown is one of the glaring reasons they are the No. 2 seed. Louisville shoots around 38-percent from beyond the arc, but they make nearly 10 a game, which ranks No. 33 across the country. Louisville has shot the most threes in the ACC, with 899 shots from downtown.
Louisville attempts nearly 30 3-pointers a game, which is among the top 10 in the country. They are led by one of the best sharpshooters, Reyne Smith. The lethal shooter transferred from Charleston with Pat Kelsey and immediately made a legacy for himself.
Smith has quickly become one of the Cardinals' nation's fan favorites. With 104 threes, he has the second most threes made in program history in a season. Smith has the ability to catch fire as he also set the program's record with 10 made three-pointers in a game.
However, he isn't the only shooter on the team. All-ACC guards Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards have recently elevated their shooting to the next level. Hepburn and Edwards are shooting around 35-percent from downtown and have made six or more three-pointers in a game this season.
2. Louisville dominant ACC resume
The Cardinals have won nine straight and 19 of their last 20. Louisville basketball not only wins games but also dominates games. Louisville has won
Louisville basketball has been dominant all season long. They have won 19 games this season by 10 points or more, 10 games by 15 points or more, eight games by 20 points or more, four games by 25 or more, and two games by 30 points or more, and their biggest win of the season was by 48 points.
The Cardinals' differential margin is +10.9 points this year, which ranks them among the top 30 in the country and No. 3 in the ACC. They also did this on the road, as they won 11 games on the road by double digits and won by an average of 16.5 points against ACC teams.
Louisville basketball won 15 games against ACC teams by double digits. The Cardinals won against ACC teams by an average of 15.5 points per game.
1. The Chucky Hepburn effect
Louisville basketball will always have one of the best players in the ACC Tournament. The Cardinals star point guard, Chucky Hepburn, is one of the best two-way players in the country.
Hepburn secured First-Team All-ACC honors and the Defensive Player of the Year for the ACC. The Cardinals guard transferred from Wisconsin and immediately made a name for himself under Pat Kelsey. Hepburn became the first Cardinal to secure the DPOY award since Gorgui Dieng in 2013. The guard from Nebraska leads the ACC in total steals and is ranked No. 9 in the nation.
The Cardinals star point guard averaged 16.3 points, 5.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game while shooting 35 percent from beyond the arc and 44.9 percent from the field.
His assist mark is No. 3 in the ACC and top 20 in the nation. He leads the Cardinals in points per game and has scored 20 points or more in six games, including a career-high 37 points against Pitt.
He also secured eight games with four steals or more, including his season-high seven-steal match against Indiana. Chucky Hepburn is one of the best guards in the country, and if Louisville can make a deep ACC Tournament run, Hepburn will be the main reason for it.