Louisville basketball drew the 8-seed, and the Cardinal's path to the Final Four is a nightmare.
Louisville is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years. Pat Kelsey and his squad secured an impressive resume, as Louisville won 21 of their last 23 games, including wins over Clemson and North Carolina, a berth in the ACC Tournament finals, and multiple records broken, but the committee wasn't impressed.
The Cardinals will play Creighton this Thursday in the South region. Louisville basketball fans are thrilled to be dancing again, but fans thought their seed would be much higher than an 8-seed. Louisville basketball fans are trying to balance their excitement with pure anger.
The Louisville basketball program has won two National Championships, as their 2013 Championship was taken away, and Pat Kelsey and his Cardinals will look to have one of the best Cinderella stories of March Madness history.
5 immediate observations from Louisville basketball's March Madness draw
So, here are five immediate observations from Louisville basketball's March Madness draw.
5. Louisville basketball gets disrespected
The first glaring observation is the Cardinals get disrespected by the committee. The Cardinals fans need an explanation immediately for this seeding, as even Pat Kelsey was visually confused on TV when he heard Louisville's name called.
Louisville basketball reached the ACC Tournament finals for the first time in program history, but apparently, that wasn't enough. The Cardinal's 8-seed is blatantly disrespectful. The Cardinals secured two wins over Clemson, and yet somehow, the Tigers are a 5-seed, and the Cardinals are an 8-seed.
Louisville basketball has a NET ranking of No. 23, which should line them up around that 5-seed or 6-seed range, but Louisville lands an 8-seed. The Cardinal's robbery now makes their path to the Final Four insanely hard, as the Louisville region is loaded with talent.
4. Louisville's nightmare path
The Cardinals will have a brutal path to the Final Four, as their region is loaded.
So, this South region is stacked. Louisville will have to go up against Creighton in the first round, who will be no easy opponent. Creighton is 24-10 this season, with a 15-5 Big East record. The Blue Jays average 75.2 points per game, and their leading scorer, Ryan Kalkbrenner, averages 19.4.
If the Cardinals can escape the Blue Jays, they will most likely find themselves playing the No. 1 overall seed, the Auburn Tigers. The Cardinal's brutal draw of an 8-seed sets them up for a gruesome path to the Sweet Sixteen.
Rounding out this region is brutal for the Cardinals. The Big 10 champs, Michigan Wolverines, are the No. 5 seed, and then the No. 2 seed is the Wolverine's rival, Michigan State. Iowa State is the No. 3 seed, and Texas A&M is the No. 4 seed.
3.Louisville basketball gets home court advantage
The Cardinals got disrespected, but at least they will have home court advantage. Louisville basketball will be playing in Lexington, Ky., from the Rupp Arena.
The Cardinals faithful will have to show out and make these first couple of games a KFC Yum! Center 2.0. The Center and Rupp Arena are just an hour drive, so it is hard to imagine the Cardinals faithful will not make the drive.
Louisville basketball's first two rounds will be in Lexington, Ky., making that potential second-round matchup a massive home-court advantage if Auburn and Louisville can escape that first-round.
2. ACC grabs four teams
The argument for Louisville's seed is that the ACC isn't as strong immediately goes out the window when North Carolina snuck in the Big Dance. The Cardinal's resume is way too strong for this team to be an 8-seed. Louisville basketball was predicted to be a 5-6-seed according to over 100 experts, per Basketball Matrix.
The ACC had a bad year; that is no secret, but to put North Carolina in and disrespect the Cardinals doesn't make any sense. Louisville's brand name doesn't have the same ring to it to the national media, but the Cardinals are clearly a better team than their seed tells them.
The four ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament include Duke (1-seed), Clemson (5-seed), Louisville (8-seed, and North Carolina (11-seed). The Cardinals defeated Clemson twice this season, once in regular season, and once in ACC Tournament, and defeated UNC early in ACC play.
1. Quick preview vs Creighton
The Creighton BlueJays went 24-10 in their regular season, with a 15-5 Big East record. The BlueJays were the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament and were bounced by the Big East champions, St. John's.
Creighton's leading scorer is Ryan Kalkbrenner, as he averages 19.4 points per game, with 8.8 rebounds, while shooting 65.5 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. The Blue Jay's best win on the season is over Marquette, who is the No. 7 seed in the South region.
The Bluejays have an 8-7 record against Quad 1 teams. These teams have a similar style of play, as both teams average 9.4 threes per game.