Louisville basketball remained undefeated after the second week of the college basketball season. The Cardinals' dominant start of the 2025-26 season has, of course, been highlighted with their massive win in the Battle of the Bluegrass over Kentucky, giving them one of the best wins of the season so far.
Louisville and Kentucky both have the No. 5 highest odds to win the 2026 National Title at the moment, making this win a significant start to the season. The Wildcats were ranked No. 9 last week, while Louisville was ranked No. 12, giving the Cardinals a crucial top 10 win to start the season. The Cards sit at 4-0 entering week three of the college basketball season, and with the AP Polls coming out this afternoon, the Cardinals are expected to take a significant jump into the top 10.
College basketball saw some thrilling games this week, so let's break it down and see where exactly Louisville fans can expect the Cardinals to move up to.
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Projecting Louisville's ranking in week three AP Poll after several ranked games
College basketball had its best week of the season so far, as it had six rank-vs-rank matchups, including six top 25 teams losing, and five top 15 teams losing. The action-packed week was highlighted by two upsets, No. 12 Louisville defeating No. 9 Kentucky, and No. 14 Illinois upsetting No. 11 Texas Tech. Additionally, No. 2 Purdue beat No. 8 Alabama, No. 5 Arizona defeated No. 15 UCLA, No. 3 UConn defeated No. 7 BYU, and No. 1 Houston beat No. 22 Auburn.
So, for the Cardinals, they were ranked No. 11 to start the season, dropped to No. 12 before their win over Kentucky with 856 votes, but after a massive week, Louisville eyes a big jump in the AP Poll. The Cards saw four teams lose in front of them, making it seem like Louisville should at the minimum move up to No. 8. However, Florida currently sits in front of them at No. 10 and with their loss to Arizona to start the season they are 3-1 currently, and with Louisville's massive win over Kentucky the Cardinals should jump the Gators in the rankings.
The top five will likely consist of Houston, Purdue, UConn, Duke, and Arizona. It is hard to see any of that change. Then it will come down to whether Louisville moves up to as high as No. 6 and jumps a Michigan team that hasn't played up to expectations, as they beat Wake Forest 85-84 in overtime and beat TCU 67-63. With the way Louisville has dominated their four wins, and their massive win, we are going to predict that Louisville will jump all the way up to No. 6 in the AP Poll rankings this afternoon and surpass the Michigan Wolverines.
The Cardinals have a better win, while averaging the third-most points per game in college basketball. Louisville averages 103 points per game currently and has the sixth-best strength of record according to ESPN, ranking No. 4 in their BPI ranking. It wouldn't be shocking if the Cardinals are ranked No. 7 this afternoon, but upon examining their resume, style points, stats, and tape, we predict Louisville to be ranked No. 6.