Pat Kelsey and his Louisville Cardinals have one of the best off-seasons in program history. The Cardinals have brought three top-18 targets from the transfer portal, including 5-star prospect Adrian Wooley.
Louisville basketball is expected to be one of the top dawgs next season as the Cards have the sixth-best odds to win the 2026 National Championship, according to FanDuel. Kelsey's massive commitment from the 5-star point guard Mikel Brown Jr. is the glaring reason this Cardinals team is expected to take an enormous jump from Louisville's first-round exit last season.
The Cardinals are seeking their first NCAA Tournament win since 2019 and their first appearance in an NCAA Tournament Championship game since 2013. Fans and Vegas oddsmakers expect the Cardinals to be a legitimate title contender next season. However, ESPN's bracketologist Joe Lunardi put out his way-too-early 2026 NCAA Tournament prediction, and the Louisville nation will not be pleased.
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Joe Lunardi pours cold water on Louisville basketball's National Title hype train
Last season, the Cardinals were primarily projected to be between a 5-seed and a 7-seed. It was a lock that they would be a 6-seed, especially after beating the Clemson Tigers, making history, and reaching the Cardinals' first ACC Tournament Championship game.
Louisville had a terrific regular season, finishing second in the ACC, and fans were excited to be back in the Big Dance. However, that excitement was short-lived, as Louisville got overlooked and somehow was an 8-seed in March Madness, causing fans to be furious.
Well, Lunardi thinks this will happen again. In his way-too-early 2026 NCAA Tournament prediction, he placed the Cardinals as the No. 5 seed in the Midwest region. The Cardinals are in nearly every expert's way-too-early top 10 rankings and are even ranked as high as No. 5 in some.
Louisville was the first team to be ranked in the final AP Poll's top 10 entering the Big Dance, but fell to the 8-seed. Lunardi's prediction gives the same vibe. Everyone is high on Kelsey's Cardinals and is ranked somewhere in the expert's top 10, but Lunardi drops the Cardinals to a 5-seed, implying they are not a top 10 team but a top 20 team.
The Cardinals have the sixth-best odds of winning the National Championship for a reason. Louisville will have one of the deepest rosters in the nation and will be one of the best 3-point shooting teams. The Cardinals' three additions from the portal, Wooley, Isaac McKneely, and Ryan Conwell, all shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc and made 75 3-pointers or more last season.
Louisville also brought back two key starters, J'Vonne Hadley and Kasean Pryor, and landed two massive commitments from Brown and the 6-foot-11 forward Sananda Fru.
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Lunardi's No. 1 seeds include Purdue, Houston, St. John's, and Duke. Some teams worth noting that are also ahead of the Cardinals include Kentucky, Ohio State, Arizona, BYU, UCLA, and others.
Kelsey and his Cardinals are already getting some disrespect ahead of the 2025-26 season, but Louisville will wait and just let the game do the talking, and just have it all play out.