The college basketball season is here, and the Louisville Cardinals are back where they belong. After two seasons of winning 12 games in the combine, Pat Kelsey has quickly brought this program back to life. The Cardinals are 3-0 for the first time in five seasons, and recently snapped their three-game losing streak to the Kentucky Wildcats.
Entering the season, many thought Louisville basketball had what it takes to be a Final Four and National Title contender, and after the Cards took down the Cats, their hype is at an all-time high. Louisville has its eyes on the ACC Title as the program came close last year, but was the runner-up to the Duke Blue Devils. Entering the 2025-26 season, the Cardinals have the second-highest odds to win the title, behind none other than Duke.
ESPN recently released an updated version of their Men's college basketball power rankings, and Cardinals fans are going to love it, as their team is ranked where they believe they should be and at the front of the ACC.
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Louisville basketball looks to dethrone Duke this season
The Louisville Cardinals are ranked No. 5 in the ESPN power rankings, which places them as the top-ranked ACC team in these rankings, by a considerable margin. Duke is the next highest-ranked ACC team, at No. 11, followed by UNC at No. 16 and North Carolina State at No. 24. While it is only three games into the season, Louisville being in the top five for the power rankings means many things, but it once again proves this Cardinals team has a legitimate chance to dethrone the Blue Devils this season.
"Louisville's first 28-30 minutes against Kentucky on Tuesday was as impressive a stretch as we've seen from any team this season. The Cardinals simply overwhelmed the Wildcats with their pace, shooting, depth and aggressiveness. And it doubled as Mikel Brown Jr.'s coming-out party. The star freshman finished with 29 points, 5 assists, 3 3-pointers and only 1 turnover, upping his averages to 19.3 points and 6.7 assists through three games."
The Cardinals' ranking of No. 5 in these rankings is a positive sign for Louisville when the AP Polls are released on Monday. Louisville has a good chance to move up quite a bit in the rankings. As of right now, they sit No. 11, but with their win over No. 9 Kentucky, and No. 8 Alabama losing last night to Purdue, and No. 7 BYU and No. 3 UConn playing each other tomorrow night, Louisville will most likely move up to at least No. 8 in the AP rankings.
Louisville and Duke play each other twice this season, and in a span of 20 days. This is going to be a fun rivalry to keep an eye on this season, as Louisville has already proven they are the real deal. Now, they will try to make history and claim their first ACC Title.