Louisville basketball has eight games remaining of the season, and they currently are 17-6 and have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Louisville basketball has won by a total of 300 points, which is by an average of 17.7 points per game and they are scoring an average of 79 points per game. They have five players averaging 10 points or more per game in Chucky Hepburn (15.0), Terrence Edwards Jr. (14.1), Reyne Smith (13.7), J'Vonne Hadley (12.3), and Kasean Pryor (12).
Cardinals have the easiest schedule remaining in all of College basketball according to Erik Haslam and Aaron Smith. They have a path to enter March Madness as one of the hottest teams in College basketball. So, will the Cardinals rise to the occasion, or will they have an all-time collapse?
Let's take a deep-dive, as we lay out the best and worst case scenario, as long with our predictions.
Worst-case scenario: Final record 20-11, ACC record 13-7
The worst case scenario would be Chucky Hepburn injury is more than we think, and he misses games, and Cardinals lose to weaker opponents. Cardinals fans saw vs Georgia Tech anything is possible in league play, but if Louisville has to play without their star guard, it is very possible they fall a couple upcoming games.
Cardinals final three games of their regular season are their toughest opponents in Cal, Stanford and Pitt. Cardinals collapse in these final three games, and could lead to having to win the ACC Tournament for an NCAA bid. After falling a game or two without Chucky Hepburn and then losing two of three to end the year Cardinals season ends in a dramatic collapse.
Best-case scenario: Final record 25-6, ACC record 18-2
On the contrary, Louisville basketball finds out Chucky Hepburn injury is not serious, he is back in action vs Miami and the Cardinals win out. This honestly isn't just possible, but highly plausible. Cardinals have the easiest schedule in Power four conferences, and play at home five of their remaining eight games. They end the season on a three game home streak, beat the Panthers, Cardinals and Golden Bears and head into ACC Tournament as one of the hottest teams.
Cardinals secure the two seed in the ACC, secure the bye, and don't have to worry about Duke until ACC Championship. Pat Kelsey is known to have program breaking win streaks, and has won 68% of his career games. Cardinals combine opponents record in ACC is 34-58.
Louisville basketball continues this dominant streak and ends their season on a nine game win streak and wins 19 of their last 20 games.
Prediction: Final record 23-7, ACC record 17-3
Realistically, it is possible this Cardinals team does go the rest of the way with a loss, however, Louisville might just slip up one game. It is unlikely this Pat Kelsey team loses multiple games in this easy schedule but one mental collapse is possible to a Stanford or Pitt.
Cardinals will finish 23-7 in regular season and 17-3 in the ACC. They will be the two-seed in the ACC Tournament and be a top six seed in March Madness after they secure a birth in the ACC Tournament Championship with Duke.