Selection Sunday is officially here, and Louisville basketball fans are just hours away from seeing the Cards' path to the Final Four. Louisville finished the regular season 23-10 after the Cardinals were bounced in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament by the Miami Hurricanes.
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After Louisville’s ACC Tournament loss, the Cardinals are likely to be a 6-seed as Bracket Matrix reports Louisville’s average seed across 123 brackets is 6.00. The Cardinals are projected as a 6-seed in both CBS and ESPN’s Bracketology, and in Joe Lunardi’s updated bracket, the Cardinals fans quickly would realize there is a possibility of a huge rivalry showdown in the Sweet Sixteen.
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Louisville is projected to face the winner of Miami (Ohio) and Missouri in the first round of the East region. There are many teams that stand out in the region, like Duke, as the No. 1 seed, which the Cards have faced twice, St. John’s, as the No. 5 seed, which of course is now led by former Cardinals Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino, but the team that stands out the most is the No. 7 seed which is the Kentucky Wildcats.
Louisville and Kentucky are among the best college basketball rivalries, as these two teams and fanbases make it clear they do not like one another. It would take two upsets for the teams to meet, but in March, anything is possible.
Louisville would have to beat the 11-seed winner, then likely beat the 3-seed, who Lunardi projects to be Illinois. As for Kentucky, they are projected to play Santa Clara in the first round, and if they win, they would likely face the No. 2 seed, Iowa State. Both teams have had a few games where they showed a lot of potential, which doesn’t put this rivalry showdown in the Sweet Sixteen out of question.
These two teams already played each other once this year, way back in November, when Mikel Brown Jr. dominated with 29 points and led Louisville to a 96-88 victory over the Wildcats. Louisville and Kentucky have met six times in March, with Kentucky holding a 4-2 edge over Louisville. The first time these two teams met in the NCAA Tournament was in 1913, and the most recent was in 2014, when Kentucky won 74-69, punching its ticket to the Elite Eight.
These two teams have met every season since 1984, with Kentucky leading the series 40-18. The Cardinals and the Wildcats are a rivalry game every college basketball fan would love to see tip off in the Sweet Sixteen. Both are historic programs, and an intense rivalry game in the Sweet Sixteen is exactly what makes March Madness so special.
Louisville will learn its path to the Final Four this evening on CBS at 6 p.m. local time.
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