Louisville basketball's final game has major ACC and NCAA seeding implications

Louisville basketball must win on Saturday. Here is why.
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Louisville basketball has been one of the most dominant teams in the 2024-2025 season, and the Cardinals have shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Pat Kelsey and his UofL squad have overcome so much adversity, whether it was injuries, or noise from the outside, or whatever it may be, but the Cardinals have just put the pedal to the metal and been all gas. no brakes.

Louisville currently sits at 24-6 on the season and 17-2 in the ACC, and they have gone from one of the sorrier programs in college basketball to now being a shoo-in for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. However, the job isn't finished and Saturday afternoon's home matchup against Stanford will mark the end of this historic regular season but the beginning of the Cardinals' first deep postseason run in a long time.

As much as the Cardinals could use a breather or a mental break, right now is not that time because there is still a lot on the line, whether it is the Cardinals' ACC seeding or their NCAA Tournament seeding.

Possible ACC Tournament Seeding Scenarios

1-seed: Louisville basketball can secure the 1-seed if the Cardinals beat Stanford, and Duke loses Saturday against North Carolina. The full breakdown on how Louisville can win the ACC regular-season title can be found here.

2-seed: Louisville basketball claims the 2-seed if Cardinals defeats Stanford, but Duke also wins Saturday against North Carolina.

3-seed: Louisville basketball secures the 3-seed is Cardinals loses to Stanford, and Clemson and Duke both win on Saturday,

Louisville basketball claims the king of ACC if the Cardinals win and Duke loses, however if Duke wins then Duke is the 1-seed. If the Cardinals win on Saturday, the worst they can be is the 3-seed, if they lose, they need Clemson to lose as well to secure the 2-seed. If Clemson wins and Louisville loses, Tigers secure the 2-seed, if Cardinals win and Clemson wins, Louisville secures the 2-seed because they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Louisville secured a double-bye already and will play on March 13. Cardinals path to the ACC Title can be found here.

ACC Tournament  Seeding and Opponent Possibilities

Louisville basketball will anywhere between the No. 1 and No. 3 seed, if it ended like standings today they are the No. 2 seed.

No. 1 seed path: If UofL ends up being the No. 1 seed they will play either the winner of the No. 8 seed vs No. 9. Due to how close the bottom half, there is no clear point on who this will be but it will either be Georgia Tech, Stanford, Virginia, or Virginia Tech.

No. 2 seed path: If Louisville ends up being the No. 2 seed they will play either the No. 7 seed, No. 10 seed or the No. 15 seed. The bottom half of the standings are all so close it is hard to tell who Louisville will possibly play, but if it ended today No. 7 is Stanford, No. 10 is Virginia Tech, and No. 15 is Cal. All potential teams for these seedings include Notre Dame, Florida State, Pitt, Syracuse, Cal, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and Stanford.

No. 3 seed path: If Louisville drops to the three seed they will play the No. 6 seed, No. 11 seed, or the No. 14 seed. Potential teams for these seedings include Notre Dame, Florida State, Pitt, Syracuse, Cal, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and Stanford.

NCAA Tournament seeding implications

Louisville basketball is currently being projected as a No. 6 seed or No. 7 seed by most, and if Cardinals want to raise that seeding, then they must win on Saturday, and secure a top-two seed in the ACC Tournament.

Securing the 2-seed is huge for the Cardinals NCAA seeding, as Louisville being the second-best team in the ACC, and beating everyone else in the league other than Duke, and Georgia Tech is one that the league can't ignore.

However, if they fall on Saturday they will drop in NCAA seeds, and ACC seeds, and it will put the panic meter on 5 for Cardinals nation.

Louisville basketball looks to claim the ACC regular season title or at least the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament this Saturday against Stanford at 2:00 p.m. local time from KFC Yum! Center.