Louisville basketball is set to take on the Miami Hurricanes this weekend in the Cardinals' final regular-season game. Louisville is currently sitting 21-9 on the season and is out of the AP Polls for the first time this season.
The Cardinals entered the season with high expectations as they had one of the best odds to win the National Title after they brought in Mikel Brown Jr., Ryan Conwell, Isaac McKneely, and Adrian Wooley. However, the season hasn’t gone as many hoped, and now, with Selection Sunday just a little over a week away, Cardinals fans are beginning to relive the nightmare from last year's Selection Sunday and wonder if they are about to have a similar experience.
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Louisville basketball’s résumé has fans fearing another Selection Sunday nightmare
After Louisville had three straight losing seasons, including the two previous seasons when they earned a combined 12 wins, Pat Kelsey took this program to the Cardinals' first ACC Championship game and back to March Madness in his first year. Louisville ended the regular season on a nine-game win streak and won 19 of its last 20 games entering the ACC Tournament.
Louisville went on to win off a Chucky Hepburn buzzer beater over Stanford, and beat Clemson in the semifinals, punching their ticket to their first ACC Championship game in program history. The Cardinals fell to Duke, but many experts and fans were confident this team would be seeded as a 5 or 6-seed. Then the nightmare happened.
The Cards were robbed and given an 8-seed, even though they were ranked No. 10 in the nation in the AP Poll. Louisville’s seed was the biggest surprise of the NCAA Tournament, and now a year later, many are thinking the Cards can relive a similar nightmare.
Similar to last year, Louisville is winless in Quad 1A games at the moment, as the Cardinals didn't secure their first Quad 1A win since the conference tourney semifinals, when they defeated Clemson. Today, Louisville sits 0-8 in Quad 1A games, 0-6 against the current ranked teams, 0-4 against ranked teams on the road, 3-7 on the road, and 1-7 against teams with above .500 records on the road.
Right now, it once again feels like Louisville is trending toward a 6-seed, but some have the Cardinals as a 7-seed. However, with a similar record in Quad 1A games, some Cardinals fans and college basketball experts are beginning to wonder if Louisville is trending in the direction of being “shockingly under-seeded” again.
Saturday is a huge game for Louisville to end on a high note and to earn the Cardinals' first Quad 1A game. Louisville would then be the No. 6 seed and, if they win their first game, face Miami again in the ACC Tournament, avoiding Duke until the semifinals.
Only time will tell what seed the Cardinals will be, and with Selection Sunday on March 15, Louisville fans won’t have to wait that much longer. Many believe the Cards are on a path to be a 6-seed, but if last year tells us anything, the Cardinals might have another Selection Sunday nightmare
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