Louisville basketball is set to return to action tomorrow afternoon inside the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals will try to get back in the win column after their recent loss to SMU. Louisville will take on Georgia Tech at 2:15 p.m. local time as the Cardinals are looking to bounce back and end their final five games on a high note.
The Cardinals currently sit 19-7 overall and 8-5 in ACC play, and with games still against North Carolina, Clemson, and Miami, Louisville still has some opportunities to climb in the ACC standings and the NCAA Tournament seedings.
Yesterday, a group of National Media members completed their annual mock selection for the NCAA Tournament, and Cardinals fans would be pleased with where Louisville placed.
Louisville basketball fans will be happy with this NCAA Tournament projection
Selection Sunday is officially under one month away, taking place on Sunday, March 15. The Cardinals, as of today, are ranked No. 21 in the nation, but after their recent loss to SMU, their seeding has already fallen in some updated Bracketology.
However, that wasn't the case in the media's mock selection committee exercise. The Cardinals were ranked No. 20 overall in this mock exercise, putting them as a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Here is the media mock bracket if the season ended today (and Miami U had one loss).
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 20, 2026
Note: The NCAA auto-filled the overall seed list from 21-68, with the exception of our bubble cuts. Definitely a couple teams whose seeds wouldn’t bear out like this in reality. pic.twitter.com/h9Sr9Iivyz
For where Louisville stands right now, the No. 5 seed is favorable, unlike last year, when the Cardinals were robbed and placed as the No. 8 seed. The Cards are still considered a top-20 team in many metrics, even with their 19-7 record, and with three major games left plus the conference tournament, the national media just revealed that Louisville truly has a path to a No. 4 seed, and maybe a No. 3 seed if they can win their first ACC Title.
Bracket Matrix is a well-known website that has all the seedings lined up for college basketball fans, and for Louisville, the Cardinals are an average of a 5-seed in 111 mock brackets, but are as high as a 4-seed and are as low as a 6-seed.
If Louisville can find a way to win out the regular season or at least go 4-1 and earn a couple of big road wins against North Carolina and Clemson, then this team has a path to be even higher than a 5-seed.
Louisville had high expectations entering the 2026 season, and while they haven't lived up to them so far, they are surging at the right time and have huge opportunities ahead to climb these seedings, and the media mock exercise just proved that.
Related: 3 Louisville basketball players with the most to prove in the final 5 games
For all the latest on Louisville basketball's 2025-26 season and recruiting, stay tuned.