Louisville basketball renews its long-time rivalry with Memphis this weekend, their first meeting since the 2017-18 season. The teams have played 90 times, with Louisville holding a 54-36 record against the Tigers.
While it is hard to fast-forward to March and April, with Louisville 8-1 and the Cardinals' two wins over AP top-25 teams, Pat Kelsey has this team toward the top of NCAA Tournament projections. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is one of the most well-known bracketologists, and he dropped Louisville in the seeds after their loss to Arkansas, but he just gave college basketball fans the game everyone has wanted.
Related: Louisville basketball fans’ dream matchup shut down for next season
Louisville fans might get their dream matchup in March Madness
While it would be fun to see Louisville and Kentucky meet again in March, the Wildcats have had a disastrous start. Kentucky is now 6-4 and projected as a No. 9 seed, making it feel like that scenario is out the window. However, Lunardi just predicted a new scenario that would set Louisville up with St. John’s in the second round.
The Cardinals and the Red Storm were trying to play a game this season, but the schedule didn’t align with Louisville’s, Josh Heird stated. Kelsey has made it clear he wants to play the game. While the two teams try to find a year it would work to get Pitino back in Louisville, Lunardi is projecting the Cardinals to face their former head coach in Philadelphia in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
College basketball fans would love to see Rick Pitino face the Cardinals after all these years. Pitino recently squashed off beef with the Cardinals on a recent podcast when he stated he had nothing wrong with Louisville.
"I had a lot of problems with the University of Louisville,"Pitino stated on Rothstein's podcast. "There are certain things that I will never forgive that they did, but that has nothing to do with the present administration at the University of Louisville because the people that I was upset about are no longer on the board of trustees.”
There is, of course, a lot of time left in this season, but college basketball fans would have a field day with Pitino and the Cards meeting up in the NCAA Tournament. Lunardi projects Louisville to be the No. 4 seed and St. John’s to be the No. 5 seed.
Pitino, of course, was one of the best coaches in Louisville history during his 16 seasons, with a 416-143 record with the Cardinals and an earned 2013 National Title before it was vacated. He has not coached against Louisville since he got fired from the program, but with the University and the Hall of Fame coach on good terms, it is the matchup fans are dreaming of.
For all the latest news and updates for Louisville basketball, stay tuned.