The Louisville basketball team is trying to get back to prominence. It's now the Pat Kelsey era after Kenny Payne was let go after two abysmal years. Things could not have been any worse in the last two years. Now, the Cardinals are hoping to get back to the NCAA Tournament.
Winning more than four games this season would be a marked improvement for the Cardinals. Louisville has only won 12 games in the last two seasons combined. They might be able to surpass that win total this year alone. That's especially true looking at their schedule.
The Louisville basketball team had their full schedule for the 2024-25 season released on Tuesday. Looking at the schedule, it's a pretty tough schedule considering both the non-conference and the ACC portion of the schedule. The ACC is just a tough conference.
The Louisville basketball team releases their full schedule
Louisville's non-conference schedule has a few tough games on it. They have to play Tennessee, Ole Miss, Indiana, and Kentucky. They won't be favored in any of those games. Some of the other non-conference games are more winnable, like UTEP, Morehead State, Bellarmine, Winthrop, and Eastern Kentucky.
The Cardinals will struggle to win a lot of games in the ACC. Perhaps some of the new members can give them wins. They do play SMU, Cal, and Stanford. None of those teams are great, but they're also not awful. I expect the Cardinals to win at least four games in the ACC this year.
Winning four games in the ACC this year would be an improvement. Can they make the NCAA Tournament this year? I think that's a stretch. This is an entirely new roster that doesn't have much chemistry yet. I'm not sure they're good enough to win 18-20 games, which is what is needed to make the Big Dance.