Louisville basketball's historic regular season has officially concluded, which means the Cardinals' postseason run starts now.
UofL secured its ninth straight win and its 19th win in its last 20 games as the Cardinals defeated Stanford 68-48 yesterday. The Cardinals ended their regular season 18-2 in the ACC and secured the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament, which begins March 11.
Pat Kelsey's motto all season long has been to focus just on the next game. However, when taking a step back and looking at the whole ACC playoff picture, it is hard for the Cardinals fans not to daydream about how much it favors them.
Louisville basketball's ACC playoff picture is now in complete focus, and the Cardinals have a reasonable path to the ACC Championship game.
The glaring truth of Louisville basketball's ACC playoff picture
Louisville securing the double-bye puts them into the quarterfinals, which means they will need to win just three games to be crowned ACC champs. The Cardinals are 0-2 when they secure a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, but the Cardinals look to rewrite history again.
The Cardinals will have to wait and see who their opponent is, but they know they will play either the No. 10 seed Virginia Tech, No. 15 seed Cal, or No. 7 seed Stanford. The Cardinals are undefeated against all three of those teams, with a 3-0 record.
Louisville just saw all three teams in the last eleven days and saw Cal and Stanford to conclude the regular season. The Cardinals picked up dominant wins over Cal and Stanford and struggled a little against the Hokies in their final road game. UofL just playing these three teams in the past couple of weeks favored the Cardinals immensely in their days off to prepare.
UofL's first game will be on March 13 at 7 p.m. local time on ESPN 2. If Pat Kelsey and his Cardinals can move past the quarterfinals, they will have a berth in the ACC semifinals. The Cardinals' potential semifinal opponents include No. 3 Clemson, No. 6 SMU, No. 11 Florida State, and No. 14 Syracuse. The Cardinals have double-digit victories against all four teams, giving Pat Kelsey and his UofL squad a great chance at making the ACC Tournament Championship.
The semifinal matchup will be on March 14 at 9:30 p.m. local time on ESPN 2. In the upper half of the bracket, the two top seeds include No. 1 Duke and No. 4 Wake Forest. The Cardinals secured a double-digit victory over Wake Forest but lost to Duke.
The ACC Championship will be broadcast on ESPN on March 15 at 8:30 p.m. local time. The Cardinals are looking to win their first-ever ACC Tournament championship and enter the NCAA Tournament on a 12-game winning streak.
So, when looking at this ACC playoff picture, the Cardinals fans are feeling pretty good about reaching the ACC Championship game. No game is easy in March, but with Pat Kelsey's resume, Louisville basketball is in good hands.