Three and a half weeks away from the exhibition games, five from the official start of the 2012-13 college basketball season.

The prognosticators have been ranking team for months, and the University of Louisville always appears to be No. 1 or No. 2. Among the more recent and most credible sources is Lindy’s which has the Cardinals ranked No. 1 in the pre-season. Their take, now at your nearest newsstand:

Keep it in Kentucky, paint it Red and Black

Rick Pitino’s Cardinals have several potential stars — Peyton Siva, Wayne Blackshear, Chane Behanan, Russ Smith among them — but nobody who really pops. But that core was good enough to get to the Final Four a year ago, and now the addition of George Mason transfer Luke Hancock and freshmen Montrezl Harrell and Terry Rozier make them a relatively — if not super sexy — pick to win it all.

The editors somehow excluded Gorgui Dieng and retained Terry Rozier who never qualified. A throwback to the days of print journalism, when editing miscues lived on forever. Here’s a roundup of the pre-season rankings:

Source Pre-Season Rankings
Lindy’s Louisville, Indiana, Michigan, NC State, Kentucky
Athlon Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse
The Sporting News Indiana, Louisville, Ohio State, Kentucky, Michigan
Jay Bilas, ESPN Louisville, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan
Bleacher Report Indiana, Louisville, Kansas, UCLA
Sports Illustrated Indiana, Louisville, UCLA, Kentucky, NC State
Dick Vitale Louisville, Kentucky, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan
College Basketball Talk, NBC Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, NC State, Ohio State
The Big Lead Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina, Kentucky, NC State
SB Nation Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Florida, Ohio State
Round Ball Direct Louisville, Indiana, Michigan, NC State, UCLA
  • U of L has always gone first class with the annual media guide, among the first to publish hard back books back in the late nineties. This year’s guide is available in digital format on the net (click on photo at right).
  • Two mini season ticket packages for University of Louisville men’s basketball games in the KFC Yum! Center will go on sale on Thursday at 10 a.m.. A seven-game package for $262 includies Dec. 29 vs. Kentucky, Jan. 2 vs. Providence, Jan. 12 vs. USF, Jan. 28 vs. Pittsburgh, Feb. 14 vs. St. John’s, Feb. 23 vs. Seton Hall and March 4 vs. Cincinnati.  A four-game package for $100 includes the Cardinals’ two exhibition games — as well as the Nov. 15 Battle 4 Atlantis opening game against Samford and the Dec. 19 Billy Minardi Classic against Florida International.
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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

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