Not a good thing to close a basketball program down for 19 days. Even worse for it to happen twice in a season. That’s exactly what the University of Louisville basketball team has had to do, right when the team seems to be on a roll.
The odds makers, the people who earn their living betting on sports, still have UofL as a serious contender in the ACC. Louisville is getting +500 to win the ACC Championship according to the current conference title odds. That’s not far behind Florida State which is at +300.
The first pause coming after a 5-0 start and a good win over a Western Kentucky team. Returning 19 days later to have their butts handed to them in a 37-point loss to Wisconsin. The second 19-day break following an impressive 16-point win over a surging Georgia Tech team, easily the most impressive win of the season. Only to receive bad news again from the Covid testers.
No competition for three weeks, but required to go to Chapel Hill. Basketball was back, but the players were not, not even close to being ready. The Cardinals losing by 45 points to North Carolina in one of the worst losses in the program’s history. Two losses by over 35 points by a team with a 16-5 record overall and 7-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Just a week ago, Louisville was considered a shoe-in for the NCAA Tournament, one writer proclaiming, “Barring some sort of catastrophic collapse, Louisville should expect to crack the field of 68.” UofL was ranked No. 34 by the NCAA Evaluation Tool, a metric that the selection committee uses in part when determining the tournament field. The Cardinals plummeting to No. 53 following the loss to the Tar Heels.
The good thing is that UofL, even with those miserable losses, is still in a position to stake a claim to an NCAA Tournament bid. That’s assuming, that it can find ways to win over Duke, Virginia Tech and Virginia, three of the hottest teams in the conference.
Stranger things have happened, but this will continue to an unpredictable season from beginning to end.