Louisville Cardinals Just a year ago it was the saddest team in men's college basketball. Kenny Payne's miserable head coaching tenure reached Rockbottom in several consecutive seasons of basketball in the program's history, with as many traditions as cards. In 2022-23, Louisville opened the season with a loss of Belarmin, Wright Street and Appalachian Cent. They went 2-18 at the ACC and finished 4-27 overall. Last season wasn't that good. Louisville finished 8-24 with the ACC 3-17.
Payne was fired after the season and was eventually replaced by Charleston University coach Pat Kelsey. Kelsey wasn't the first choice on the cardhowever, with his infection energy, up-tempo attacks and consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, Cardinals fans hoped for a future. Without anything else, it could not have been worse.
Kelsey's tenure hit a snag in his second game when his card was routed at 20 points against the fantastic Tennessee team. But then the head coach stabilized the ship and helped ultimately make Louisville one of the pleasant stories of college basketball season.
Wisconsin transfer Chucky Hepburn has made a huge leap and has become one of the best security guards in the country. James Madison has also grown forward to the third team All-ACC, a much-needed addition to the portal, Terrence Edwards, which has also led to hype. And Kelsey? Well, all he did was earn ACC Coach of the Year honors over Duke's John Shayer.
Louisville finished 18-2 in the ACC and 27-7 overall. Before losing to Duke, I went all the way to the title game of the ACC Tournament. If this wasn't the best Louisville team Rick Pitino has seen since leaving town, it would have been close. The atmosphere was sky high until the NCAA Selection Committee unveiled the 2025 Men's NCAA Tournament Bracket.
Louisville gets an 8, amazing. low. And the huge first round game vs Clayton.
– Pat Forde (@bypatforde) March 16, 2025
Louisville as 8 is very disrespectful
– Andre Dawkins (@dre_dawkins) March 16, 2025
There are 1 billion mock brackets https://t.co/bszewaz2ct. Two total of Louisville was predicted to be eight seeds. We predicted that twice as many numbers would be four seeds.
It's still blown away.
– Mike Rutherford (@cardchronicle) March 16, 2025
Guys we can slow this a bit I haven't stopped laughing at 8 seed Louisville yet
– MorrisonCrying (@morrisoncrying) March 16, 2025
UNC has arrived, Louisville is 8 seeds! ? ! It's not surprising @ncaa I want Congress to regulate that.
– Morgan McGarvey (@morganmcgarvey) March 16, 2025
Louisville 8 seed. It's hard to believe on your resume, efficiency metrics, polls and common sense, but that's still true.
The Cardinals were the sixth species in our final parentheses projection. The final predictions for ESPN were Louisville as a 6 seed, and we were able to find many projections with them as a 5 seed. Louisville had a good case against the No. 5 or No. 6 seed, even before going to the ACC Tournament Championship Game. Was the committee paying attention to its implementation? Hypothetically, was it factored even by their seedling that defeated Duke without the injured Cooper Flag, or was the committee already in mind?
It is available in the latest AP voting 13th place in Louisville. In the coach's poll, there is Cardinals ranked 11th. However, Louisville was 29th when the full seed list for the NCAA Tournament was announced.
Louisville has also been highly praised for its efficiency metrics, taking 23rd place in Kenpom, 23rd place in the online rankings and 19th place in Tovik. The team noted that at least two seed lines are high. Instead, the number one seed on the field, Auburn Tigers are waiting for 32 rounds if the card can get there.
Louisville as Louisville means that the committee had 29-32 somewhere on the seed list.
There are literally no less low metrics on their team sheet. pic.twitter.com/bhvljaaal0
– Mike Rutherford (@cardchronicle) March 16, 2025
Louisville will hold a tournament against a very good Clayton team who has just gone to the Big East Tournament Championship Game. The Blue Jays have a fifth-year superstar with Ryan Calkbrenner and feel a bit unseeded. The fact that a powerful Auburn team is waiting for the winner is just cruel.
For astonishing as Louisville seed is depicted, this is also a rough draw for Auburn. Why should the No. 1 seed play team No. 13 in the 32-round poll?
There is one silver lining for Louisville bracket placement, but it's not a trivial run. The Cardinals begin their marching madness at the Lap Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. It is usually enemy territory for Louisville fans, but for a few hours, cardinal sed is everywhere.
There is no guarantee that Louisville will beat Clayton. Heck, I chose Blue Jay in my instant bracket prediction. But the cards are basically playing home games up to Sweet 16, which is a big deal.
Louisville has given a better value from the Select Committee, but there is still an opportunity to prove himself in the NCAA Tournament. After the disasters of the previous two seasons of the program, that's what you can ask for.
