LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The forecast remains The Forecast for the University of Louisville men's basketball team.

That's not going to change until the Cards (5-7) start achieving things few expect: end a 21-game losing streak in true road games, win games they are not projected to win and eliminate the crushing stretches of forced shots and defensive malpractice that pop up in losing performances.

The record shows two respected college basketball analytics sites (Ken Pomeroy and Bart Torvik) forecast 4-16 as Louisville's probable final record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A third site (haslametics.com) lists Louisville as an underdog in its remaining 19 regular-season games.

Here is the rest of the story: Opportunity abounds in the ACC this winter.

As uninspiring as the ACC was last winter, you can argue the league is less imposing this winter.

In his latest upgraded bracketology posted at ESPN.com, Joe Lunardi included four of 15 ACC teams in his projected 68-team field. Those teams are Duke (4-seed), North Carolina (3-seed), Clemson (2-seed) and Virginia (11-seed). Louisville plays that group a total of five games, drawing a home-and-home with only Virginia.

Five leagues, including the Mountain West, are projected to put more teams in the tournament than the ACC. The Southeastern Conference leads the charge with nine.

Pomeroy's formula ranks Michael Jordan's League as only the nation's sixth-strongest conference.

Can Louisville take advantage of the ACC's vulnerability with or without the return of forward J.J. Traynor and freshman center Dennis Evans, who are still dealing with injury issues?

The answer will begin to unfold at 7 p.m. Wednesday when the Cards plunge back into league play by visiting Virginia at John Paul Jones arena in Charlottesville, a venue where Louisville has lost eight times in eight trips.

Louisville needs to do what Notre Dame did.

About a week ago, the Irish were neck-and-neck with the Cardinals as the pick to finish last in the ACC.

The Irish lost to Western Carolina, Georgetown and The Citadel, three teams ranked outside the top 125. Even first-year coach Micah Shrewsbury ripped his squad.

Then Notre Dame survived mighty Marist by four points. And the Irish shocked the world, beating Virginia by 22 points in South Bend. Virginia was favored by 9.5 points.

What happened?

"I just saw Notre Dame make a bunch of jump shots," U of L coach Kenny Payne said. "Some were contested.

"They did a good job, a really good job of driving and passing the ball to each other. They got a bunch of threes (11 of 23).

"It's hard to evaluate (Virginia) by that game because some of those shots that Notre Dame made were tough, tough jump shots."

"They were locked in because they made a lot of shots," Louisville guard Mike James said.

"But on the defensive end they were locked in on the whole 30-second possession, every possession. So if we can do that, I think we can do what (Notre Dame) did."

For Louisville to change the narrative of this season and start making the "deposits," that athletic director Josh Heird said that he wants to see from the program in 2024, the schedule provides an opportunity to split the next four.

Virginia has lost three games by 20 or more. The Cavaliers beat a bad West Virginia team by two. They also won by two against a Northeastern team with a losing record.

Louisville will play its first ACC home game at noon Saturday against Pittsburgh. The Panthers, who play North Carolina on Tuesday night, lost four of their first 13. Pitt has not beaten a top-100 opponent.

The Cards visit Miami next Wednesday for the toughest game in the next four. The Hurricanes are a great three-point shooting team that plays ordinary defense. I'd put that one down as out of reach.

Then Louisville returns home for another noon Saturday game on Jan. 13 against North Carolina State. The Wolfpack lost to the three best teams on their schedule, racking up many of their wins against teams like winless Detroit Mercy (No. 349), hapless Maryland Eastern Shore (No. 351) and floundering Charleston Southern (No. 340).

Winning two of the four is not an outrageous ask for the Cards — and I have not forgotten U of L's losses to Chattanooga (No. 218); DePaul (No. 238) and Arkansas State (No. 172).

"There are segments in a game or periods in a game where we are really good," Payne said.

"We've got to be more consistent — and for them to see it and then step away from it, come back and address it. Practice that way."

"We've been close," James said. "We've been close a lot of times."

It's time to start being better than close, beginning with this four-game stretch.

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