LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The University of Louisville men’s basketball team has shown issues with rebounding, turnovers and three-point shooting this season — sometimes on the same 30-second possession.
The Cards have not won back-to-back games in more than a month. They are ranked outside the top-50 teams in the nation by three prominent computer power formulas: Jeff Sagarin (No. 52); Ken Pomeroy (No. 53) and Bart Torvik (No. 56).
Guess what?
Louisville is as sensible a pick as any ACC team to finish as high as second place behind Duke (shocker) in a once-mighty league that misplaced its mojo.
How shaky is ACC men’s basketball this season? Let me count the ways:
In 48 games against teams from the five other power conferences (Big 12, Big 10, Big East, Pac-12 and Southeastern), Michael Jordan’s League has won only 37.5% of its games.
That’s correct. The ACC is 18-30, with losses to teams as gnarly as South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Georgetown and DePaul.
That can happen. Teams get hot. Sometimes you have to play on the road. Players miss games with injuries or COVID-19.
Here is the news that legitimately sets off the bells and whistles:
ACC teams have lost 15 games to teams ranked No. 100 or worse in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. Ten of the 15 ACC squads have at least one loss to a sub-100 opponent.
It is a list that includes particularly ugly burps by teams like Virginia (to No. 162 James Madison), Boston College (to No. 296 Albany) and Pittsburgh (to No. 232 UMBC as well as to No. 248 The Citadel).
Neither Ty Jerome nor Bonzie Colson nor Kenny Anderson is walking through that door.
Here is what is legitimately walking through that door for Chris Mack’s Louisville team: A prime opportunity to finish as high as second or at least third or fourth in the league.
The Pomeroy, Torvik and Sagarin formulas agree on one fun fact: Duke is clearly the team to beat this winter. The Blue Devils are the only ACC team ranked in the top 20 in those three rankings or the Associated Press human poll. They'll likely have the two best players in freshman Paolo Banchero and junior Wendell Moore, along with Trevor Keels, the freshman point guard who went off against Kentucky.
After that ...
The Pomeroy formula has Virginia Tech ranked second in the league, but the Hokies are 0-2 in ACC play with a home loss to the Wake Forest team Louisville defeated Wednesday night.
Torvik and Sagarin also rank the Hokies second best. In the AP poll, Wake was the only ACC team other than Duke to receive votes, although those votes will disappear after the Cards’ 73-69 victory.
North Carolina is likely the league’s second-most talented team. The Tar Heels are 9-3, and all three losses came against top-25 teams.
A closer look at Hubert Davis’ first UNC team shows these flaws:
UNC lost those three games by an average of more than 18 points. The Tar Heels have a single victory over a top-100 opponent, and they rank a dismal 82nd nationally in defensive efficiency. The Tar Heels don’t guard. Haven’t for several seasons.
The next 23 days will reveal Louisville’s legitimacy as an ACC contender. The Cards play seven games, four at home.
Six opponents are teams likely to finish in the bottom half of the league: Georgia Tech (Sunday); Pitt (home and away); North Carolina State (a team Louisville beat in Raleigh); Florida State (Leonard Hamilton’s worst team since 2016); Boston College (which lost to Albany, remember) and Notre Dame (which lost to BC before the Fighting Irish somehow beat Kentucky).
Already 2-0, the Cards have a rousing chance to be 8-1 before the schedule twists into its annual House of Horrors visit to Virginia on Jan. 24. That week concludes with Mike Krzyewski’s farewell visit on Jan. 29.
This looks like the worst season for ACC basketball since (fill in the blank). And the schedule has Louisville primed to be a major beneficiary.
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