The ACC Tournament begins tonight with the first round tipping off at 4:30 EST. We’ll have plenty of coverage of the tournament over the next few days and Mark will actually be in Greensboro (god bless) this week. With 31 games already played, let’s see what the staff at CardinalSports have in mind for Louisville this week:
Ty Spalding
If there was anything positive that came out of the loss over the weekend in Charlottesville, it’s the draw that Louisville has heading into the ACC Tournament. By losing Saturday’s game to Virginia, Louisville is now on the opposite side of the bracket as Florida State and Duke. Looking at the way the bracket ended up shaking out, Louisville needs to get to the title game at the least in my opinion.
If the highest seeds advance, Louisville will take on Syracuse in the quarterfinals, and then will matchup with Virginia for a trip to the championship. Louisville matches up extremely well with Syracuse, and if the first game between the two was any indication, Louisville has a handle on how to attack the zone. Next would be Virginia in the semifinals. Bring on the Cavaliers for a rubber match in Greensboro. On a neutral floor, I favor Louisville. Virginia is certainly on a roll and playing their basketball of the year, but Louisville should head into that game expecting to win. Ken Pomeroy likes Louisville’s chances in the ACC Tournament as well. In fact, he gives Louisville the second highest percentage to win the whole thing, right behind Duke.
How does this thing play out? I firmly believe Louisville gets to Saturday night at a minimum. I could see Louisville playing North Carolina instead of Syracuse, and even Notre Dame instead of Virginia. Neither of those teams worry me, either.
Prediction: The obvious pick here is Duke. They should have a ton of fan support with Durham only being 50 miles away. They are coming off of a regular season sweep of their arch-rival. But, I just can’t. The Blue Devils have shown me virtually nothing all year that makes me believe they have a big showing this week. So, I’m going to do it. I’m going on record and saying that Louisville wins the ACC Tournament, defeating Florida State in the championship.
Conor Shea
This team is so damn weird. I’ve never seen such a talented group of guys go through a season with so many highs and lows. It’s truly bizarre to me how they looked like one of, if not the best, teams in the country for 10-straight games. But then there are other times where they look like they genuinely hate the game of basketball. But hey, that’s what Virginia does to you. Even so, I have such a hard time figuring out which version of this team will show up from game to game.
If the team that showed up in Cameron Indoor travels over to Greensboro, then there’s no reason they shouldn’t be playing for an ACC Title Saturday night. But if the team we saw for the first 30 minutes of the Virginia game and against Clemson and Georgia Tech decides to show, then there’s a very real possibility they return home without a win. The ceiling is high the floor is low.
Prediction: Louisville is going to run into 14-seed UNC in their first game. Much like their last meeting, UNC will make things interesting for the first 25-30 minutes before the better team takes over. But the fun is short-lived as UVA’s keep-away dynasty mucks up yet another eyesore of a game. UofL falls to the Hoos. Again. Red hot Virginia then goes on to upset top-seeded FSU for the ACC Championship to complete their stunning season turnaround.
Mark Ennis
The one thing you can say with certainty is that there's no reasonable way to say anything about this team with certainty. As I've said for months, this is a moody team. If Louisville plays with the defensive edge it had against Michigan, it can win. If it plays with the aggression and focused effort on the offensive end that it had against Duke, it can win in Greensboro. If it plays with the versatile, physical play it played with in the home win over Virginia, it can win in Greensboro. The problem is Louisville is capable of playing a range of games, such as it almost doesn't care, as in the road trips to Georgia Tech and Clemson. Or, that it is overwhelmed by the crowd such aast against Texas Tech or at Kentucky.
Prediction: I believe a healthier Malik Williams will get Louisville at least through its quarterfinal matchup, most likely with North Carolina. Then, it'll be Virginia part 3 and for reasons, well there just aren't reasons I guess, Louisville will win the rubber match and make its first ACC Tournament final. In the end, I believe the Cardinals will put up a valiant effort but again fall short against Florida State in the final.
Submit your own predictions by joining our CardinalSports ACC Tournament Bracket Challenge for the chance to win prizes. Details are included here: https://louisville.forums.rivals.com/threads/attention-cardinalsports-acct-bracket-challenge-deadline-4-30pm-3-10.49789/
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