Louisville basketball will make NCAA Tournament if these things come true | C.L. Brown

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Hey. Take a look. I obtained an unauthorized copy of a wish list written by Louisville men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey.

Although I’m unable to verify its authenticity, or if it was actually mailed to the big guy in the North Pole, it seems pretty clear that if these things come true, the Cardinals will make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.

Read this quick before I get accosted by some elves engaged in a cover up:

3-point line becomes an ally

The Cards’ struggles shooting from behind the 3-point line have been well documented. Should Louisville continue make only 29.8% of its 3-point attempts, it will be the lowest percentage in program history since the 3-point line became a fixture in 1986-87.

But it’s not just their shooting that needs to improve. U of L has allowed teams to shoot 35.8% from behind the arc, which puts it at 15th in the 18-team ACC at defending the 3.

Good health from here on out

Season-ending injuries to forward Kasean Pryor and guard Koren Johnson were devastating for the Cards’ depth. They’ve played with a seven-man rotation since the third game of the season and can’t afford any more injuries.

Forward Aboubacar Traore played in just the first two games of the season before he broke his left arm. Whenever he returns, presumably some time in January, it will be right on time.

Traore is an undersized power forward at 6-foot-5, but the Cards need his help in the front court, especially as a rebounder.

The NCAA Tournament bubble is weak

Short of winning the ACC Tournament and earning an automatic bid to the Big Dance, Louisville would likely have to sweep all of its games against the top ACC teams remaining on its schedule (North Carolina, Clemson, Pittsburgh, SMU) to guarantee itself an at-large bid.

Anything short of that means the Cards will be putting their tournament fate in the committee’s hands and we know how fragile that can be sometimes.

What could help U of L is if other teams in similar situations have weak resumes.

Indiana and…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/louisville-basketball-ncaa-tournament-things-101345461.html

Author : The Courier Journal

Publish date : 2024-12-27 10:13:00

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