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Louisville Basketball: 5 reasons why Cardinals will win ACC title in 2019-20

By Neil Adler

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 12: Darius Perry #2 and Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrate at the end of the first half against the Duke Blue Devils at KFC YUM! Center on February 12, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 12: Darius Perry #2 and Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrate at the end of the first half against the Duke Blue Devils at KFC YUM! Center on February 12, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MARCH 19: The Cardinal Bird, mascot for Louisville Cardinals performs before the game against the Michigan Wolverines in the first half during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 19, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MARCH 19: The Cardinal Bird, mascot for Louisville Cardinals performs before the game against the Michigan Wolverines in the first half during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 19, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

The Louisville basketball program has a multitude of aspects to legitimately believe that it can earn the ACC regular-season title in 2019-20.

The Louisville basketball team enters year No. 2 of the Chris Mack era with a boatload of optimism as the 2019-20 campaign inches closer. Expectations are ultra-high for the Cardinals in the upcoming term, and the arguments are logical: Louisville brings back the bulk of its offensive production from a stanza ago, it welcomes in one of the premier recruiting classes in the country, and the rugged Atlantic Coast Conference might prove slightly weaker, due to several powerhouses witnessing a departure of players to the professional ranks.

For a bit of context, let’s briefly recap 2018-19, the inaugural stint for Mack at the helm of the Cardinals following the Rick Pitino debacle. Despite returning just one starter and about a third of its scoring from the prior year, and predicted to finish 11th in the ACC, Louisville garnered a 10-8 league mark, resulting in a tie for sixth in the final conference standings. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

The Cardinals also defeated a handful of AP top-25 crews, such as eventual Final Four participant Michigan State and North Carolina, which secured a No. 1 seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Facing one of the nation’s most-arduous schedules, Louisville managed to grab a No. 7 seed in the Big Dance, where it fell in the round of 64 to No. 10 seed Minnesota. A 20-14 overall record in 2018-19 for the Cardinals is something for which Mack and his guys should feel proud, given the circumstances, and all signs point to the possibility of a stellar next campaign.

What follows are five explanations why Louisville will ultimately capture the ACC regular-season championship.

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