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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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DES MOINES, IOWA – MARCH 21: Head coach Chris Mack of the Louisville Cardinals looks on during their game in the First Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Wells Fargo Arena on March 21, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
DES MOINES, IOWA – MARCH 21: Head coach Chris Mack of the Louisville Cardinals looks on during their game in the First Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Wells Fargo Arena on March 21, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

An under-rated Louisville chief

Mack took on no easy task in replacing Pitino on the Cardinals’ sidelines. Putting the scandal that surrounded Pitino to the side for a moment, he did cut down the nets in 2013 and journeyed to additional Final Fours at Louisville in 2005 and 2012.

But Mack, by his own right, is one of the finest head coaches in America, in my humble opinion. Per his bio on the Cardinals’ AD Web site, Mack’s squads have participated in March Madness in nine of his 10 campaigns. During that tenure, he has amassed 235 victories, and averaging more than 23 conquests annually is tremendous.

Prior to joining Louisville, Mack consistently accomplished as the boss at Xavier, with the Musketeers advancing to the Sweet 16 on four instances, as well as getting to the Elite Eight in 2017 as a No. 11 seed. Mack also guided Xavier to a No. 1 seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, and a No. 2 seed in the Big Dance two years prior to that.

Beyond the facts and figures, he’s certainly got a wealth of hoops knowledge stemming from his own coaching mentors, such as current Arizona head coach Sean Miller and the late Skip Prosser, as Mack served on Prosser’s staffs at Wake Forest and with the Musketeers. Mack’s head-coaching sample size obviously doesn’t come close to mirroring numerous of his ACC counterparts, like Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Roy Williams of North Carolina and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, however, Mack does have the chops to reside in the upper echelon of the league for the foreseeable future.

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