Louisville Basketball: Program records that would’ve fallen in 2020 NCAA Tournament
With collegiate legends such as Pervis Ellison and school stars like Russ Smith occupying the Louisville Basketball’s record books, some accomplishments may never be reached again. Here, however, are three program record-breaking performances we would have seen in the 2020 tournament.
Since the three-point era began, Louisville Basketball has participated in 26 Division I National Championship Tournaments. Throughout those years, Cardinals’ fans have seen their beloved ‘Cards’ continue to add to the fifth most tournament victories, all while playing in four different conferences.
When discussing past great tournament players and performances, it would be amiss to ignore those who played before the three-point era. When a program has greats to the likes of Wes Unseld who pulled down 22 rebounds versus Houston in 1968 and Phil Bond who dished out 14 assists versus UCLA in 1977, there are some records that will never be broken.
To maintain consistency, only records that were achieved after the NCAA introduced the three-point line for the the1985-86 season will be considered. Similar to how the shot clock was introduced the previous year, the three-point line drastically changed college basketball and makes it difficult to fairly compare statistics. Though they will be acknowledged and never forgotten, the great statistical performances prior to the three-point era were not taken into consideration.
The premature end to the 2019-20 college basketball season that saw Louisville go 15-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) marked an early end to the NCAA careers of notable seniors Steven Enoch, Dwayne Sutton, Ryan McMahon, and Lamar Kimble. It may also mark the early start of NBA aspirations for junior forward Jordan Nwora. As of the writing of this article, only Nwora and Enoch are projected to be selected in the 2020 NBA Draft. With Nwora predicted as a late first-round selection and Enoch projected as a late second-round selection, an opportunity to make a run at Louisville history while impressing NBA scouts in March would have gone a long way.