ACC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2021-22 season

Chris Mack and Louisville basketball return in 2021-22 looking for better fortunes than they had during the Covid-19 plagued 2020-21 campaign. They got off to a 10-4 start before a positive Covid test sidelined them for 19 days before they played another contest. They finished 3-3 after that finishing 7th in the ACC basketball standings at 8-5.

Louisville wasn’t the greatest 3-point shooting team in the ACC this past season, shooting 30.8 percent (14th) in the conference and last in 3-pointers made (5.3). They’ve made some additions that should change things on the perimeter for them this upcoming year.

The Cardinals coaching staff hit it big once again in the transfer portal, this time with the additions of key players in the backcourt in Jarrod West (Marshall), Noah Locke (Florida), and Mason Faulkner (Western Carolina).

While West and Faulkner will boost the playmaking for the Cardinals, look for Locke to dial it up off the ball on the perimeter as he did in the SEC  with the Gators. He knocked down 40.4 percent of his 3-pointers in 2020-21 while averaging 10.6 ppg. He’s one name to watch in their rotation.

Jae’lyn Withers (10.0 ppg & 7.7 rpg in 2020-21), Samuell Williamson (9.6 ppg and 8.1 rpg in 2020-21), and Malik Williams (5.0 ppg & 6.0 rpg in 2020-21) return, giving them some size and experience in the frontcourt. With their new faces in the backcourt and on the perimeter, they’ll look to bounce back and for now, they loom at the fifth spot in the early ACC basketball power rankings.