Bracketology 2023: Louisville, Oregon among first week’s biggest losers

2. Vanderbilt Commodores

Maybe it’s unfair to have Vanderbilt on here since their at-large hopes were slim to begin with but at least, their position shouldn’t be near doom after just a few days. They were at home against Memphis on opening night and lost and that was understandable. What wasn’t was the defeat to Southern Mississippi at home as well, scoring just 48 points total.

Up next is a road matchup with Temple, coming off the big win over Villanova. And with VCU and Saint Mary’s following, the Commodores and more importantly, head coach Jerry Stackhouse, is already in deep trouble and we’re nowhere near SEC play.

1. Louisville Cardinals

This wasn’t fully unexpected for those that followed Louisville’s offseason moves. They didn’t land any transfer guards with El Ellis and have a roster filled with mismatched pieces. The result is a bad appearance in the exhibition games, before losing both games this past week to Wright State and Bellarmine, both by just one point.

On one hand, the Cardinals were a last-second basket away from being 2-0 and having a spotless resume. But the problem is that they looked to be on the level of those two mid-major programs, a worrisome sign of what’s potentially to come in both ACC play and the Maui Invitational Tournament. Before that is Appalachian State, a good team from the Sun Belt that is more than capable of giving Louisville yet another hard fight.