22. Louisville (19-6)
The recent resurgence of Louisville has added another piece to this ACC puzzle, though things aren’t going quite as smoothly this season. The Cardinals dropped just two games in the regular season in conference play last year and have already doubled that. Two of those losses were tough efforts against Duke, but at the very least the Cardinals are putting their best foot forward here this month.
That was evident Monday night as Louisville blew out NC State in a 118-77 win, putting forth their best offensive effort in recent memory. Mikel Brown Jr. was legendary with 45 points and 9 rebounds while Ryan Conwell added 31 points in the drubbing. Taking a brief break from the ACC, the Cardinals secured a nice win on Saturday, topping Baylor 82-71 in Fort Worth. Brown continued his amazing week with 29 points and 6 assists while J’Vonne Hadley added 20 points himself.
Louisville isn’t going to shoot 60% from 3 very often like they did against NC State, but this team has run off five straight wins and are back in contention in the ACC. They don’t really have a shot at the regular season crown but Pat Kelsey’s team looks healthy and at their best with some great wins during this stretch. They’ll hope to complete a season sweep at SMU next week as some tough road games remain on their docket.