Louisville basketball in AP Top 25 for 1st time since 2021. Cards 1 of 2 ranked ACC teams

Posted by Admin January 20, 2025 Basketball

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Would you look at that.

Louisville basketball, on its longest winning streak in five years only two months into Pat Kelsey‘s first season as head coach, is back in the AP Top 25 for the first time since Jan. 25, 2021.

The Cardinals (14-5, 7-1) were 25th in the poll released Monday, joining No. 2 Duke as the ACC’s lone representatives. This comes less than a year after the end of the disastrous Kenny Payne era, during which they went 12-52.

In the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll, U of L ranked 26th with 43 votes.

Last week, Louisville came in at 30th in the AP Top 25 with 17 votes and 36th in the Coaches Poll with three votes. While rattling off wins Nos. 7 and 8 in a row, it also benefited from 20 ranked teams losing at least once during the past seven days.

“Things like that, whether it’s a winning streak or being ranked, are good for a lot of things: our brand, our fan base, recruiting,” Kelsey said Monday. “I’m very, very well aware (of) and appreciate what comes with some success that you had. Winning streak — whatever it is, how many games — that’s all in the past. Your ranking is about what you’ve done up to up to this point, not what you’re doing moving forward; and all we focus on and stress is the current thing.”

Here’s a look at how Kelsey’s team got here, what’s next and its NCAA Tournament résumé:

Louisville began its eight-game winning streak Dec. 21, when the Cards took down Florida State on its home court for the first time since 2018, 90-76, behind a season-high 27 points from Reyne Smith. It nearly ended a week later, but Noah Waterman, playing through a broken thumb on his shooting hand that required surgery, hit a decisive layup with 1.2 seconds to spare for a 78-76 victory over Eastern Kentucky at the KFC Yum! Center.

U of L rang in 2025 by snapping a five-game skid to North Carolina — and by celebrating the addition of five-star point guard recruit Mikel Brown Jr. to Kelsey’s 2025-26 roster. From there, it notched its first win at UVA since 1990, slammed the door shut on Clemson thanks to a career-high 32 points from J’Vonne Hadley and emerged victorious in a back-and-forth thriller at Pittsburgh.

Between the win over the Tar Heels and the win over the Panthers, Louisville outscored its four opponents 92-58 in the final 10 minutes. Since then, it’s blown out Syracuse on the road, 85-61, and the Cavaliers at home, 81-67. During both of those games, it led for 37 or more minutes and by 20 or more points.

Five different players have paced Kelsey’s team in scoring during this run: Smith, Hadley, Terrence Edwards Jr., Chucky Hepburn and Aboubacar Traore.

Louisville has only one game on tap this week: a 9 p.m. tipoff at SMU. It’s the only game remaining on the Cards’ schedule in which the formulas powering KenPom.com have them as the underdogs.

After facing the Mustangs, U of L will close out the month at home with a 7 p.m. tipoff against Wake Forest on Jan. 28. KenPom projects it will finish the season with a record of 23-8 (16-4).

With last weekend’s win over Virginia, Louisville’s chances of receiving its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019 have increased to 98% on BartTorvik.com, which had the Cards flirting between a No. 7 and No. 8 seed as of Monday.

U of L is entering the week ranked 29th in the NET, good for second in the ACC, thanks to its 6-5 record in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games and its lack of losses in the Quad 3-4 range. The Cards are also 19th in the country when it comes to Wins Above Bubble (2.56), which reflects how much better a team is than those teetering between making and missing the March Madness cut.

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.