Hard part begins for No. 1 Louisville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Louisville inherited the shaky mantle as the top team in college basketball when the men’s polls were released Monday. So how’s that worked out for other No. 1 teams this season?
Michigan State’s run at the top lasted all of one game, as Kentucky topped the Spartans in the Champions Classic season opener. The Wildcats took over at No. 1 and looked good against Eastern Kentucky before the Evansville upset. And then-No. 1 Duke’s debacle against unranked Stephen F. Austin isn’t exactly ancient history – the Blue Devils picked up two wins before last Tuesday’s shocker against the Lumberjacks.
If you’re Louisville coach Chris Mack, you are well aware of what we just covered.
“If we were to be the No. 1 team on Monday and we lose on Tuesday, we wouldn’t be the first team to lose with the No. 1 ranking,” Mack said after a 7154 win Friday over Western Kentucky. “In the grand scheme of things, I’d be more concerned about losing that No. 1 ranking at the beginning of April.”
On one hand, who’s more qualified than Louisville to be at the top of the polls? Every other top-five preseason contender has taken a loss and has shown weaknesses that need to be fixed.
But Mack has heard the criticism, too. Western Kentucky (which, to be fair, is the Conference USA’s front-runner and an NCAA tournament contender) might be the best team Louisville has faced through seven games.
“A lot of people are saying we haven’t played anybody, a lot of people are saying maybe we aren’t deserving,” the coach said Friday in Nashville. “I really don’t care. The only thing I care about is improving from our game today against Western Kentucky.”
All things considered, of every other challenger for that top ranking, Louisville’s next opponent just might have the best case. You’d be hardpressed to find another team as hot as Michigan.
The Wolverines didn’t just beat top-10 teams North Carolina and Gonzaga last week in the Battle 4 Atlantis, they dominated the competition, winning those two games by a combined 27 points. No other team in the country has a better pair of wins.
Michigan has Louisville beat in the “quality wins” department, but you can’t fault the Cardinals for taking care of business against the teams on their schedule. Akron was a scare late after the Cardinals dominated the first 30 minutes, but every other game has been a blowout. Tuesday night against a known contender like Michigan will be the best gauge yet for where Louisville stands against elite competition.
Still, it’s December. Today’s elite competition is tomorrow’s bubble team.
“My job is for me to get (our players) to understand – we haven’t arrived,” Mack said. “There’s no team that’s arrived. No team’s arrived.”
It won’t get much easier after Tuesday. Next up is an Atlantic Coast Conference clash with Pittsburgh on Friday at the Yum Center before the Cardinals head to New York next Tuesday for a showdown with 2018-19 national title runner-up Texas Tech. This season shifts gears this week.
Malik Williams had his best game of the season Friday, leading the effort to shut down star Western Kentuvcy center Charles Bassey. After a quiet second half against Akron, Jordan Nwora showed again why he’s an Associated Press All-American with 25 points. Mack didn’t give his usual “Dwayne Sutton is a warrior” speech after the win, but that’s only because it’s a given at this point.
Louisville might not be a finished product yet, but today, the Cardinals are as deserving as anybody for that top ranking. Just ask Western Kentucky coach Rick Stansbury.
They’ve got multiple weapons, and they’ve got multiple big guys they can throw it to in the paint,” Stansbury said Friday. “There’s not a lot of teams that have those kind of things.”