Louisville Men’s Basketball suffered its first loss of the season last Tuesday, losing to Texas Tech 70-57. The Cards were stifled offensively by the aggressive Red Raider defense. While the defense played decently, it wasn’t enough to counteract the mediocre offensive performance.
The Cards played EKU on Saturday and dominated the Colonels 99-67. They shot well, defended well, and just outclassed the overmatched Ohio Valley Conference opponent.
So, after the mixed bag of results, the Cards are now at 10-1 on the season. Where are the Cards going to find themselves in this week’s editions of the AP Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll after the mixed results? The answer is a mixed bag as well. UofL is ranked 3rd in this week’s AP Poll and 5th in this week’s coaches poll.
AP Poll
Louisville only fell 2 spots to No. 3 in the latest AP Poll. They also received 1 first place vote. Kansas moved from the 3 spot into the top spot while Gonzaga leapfrogged Louisville and moved from 6th to 2nd. Duke is back in the top 5 at 4. Ohio State was in the 2nd spot and primed to take the top position, but a loss at conference foe Minnesota dropped to No. 5.
The rest of the top 10 in the AP Poll is occupied by UK at 6, Maryland at 7, Oregon at 8, Virginia at 9, and Baylor at 10. Maryland had looked really good and primed to be likely in the top 3 before a 7-point loss on the road at conference foe Penn State. Oregon, despite having two losses has looked impressive recently while Virginia is hanging in the top 10 because of that vaunted defense.
USA TODAY Coaches Poll
In the coaches poll, Louisville fell a little farther to No. 5. Meanwhile, Kansas occupies the top spot followed by Gonzaga, Duke, and Ohio State. The Cards received no first place votes in this poll.
The rest of the top 10 has UK at 6, Virginia at 7, Maryland at 8, Auburn at 9, and Oregon at 10. The coaches like Auburn and what they’ve done with their undefeated record better than a 1-loss Baylor squad.
Louisville will look to win one final home non-conference game this week against Miami (OH). The RedHawks come to the KFC Yum! Center on Wednesday night for an 8:30 PM tip. They are currently 5-5 with a 14-point loss to Evansville. We all know about Evansville. After this game, they will be off until December 28th when they will face rival UK.
