WBB in Preseason Polls -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards 20th in AP; 4th in ACC

College basketball is officially right around the corner, and preseason polls are now accompanying watch lists. As Paulie mentioned yesterday, Laura Ziegler and Taj Roberts are on the preseason All-ACC team, and the Cards were picked to finish fourth. It was close between Louisville and Notre Dame for that fourth spot, with the two teams being separated by just 21 voting points. Each had two first place votes, giving them more than third place UNC. Plenty of voters that didn't award those teams their first place votes thought more highly of UNC, though. The Tar Heels finished 98 points ahead of the Cards. 

After a less than stellar year last season, it is not a major surprise that Louisville has some work to do to convince the ACC media of their bona fides. There's only one way to do that, and it's to win games. While Louisville's early season international game against UConn is a bit in doubt, they will still have plenty of opportunities against ranked teams to put up impressive wins. The Cards will enter the season as the #20 team in the country according to the Associated Press. 

If that game against UConn does manage to happen in Ramstein, it will be a big one. The Huskies returned to the top of the league with a preseason #1 ranking. It also wasn't particularly close. They garnered 27 of the 31 first place votes, with South Carolina picking up the remainder. UCLA is third, and Texas and LSU round out the top five. 

The first ACC team to find their spot in the rankings is Duke. The team picked to finish first in the ACC is ranked 7th overall. Louisville is the lowest-ranked ACC team to crack the top 25, with Notre Dame getting more love from the AP voters than the ACC media. The Irish are 15th, with NC State coming home 9th and UNC 11th. As I mentioned, the Cards will have plenty of chances to score ranked wins. The Cards will play those four teams a total of five times, with Notre Dame being Louisville's double opponent this season. 

Although 20th isn't great, it was very close in that portion of the poll. Louisville was well ahead of Iowa in 21st (98 points) and they finished just one point behind Vanderbilt and six points off of USC in 18th. The Cards are also ahead of UK, who will see Kenny Brooks without Georgia Amoore for the first time in what feels like forever. The Cats are tied for 24th with Richmond. 

If things go as planned, Louisville will get their season underway on November 4th. It'll be here before we know it. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case