Cards Back On Top in the ACC -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Retake First With Tough Slate Ahead

Another Louisville win plus a couple key losses throughout the conference on Sunday put Louisville women's basketball back on top in the ACC. The Cards are the only team with one loss, but the top six spots are separated by two games. Expand that to a three-game differential and you have eight teams vying for the top.

Louisville cruised past Pittsburgh thanks to strong first and third quarters. The Cards earned the series sweep over the Panthers. Virginia Tech went on the road to hand Syracuse their second conference loss. Meanwhile, Virginia defended their home court and upset North Carolina thanks to a dominant fourth quarter.

Louisville sits in first in the ACC at 7-1. Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina are each 7-2 after having played an extra game. Louisville had an early bye week. NC State, who also had an early bye, is 6-2, the last of the teams with a pair of losses.

Notre Dame is the only team in the conference with exactly three losses and carry a 5-3 record. Florida State is 6-4 with Duke half a game back at 5-4.

The sub-.500 teams include Georgia Tech (4-5), Miami (3-5), Boston College (3-6), Virginia (2-7), Clemson (2-7), Pittsburgh (1-7), and Wake Forest (0-8).

Things get tougher over these next few games and Jeff Walz's squad will be tested both with their physical toughness and mental toughness. Louisville hosts #21 Syracuse on Thursday, visits #5 NC State on Monday, returns home to hosts #14 Notre Dame, and then visits Syracuse. While I don't see the Cards going 0-4 in that stretch, a 2-2 or 1-3 mark wouldn't be shocking due to the caliber of the conference this year. I think UofL ends up either 3-1 or 2-2 in this four-game stretch, which would not be concerning.

Daryl and I plan to be in attendance for Thursday's game against the Orange. Second year coach Felisha Legette-Jack has the Orange back in the rankings after a rough couple of years before that following the departure of former coach Quentin Hillsman.

This past Sunday, Louisville played in their annual Pink game for Breast Cancer Awareness. This is always one of my favorite games as the team welcomes survivors as special guests for player intros and hosts a parade at halftime for those wo are survivors, who are currently battling, and those we lost. Here are some of my favorite photos from the event.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared