Louisville basketball must play villain role vs USF in NCAA Tournament
The South Florida Bulls will be the sentimental favorite against Pat Kelsey's Louisville Cardinals in the NCAA Tournament 2026 bracket.
BUFFALO, N. Y. — Louisville basketball must embrace being the villain as it takes on South Florida on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament’s first round .
The No. 11-seed Bulls are a trendy pick across brackets everywhere in the nation to knock off the No. 6-seed Cardinals.
They’ll be even more of a sentimental favorite when the ball is tipped and the backstories of their coaches and players are broadcast to the nation. After a 2025 NCAA Tournament light on upsets — and at a time where name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal have teamed to make the prospect of a Cinderella story seem more far-fetched — USF checks off a lot off boxes that will make it a lovable underdog against the Cards. That’s too bad.
Louisville has its own checklist that needs attending. The program hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2017. UofL coach Pat Kelsey is 0-5 in the Big Dance, including last year's first-round loss to Creighton.
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