The Louisville Cardinals might be ranked as one of the best teams in college basketball right now, but that will not matter come the postseason. The Cardinals have pulled themselves out of being able to play in the conference tournament or NCAA tournament as an investigation continues regarding allegations from an escort reportedly hired by the school to strip and have sex with recruits. With the Cardinals falling out of the national spotlight, the Duke Blue Devils are aiming to get back in it as they fight to re-enter the rankings with a game against the Cardinals on Monday night.
Louisville remains No.13 in the recent college basketball polls, but that does not mean much for the team any more as they will not be playing come March. Louisville is fresh off a win over Boston College and could take the lead in the ACC rankings with a win over Duke. While it might not mean much going forward, the team is hoping the return of Damion Lee can at least help things end on a positive note in 2016.
The win over Boston College saw the Cardinals dominate inside the paint and outside proving they deserve their ranking. Trey Lewis put up 16 points while Chinanu Onuaku added 13 rebounds. The addition of Lee should help as he was averaging 17.0 points per game before suffering a knee injury. That win came after a big win over North Carolina which helped the team jump in rankings, but head coach Rick Pitino is upset that this year's team is being punished for past mistakes.
"This is wrong," said Pitino, via ESPN.com. "It's a bad system, but that does not mean we are not wrong in what we've done."
Duke is trying to get back into the rankings. They defeated North Carolina State on Saturday where they hit 14 3-point shots in the win. The team is currently averaging 84.8 points per game which is a league high at the moment, but they remain outside of the Top 25. They dropped four of five games, but back-to-back wins has things going well again. Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard are helping in that effort. Duke is entering a stretch of games where they face Louisville, Virginia and UNC and they need everyone playing well.
