– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA — The first semifinal in the ACC Tournament on Friday night features the blue bloods of the league and of the country, the classic rivalry between Duke and North Carolina. But they’re not the only college basketball royalty taking the court, and the Louisville Cardinals continue its climb back to college basketball relevance, and then some.
After a couple of really lean years, Louisville, the No. 2 seed in the ACC, are in the semifinals of the conference tournament in a year that they moved toward the top of the standings much faster than was expected in the first year under head coach Pat Kelsey. The Cardinals will take on third-seeded Clemson, whom Louisville beat in the teams’ only meeting at the Derby City on January 7.
In the two years before Kelsey was plucked from the College of Charleston after winning back-to-back championships in the CAA, the Cardinals won just 12 games combined, including a 4-28 campaign in 2022-23. You don’t have to be of a certain vintage to remember the Final Fours and national championship that was won under former head coach Rick Pitino, but there were also the national titles that Louisville won in 1980 and 1986 under the legendary Denny Crum. After the last two seasons, however, those days seemed like eons ago.
But now the Cardinals, who joined the league in 2014, are 40 minutes away form making their first ACC Tournament championship game.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday’s semifinal games, with photos taken by North Carolina-based photographer William Anthony. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 19 pictures in total.
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