Can Louisville Complete Their Full 20-Game Conference Schedule?
(Photo of Chris Mack: Scott Utterback/Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Just when things started to get rolling again for the Louisville men's basketball program, the COVID-19 pandemic decided to pay the Cardinals another visit.
Following a three-game stretch against Duke, Clemson and Georgia Tech, where Louisville appeared to finally turn a corner as it pertains to operating with a heightened sense of effort, the virus struck once again. Due to a positive test within the program, both the Cardinals' games at Syracuse and at Virginia had to get postponed.
As a result of those latest postponements, Louisville now has four games that require rescheduling: their home games against NC State and Boston College, as well as their road trips to Syracuse and Virginia.
If this was still December, or even early January, this would not be a huge problem. However, the calendar now reads February, and the Cardinals are running out of time to reschedule games.
As of this writing (Feb. 5), there are 32 days until the start of the ACC Championship down in Greensboro, N.C. Between now and then, Louisville has seven games remaining on the schedule, starting with a home contest against Pitt on Wednesday, Feb. 10.
Seven games in 32 days doesn't sound bad, right? But when you look at the spacing between a few of these games, it leaves very little wiggle room for scheduling purposes.
Currently, there are three two-day spans of down time between games (not counting the span between the end of the regular season and the start of the ACC Championship), two three-day spans of down time, and one six-day span of down time. The latter is between the game at Duke on Saturday, Feb. 27 and the regular season finale at home against Virginia on Saturday, Mar. 6.
Sure, that final period of time seems to be a prime candidate to schedule a make up game, or two. But think about it like this: in three of the four final weeks of the regular season, Louisville is playing two games a week (Just one in the final) week. Does the team have legs down the stretch to play three games a week in three of their final four weeks?
Also, who's to say more games will not get postponed? There's no guarantee that their next game against Pitt even gets played on its scheduled date. Especially considering the program's last pause lasted 18 days.
Then, even if the program does return from pause, will they even have the necessary players to compete? It's the reason that the game against NC State got postponed, and we've already seen what happens when this team doesn't have their full compliment of players because of COVID.
That's not to say it's a guarantee that Louisville won't get to play their full 20-game conference slate, the Atlantic Coast Conference has done a fantastic job of rescheduling on the fly, particularly on the women's side of things. However, I think it's now time to accept the very real possibility that the Cardinals will not be able to play their full schedule of conference games heading into the ACC Tournament.
You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:
Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter - @LouisvilleOnSI and Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @GeneralWasp
