Louisville Sitting On NCAA Tournament Bubble in Week 13 Projections

With just two weekends left in the regular season, the Cardinals are sitting squarely on the postseason bubble.

Louisville baseball infielder Dylan Hoy / Jared Anderson - Louisville Report

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At one point in time, the Louisville baseball program seemed to be careening on missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four year. However, the Cardinals have been playing better baseball as of late. While they did fall at Vanderbilt on Tuesday night, they have won eight of their last 12 games, and their RPI has gotten much better over the last couple weeks.

As such, Louisville has started to re-appear on various NCAA Tournament projections across the college baseball landscape. A couple week 13 projections even have the Cards sitting on the right side of the bubble.

In Baseball America's most recent Projected Field of 64, they have Louisville heading to the Knoxville Regional as the No. 3 seed. No. 4 overall Tennessee is the host, with San Diego and Wright State as the two and four seeds, respectively.

In College Sports Madness' May 6 projection, which was released just before the Vanderbilt game, they have Louisville as the very last team to make the field. In there, the Cardinals are heading to the Lexington Regional, where No. 2 overall Kentucky is the host. UC Santa Barbara, Louisville and Austin Peay round out the regional.

But make no mistake, Louisville is very much a team that is sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. At 29-19 overall and 13-11 in ACC play with an RPI of 56th, the Cardinals still have some work to do if they are to comfortably clinch an at-large berth for the Big Dance.

This was highlighted in D1Baseball's most recent Field of 64 projection, where Louisville was actually the first team out. However, they do see a way for the Cardinals to get on the right side of the cut line.

"I think they're probably still a week away," Co-editor Aaron Fitt said on D1Baseball's Week 13 Nerdcast. Managing editor Kendall Rogers followed up and said that if Louisville wins their upcoming series at North Carolina, they're in the tournament.

Louisville heads to Chapel Hill this weekend for a three-game series against UNC, with game one slated for Friday, May 10 at 6:00 p.m. EST. At No. 11 overall with and RPI of sixth, a road series win over the Tar Heels would do wonders for the Cardinals.

After that, Louisville returns home for the final week of the regular season next week, facing Indiana in the midweek and Notre Dame in the weekend series. Pool play for the ACC Tournament - which the Cardinals have officially clinched a spot in - is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 21.

Selection Monday for the NCAA Tournament will take place on Monday, May 27 following the conclusion of all conference tournaments.

(Photo of Dylan Hoy: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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