Replacement Team Deadline Passes, Louisville's Season Officially Ends

(Photo of Louisville Players: Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program's last remaining option of making the NCAA Tournament has now been exhausted.

The deadline for a replacement team to fill a spot in the tournament field vacated by a team who experiences COVID-19 issues, which was set at Tuesday, Mar. 16 at 6:00 p.m. EST, has now passed. As a result, the Cardinals' season has officially come to an end.

The selection committee listed Louisville as the first team on the 'First Four Out', followed by Colorado State, Saint Louis and Ole Miss. All four were designated as replacement teams should any team in the tournament field not have the amount of players necessary to participate, with the Cardinals being the first in line.

Both Virginia and Kansas had to withdraw from their respective conference tournaments due to issues with the virus, and Georgia Tech had one member of their travel party test positive on the day of the deadline.

However, the NCAA determined earlier this month that as long as a team has at least five healthy players, they can remain in the tournament. If a team has to withdraw past the deadline, the team's opponent will advance per the NCAA's no-contest rule.

"It's incredibly disappointing," head coach Chris Mack said Monday. "It's everything that you work for in the offseason. It's everything that do you prepare for, to be a part of March Madness. It didn't happen. It wasn't reality. We came here as a coaching staff to be a part of the big tournament."

Louisville opened up the 2020-21 season at 9-1, and were ranked as high as the No. 16 team in the nation. But due to COVID issues, injuries, and at times offensive inconsistencies, they went 4-6 in the second half of the season to finish 13-7 and 8-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Since the Cardinals were the first team left out of the field of 68, they were in line to receive the top spot in the National Invitation Tournament. But both Mack and athletic director Vince Tyra decided a week before Selection Sunday that they would not accept a bid for the NIT because of the dwindling overall health of the team.

"The health of our team this year just wasn't very good, even down the stretch," Mack said. "I mean, we had days where we're practicing with seven and eight players. When you go on two COVID pauses, you're losing your captain, you have guys that are injured, it wasn't the right decision for this team to play in the NIT.

The NCAA Tournament is scheduled to begin on Thursday, Mar. 18 with the First Four play-in games, with the First Round taking place on Thursday, Mar. 19 and Friday, Mar. 20.

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