Stanford Basketball Faces Tough Road Game in Louisville

Stanford men's basketball has the opportunity to get back on track this weekend against Louisville in the regular season finale.

The Cardinals come in as clear favorites to pick up a home win over the Cardinal.

Louisville is a tough opponent. The Cardinals are ranked No. 14 in the nation and are 24-6 overall. They are 17-2 in conference play, sitting in second place in the ACC, tied with Clemson. Both teams are ranked behind No. 1 Duke (18-1).

Louisville is a scary opponent, without a question. Not only do they have just six losses, and are one of the better teams in the power five this season, but five of their losses came before December 15. Those losses were: Tennessee, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Duke, and Kentucky.

Of those five, three are projected top 5 seeds, with Oklahoma being the odd man out. The Sooners are still a bubble NCAA tournament team, but as their worst loss, that's more than impressive.

From December 15th and on, Louisville is 18-1, with their only loss coming on the road to Georgia Tech. Stanford also lost to Georgia Tech recently, dropping the away game 60-52 back on February 12.

Throughout their season, the Cardinals have some great wins, including opponents such as Indiana, West Virginia, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Clemson, SMU, and Wake Forest. Not only does their resume consist of great wins, but also great losses, truly propelling this team to what should be a high seed in March.

ESPN's Bracketology has Louisville currently projected for a No. 6 seed in the ACC tournament, and while a win on Saturday may not help that projection much, a loss could hurt their seeding.

So does Stanford have a chance? It looks like they might.

Throughout Stanford’s season, they have had some tendencies: Winning games at home, their incredible big man play, and playing well in most big games on the road. The big exception to this would be their loss 106-70 loss to Duke in Durham.

Now obviously Stanford’s record on the road isn’t great at 3-7, but that doesn’t mean that they haven’t played well in big games.

Outside of their losses at Duke and SMU, tough road games against Clemson, Pitt, and Wake Forest went down to the wire, with Stanford holding leads in all three, sometimes as big as double digits. They even beat North Carolina in the Dean Dome, off of a Jaylen Blakes buzzer beater.

Overall, this Louisville team is tough, but not impossible to beat. If Stanford is able to get a lead early, and continue to hold Louisville, they might have a chance to pull off a season-altering upset for the teams’ 20th win.

The Cardinal were able to upset the Cardinals in football back in November. Can they do it again?