Louisville Basketball: Rapid reaction to the 2016-2017 schedule

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Louisville basketball team released their 2016-2017 schedule earlier this afternoon. It looks at though the Cardinals are in for a tough non-conference and ACC schedule this season.

It is almost that time of the year again. The Louisville basketball team now knows who they will be playing this season and when they will be playing them. The Cardinals are looking to make it back into the NCAA Tournament this season, coming off a year of a self-imposed ban. Head coach Rick Pitino will surely have his team ready.

You can check out the Louisville basketball team’s schedule here. However, this is what Ira Green from the Louisville Athletics’ official website had to say about this season’s schedule of opponents:

“At least 21 of the Cardinals’ 31 games will be played against teams that participated in post-season competition last season, including at least 14 from the 2016 NCAA Tournament (NCAA Tournament: Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame twice, Pittsburgh twice, Purdue, Syracuse twice, Virginia twice; NIT: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Long Beach State, Texas Southern, Virginia Tech; CollegeInsiders.com Tournament: Grand Canyon; Vegas 16 Tournament: Old Dominion)”

Even though the Cardinals are looking at a tough 2016-2017 schedule, the testing they will receive will help them in the long run of the season. Pitino’s teams always get better as the season goes along. They do get home games against Kentucky and Duke, but have to go on the road to Chapel Hill to play North Carolina and to Bankers Life Arena to play Indiana.

If Louisville is going to be successful come March, it will be due to the experience they get over the course of a grueling schedule. The early Battle for Atlantis tournament should give us a great look at what this year’s team looks like, but tests against UK, UNC, and Duke will show where they are at, in terms of the best in the country.

Don’t blink now, because basketball season is coming fast.