Selection Sunday has come and gone, and it was not without controversy. There is the North Carolina vs. West Virginia debate that is running rampant across sports. Besides that, there are questions about how teams were seeded in the NCAA Tournament.
For the Louisville Cardinals, they made it all the way to the ACC Championship, where they lost to the Duke Blue Devils. Despite going 27-7 on the season and 18-2 in conference play, the Cardinals received the No. 8 seed in the South Region, where they will take on Big Ten Tournament runner-ups Creighton in the first round.
Let's just say that head coach Pat Kelsey wasn't happy with his team earning the No. 8 seed durin ghis interview with the Matt Jones and Myron Medcalf of ESPN Radio.
Did @MarchMadnessMBB get it right with @LouisvilleMBB as the 8th seed in the South Region?@patkelsey had some thoughts 🤔@KySportsRadio @MedcalfByESPN pic.twitter.com/2MRZ5oxcyQ
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) March 16, 2025
"I'll be completely honest with you, we're watching the selection show, when that popped up, it hurt a little bit," said Kelsey. "You felt slighted a little bit. It is what it is at this point...in my opinion, we should be playing a 12 or 11 seed. Every metric under the sun you look at and all the experts, NET - 23, which would put us [at] a possible 5 seed range. KenPom - 23. And heck fellas, you're Kentucky fans, and that Dec. 14 game, that's three months ago. Three months. We lost two games. We went 18-2 in the ACC. We went to the conference championship game and lost to the No. 1 team in the country. So, it is what it is."
Pat Kelsey rips NCAA Tournament selection committee for giving Louisville a No. 8 seed
Kelsey knows that there's nothing that can be done to change their seeding, but he did lay out the facts about Louisville's season. They only lost two games in the conference, and held a 38-33 lead over Duke in the ACC Tournament Championship.
Before Selection Sunday, Louisville was actually projected by both CBS Sports' Jerry Palm and ESPN's Joe Lunardi to pick up a No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region. But on Selection Sunday, the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region went to Illinois.
Now, the Cardinals will have to get past the Bluejays in the opening round. Creighton recently defeated DePaul and UConn to make it to the Big East Tournament Finals. Ultimately the Bluejays lost to the St. John's Red Storm.
If Louisville gets past Creighton, their next opponent will likely be the No. 1 overall seed in the region and the entire NCAA Tournament — the Auburn Tigers. While Auburn had a rough end to the season, losing three of their last four games, they were one of the most dominant teams in the country for most of it. So, the path for Louisville is a brutal one.
There's nothing to be one, other than Louisville getting past a rough path to win their fourth-ever NCAA Tournament National Championship.