The Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program representing the University of Louisville (U of L) in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I. The Cardinals have officially won two NCAA championships in 1980 and 1986 (with the 2013 title being vacated); and have officially been to eight Final Fours (with the 2012 and 2013 appearances being vacated) in 41 official NCAA tournament appearances while compiling 62 tournament wins.
History
"Peck" Hickman era (1944–1967) Bernard "Peck" Hickman's 1944 team finished with a 16–3 record and started a string of 46 consecutive winning seasons, which was an NCAA record.
Hickman led Louisville to its first championship on a national level by winning the NAIB tournament in 1948. In 1956, led by All-American Charlie Tyra, the Cardinals won the NIT Championship. In 1956 his team was placed on two years probation, to include bans on postseason play, by the NCAA due to recruiting violations. In 1959, Louisville made its first NCAA Final Four appearance behind the play of All-American Don Goldstein.
The Cardinals never had a losing season in Hickman's 23 seasons as head coach. He coached 11 20-win teams, appeared in five NCAA tournaments, coached six NIT appearances and finished with a 443–183 overall record, a .708 winning percentage that ranks him in the top 45 all time.
John Dromo era (1967–1971) John Dromo was Hickman's assistant for 17 years and succeeded him at head coach in 1967. In four seasons as head coach, Dromo led the Cardinals to a 68–23 record (.747 winning percentage) and the 1967 Missouri Valley Conference title.
A heart attack during the 1970–71 season forced Dromo to retire. His assistant, Howard Stacey, was named interim head coach for the final 20 games of the season.
Denny Crum era (1971–2001) Denny Crum was hired as head coach from his alma mater, UCLA, where he was the top assistant coach to John Wooden. It was under the guidance of Crum that Louisville became a college basketball power. In his first season, he guided the Cardinals to the NCAA Final Four, becoming the first coach ever to go to a Final Four in his first season as a head coach. Overall, Crum had six Final Fours with the Cardinals (1972, 1975, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986). He is fifth all-time in Final Four appearances.
The Cardinals won the 1980 NCAA tournament championship by defeating UCLA 59–54. Six years later, Louisville would overcome Duke 72–69 for a second title. Crum is one of only 11 coaches to win two or more national championships. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1980, 1983 and 1986.
He took the Cardinals to 23 NCAA tournaments, where they had an overall record of 43–21. While in the Metro Conference, the Cardinals won 12 regular season titles and 11 tournament championships. In its 19 years of naming a champion, the Metro had Louisville as first or second place 17 times. In 1993, Crum became the second fastest coach to reach 500 wins.
Crum was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1994. He retired in 2001 with a career record of 675–295 (.696 winning percentage) over 30 seasons. He was a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 2006.
Rick Pitino era (2001–2017)
Rick Pitino was hired in 2001 after four years as head coach of the Boston Celtics, and previously as head coach of Louisville's in-state rival, Kentucky.
Pitino guided the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of 15 seasons, reaching the Elite Eight six times and the Final Four three times (2005, 2012, and 2013). His teams won six conference tournament championships and four regular season titles. The Cardinals won at least 20 games every season since Pitino's first season at Louisville. Through the 2015–16 season, Pitino amassed a record of 391–134 () during his time at Louisville.
Pitino was selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, and was under contract through the 2025–26 season.
The University of Louisville self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2015–16 season amid an ongoing NCAA investigation over an escort sex scandal involving recruits between 2010 and 2014. The ban included both the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament.
On June 15, 2017, the NCAA charged Rick Pitino for failure to monitor his basketball program which was involved in a sex-for-pay scandal. He was suspended for the first five games of the ACC season in 2017–18.
On September 26, 2017, federal prosecutors in New York announced that the school was under investigation for an alleged "pay for play" scheme involving recruits at Louisville. The allegations state that an Adidas executive conspired to pay $100,000 to the family of a top-ranked national recruit to play at Louisville and to represent Adidas when he turned pro. The criminal complaint did not name Louisville specifically but appeared to involve the recruitment of Brian Bowen, a late, surprise commit to the school. On September 27, 2017, Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich were placed on administrative leave.
On October 26, 2017, Rick Pitino was fired as the head coach of Louisville Men's Basketball.
On February 20, 2018, the NCAA ruled that Louisville must vacate its records from 2011 to 2015. This included 123 wins, the 2013 NCAA title, and a 2012 Final Four appearance.
Chris Mack era (2018–2022) On March 27, 2018, Xavier head coach Chris Mack agreed to terms on a seven-year contract worth about $4 million annually to become the next head coach at Louisville. Louisville was the first ever school to hire away a head coach whose previous team was a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Mack had a notable start to his Louisville tenure, recruiting a top-5 2019 class that included a 5-star player, four 4-star players, and a three-star player. Picked to finish 11th in the 2018 preseason ACC poll, Mack led the Cardinals to a 20–14 season peaking at #15 in the AP polls and finishing in seventh place in the ACC standings with signature wins over #9 Michigan State, #12 North Carolina, and #11 Virginia Tech and tough losses to #5 Tennessee, Marquette, #22 Florida State, and #2 Duke. Under Mack, Louisville made only one NCAA tournament appearance.
On January 26, 2022, Louisville and Chris Mack mutually agreed to part ways.
Kenny Payne era (2022–2024)
On March 18, 2022, it was announced that the University of Louisville signed Kenny Payne to a six-year contract as head coach.
Kenny Payne ended his first season with the worst record in modern times for any Louisville team, finishing the season 4–28.
On March 13, 2024, Louisville fired Payne after a two-year record of 12–52.
Pat Kelsey era (2024–present) On March 28, 2024, Pat Kelsey was introduced as the 23rd head coach for the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team, signing a 5-year contract.
In year one, Kelsey took over a program that won just 12 games in the previous two seasons and hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2018. Despite this, Kelsey led the "reviville", leading the Cards to a 27–8 record and an 18–2 record in ACC Play. The Cardinals secured the two-seed in the ACC Tournament where they defeated seventh seed Stanford and third-seed Clemson, securing the programs first trip to the ACC Championship where they lost to first seed and top ranked Duke 73–62. Louisville received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 8 seed, where they lost in the first round to Creighton. Due to the success and quick program turn around in year one, Pat Kelsey won ACC Coach of the Year.
Notable achievements
As of the end of the 2015–16 season, Louisville had an all-time 1778–892 record in 102 seasons of intercollegiate basketball ranking 10th in all-time victories and seventh in all-time winning percentage among NCAA Division I schools. From 1944 to 1990, Louisville had an NCAA-record 46 straight winning seasons, winning 20 or more games on 31 occasions during that period.
Louisville has made 42 NCAA Tournament appearances (5th all-time) and 15 NIT appearances. The Cardinals have reached the NCAA Tournament 32 of the last 40 years (12 of the last 15, 14 of the last 18 years, 20 of last 25). Since the NCAA began keeping Sweet Sixteen appearance records in 1975, Louisville's 21 Sweet Sixteens are 5th all-time behind North Carolina (26), Kentucky (25), Duke (24), and Kansas (22). The Cardinals have reached the Elite Eight on 14 occasions, including five of the past nine seasons. Louisville is sixth in tournament victories (75) with a 75–41 overall NCAA Tournament record, reaching the Final Four 10 times.
Louisville is the only school in the nation to have claimed the championship of three major national post-season tournaments including the 1948 NAIA championship, the 1956 NIT title, and the 1980, 1986 and 2013 NCAA championships. Simultaneously, Louisville is the only school in NCAA history to have a Men's Basketball National Championship vacated, along with 2 Final Four appearances.
By the numbers
All-time NCAA Tournament titles2*t-9thAll-time NCAA Tournaments41*8thAll-time NCAA Tournament Wins62*6thAll-time NCAA Final Fours8*8thAll-time victories1811*31stAll-time winning percentage.640*15th * NCAA vacated all wins from 2011 to 2015
Post-season results
National championships
1948 NAIA Tournament Championship
+ 1948 NAIA Tournament Results First Round South Dakota State 63–60 Sweet Sixteen Emporia State 82–66 Elite Eight Beloit 85–76 Final Four Xavier 56–49 Championship Indiana State 82–70
1956 NIT Championship
+ 1956 NIT Tournament Results First Round Bye Elite Eight Duquesne 84–72 Final Four Saint Joseph's 89–79 Championship Dayton 93–80
1980 NCAA Tournament Championship
+ 1980 NCAA Tournament Results First Round Bye – Second Round Kansas State 71–69 OT Sweet Sixteen Texas A&M 66–55 OT Elite Eight LSU 86–66 Final Four Iowa 80–72 Championship UCLA 59–54
1986 NCAA Tournament Championship
+ 1986 NCAA Tournament Results First Round Drexel 93–73 Second Round Bradley 82–56 Sweet Sixteen North Carolina 94–79 Elite Eight Auburn 84–76 Final Four LSU 88–77 Championship Duke 72–69
2013 NCAA Tournament Championship (Vacated)
+ 2013 NCAA Tournament Results First RoundNorth Carolina A&T 79–48 Second Round Colorado State 82–56 Sweet Sixteen Oregon 77–69 Elite Eight Duke 85–63 Final Four Wichita State 68–62 Championship Michigan 82–76
NCAA Tournament Final Four history 1959– Fourth place 1972– Fourth place 1975– Third place 1980– Champion 1982– Semifinalist 1983– Semifinalist 1986– Champion 2005–Semifinalist 2012– Semifinalist – Vacated 2013– Champion – Vacated
NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player 1980 – Darrell Griffith 1986 – Pervis Ellison 2013 – Luke Hancock
NCAA tournament seeding history The NCAA began seeding the tournament with the 1979 edition. Years →'79'80'81'82'83'84'86'88'89'90'92'93'94'95'96'97'99Seeds→324315254484311667 Years →'00'03'04'05'07'08'09'10'11'12'13'14'15'17'19'25'26Seeds→74104631*9441*442786 * – Overall number one seed. The committee began ranking 1 seeds in 2004.
Complete NCAA tournament results The Cardinals have appeared in the NCAA tournament 41* (45) times. Their combined record is 62–46* (77–46).
* – NCAA vacated all wins from 2011 to 2015.