Four decades ago, Louisville men's basketball was a plucky up-and-comer.
The annual late-December rivalry game with Kentucky didn't begin until 1983. There were no national championship banners hanging from the rafters of the KFC Yum! Center Freedom Hall. Denny Crum was merely a good coach who couldn't win the big one.
The Cardinals were to the 1970s what Gonzaga was to the 2000s: A program that rose to power by dominating what was typically a one-bid league, even though it was never enough to climb to No. 1 in the polls or achieve the ultimate goal of winning the national championship.