LOUISVILLE — If Louisville is not an elite basketball brand, it certainly is one that fits comfortably into the designer department. And yet the season of the blueblood had progressed for more than a month with the Cardinals serving mostly as spectators.
This was somewhat by design, and somewhat by happenstance, but there never was a doubt that UL's fitness to enter the discussion would be established when Kentucky came to town.
It seems as simple as this at this point: You've got to beat one to be one.
UCLA earned its entry by beating UK, and North Carolina by rolling through the Maui Invitational, and Indiana by taking down Kansas and North Carolina, and Kansas by defeating Duke, and Duke by recruiting three of the 10 best prospects in the U-S-of-A.