Louisville basketball enters AP top 25 at No. 23

For the first time this season, your Louisville Cardinals are a nationally ranked squad.

Here’s the new AP top 25, which is topped by Tennessee for just the second time in the history of the UT program:

1. Tennesssee (48)

2. Duke (11)

3. Virginia (3)

4. Gonzaga

5. Michigan

6. Michigan State (2)

7. Nevada

8. Kentucky

9. Kansas

10. Virginia Tech

11. North Carolina

12. Marquette

13. Maryland

T-14. Texas Tech

T-14. Buffalo

16. Auburn

17. Houston

18. Villanova

19. Iowa

20. Ole Miss

21. NC State

22. Mississippi State

23. Louisville

24. Iowa State

25. LSU

Others Receiving Votes: Florida State, Purdue, Kansas State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Washington, Murray State, Cincinnati, Wofford, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Florida, TCU, Hofstra.

I’ll be perfectly honest, if before the season you had forced me to make a straight yes or no wager on whether or not Louisville would have cracked the AP top 25 poll at any point this season, I would have wagered on no. If you had told me that the answer was yes, I would have guessed the rankings appearance would have happened early on in the season thanks to a November upset or two.

I would not have guessed that three weeks into ACC play, the Cards would be tied for first in the league standings and ranked 23rd in the latest AP top 25 poll. But that’s where we are. It’s cool.