Three teams have committed to Louisville bubble

Duquesne, UNC Greensboro and Winthrop have all signed contracts to play in the “Louisville bubble” multi-team event this November at the KFC Yum Center. The news was originally reported by Jon Rothstein and later confirmed by the Courier Journal’s Shannon Russell.

More teams are expected to be added to the event, which will begin on Nov. 25.

Louisville has the ability to play seven non-conference games to go along with its 20-game ACC schedule. One of those games will come in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge, and another (presumably) will come against Kentucky. The Cardinals were previously scheduled to play Oklahoma State in the Armed Forces Classic and two games in the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas, but U of L will not be participating in either event.

All three of the teams now signed up for the Louisville bubble won at least 21 games last season.

Winthrop shared the Big South regular season title and won the league tournament, meaning they would have played in the NCAA tournament had there been one. UNC Greensboro was 23-9 and had a non-conference road win over Georgetown. Under Keith Dambrot — LeBron James’ high school coach — Duquesne won 21 games for the first time since 2009 in a solid Atlantic 10 Conference. The Dukes bring back the bulk of that roster.

Stop ducking us, DePaul. It’s time.