Louisville’s full 2020-21 basketball schedule is here

With the ACC’s full release of its schedule Tuesday morning, the complete schedule for the 2020-21 Louisville men’s basketball season has been finalized.

Take a look:

Nov. 25 — vs. Southern Illinois (Wade Houston Tip-Off Classic)

Nov. 27 — vs. Seton Hall (Wade Houston Tip-Off Classic)

Nov. 29 — vs. Prairie View A&M (Wade Houston Tip-Off Classic)

Dec. 1 — vs. Western Kentucky (Wade Houston Tip-Off Classic)

Dec. 4 — vs. UNC Greensboro (Wade Houston Tip-Off Classic)

Dec. 9 — At No. 7 Wisconsin (ACC-Big 10 Challenge)

Dec. 16 — vs. NC State

Dec. 22 — At Pitt

Dec. 26 — vs. No. 10 Kentucky

Jan. 2 — At Boston College

Jan. 5/6 — vs. Virginia Tech

Jan. 9 — vs. Georgia Tech

Jan. 12/13 — At Wake Forest

Jan. 16 — At Miami

Jan. 18 — vs. No. 21 Florida State

Jan. 23 — vs. No. 9 Duke

Jan. 30 — vs. Boston College

Feb. 2/3 — At Syracuse

Feb. 6 — At No. 4 Virginia

Feb. 9/10 — vs. Pitt

Feb. 13 — At Virginia Tech

Feb. 16/17 — vs. Syracuse

Feb. 20 — At No. 16 North Carolina

Feb. 23/24 — vs. Notre Dame

Feb. 27 — At No. 9 Duke

March 2/3 —At Clemson

March 6 — vs. No. 4 Virginia

Quick thoughts:

—Getting mirror games against Duke and Virginia — the top two teams in the league according to preseason projections — is obviously a tough draw. Once again getting the Cavaliers for Senior Day continues the cycle of cruelty.

—Eight of Louisville’s 27 scheduled games are against preseason top 25 squads, but my guess is that the Cards wind up playing more than eight contests against teams that are nationally ranked at the time.

—Knowing that multiple guys are either going to be sidelined or just starting to come back from injury, I was hoping the ACC games thrown Louisville’s way in December would be manageable. NC State is something of a trendy sleeper pick in the league, but it could certainly be worse than the combination of the Wolfpack and Pitt.

—The ACC deciding to not set up any buffer for makeup games seems ... bold. The only statement the league has made about potential postponements/cancelations is that “any conference games that are unable to be played will only be rescheduled if both teams’ schedules permit it.” The final league standings have the potential to look ridiculous.

—Louisville’s strength of schedule has been among the top 18 toughest in the nation by the RPI or NET in 11 of the past 13 years, and I would think that trend is going to continue this year. Just two teams (Southern Illinois and Prairie View A&M) are outside of the top 130 on Ken Pom.

—The reason for the multiple dates on some games is that seven mid-week games are still to be decided between a Tuesday or Wednesday. Game times and television designations will come later.

—Fifteen days.