Louisville Cardinals vs Creighton Bluejays Picks and Predictions March 20th 2025

Surprising 8-Seed Louisville Set for New Chapter, Faces Creighton

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eighth-seeded Louisville will make the short trip across the Bluegrass State to open the NCAA Tournament against ninth-seeded Creighton in a South Region first-round matchup on Thursday.

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Louisville’s Remarkable Turnaround

The Cardinals (27-7) have authored one of the most dramatic turnarounds in recent college basketball history. After a combined 12 wins over the past two seasons, first-year coach Pat Kelsey has Louisville back in the national spotlight, finishing second in the ACC regular season and reaching the conference tournament final before falling to Duke.

Louisville’s 27 wins mark a staggering improvement from last year’s 8-24 campaign, and the program is back in the tournament for the first time since 2019. The team enjoyed win streaks of 10 and 11 games down the stretch, finishing just a game behind Duke in the ACC standings.

Terrence Edwards Jr. leads the way for the Cardinals with 16.6 points per game, while J’Vonne Hadley (7.3 rebounds per game) and Chucky Hepburn (5.8 assists per game) provide strong support. The matchup between Hepburn and Creighton’s Steven Ashworth could be one of the more intriguing battles of the first round.

Creighton Looks to Continue Tournament Consistency

Creighton (24-10) is making its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Greg McDermott after reaching the Big East championship game. The Bluejays, led by four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner (19.4 points, 8.8 rebounds per game), finished third in the conference but lost to St. John’s in the title game.

McDermott acknowledged the challenge of facing a resurgent Louisville squad and was surprised by the seeding for both teams.

“You have to celebrate when it happens. It’s hard. It’s been certainly an uphill climb for us with the way we started the season at 7-5 to get to this point,” McDermott said. “Obviously, we drew a very difficult opponent in Louisville—18-2 in the ACC is incredible.”

Despite the lower seeds, both teams have the firepower to make a deep tournament run.

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