Jeff Greer

@jeffgreer_cj

Louisville received the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Region, and the Cards will start against 15th-seeded Jacksonville State on Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The top seed in U of L's region is Big 12 regular-season champion Kansas. Oregon, the regular-season Pac-12 champ, got the No. 3 seed, probably a little lower than the Ducks expected but perhaps related to the injury of Chris Boucher, their third-leading scorer. Purdue, the winner of Big Ten regular-season title, is the No. 4 seed.

Here are five quick takeaways from the initial bracket reveal on Sunday night:

1. Strength of schedule pays off: Louisville's best win away from the KFC Yum Center was against Wichita State, a 62-52 victory in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas in November. Though Indiana was at full strength when U of L beat the Hoosiers on New Year's Eve, that win ended up looking a lot different by season's end. For those two reasons, it looked like Louisville was going to be dubbed a home-court hero and moved down the NCAA Tournament selection committee's rankings list.

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Instead, Louisville's strength of schedule won out. The Cards' schedule strength ranked second, and they were 8-8 against other teams selected in the 68-team field. U of L coach Rick Pitino said in February that he would continue to schedule difficult games going forward if it meant higher seeding in the Big Dance, and that's what happened this year.

"Obviously, our strength of schedule was important," Pitino said in a statement from U of L. "We've had the best- or second-best-ranked schedule and a high RPI. Half of our schedule was played against teams that now competing in the tournament, and we didn't lose to a team below 40 in the RPI."

2. Ray Harper redux: Remember Harper, the former head coach at Western Kentucky? Harper guided the Hilltoppers to 90 wins in five seasons in Bowling Green, including trips to the NCAA Tournament in the first two seasons of his tenure. Louisville beat WKU five times during Harper's tenure, and there was the infamous 2014 scrap between the teams that likely doomed the series in the near future.

Harper was fired after the 2015-16 season, and he resurfaced at Jacksonville State, which, by the way, is not in Florida. The Gamecocks won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament after finishing third in their league's East Division.

3. Friendly confines of Indianapolis? Louisville won its game at Bankers Life this season, beating Indiana, 77-62. The Cards shot 52.9 percent there, including 8 of 19 from 3-point range. Donovan Mitchell was 8 of 15 and, at the time, had scored his career-high 25 points. Deng Adel made five of his 10 shots and scored 17 points, and Jaylen Johnson added 13 points and seven rebounds. Anas Mahmoud also collected 10 points, three blocks, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The best news for Louisville fans? U of L made 15 of 18 from the free-throw line on the Bankers Life rims. For a Cards team that has struggled with free-throw shooting all season (68.5 percent as a team), any good omen is welcome.

4. Michigan a tough potential matchup: Don't get too far ahead of yourself, but if Louisville beats Jacksonville State and Michigan beats Oklahoma State ... Oh, mama. What a showdown that would be — a rematch of the 2013 national championship game.

Michigan is red hot, winners of five consecutive games, including Sunday's Big Ten Tournament championship game. The Wolverines were once considered a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, but they eliminated any doubt about their status by beating Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota and Wisconsin in four days. One of those teams, Illinois, was on the bubble, too. Purdue, Minnesota and Wisconsin are all NCAA Tournament teams.

How does Louisville stack up against John Beilein's team? Michigan is a good shooting squad (48.1 percent) and it doesn't turn the ball over. But the Wolverines are vulnerable on defense, where they ranked 11th in efficiency in the Big Ten. Conference opponents shot 48.2 percent against Michigan and grabbed almost a third of the available offensive rebounds.

5. How does Oregon react? The best team on Louisville's half of the Midwest Region is Oregon. The Ducks won 29 games and are a balanced team, with efficient offense and defense.

But the big question now is, how does Oregon react to losing Boucher? In addition to his scoring, the senior 6-foot-10 forward was second on the team in rebounding and led the team in blocked shots per game. He had two double-doubles, including 23 points and 19 rebounds against Montana. Losing a guy like that this late in the season is always a big blow, and Oregon could have its hands full in the second round with either Creighton or Rhode Island.