Louisville basketball still scheduling future games, 'proceeding as normal' with interims

The bulk of Louisville's 2018-19 nonconference schedule was already booked when David Padgett assumed his new role as Louisville's interim men's basketball coach in late September.

Now Louisville's coaching staff is working toward rounding out next season's slate with five more contests that are likely to be "guarantee games," home matchups against opponents looking to travel and make a few dollars to fund their school's athletic programs.

For the past four months, amid uncertainty about the program's future and their own, Padgett and his staff have operated as if this is a regular season, planning for the future and working on tasks like a permanent coaching team. That includes recruiting and scheduling.

"It's just proceeding as normal," Padgett said. "We're trying to do the same things we've always done."

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Louisville's 2018-19 games include matchups at home against Kentucky and two NIT Season Tip-Off opponents to be determined, plus road games at Indiana and Seton Hall and neutral-site games against two of Kansas, Marquette and Tennessee.

The Cardinals will again play home-and-home series with Pittsburgh and Virginia in the ACC portion of the schedule. Barring some kind of league-issued change in scheduling procedure, Louisville likely has home games against Duke, Florida State, Miami and Notre Dame and road games at Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Syracuse.

The two other home-and-home pairings for next season have not been released yet, but Louisville hasn't played series with Boston College, Clemson, NC State or Wake Forest, making two of those teams probable pairings next season.

Scheduling is one of the aspects of running a program that must continue regardless of who's in charge, and it's possible that Louisville could have its entire next season scheduled before a new head coach takes over for Padgett, if the university hires someone else for the permanent job.

Louisville typically completes the next season's schedule by early April or at least early summertime. The full slate is released publicly in late August or early September.

The November announcement of the Cardinals' inclusion in the 2018 NIT Season Tip-Off, an eight-team tournament, came long after the school had already agreed to play in the event.

Louisville will play two NIT Season Tip-Off games in New York City, plus the two home games.

The ACC-Big Ten Challenge doesn't always follow a home-away schedule, so there's no guarantee Louisville returns to the KFC Yum Center for the 2018 installment of the series after playing at Purdue this season. But it's more likely than not Louisville will have a home game against a Big Ten team in late November.

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"At Louisville, we expect to have a competitive team and schedule of games every year," said Kenny Klein, the athletic department's chief spokesman whose primary responsibilities include media relations for the athletics director and the men's basketball team.

With the January retirement of Kevin Miller, who served as the athletic department's top financial officer, Klein has taken a larger role in helping the basketball program with its game and tournament agreements. It's an example of athletics staffers adding new responsibilities amid what interim athletics director Vince Tyra called "restructuring" efforts.

But there isn't much more work left for next season's slate.

Padgett, working with director of basketball operations Michael Bowden, whose job responsibilities include scheduling for future seasons, said they have already reached out to potential opponents to finish up the remainder of the nonconference schedule.

"It was just a matter of us scheduling the guarantee games that we feel are the best for us," Padgett said, "and just trying to make the days and all that work."

CARDS' 2018-19 SCHEDULE

Nov. 21 and 23: NIT Season Tip-Off (games vs. two of Kansas, Marquette, Tennessee)

Dec. 1 or 2: at Seton Hall

Dec. 8: at Indiana

Home games with no date set: Kentucky; two NIT Season Tip-Off home games (opponents TBD)

Other games with no date set: ACC-Big Ten Challenge (opponent TBD)

Conference games: Pittsburgh and Virginia home-and-homes; at Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Syracuse; home vs. Duke, FSU, Miami, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech.

Possible conference home-and-home opponents: Boston College, Clemson, NC State and Wake Forest.

UP NEXT

NO. 16 NORTH CAROLINA AT LOUISVILLE

8:15 p.m. Saturday, KFC Yum Center

TV: ESPN Radio: WHAS-840

Online: ESPN3.com