By staff —

Conference play is starting the heat up for men’s basketball and Louisville sits at 15-4 (5-1). The team has an impressive three-game winning streak under their belt with wins over Florida State, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.

Acting coach David Padgett inherited a chaotic situation and is now starting to gain Coach of the Year rumblings.

The team is trending upward to this point, what does our staff grade the team at through 18 games?

Dalton Ray, B

Three of Louisville’s four losses are all by single digits and U of L had a lead late in each. This is an experienced team, so losing late leads is the biggest knock on the season.

Aside from that, the team has picked up steam as of late. The team still causes huge headaches for fans and commits questionable errors consistently, but they’re producing a quality year to this point.

Winning cures all and right now Louisville is on the right side of the win-loss column.

Matt Bradshaw, A

Tough losses don’t diminish what Louisville has accomplished thus far.

They’re second place in one of the toughest conferences in college basketball, and they’ve won 10 out of their last 12 games.

Maturing as the year has developed, Louisville took Clemson down to the wire on the road and downed then-No. 23 FSU in Tallahassee, Florida. This season is also the first time since 1994 Louisville has won at Notre Dame.

Conner Farrell, B

With turmoil in the program, expectations for this team were unclear.

Those expectations were even more unclear after a dropping all three high-profile non-conference games including the 30-point drumming at Kentucky.

The Cards are coming into their own with high production from forwards Ray Spalding and Deng Adel, as well as Padgett getting more comfortable on the sidelines.

Sitting at 4-1 with three favorable match-ups coming up, the men’s basketball team could be right in the thick of the ACC title race when they travel to Virginia next month.

Micah Brown, A-

Context is important when reviewing Louisville’s season. With a first-year head coach and a staff compiled the day before practices began, this group of players has exceeded all expectations laid on them.

With early losses to quality teams, it seemed likely this team could start feeling sorry for themselves, but that hasn’t been the case.

Now playing to their strengths, Louisville has pulled off two feats their previous coach was unable to achieve: a road win over a ranked ACC opponent and a victory against Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion.

Wes Payne, B-

After the scandal with Brian Bowen’s signing and the departure of legendary coach Rick Pitino, the outlook for the 2018 season was bleak for the Cardinals.

Now sitting second in the ACC, the Cardinals can still make a run in March. Although their biggest tests have come against Kentucky (loss), Clemson (loss) and Florida State (win), the other teams they’ve faced have been sub-par.

Brad McGuffin, A

Padgett and his staff have done an outstanding job at putting the situation in the rearview mirror and only looking forward.

Prior to fallout, some had this team as a preseason Final Four team. I wouldn’t go there right now, but this team has played great on the road, and its only four losses have come against ranked teams.

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File photo / The Louisville Cardinal