By Derek DeBurger
Louisville baseball has missed the NCAA tournament to end what has been a painfully average season.
The snub from the big dance doesn’t come as much of a surprise as the Cards struggled most of the season with inconsistent relief pitching and an inability to garner wins over superior competition.
While there is an argument that some teams that made the field of 64 teams were equally as undeserving as the Cards, the bottom line is that Louisville was simply not a tournament-caliber team this season.
This season marks the fourth time under head coach Dan McDonnell that the Cards have missed the tournament, the third time in the last four seasons and the first time in back-to-back seasons.
McDonnell may have been the coach to set the standard at Louisville, but this upcoming offseason will be the most important of his career. Regardless of who set it, at some point the standard is the standard and tough conversations may need to be had if the state of the program doesn’t drastically improve.
