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Louisville dismantled Pitt earlier in the week. Despite a loss to FSU last Saturday, Rick Pitino’s Cardinals are starting to play their best basketball of the season.

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Louisville basketball had one heck of a week-plus.

The Cardinals handed Clemson and Pitt their worst losses of the season, as Rick Pitino’s squad beat the Tigers by 32 points and the Panthers by 55. Fans at the Petersen Events Center, especially, deserved better from a Pitt team that appeared to quit. Kevin Stallings has a mess on his hands.

The ‘Ville showed how well it can play—even without starting point guard Quentin Snider—in these last two victories. It should breed a ton of confidence moving forward, especially with how unforgiving the ACC has been this season. Just ask North Carolina and Florida State, two of the best teams in the nation that have fallen victim to Josh Pastner’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

While the Cardinals fell to the Seminoles on the road last Saturday, appearing out of whack from the get-go, this is still a team that could potentially land a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Just revert back to what happened across the nation this past Tuesday night.

Villanova lost to Marquette, Kentucky fell to Tennessee and Kansas dropped its contest to West Virginia. Gonzaga has a perfect record, but every team has its blemishes.

So, Pitino and Co. are in the mix along with teams such as Gonzaga, UK, UNC, Villanova, Virginia and West Virginia in the discussion for a top seed. Of course, it’s still very early. And we know that the Cards are not even atop their own conference right now. But opportunities loom at Virginia and North Carolina next month, and wins there would go a long way toward landing a No. 1 seed—assuming the Cards don’t fall victim to an upset or two, which is ALWAYS a possibility in this league.

Clemson and Pitt aren’t top ACC contenders, of course. But the type of performances Louisville gave in those victories over a couple of bubble teams has to excite Cardinal fans. And it’s scary to think that we still may not have seen the best yet from this squad.

…The Cardinals’ path to a potential top seed became a little more difficult with their point guard depth getting even thinner. The team announced this past Wednesday that Tony Hicks is expected to be out six-to-eight weeks with a broken bone suffered in his hand during Tuesday night’s dismantling of Pitt, a game in which he finished with his fingers taped together. An evaluation found that a spiral fracture of his fourth metacarpal was discovered. Of course, Hicks was playing a much larger role for Pitino because Snider has been out with a hip injury. He tallied a combined 35 points in the Cards’ games versus Clemson, Florida State and Pitt while filling in for Snider. “Tony was just fitting in at the point position and has made great progress,” Pitino said in a statement. There’s a chance that Hicks can salvage the season if the Cards do well in March, but Ryan McMahon and David Levitch will have a chance to log time now if they commit to the defensive side of the ball in Pitino’s system.

…Not even the most die-hard Georgia Tech fan could have expected the Yellow Jackets to be playing as well as they have in Pastner’s first season at the helm. GT is 12-8 overall and 4-4 in the ACC, which is far and away the best conference in the country. First-year coaches such as Grant McCasland at Arkansas State, Jamie Dixon at TCU and UCF’s Johnny Dawkins are having standout seasons as well, but Pastner has led his team to wins over VCU, UNC, NC State and FSU, which was blown out by the Yellow Jackets, 78-56, on Wednesday night. Pastner’s Yellow Jackets were supposed to be the worst team in the ACC in ’16-17. Instead, they are one of the league’s biggest surprises. There has been no better coaching job in America than what Pastner is doing, as GT has two Top 10 wins in the regular season for the first time since ’03-04. And it’s time that freshman guard Josh Okogie gets some more recognition. He has games of 38, 35, 27 and 26 points this year, including a 35-point, 14-rebound effort in the win over the Seminoles.

…Virginia travels to Philadelphia to face Villanova tomorrow for a nonconference meeting at Wells Fargo Center. As the fantastic David Teel of the Daily Press pointed out this week, Virginia has lost 18 straight vs. No. 1 teams—all against Duke or North Carolina—since beating the Tar Heels on January 30, 1986. Th Cavaliers have a chance on Sunday against non-conference foe ‘Nova on the road.

Mention this because Cavs at No. 1 Villanova on Sunday. They've lost 18 straight vs. No. 1, all Duke or UNC, since beating Heels 1-30-86. https://t.co/1sItUkGJDv

— David Teel (@DavidTeelatDP) January 26, 2017

…North Carolina hasn’t exactly been known for its prowess behind the three-point line during the Roy Williams tenure, but the Tar Heels have shown that they can be dangerous from downtown. UNC shot just 32.7 percent from three-point range during its national runner-up season last year, which was the worst in program history. But against Virginia Tech on Thursday, the Tar Heels recorded a season-high 14 3-pointers in their 91-72 win. It was the most 3-pointers for the program since drilling 15 against Mississippi State in the 2012 Maui Invitational. Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II had five apiece. While it won’t be a trend to attempt a season-high 30 3’s, most were taken within the flow of the offense. It’s just another dangerous look for a team with national title aspirations. The Tar Heels are No. 3 in the league in 3-point shooting at 38.7 percent and are the best offensive-rebounding team in the nation. So even when a long-distance shot misses the mark, the chances are strong that the possession will continue anyway. There are nights when UNC looks like the best team in the country, and that long-range shooting may be what puts it over the top during March Madness.

Saturday’s best games

No. 14 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech, Noon ET, ESPNU: The Irish will travel to a tough environment, as McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta will be rocking and supporting a Yellow Jackets squad that is coming off of a big win against FSU and is far exceeding expectations.

No. 9 North Carolina at Miami, Noon ET, CBS: The Tar Heels will be looking to showcase their newfound three-point game against a Hurricanes squad that has dropped four out of their last six games. UNC junior guard Theo Pinson will miss the contest after rolling his right ankle in the first half of the win over Virginia Tech.

MORE: College Hoops Weekend Primer – Best Games, Bets For Jan. 27-29