2012 – 13 Louisville Cardinals men 's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2012 – 13 NCAA Division I men 's basketball season , Louisville 's 99th season of intercollegiate competition . The Cardinals competed in the Big East Conference and were coached by Rick Pitino in his 12th season as head coach at Louisville . The team played its home games on Denny Crum Court at the KFC Yum ! Center . The Cardinals finished the season 35 – 5 , 14 – 4 in Big East play to earn a share of the Big East regular season championship . They won the Big East Tournament for the third time in school history and received the conference 's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament . The Cardinals earned a trip to the school 's fourth Final Four and defeated Michigan to win the NCAA Championship ; however , that title was stripped by the NCAA in 2018 . The season marked the final year for the Big East under its original structure . The Cardinals were the consensus No. 2 team in the preseason polls and were picked to win Big East conference by the media and the coaches . They returned five of nine players from the 2012 Final Four team led by senior and Big East Pre-Season Player of the Year Peyton Siva . They lost senior Mike Marra to a knee injury on the first day of practice
Big East Conference
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
2012–13 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team