LOUISVILLE, KY – MARCH 08: Russ Smith #2 of the Louisville Cardinals waves to the crowd after leaving the game for the last time against the Connecticut Huskies at KFC YUM! Center on March 8, 2014 in Louisville, Kentucky. It was senior day and it was Smith’s last home game. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

The Louisville Cardinals may not have been invited to the tournament this season due to NCAA issues, but Rick Pitino’s program is the most valuable program in the country according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. North Carolina, as you may have guessed, is easily the most valuable program competing in this year’s Final Four.

Louisville’s college basketball program was valued at $301.3 million by the WSJ, although the report notes that value is down roughly $66 million from a year ago. Louisville is the only program valued over $260 million, with Kansas coming in second at a value of $258.2 million.  Louisville’s in-state rivals from Kentucky are valued at $244.3 million, third-highest in the nation.

North Carolina’s value is reported at $221.6 million, seventh-highest in the nation. Syracuse is two spots behind the Tar Heels (UNC faces Syracuse Saturday night in the Final Four) at a value of $203.9 million. Oklahoma is valued at $51.2 million (39th) and Villanova is valued at $40.4 million (54th).

Power conference programs tend to dominate the top of the rankings, which is no surprise. Connecticut of the American Athletic Conference is a bit of an outlier in this report, but this should come as no surprise given the program’s history (and we’re not even talking about the women’s program). After UConn, the highest-valued non-power conference programs are Dayton ($80.6 million), Xavier ($78.1 million), South Florida ($66.8 million), Marquette ($59.6 million), St. John’s $55 million) and VCU ($50.1 million). Gonzaga and UNLV also crack the top 50.

[Wall Street Journal]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.