Playing "power conference" schools doesn't really matter. You don't play a conference.Kentucky plays @ Kansas in January, and that's after playing multiple power conference schools in the OOC schedule.
Louisville SOS is #331 right now...
Nor does it really matter who you play three months before the NCAA tournament. Not if your team's elite anyway. Really only matters if your schedule is pretty much hot garbage by season's end.
"Elite program", my a$$...