Louisville Women Advance To First Final Four

As Candyce Bingham hoisted the trophy over her head, it became reality that this basketball team really was, well, something special.

In the Raleigh Regional Finals, the Louisville Lady Cardinals routed top-seeded Maryland 77-60 to advance to the Final Four.  The Ladies were all smiles as they held up the Raleigh Regional champion trophy and cut down the nets.  Angel Mccoughtry scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Cardinals ran away from the Terps in the the second half.  Candyce Bingham tallied up 15 points and six rebounds while Deseree Byrd added 17 points and nine assists.  Becky Burke came off of the bench for 10 points as well.

“I’m dreaming right now,” McCoughtry said as she gestured to Byrd and adding, “pinch me, Des.”

It’s the first Final Four in the program’s history and the Cardinals became the fourth team in Big East history to advance to the final four joining Connecticut, Notre Dame and Rutgers.  It didn’t come easy though despite what the final score was.  Louisville was held scoreless for nearly six minutes at the end of the first half, until Angel Mccoughtry hit a buzzer beater to put the Cardinals up 30-25.  Then the Cards ran away with the game in the second half despite a few attempts by Maryland to get back in the game.

“It’s time to go to Disney World,” McCoughtry said, breaking into a laugh as she added, “oh, wait. We’ve got two more games.”

The Lady Cards will take on the winner of tomorrow’s Oklahoma-Purdue contest.  Should they win that game, it looks like they will have to play Connecticut again.  A team which held them to just 36 points when they last met in the Big East Tournament Championship.  

It’s hard to predict anything right now though considering the Cardinals might be playing better than they have all season.  Let’s just hope that a national championship is in the Cards.

What to watch tonight

Purdue -vs- Connecticut, 7:07 PM, CBS

Purdue is playing some pretty good basketball right now, fresh off a Big Ten tourney title. But, UConn has breezed through their first few games and have their eye on the Final Four. Should be a good game as two of the top teams from two of the toughest conferences face off for a spot in the Elite 8.

Xaver -vs- Pittsburgh, 7:27 PM, CBS

Pitt has been struggling so far through the tournament but that hasn’t stopped anyone from expecting them to advance over Xavier. Xavier is a very good team. Don’t let some of their bad losses throughout the regular season fool you. Sean Miller and Co. know how to win in March and are hoping for a berth in the elite 8 for a second straight season.

Missouri -vs- Memphis, 9:37 PM, CBS

You know it’s going to be a good day in basketball if this is considered the second best game of the day.  Memphis is on a mission to complete what they nearly did last year, win a national title.  At the same time, Mizzou has been a force to be reckoned with and isn’t going to roll over for Memphis.  I actually have Missouri ultimately advancing to the Final Four.  Should be a very good game.

Villanova -vs- Duke, 9:57 PM, CBS

Last but certainly NOT least, in what has been one of the most anticipated games of the second weekend entire tournament, Scottie Reynolds and Villanova will take on the Blue Devils of Duke.  I heard some refer to Duke as “having a down year” and you must be a pretty good program to get a #2 seed in a down year.  Two tough teams from the two best conferences, two great coaches in Jay Wright and Mike Kryzcksikdski Krzyzewski (pronounced Sha-Shef-Ski), all for a spot in the Elite 8.  It doesn’t get much better than this, baby.

Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls, 8:00 PM, TNT
Phoenix Suns @ Portland Trailblazers, 10:30 PM, TNT

If you’re one of those hardcore Card fans that don’t really care about college basketball when Louisville isn’t playing than switch the channel over to TNT where tonights NBA Doubleheader includes a couple of decent games between some potential playoff teams.  Is Greg Oden healthy?  Because I’d really love to see him take it to Shaq, you know, physically.  I’m a horrible comedian.

The Office, 9:00 PM, NBC
30 Rock , 9:30 PM, NBC 

In what might be televisions best sitcom currently, Michael uses his last two weeks at the job to goof off.  This is my Tony Kornheiser-ish attempt to tell you what to watch tonight that has absolutely nothing to do with sports.  On 30 Rock, Jack’s 50th birthday sends him tripping down memory lane.

Pitino, The Motivator.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino interviewed with Colin Cowherd today and gave a pretty darn good interview.  He discussed his style of play and his mindset on how to coach the players when they’re down to a team (like, oh, say… Sienna) in the second half of a game.  He also discussed his joy of coaching at Louisville and the highs and lows that any coach could hit in a season.  Cowherd started out by asking Pitino how Louisville was able to dig themselves out of the hole they were in on Sunday against the Sienna Saints.

“I called three time outs in the matter of a couple of minutes because I could see the seeds of doubt on my players faces,” Pitino said, “and I spent the three time-outs not talking about strategy or X’s and O’s, I just tried to motivate them to understand we were going to win the game.”

Pitino went on to discuss Terrence Williams’ leadership and how a single rebound and shot from Williams was able to power the Cardinals over upset-minded Sienna.  When Cowherd asked Pitino about his defense and how he utilizes his players Pitino responded “There’s only one way to used the players obviously, is to develop a style where you can somehow fatigue your opposition, by using those numbers, and I’ve never had a problem with going to the ninth, tenth or eleventh guy on the team and utilizing them, and that’s what we basically try and do.”

Pitino also had high praise for Louisville’s next opponent, the 12-seeded Arizona Wildcats, a program who took Pitino’s potential second national championship right out of his hands 12 years ago.

“In this game they understand there are three professional basketball players on this team.  One is a lottery pick in Jordan Hill, then you have Chase Budinger who’s been around and everybody knows about, and certainly the back court point guard is tremendous as well,” Pitino said of Arizona.  “Arizona’s a 12-seed because they went through some coaching problems.  The new coaches who have taken over have done a fabulous job keeping everything together, creating a style that’s good for this team and now they’re peaking at the right time.”

Cowherd questioned Pitino of his moves in the past and Pitino explained to Cowherd his joy of building or rebuilding programs.  He discussed how he built Providence into a winner when they were down, and his ambitions to turn around the Knicks and the Celtics.  Kentucky was in scandal when he went there and he turned the program into a National Champion again.

Pitino mentioned the “Microwave Society” that coaches are in and how even if you win one year, the next year some fans will want you gone if you don’t go to the tourney.

Let’s just hope he can keep on motivating all the way to the end.

Five Reasons Why Louisville Could Win The Tournament.

As a Louisville fan, it’s been very hard to not expect a lot from the Cardinals this March.  It’s also extremely scary to know that one missed shot, one bad play, or a few bad minutes could cost any team, including Louisville, the national title.  March is not an easy time to play, just take a look at the Sienna game on Sunday.  Every team comes out pumped up and hoping to cut down the nets at the end of the tournament.  The Cardinals have played in the shadows of other teams all year.  Pitt and UConn still seem to garner more attention than the Cardinals even after Louisville took both the Big East regular season and tournament titles.  ESPN will never mention any other program in the same breath as North Carolina or Duke, not even UCLA, UK or Kansas.  Even Kentucky seemed to make more headlines than UofL because of how bad they were playing.  UofL has been playing with something to prove all season, whether they had just beaten Pitt or lost to Western Kentucky, they’ve known that they’ve had something to prove.  While you must play one game at a time, you still have to keep your eye on the prize.  The Cards might not be the overall favorite even with the overall number-one seed, at least according to the national media.  Everyone seems to love the darling North Carolina Tar Heels this time of here, UConn might be the new favorite after blowing out the competition in their first two rounds.  Even Memphis and Oklahoma are turning a lot of heads, but there are a lot of reasons why Louisville has just as good of a shot as anyone else.  Five really, really good ones.  

1.  Fresh Legs

Louisville may have one of the best benches in the entire country.  Between Edgar Sosa, Andre McGee, Jerry Smith and Preston Knowles they can constantly put in rested players to perform that press that they’re known for.  Coach Pitino can even throw in three guards if he needs to to give Terrence Williams a rest.  While the story in the paint isn’t quite the same, Terrence Jennings isn’t a bad guy to have coming off of the bench, even for a freshman.  He can play in the four or the five position and he can maintain quality play while at least one of the big men are taking a breather.  As they showed through the Big East Tournament, they can simply wear teams and run away with the game in the second half.  Sosa, McGee, Smith and Knowles all average over 16 minutes per game.

2.  Defense

Those fresh legs that were just mentioned is the key to the Cardinals’ defensive ability.  The Cards have fresh players to press for the entire game and they can also switch back at half-court and play a pretty good 2-3 zone.  Statistically, they’re one of the top defensive teams in the country allowing just 61.7 points per game.  Back to the bench, they can have five quality defensive players on the floor at any given time and they’re not afraid to dive for balls, intercept passes and block shots.

3.  Location, Location, Location

The Cardinals opened up the tournament playing two games in Dayton, Ohio, a little over two hours from Louisville if you drive like a sane person.  For regional play, the Cardinals have an even better location in Indianapolis.  Just 114 miles from the ‘Ville, Indy is a very short drive, especially for UofL fans who are known to travel in large groups.  Arizona also went 2-9 when not playing at home throughout the regular season.  Provided the Cardinals advance to the Final Four, Detroit is about 6 hours away from Louisville.  Not quite as close as the other two venues but Cardinal fans would be more than willing to make a weekend trip to the Motor City and pack as many fans as they possibly can in Ford Field.

4.  Versatility

No other team in the country has a player like Terrence Williams.  He’s the most versatile player in the country, no questions asked.  While his stats aren’t particularly mind blowing in any category, he has high marks in nearly all of those categories.  With 12.7 points per game, 8.7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2.4 steals, he can do anything and everything on the hardwood.  If that’s not enough, he’s the team’s emotional leader and steps up when he needs to.  He’s cool, calm and collected but often wears a smile on his face and performs silly antics.  He goes out and enjoys playing the game.  He’s the reason Louisville is won the Big East and the reason they earned the top seed.

5.  Experience is Key

If experience is what it takes to win, the Cardinals definitely have it.  Their past two years in the tournament, they have advanced two games further each time.  They’ve seen every offensive and defensive set they could possibly see.  They’ve played the best competition in the country through their grueling Big East schedule.  Rick Pitino’s been to plenty of final fours and always seems to have his teams playing their best ball come tournament time.  The Juniors and Seniors in this group have now played in a total of eight NCAA tournament games.  They have just as much experience as any other team in this tournament and they’re as prepared as anyone else in this tournament.

There’s what they can do, now they just have to go out and do it.

Rick Pitino on March Madness, T-Mac, and more…

Adidas was able to catch up with Rick Pitino and his thoughts on March Madness.  Check it out, it’s a pretty good interview.  Also, if you haven’t seen the Vitamin Water commercial with Coach Pitino and Christian Laettner, you can check that out below.

And if you haven’t seen the Tracy McGrady commercial yet, check that out below as well.  I would sure love to have T-Mac on the team right about now…

Lady Cards Knock Off LSU For Sweet 16 Berth

Angel McCoughtry dropped 28 points and grabbed 9 rebounds for the Louisville Cardinals as they knocked off the 6th-seeded LSU Lady Tigers 62-52 to advance to their second straight sweet 16.  It didn’t look easy as LSU often exchanged leads with the Lady Cards throughout the game but Louisville was able to control the pace of the game, make a few quick runs and ultimately come out on top.

LSU’s Allison Hightower scored 21 points and dished out 5 assists but that just wasn’t enough for LSU who failed to advance to the sweet 16 for the first time in six seasons.  Louisville’s Candyce Bingham played the supporting role as she was able to score 17 points and grab 6 rebounds.  

In the end, Louisville proved to be the tougher team as they were able to hold off the Lady Tigers on their home floor.  The Lady Cardinals continue their quest for their first national championship when they take on 2nd-seeded Baylor on Saturday in Raleigh, NC.

The good news is that Louisville is playing good basketball, Angel McCoughtry is playing like she’s the best in the country, and the Cards look like they may be able to make a good run through the regionals and into the Final Four.  The bad news is that all roads look like they will eventually lead to playing Connecticut who has beaten Louisville twice this year by an average of 33 points.

UConn just seems to be on another level from the rest of women’s college basketball.

Let’s Go Lady Cards!!!

The 3rd seeded Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team takes on 6th seeded LSU tonight at 9:30 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. On Sunday, the Lady Cardinals knocked off Liberty 62-42 as Angel McCoughtry led the way with 12 points and 6 rebounds.  Candyce Bingham tallied up 12 points while Becky Burke dropped 11 points on the Lady Flames and the Cards won their 30th game in a season for the first time ever.

The LSU Lady Tigers have a tenacious defense, allowing only 53.2 points per game but they are going to have to turn on the offense tonight if they hope for some success against Louisville.  The Cardinals shouldn’t have any problem taming the Lady Tigers though.

Prediction: Louisville 71 – LSU 59