Louisville women’s basketball gets number 1 seed in Wichita Region
The Louisville women’s basketball program finished the 2021-22 regular season 25-4 and 16-2 in conference play. The Cards finished second in the ACC regular season standings to NC State earning them the 2 seed and double bye in the ACC tournament. After a surprising loss to Miami in the quarterfinals, Cards fans would have to sit and wait to see how what the selection committee was going to do. In the week leading up to Selection Sunday, it was a toss up if the 1 seed in Wichita would go to Louisville or Baylor. Most people, including myself, were saying if Baylor won the Big 12 tournament they would probably switch seeds with Louisville.
ESPN women’s bracketologist Charlie Creme actually made the switch on his bracket after Baylor won their semi final game to move to the Big 12 tournament championship. On selection Sunday however the Texas Longhorns upset the Baylor Bears to win the Big 12 tournament. This would get Cards fans hopes up, but it was still a wait and see game. As the ESPN Selection Show made its way to the last and final bracket, all Louisville fans were on the edge of their seats. That’s when the announcement came, the number 1 seed in the Wichita Region, the Louisville Cardinals. I am pretty sure I heard a huge sigh of relief from CardNation after the announcement.
Louisville women’s basketball’s road to the Final Four
As Louisville is the fourth overall 1 seed, I am pretty happy with their region. With getting the 1 seed, Louisville will get to host the first 2 rounds at home in the Yum Center. Their first round matchup will be against 16 seed Albany Great Danes on Friday March 18th at 6pm. Albany is an automatic qualifier as the American East Champions. With a win in this game, Louisville will await the winner of the 8 vs 9 game. This game will include Big 10 at large Nebraska Cornhuskers and WCC Champions Gonzaga Bulldogs. I am sure we all expect the Louisville women’s basketball team to sweep the home games, and head to Wichita for the Sweet Sixteen.
Once in Wichita the Road to the Final Four gets a little tougher. The Sweet Sixteen matchup for Louisville will most likely include the 4 or the 5 seed. The 4 seed will be SEC at large Tennessee Volunteers. If matched up with Tennessee Louisville will see a familiar face on the bench in former Louisville assistant coach Sam Williams. The 5 seed in Louisville bracket is Pac 12 at large Oregon Ducks. Oregon is a familiar foe as they were the Cardinals Sweet Sixteen matchup last season in the NCAA tournament. With a win over either of these teams, the Cards will head on to the Elite Eight.
In the Elite Eight, the Cardinals will most likely face off with either the number 2 or 3 seed in their region. The 2 seed is the Baylor Bears. The last time Louisville faced Baylor in the tournament was when Louisville upset Baylor in 2013. Baylor will be the Cardinals biggest roadblock in the region as they are led by National Player of the Year finalist Na’Lyssa Smith. the 3 seed in the Wichita Region is the Michigan Wolverines. The Cards have already faced the Wolverines this season in a 72-48 Louisville win. Naz Hillmon and the Wolverines will be looking for revenge.
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The Final Four and National Championship
With a win in the Elite Eight, Louisville will earn their fourth trip to the Final Four. The Cardinals last trip was the dreadful 2018 game. If the Cardinals make the Final Four, they will face the winner of the Greensboro Region. The main threat from Greensboro will be the number 1 overall seed South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gamecocks led by National Player of the Year finalist Aliyah Boston have bene ranked first most of the season. The other main threat from Greensboro is the 2 seed Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa is led by Caitlin Clark, another National Player of the Year finalist. As good as Clark and Iowa are, I don’t think they will be able to beat South Carolina and make it out of the region.
With a win over the Greensboro champion, Louisville would earn their third trip to the national championship game. In the National Championship game Louisville would face the winner of either the Spokane or Bridgeport Regions. The 2 main threats in the Spokane region in my eyes are the Stanford Cardinal and Virginia Tech Hokies. Stanford is the 1 seed in the Spokane Region and the defending National Champions. Stanford took Louisville out of the tournament in the Elite Eight last season on route to their championship. Virgina Tech a common ACC foe lost to Louisville 70-56 on Senior Night for the Cards. It is very possible that Virgina Tech comes out of this bracket, but you can’t count out Stanford.
The Bridgeport Region has some heavy hitters. Bridgeport is led by 1 seed NC State, but their road to the Final Four is anything but a cakewalk. NC State has 2 seed UCONN, 3 seed Indiana, 4 seed Oklahoma, and 5 seed Notre Dame in their region. I still see this region coming down to a battle between NC State and UCONN in the Elite Eight, and UCONN taking down the ACC Champions. with UCONN healthy, I’m not too sure the Spokane winner will be able to take the Huskies down in the Final Four. If it all comes down this way, that would pit Louisville in a rematch with UCONN from earlier in the season. Louisville won the first matchup in December 69-64. This game would be different though as UCONN was missing several players the last time the two played.
However it all shakes out, the Cardinals have had a terrific season and they have nothing to hang their head about. It’s time for March Madness.
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