WBB Final Four Set -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

All Chalk in Phoenix

South Carolina and Texas took care of business last night to close out the 2026 Regional Round and move to the Final Four in Phoenix. They joined UConn and UCLA, who did the same on Sunday night. That makes a clean sweep for 1-seeds in the tournament. However, for all of the talk about a lack of parity in women's college basketball, that argument is getting long in the tooth at this point. Does the cream still rise to the top? More often than not, yes. That said, this season marks the first final four made up of all 1-seeds since 2018, and it's just the second in a decade. 

That 2018 Final Four also included Louisville, and it saw both games go to overtime. Louisville came out on the wrong end of their matchup against Mississippi State, but there's no need to relitigate that whole thing. State would go on to lose to Notre Dame in the final, after the Irish defeated UConn in the Final Four. 

We'll see if the final four matchups are as close as that 2018 season, but the elite eight matchups certainly were not. Duke held their own the best, losing by the smallest margin, but their defeat at the hands of UCLA was still by 12 points. UConn won their third straight game of this tournament against ACC opponents, dismantling Notre Dame by 18. South Carolina made light work of TCU, winning by 26, but the jewel of the elite eight came in Louisville's region. 

At the same time as the Cards were completely unraveling against Michigan on Saturday, Kentucky was doing largely the same against Texas. Like on the men's side, Louisville and Kentucky women were bounced from the tournament on the same day. Texas beat UK by 22, while Louisville lost to Michigan by 19. All that did for the Wolverines was set them up to get absolutely trounced. The Longhorns made their second-straight final four appearance by dominating Michigan 77-41. Yeesh. 

The men's tournament will get the Saturday/Monday timeslots, so Texas and South Carolina draw the short straws by playing on just three-and-a-half days' rest with travel to Phoenix. The women's games will be played on Friday and the championship game will be Sunday, with a time still to be announced. This is the same final four as last season, but the matchups are different. UConn and South Carolina will play a rematch of the 2025 National Championship game, which saw the Huskies thump the Gamecocks 82-59. That game will start at 7:00PM on Friday. Scheduled for 9:30 (but actually tipping off 20 minutes after the horn of the first game if it runs long), the second game will feature UCLA and Texas. UCLA is seeking their first championship game appearance of the modern era, after last season was their first Final Four of the era. Texas is looking to make their first appearance in the championship game since winning it all in 1986. The Longhorns lost in the final four in 1987, 2003, and 2025. 

Louisville will look to next season to reignite their hunt for their first national championship. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB falls to Michigan -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS BOW OUT OF NCAA TOURNAMENT 71-52 TO MICHIGAN

Louisville basketball was a bit like the old adage for March, which is that they came in like a lion and left like a lamb. 

The Cards got off to a hot start against the Wolverines and led 13-4 after eight minutes played in the first quarter.  That lead was still viable after the first quarter at 15-9 and UofL was getting an All-American effort out of Elif Istanbulluoglu. The Cards were still controlling the action with 6:53 left in the first half at 25-14...and then the balloon burst. An 18-2 UofM run not only wiped out that double digit lead, but gave Michigan a 32-27 halftime lead. 

How would the Cards react to this Michigan run as the squads came out for the second half? Maybe with their worst half of the season....

UofL did keep it close for a good part of the third quarter but Michigan took off on another 18-2 run and the Cards were staring at a scoreboard that said 57-40 Michigan after three quarters.

 To put it simply, Louisville couldn't buy a basket. A 25-13 third quarter Michigan blitzkrieg had sent Louisville scratching their heads with 10 minutes to play. 

Louisville would get no closer than 16 the rest of the way. The lack of rebounding, the failure to successfully figure out the press...things that will get you a loss every time. 

And thus endeth a season that was very good, by most standards...but another Cardinals failure to reach a Great Eight.  

It's a group with promise, The sophomore class is only going to get better, if they stay together as a unit. As for now, they'll dream of what could have been and head back home.

CARDS WBB POSTGAME MICHIGAN

paulie

Jeff Walz talks Michigan -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 WALZ TALKS ABOUT PLAYING MICHIGAN IN SWEET SIXTEEN

Remember this bunch? 

Yes, Louisville WBB is in the Sweet Sixteen. They will go against Michigan in Ft.Worth, Texas. Jeff Walz talks about the matchup 

Jeff Walz previews Cards WBB vs Michigan

The Wolverines got to the Sweet Sixteen in two romps...beating opening round opponent Holy cross by 35 and then knocking off North Carolina St. by 29. They won't have as easy a game in Louisville, though. 

The Michigan squad went 27-6 overall and 15-3 in the Big 10. They finished tied with Iowa for 2nd place ...behind UCLA. Conference losses came against UCLA and Iowa (twice). 

There is a lot of talk how the Michigan guards will give the Cards fits the entire game. Give them credit, they forced Holy Cross into 20 turnovers and NC State into 22 turnovers. The Cards commit only 13 a game...so we'll see how they do against Michigan. 

Michigan is a 4.5 point favorite going into the game. We haven't discovered any Wolverines who are capable of scoring half a point. The game is Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and will be shown on ABC. We'll have a full recap here Sunday. If you are going, be sure to check out Goldee's BBQ. 

.paulie

Up next for Cards WBB is Alabama -- Monday Cardinal Couple

 Alabama Faces Louisville after defeating Rhode Island

For the #6 seed in the region, Alabama isn't seemingly intimidated about having to have #3 Louisvile next in the KFC YUM Center.  The Crimson Tide squad took control early against Rhode Island and got big efforts from Jessica Timmons (21 points) and Essence Cady (19 points) and went on a 14-1 run and put the clamps on Rhode Island...holding them to 1-14 shooting at one stretch in the first half. At 30-14, it looked like it was time for the Rams to start the bus and head for Louisville International Airport.

The Rams tried their best to stay close for as long as they could and trailed only 31-24 at the half, but Alabama effectively closed the door on the R.I. squad in the third quarter, with a 22-12 10 minute advantage. Rhode Island's effort to get within two died when the Crimson Tide used a 12-0 run in the third quarter to pretty much shut the door on any Rhode Island dreams of an upset. 

The Cards spoke about the upcoming second round matchup Sunday when Laura Ziegler, Taj Roberts and Jeff Walz met with media. We apologize for the less than stellar recording provided..not sure what happened with the loud buzzing noise that occurs during Walz's words. .

Cards talk about Monday Matchup vs. Alabama

The Tide is 25-10 now and nine of their losses came in the SEC. They were knocked out of the SEC Tournament by Texas in the second round after eliminating Tennessee in the first round...that a major upset, being the #11 seed and the Vols coming in as the #6 seed, Out of conference, Alabama was perfect..but wins over schools like Jackson St, Kennesaw St,, Alcorn St. and Harvard aren't exactly something to thump one's chest about

The SEC is a grind every year and Alabama came in 11th in the conference standings. I like Louisville chances in the game today...it's in the friendly atmosphere of the KFC YUM! Center, the Cards are wanting to move on to Sweet Sixteen play and players like Laura, Elif, Mackenly and Tajianna aren't ready to see an end to the season yet. 

We'll recap it in the Tuesday Cardinal Couple. I'll be watching on ESPN at noon today, wishing I could be there but unable to attend.  I won't lie, I miss not being in attendance for Louisville WBB, especially at Tournament time but there are circumstances in play where I won't be. 

paulie 

  

WBB to face Vermont in first round WBB NCAA Tournament. -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS WBB ENTER NCAA TOURNAMENT 27-7

Louisville WBB enters the 2026 NCAA Tournament against Vermont. The Cards are the #3 seed in one of the Ft. Worth regions,while Vermont is the #14 seed. Alabama and Rhode Island will be the other two teams in the Louisville pod. Games will take place on March 21st and March 23rd. 

Rally the Catamount

Both the Cards and the Catamounts have a 27-7 record. Your first question may be.."so what is a catamount?"  A Catamount is a legendary mountain cat...similar to a cougar or panther....that roamed the Green Mountain around Vermont University.  An interesting tidbit about how the catamount became the mascot...the school had four nicknames to choose from...the Cows, the Tomcats, the Camels and the Catamounts. I'm not positive on this but I am guessing the team would have been a bit intimdated walking onto an opponent's court with a cow mascot and hearing moos from the stands. 

Nikola Priede

The on-court WBB Catamounts are led by Nikola Priede and her 17.4 points a game. Priede is from Lativa and a 6'2" senior center.  Also in double figures for UVM are Keira Hanson at 14.1 ppg and Jadyn Weltz at 11.0 a game. 

Alisa Kresge is the Catamount head coach and has a 141-88 record at the school. She began her caoching with Vermont in 2019 and also was a player at Marist U.  

The 2025-26 Catamounts

The Vermont losses came against High Point, Washington, Lindenwood, Holy Cross, Binghamton, Maine and UMBC. They won the America East Conference Tournament (in Burlington, Vermont) with wins over Albany. UMBC and Maine. 

****************************************************************************

We won't be running a NCAA WBB Pick 'em contest this year. Personnel changes at Cardinal Couple and my questionable health these days make it a "no-go" . I will offer a few picks on tournament games in the Friday Cardinal Couple,



paulie