Cardinals’ Season Accolades & Lessons
ACC Regular Season Champions
The Cardinals have been elite all season and well rounded in all statistical categories. However, their bread and butter is their offense, as they are the 14th best in the nation.
Louisville’s head coach Jeff Walz expects success for his team. In previous years, the Cardinals earned nine trips to the NCAA Sweet 16, five trips to the Elite Eight, three trips to the final four, and two trips to the national title game.
The Cardinals are ready for the likes of UCONN, Stanford, South Carolina, and NC State.
They’ve shown that with wins against Depaul, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Marist, and Northwestern.
Top Guard In The Country
The ACC Player of the Year Guard Dana Evans saved her best collegiate season, as she has reigned hell on opposing teams all season. The Gary, Indiana native is averaging almost 20 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds per game in her senior season.
To say Dana has been stellar this year would be an understatement.
She plays furious yet level-headed on defense, waiting on her defender to make a mistake, capitalizing with her quick hands. Evans displays renowned speed and explosiveness and uses that to her advantage driving to the hole, seemingly making the right play for herself and her teammates.
Dana Evans has a knack for efficiency from the three and getting to the free-throw line.
Shooting a 43/34/90 this season, Evans constantly leaves teams in limbo, not knowing what she will do next.
Cardinals’ March Madness Run
Comeback Northwestern win
Down by as many as 18 points in the first quarter, the Cardinals remained composed and earned a 62-53 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats (16-9).
Lousiville was too much for the Wildcats.
After falling to a 25-10 first-quarter deficit, the Cardinals outscored Northwestern 30-15 in the next two quarters.
While many of the statistics were even at the end of the game, Louisville’s aggressiveness was the deciding factor.
The Cardinals made the most of their free throws, shooting 18-22 from the line, while Northwestern shot a measly 53 percent from the line (7-13).
The Cardinals look to improve on their first-half troubles in their next game against Oregon.
What’s Next for the Cardinals
After Louisville’s victory against Northwestern in the 2nd Round, they will face Oregon in the 3rd Round after they defeated Georgia 57-50.
The 6th seeded Oregon Ducks have shown new life this postseason, as they have ripped off two stellar performances.
The Ducks finished 4th in the Pac-12 Conference; however, they have been a highly ranked team all year.
Luckily for the Cardinals, they have been prepared to many teams to face Oregon, specifically the Syracuse Orange.
The Orange are a 15-9 hard-nosed, scrappy team who finished fourth in ACC. Both the Orange and the Ducks generate the same amount of points in 72 points per game, and both have been going through growing pains this year with many of their losses.
Just like the Orange, The Ducks will be ready to scrap and fight for a chance to play in the quarterfinals, potentially against 1 seed Stanford (27-2) or 5 seed Missouri State (23-2).
The Lousiville Cardinals (25-3) will take on the Oregon Ducks (15-8) on Sunday, March 28th, in the 3rd Round.
