Dance Card: Louisville, American at-large

Who? The Cardinals of Louisville.

What? The cardinal is the state bird, so Louisville called dibs on it. Some documentation calls him Louie, but I'm not sure if that's accurate or not.

Where? Louisville, Kentucky; the less of it you pronounce, the closer to authentic you are.

When? March 23rd, in Iowa City, Iowa.

Why? 30 wins.

How? They were an at-large selection.

Surprise? Predicted to finish second in the conference, they ended up in second, six games back of UConn.

RPI: 8

SOS: 56

Record: 30-4 (16-2 American)

Good wins: At Oklahoma. Florida State probably looked better at the time.

Bad losses: There's no shame in losing to Kentucky and there's no shame in losing to UConn.

Who's running this show? Jeff Walz, since 2007. What's the singular of Norse?

Extra, Extra! The Courier-Journal. But some of the best Louisville women's sports coverage you'll find comes from the merry band of miscreants at Cardinal Couple. They're on top of all things women's sports there, and even the scurrilous rumors that men play sports too. Our co-conspirators at Card Chronicle may also be on the case.

Because your intrepid blogger loves you all very much, we will be making all attempts to pass up on "Sho-time" related puns for the Cardinals and fiery senior guard Shoni Schimmel. But when Shoni Schimmel takes 200 more shots than the next highest scorer on her team to get her 16.9 points per game, and still dishes 3.7 assists, it's hard not to say this song everything is about her. When she's on, she's unstoppable. When she's off, it's going to be a long night for Louisville. Senior forward Asia Taylor is efficient down low, hitting half her shots and three-quarters of her free throws, in addition to pulling down 7.3 rebounds.

Random things that intrigue me: the emergence of Jude Schimmel this year. Can she be the X-factor in this tournament?