Louisville women get no reward with No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament

A day after the Louisville men's basketball team received an NCAA Tournament seed that was seen as surprisingly underrated, the U of L women's team had the same experience.

Coach Jeff Walz's Cardinals were made the No. 3 seed — at least one, maybe two seed lines worse than was widely expected — in the Louisville Regional and will play at 5:30 p.m. EDT Sunday against No. 14 Idaho at Iowa City, Iowa.

U of L (30-4) — fourth in The Associated Press Top 25 and eighth in the Ratings Percentage Index — has lost only to undefeated and top-seeded Connecticut (three times) and third-seeded Kentucky, so the Cardinals were hoping for a No. 1 or 2 seed in the tournament.

But Walz said U of L would accept its fate and get ready for the road ahead.

"Like I told them, if there's not a little chip on their shoulder then it's their fault," he said. "We've lost to two teams, we're 30-4 (and) nobody has beaten UConn. So I guess the three we lost to them were really counted against us.

"I sense a little bit of shock, but at the same time they understand what's in front of us now."

U of L's team watched the ESPN selection show along with about 300 fans at the KFC Yum! Center, and there were more than a few boos and groans from the crowd when the Cards' seed flashed on the video board. It was likely a similar reaction to what many U of L fans had Sunday when the Cardinals' men's team received a No. 4 seed that was widely viewed as worse than deserving.

"It's not necessarily the best to get a three seed, but we'll take it because we're excited to play basketball," said senior Shoni Schimmel, who expected the Cards to get a No. 1 or 2.

Should U of L beat Idaho, it will face the winner of sixth-seeded site host Iowa and No. 11 Marist on Tuesday. If the Cards win that one, they'll return to the KFC Yum! Center, which is hosting the regional semifinals and final on March 30 and April 1.

Tennessee (27-5) is the No. 1 seed in U of L's region, and the Cards could face them at Louisville for a spot in the Final Four. U of L, as a No. 5 seed, beat the Lady Vols in the regional finals last year en route to a national runner-up finish.

Before that, U of L could possibly face second-seeded West Virginia in the Sweet 16 at home. The Cards were guaranteed their spot in the Louisville Regional so long as they made the field.

"As a three seed, it's going to be tough for somebody to come play us on our home court," Schimmel said. "It's going to be exciting, but we have to win the first game first and take it one at a time."

The Cards caught a break when UConn (34-0) was made the top seed in the Lincoln (Neb.) Regional, and U of L wouldn't face the tournament's clear favorite until the national title game in Nashville, Tenn. The Huskies have won 40 straight, dating to last year, including beating Louisville in the 2013 national final.

Notre Dame (32-0), which will host a regional, and South Carolina (27-4), which will play in No. 2 Stanford's regional, are the other No. 1 seeds.

U of L junior Sara Hammond, whose team upset top-ranked Baylor last year, said the Cards' seed — no matter how high or low — doesn't change their approach to any game, and if their seed suggests they're not necessarily a Final Four favorite, so be it.

"The underdog role has worked for us, and we're just going to keep using that mentality until we kind of get a higher seed and people stop treating us as the underdog," she said.

It's U of L's 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including the fourth straight and sixth overall under Walz, who is in his seventh season.

U of L and UConn are the only NCAA Tournament participants from the American Athletic Conference, and Walz said he was "shocked" that more teams, namely South Florida, didn't make it.

U of L's 16 AAC victories apparently weren't highly valued by the selection committee, but Walz was surprised that the Cards' nonconference slate, which featured NCAA Tournament teams UK, LSU, Oklahoma, Florida State, Western Kentucky and Wright State, wasn't given more credit.

Walz said this year's seeding of U of L reminded him of 2009, when the Cards had only three losses entering the tournament and expected to get a No. 1 or 2 seed but wound up with a No. 3. The team, led by Angel McCoughtry, made the national title game, where it lost to UConn.

"You can't worry about where you get seeded," he said. "Sure, we would have liked to have been a No. 1, possibly a No. 2, but we're not, so we have to move forward and play basketball games."

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.