BOZICH | What the media is (and isn't) saying about Louisville's Final Four chances

ON THE ROAD TO MINNEAPOLIS (WDRB) -- Did you hear what Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon said about the University of Louisville women’s basketball team on ESPN’s "Pardon the Interruption" Tuesday afternoon?

Hardly anything.

They talked about Connecticut crashing its 14th straight NCAA Final Four. They called the play of UConn all-American Paige Bueckers amazing (which it certainly was).

They said that top-ranked South Carolina, the team the Cards will play in the first semifinal Friday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis, was the favorite.

They said the Gamecocks and Stanford, were better than the Huskies.

Kornheiser said that if UConn beats Stanford in the second semifinal, the Huskies would get South Carolina in the final.

Period. Just South Carolina. Not Louisville. End of discussion.

(Check the PTI podcast, Jeff Walz and friends. During our current drive to Minneapolis, my WDRB Sports teammate John Lewis and I checked it twice. Here is a link.)

Did you read what Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press wrote about the Cardinals in his story setting the scene for the Final Four in Minneapolis Friday night?

Not as much as he wrote about UConn, Stanford and South Carolina.

Feinhberg quoted UConn coach Geno Auriemma because Auriemma has earned mountains of favorable analysis with his 11 national titles and 14 straight Final Fours.

He quoted Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer because Vanderveer is one of the game’s legitimate legends who is trying to direct Stanford to back-to-back titles.

Feinberg quoted South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston because you cannot write about this Final Four without writing about Boston, the likely National Player of the Year.

Then there was Louisville, a No. 1 seed that merely dispatched Tennessee and Michigan to win the Wichita Regional and earn the program’s fourth Final Four appearance.

The Cards are not the Saint Peter’s of the women’s event. They won 29 of 33 games. They defeated Michigan (twice), Tennessee, Kentucky, Duke, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame (twice) and, hmmmm, UConn.

The Cards were the last team featured in the AP story. No quotes from Walz, who has been one of the game’s top coaches for the last decade. No quotes from Hailey Van Lith, who has scored at least 20 points in all four NCAA games.

There is one way to change this lack of respect narrative, of course. Beat South Carolina, which has been ranked No. 1 the entire season. The Gamecocks are listed as 8-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook.

Then follow that by handling either UConn or Stanford in the title game Sunday night.

That would put Louisville in the championship club. The Cardinals are the only one of the eight programs still competing in the women’s or men’s NCAA Tournament that has yet to celebrate a championship.

UConn has 11. Stanford has three. South Carolina has one.

Walz, as expected, said that he and his players need to tune out the chatter. The pre-game publicity will not decide which teams advance.

“We've been pretty good all year,” he said. “There’s no question about that. I mean, it's not this year. You go back five years, I think we've won the third-most games of any women's basketball team in the country.

“If you go back 10, I think we're in the top five or top six. It's just a narrative. It's whatever you want it to be.

“That's one of the things that we'll continue to grow with our game, I think, is our media, that they actually get out and look at the teams and look at the players instead of starting off the year with, hey, here's who we're going to run with, and they go with it …

“I can promote them (his players), but it's a matter of when is our national media going to start to look at them all. But you and I both know it all comes down to hits. It all comes down to whatever you want to put on your site, how many hits is it going to get.

“That's part of it, but our kids don't mind. We have a wonderful fan base here that absolutely adores them and loves them. And we're still playing. It's our fourth Final Four in 15 years. I think we've been to seven Elite 8s. We aren't too bad.

“It's going to be fun, and that's what it's all about. But at the end of the day you have to roll the ball out and play.

“Extra motivation -- if that's what's going to motivate you, then we've got bigger problems, because just the opportunity to compete -- again, there's only four teams left playing -- is what should motivate you. I know that's really what motivates our players.”

He is 1,000% correct.

But, do you want more?

It’s not difficult to find. On Tuesday, the Final Four coaches appeared on a Zoom call with interested media members. South Carolina coach Dawn Staley took nine questions.

How many times was she asked about Louisville, Walz or any of the Cardinals’ players mentioned?

The correct answer: Zero.

Should be a delightful weekend in Minneapolis.

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