Getting to know the 2012 Final Four: Louisville
This week, The Dagger takes a deeper look at each of the four schools participating in the 2012 Final Four. Next, Louisville.
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Enrollment: 22,249
Team Mascot: Cardinals
How they got to New Orleans: d. No. 13 Davidson (69-62), d. No. 4 New Mexico (59-56), d. No. 1 Michigan State (57-44), d. No. 7 Florida (72-68)
Greatest basketball moment: Never Nervous Pervis Ellison leads the 1986 team to the national championship over Duke.
Reason to root for them:
Reason to root against them:
Number of current or former Louisville players I can quickly type without help in 15 seconds: Pervis Ellison, Edgar Sosa, Wes Unseld, Peyton Silva, Gorgui De -- time's up.
Lead story on university website: Professor of meteorology is ranked No. 1,036 in a national bracket competition and picked Louisville to win it all.
Available Final Final swag items on team website: 23, less than half of which are red.
Alumni deemed famous enough to be included on Wikipedia's "List of University of Louisville people" page: James Patterson (co-founder of Long John Silver's), Sherman Vanaman (chair of mathematics department at Carson-Newman College), Forest Shely (physician in Campbellsville).
Smart quote to make others think you've been following Louisville all along: "Gorgui Dieng not making any of the All Big East teams is as much a sign of media ineptitude as everyone picking Long Beach St. to make the Sweet 16."
What not to say at your Final Four party: "It's pronounced LOUIE-ville."
What Clark Kellogg will probably say about Louisville: "These kids from LOUIE-ville know the key to this game is coming out sharp, converting on baskets and outscoring Kentucky."
Chances of winning it all: The Cardinals' national championship is on Saturday night against Kentucky. If they spring the upset and make the title game, it could be difficult to mentally prepare for the final. Not that the loss would sting for too long; you kind of get the sense that Louisville fans would quickly forget about losing to Ohio State or Kansas while reveling in the win over UK for years.
Jim Nantz's most likely scripted line if they do: "It's in the Cards! Louisville is your national champion."
Related NCAA tournament video on Yahoo! Sports:
