Louisville Cardinals, Ncaa Tournament | featured news

Freshman Breanna Stewart scored 23 points and Connecticut won its eighth national championship with a record 93-60 rout of Louisville on Tuesday night.

Rick Pitino held court in a tunnel beneath the Georgia Dome, going on and on about the grittiest bunch of guys he's ever coached. One of them sat in the corner of the locker room, a net around his neck, grinning away. The Louisville Cardinals vowed to finish the job for Kevin Ware.

Luke Hancock came off the bench to score 20 points, walk-on Tim Henderson sparked a second-half rally with a pair of monster 3s and Louisville advanced to the NCAA title game Saturday night, escaping with a 72-68 victory over Wichita State.

The four teams left in the men’s N.C.A.A. tournament are an odd mix: a national player of the year candidate, Trey Burke of Michigan; a No. 1 seed, Louisville; an old-guard Big East team, Syracuse; and an outlier, Wichita State.