BYU-Louisville Preview

3/15/2007 11:12 AM

By MIKE VOTTA
STATS Senior Writer

Louisville coach Tom Collen thinks his team's No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament is a sign that the program is on the rise.

Now the Cardinals will try to take another step in their improvement, as they look to advance in the tournament for the first time in nearly a decade when they face No. 11 seed Brigham Young on Saturday in Los Angeles.

Louisville (26-7) is making its third straight appearance and 11th overall in the NCAA tournament. The Cardinals have not won a game in the NCAAs since 1998 and have never won more than one.

This season, however, Louisville has set a school record for wins and enters the tournament with its highest seed ever. The Cardinals, 3-10 in the NCAAs, were a No. 9 seed in each of their last two trips.

"Each year you need to get a little better, you need to get a little higher seed," Collen said. "I'm just glad to be out of the eight-nine hole. We've been there the last couple of years.

"Although we've got a quality opponent, I think it's a little bit more of a winnable game than maybe some of the past games."

Louisville had won four of five games before falling 76-50 to Connecticut in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. Angel McCoughtry, the Big East player of the year, led the team with just nine points and didn't score until 8:09 remained in the game.

McCoughtry led the conference with 21.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

"I think to advance, you have to have players you're willing to give the ball to in the clutch down the stretch, so I think she'll do a great job for us," Collen said of McCoughtry.

BYU (23-9), meanwhile, is making its second straight trip to the tournament and eighth overall. The Cougars, 3-7 in the NCAAs, earned a school-best No. 7 seed last season and beat Iowa in the first round before falling to Oklahoma.

"This is something we have been working for all season, and I'm happy for our players and our coaches who have worked so hard to get to this point," coach Jeff Judkins said.

The Cougars captured the Mountain West regular season title and had also won four of five games before falling 63-49 to New Mexico in the conference tournament final. Mallary Gillespie, who leads BYU with 13.7 points per game, scored a team-high 17 points.

Dani Kubik Wright, who averages 13.4 points and 6.8 rebounds a contest, had just five points and fouled out with five minutes remaining.

"Louisville will be a great matchup for us, and I am familiar with coach Cullen from his days at CSU (from 1997-2002)," Judkins told BYU's official Web site. "They like their post players to shoot the ball, and I think our size will be to our advantage."