Louisville

Shawnee's Shannon Dennehey, The Inquirer's South Jersey girls' soccer player of the year, has made an oral commitment to attend the University of Louisville. Dennehey said she chose Louisville over Winthrop and Western Carolina after making visits to all three schools. "Louisville is in the Big East, and I wanted to play the best competition and I really liked the school," Dennehey said Saturday. "Plus, if I got hurt and couldn't play again, I would be happiest at Louisville. " Dennehey was a two-time Inquirer first-team all-South Jersey selection.

Senior Casey Meizinger, a standout center back for the Central Bucks East field hockey team, has given an oral commitment to play for Louisville. Meizinger also considered Wake Forest and Michigan State. Former East coach Jeff Harding said Meizinger can play a number of defensive positions. She was the sweeper on the Patriots' PIAA Class AAA championship team last season before being shifted to center back this season under new coach Jill Henry. "What makes her valuable is her versatility," Harding said.

Louisville, Ky., is less than an hour's drive (about 40 miles) to the north of Bardstown. This thriving city, with a metropolitan population of nearly a million, has been a bustling river port since the days of steamboats. It is located at the only group of waterfalls on the Ohio River (where the wide water drops 26 feet in two miles). If you are a fan of multimedia presentations, one good way to get oriented is to start at "KentuckyShow!" This 52-minute program, which uses 40 projectors and a five-channel sound track, is shown seven days a week, on the hour from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Kentucky Theater at 651 S. Fourth St. (502-585-4008)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Peyton Siva scored 16 points, and Louisville beat Villanova 84-74 on Wednesday night to return to .500 in the Big East after a rough start to conference play. Siva was brilliant late when the Cardinals (16-5, 4-4) needed him most. He made a turnaround jumper from 15 feet to give the Cardinals a 73-67 lead with 2:56 left, then made two sharp passes on the next two possession that led to points, including Jared Swopshire's three-pointer in the corner that made it 78-70 with 1:09 left.

Boston College outhustled and outshot No. 18 Louisville, upsetting a team struggling to adjust to personnel changes. The Eagles, a preseason pick to finish near the bottom of the 13-team Big East, never trailed last night and won, 81-67, at Newton, Mass., with a strong inside game led by Danya Abrams's 30 points. "One of the things we talked to our kids about was a genuine lack of respect our kids have gotten, and rightly so because we struggled last year," Eagles coach Jim O'Brien said.

Rick Pitino was right. Louisiana-Lafayette was every bit as troublesome as Louisville's coach suspected before his Cardinals found a way to avoid another early exit from the NCAA Tournament. Francisco Garcia went 7-for-7 from the foul line in the last 2 minutes, and finished with 27 points to help fourth-seeded Louisville (30-4) advance to the second round of the Albuquerque Regional with a 68-62 victory last night. Louisville will play Georgia Tech in a second-round game tomorrow.

Curtis Withers scored 23 points, including two clutch free throws, to lift Charlotte to a 77-71 win over No. 9 Louisville last night in Charlotte, N.C. Louisville (17-4, 7-3 Conference USA) lost for the third time in four games and blew a 12-point lead, partly because Luke Whitehead, Francisco Garcia and Nate Daniels played most of the second half with four fouls each. Garcia hit a three-pointer to put Louisville up by 71-70 in the final minute, but Mitchell Baldwin went coast-to-coast for a layup and drew a foul to put the 49ers (15-5, 7-2)

PHOENIX - Louisville figured its game against Michigan State to be low-scoring, a natural expectation with two of the nation's best defenses butting heads. The Cardinals had one big advantage: Gorgui Dieng. Dominating inside, Dieng blocked seven shots and altered several others to anchor a stifling defense that helped Louisville knock off top-seeded Michigan State, 57-44, Thursday night in the West Regional semifinals. "He was very disruptive," Michigan State's Draymond Green said.

Rodney Carney scored 19 points and keyed a second-half rally, helping Memphis upset No. 6 Louisville, 62-58, last night. The shorthanded Cardinals lost their second in a row, both since coach Rick Pitino returned from a 2-day medical leave. They had won 16 in a row. "For us to do what we did, it is a great win, and it's a huge win," Memphis coach John Calipari said. Louisville (16-3, 6-2 Conference USA) played without injured starters Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean and reserve Nouha Diakite.

NEW ORLEANS - Kansas coach Bill Self was perhaps 20 minutes removed from seeing his team secure a spot in Monday night's national championship game when he crystallized the critical issue. This Kentucky team, he said, is better than the Memphis team that outplayed his best team for 39 minutes in 2008. Left unsaid is that this Kansas team isn't anywhere near as good as the 2008 national champions. So, how exactly does Kansas beat Kentucky? It probably doesn't. "They got guys that can make plays you can't coach, " Self said.

NEW ORLEANS - It was the battle for Kentucky in the first semifinal game at the Final Four on Saturday evening, and Louisville found itself in the unenviable position of having won a majority of the skirmishes but still having lost the war. Nobody comes to the Final Four just to have the I-64 corridor between Lexington and Louisville renamed the Nice Try Boulevard, but that was all the satisfaction the Cardinals would take away from their showdown...

NEW ORLEANS - If you wondered how Kentucky might do if the Wildcats got challenged in the second half, wonder no longer. These Wildcats had played just six games all season decided by six points or fewer, none in the NCAA tournament that saw them breeze to the Final Four. Kentucky (37-2) had to fight for this one, though, and defeated Louisville, 69-61, in a Final Four semifinal Saturday night at the Superdome. The Wildcats are 40 minutes from the school's eighth national championship.

We have to admit we'd rather be in New Orleans dealing with late interviews and overhyped fans and crazy deadlines and the fact that CBS can't be on time for a first-game tipoff that the network itself scheduled for 6:09 p.m. but actually happened at 6:14 (did you really have to run a commercial between the national anthem and the player introductions?). But if you have to be home watching game action sprinkled among the ads, there's nothing better than following along on Twitter as Kentucky's Anthony Davis shows in no uncertain terms why he is college basketball's player of the year and the absolute mortal lock No. 1 pick in the next NBA draft.

NEW ORLEANS - Out on the wide streets and among the narrow alleys of a town in constant motion, the blue train of University of Kentucky followers covers more ground than all the others combined. There is the feel of an impending coronation among those who have journeyed to the Man Cave of America to watch their Wildcats finish off a season that was always supposed to end exactly here, but not until late Monday night amid a shower of that ubiquitous blue confetti. And, well, that's probably the way it's going to go. Having the best team is not always a reliable predictor of outcome, but it beats going with signs of the zodiac.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - This Bluegrass State rivalry runs deep, and the divide is wide. Just 70 miles apart, Lexington and Louisville are worlds apart when it comes to college basketball. Come Saturday when the Cardinals and Wildcats meet at the Final Four in New Orleans, a berth in the national title game is just the beginning. Here, the game is likened to a civil war. Pick a side: Wildcats or Cardinals. Rupp's Runts or the Doctors of Dunk. Dan Issel or Wes Unseld. John Calipari or Rick Pitino.

NEW ORLEANS - The Pimlico spring meet had just opened. There were races to be played. But I just could not tear myself away from a TV set near the racing office that was playing a regional final. I had been waiting all season for Louisville to play Kentucky. I knew Louisville was better. Now, finally, the Cardinals would have a chance to prove it. I did not know the history. Did not know that Kentucky would not play Louisville in the regular season. Had not played them in a regularly scheduled game since 1922.

THE ONLY EVENT that could possibly be bigger in Kentucky would be if Secretariat was reincarnated and in the 2012 Derby starting gate. And that might not do it this spring. Louisville loves its basketball team. The commonwealth adores its state university. Both of them in the Final Four. Imagine? To University of Kentucky fans, the only thing worse than losing to Louisville would be losing to Louisville coached by Rick Pitino, the man who brought their team back from disgrace and left for the NBA just as every fan was certain the Wildcats were going to win every national title until the end of time.

PHOENIX - Rick Pitino nearly came unhinged and his point guard watched the end of the game from the bench. When it was over, though, it was Pitino and Louisville making plans for the Final Four and his protege Billy Donovan and Florida wondering what the heck just happened. Chane Behanan made the go-ahead basket with 1 minute, 4 seconds left Saturday and the fourth-seeded Cardinals finished the game on a 23-8 run for a 72-68 victory over Donovan's stunned Gators in the West Regional final.

Chane Behanan scored 15 points and Gorgui Dieng anchored Louisville's stifling defense with seven blocked shots, helping the Cardinals knock off top-seeded Michigan State, 57-44, Thursday night in the West Regional semifinals in Phoenix. Louisville (29-9) smothered the NCAA tournament's best-shooting team with its matchup zone, getting good pressure from its guards up top and some big swats by Dieng, one of the nation's top shot-blockers. The Cardinals relied on three-point shooting in the first half and went inside during the second to befuddle the Spartans and earn a trip to the West final against either Marquette or Florida on Saturday.