Every year, there is some "mad" in March Madness from basketball teams convinced they are being underestimated. Louisville's women, the No. 1 seed in the Wichita Region, are feeling that way going into Saturday's Sweet 16 matchup with No. 4 seed Tennessee (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Cardinals sophomore guard Hailey Van Lith and her teammates noted the number of bracket predictions that didn't have Louisville in the women's Final Four, including some high-profile ones.
"We're kind of like the Bad News Bears," Van Lith said Friday. "We upset everyone's bracket. We piss people off that we're good. Everyone gets mad when we beat teams. You learn to love that about it. It's unfortunate it has to be that way.
"We've got our fans back home, and that's all we care about. We don't need the people picking the brackets. We don't need Barack Obama's bracket, we don't need Jimmy Fallon, we don't need none of that. We're still here, and some of those teams are home, and that's what it is. We're going to keep playing Louisville basketball and do us. If you match up with us, you better be ready to play. That's all I'm going to say, because we're coming to win."
Obama picked No. 2 Baylor to win the Wichita Regional, and Fallon picked No. 9 Gonzaga, which lost 68-59 to Louisville in the second round.
Although it's far more likely that No. 10 seeds Creighton and South Dakota -- which knocked off No. 2 seeds Iowa and Baylor, respectively -- busted many more brackets than Louisville has, the chip-on-the-shoulder mentality is working for the Cardinals.
Louisville coach Jeff Walz has taken teams to the Final Four in 2009, 2013 and 2018, with the Cardinals' win over defending champion and No. 1 seed Baylor in the 2013 Sweet 16 being one of the women's tournament's most memorable upsets. Last year, it took a second-half rally for eventual champion Stanford to beat Louisville in the Elite Eight.
These Cardinals are a balanced group that doesn't rely on one player to put up superstar numbers. Walz knows how good his team is but senses that not everyone does.
"Our kids follow what's going on," Walz said. "When the bracket came out, everybody picked Baylor to advance. Which is good, that's kind of the way our kids like it. I still think people wonder how we keep winning. How do we keep doing it?
"How do we keep getting ourselves to a point where we can get a 1-seed? Where we're competing again in the Sweet 16? I'm fortunate to have a great staff. Our players respond to the pressure, the expectations. It's fun."