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Louisville aims to bounce back vs. Stanford

Mar 15, 2007 - 1:50 PM Stanford (18-12) at Louisville (23-9) 12:40 pm EDT

LEXINGTON, Kentucky (Ticker) -- Coach Rick Pitino hopes a small bump in the road doesn't completely slow down Louisville.

Pitino and the surging sixth-seeded Cardinals face off against 11th-seeded Stanford on Thursday in a South Region first-round game of the NCAA Tournament.

Louisville was rolling along until it stumbled in the Big East Conference tournament to runner-up Pittsburgh in the semifinal, snapping its seven-game winning streak. Still, the Cardinals finished 12-4 in conference play, an improvement of six games from the previous season.

Over the last eight contests, Louisville has shot 47.7 percent from the field and held its opponents to just 38 percent.

Pitino, who is a commanding 31-10 in the tournament, has also watched his team collect 7.4 steals per game.

Making its 33rd NCAA appearance, Louisville trails Kentucky (47), UCLA (39), North Carolina (39), Kansas (36) and Indiana (34) for most trips all-time.

The Cardinals reached the Final Four in 2005 before falling to Illinois.

Louisville hopes history will be on its side. As a No. 6 seed, the Cardinals advanced to the regional finals in 1996 and the national semifinals the following season.

Stanford is making its 15th tournament appearance and first since the 2004-05 season.

The Cardinal struggled down the stretch, dropping four of their last five games, including an 83-79 overtime decision to Southern California in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Conference tournament. Anthony Goods scored 19 points in the loss after missing six games with an injured ankle.

Rounding out Stanford's attack will be 7-foot freshman twins Brook and Robin Lopez along with Lawrence Hill, an all-conference performer.