38 down, one more to go

ST. LOUIS - When UConn and Louisville first faced off this year in Gampel Pavilion on Jan. 26, both teams were on the hunt for the Big East's regular season title. That game, the Huskies trounced the Cardinals 93-65. A month-and-a-half later, the two teams met up in the Big East tournament's title game. UConn once again blew out Louisville, this time by an even bigger 75-36 margin - the second-biggest blowout in Big East Championship history.

UConn and Louisville will get one more chance to square off against one another with a championship on the line, when the two familiar foes meet up in the NCAA Tournament's championship game tonight at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis (8:30 p.m. ESPN).

"It's kind of a mashup of all the big games we've had so far this season," said UConn forward Maya Moore. "In the regular season, we were competing with Louisville and in the Big East tournament we were competing against them. They're not a different team, but it's still a big game for us and something that our team is looking forward to."

Both teams have plenty riding on the game, which will mark the first time two Big East teams have faced each other for the national championship.

For UConn (38-0), it will be a chance to bring home the team's sixth national championship, finish the year with a perfect 39-0 record and get the seniors their first national championship after three straight years of falling short in the earlier rounds.

"I don't think it will be too hard to get excited about it," Moore said.

Should the Huskies go on to win Tuesday, they will become the fifth team in NCAA history to go undefeated in an entire season and the third UConn team to do so (1995, 2002). While it's no easy task with so much at stake, the Huskies are doing what they can to stay within the moment and refuse to look past the Cardinals, regardless of the lopsided scores in previous match-ups.

"I think when the ball's thrown up in the air, that's when it begins and when the clock ends is when it ends," Greene said. "It's going to be a good game for the fans. I don't think they're [Louisville] looking at it as they're any less than us. At this point in the tournament, everyone's 5-0 and they're looking to get a win just like we are."

On the line for Louisville (34-4) is the school's first ever women's basketball national championship. While UConn has been a mainstay among the elite programs in the country for the past two decades, Louisville has only recently begun to establish itself as a top national program. Prior to this year, the Cardinals had never gotten past the Sweet 16, a round that they reached for the first time in 2008.

"When I signed with Louisville, everybody was like, `Why are you going here? Why would you go to Louisville?'" said Louisville forward Angel McCoughtry, who led her team with 18 points in their Final Four win against Oklahoma. "Nobody ever heard of Louisville, and the women's program wasn't the caliber that it is now. But for some reason, I seen something that a lot of people didn't see. And I think now they're saying - now we see why you went to Louisville."

Now they've advanced to the national championship game, having taken down a No. 2 seed - Baylor - and two No. 1 seeds - Maryland and Oklahoma - along the way. The No. 3-seeded Cardinals haven't shied away from their underdog status. Instead they've embraced it, with coach Jeff Walz comparing them to the Bad News Bears.

"I think we have been able to feed off of that and create some more energy for our team and that's great," said Cardinals forward Candyce Bingham. "I think it would be bad if we had taken it the wrong way, but for us, it is motivation. They media can say what they want about us being an underdog and that we have lost to Connecticut before, but we are in the National Championship now and that's all that matters."

The way the Cardinals have been playing, Moore and the rest of the Huskies know not to take their opposition lightly.

"We are an experienced team, but we know we are not unbreakable or invincible," Moore said. "We are all excited and ready to go and it may be a little tougher to beat Louisville a third time. We know in the back of our mind what's at stake, but I honestly think that what is in the front of our mind is our team. We have worked so hard and gone through so much, that getting a national championship is our motivation."