# 2021–22 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinals, were led by 15th-year head coach Jeff Walz, and played their home games at the KFC Yum! Center in their eight year in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
They finished the season 29–5 overall and 16–2 in ACC play to finish in second place. As the second seed in the ACC tournament, they were upset by seventh seed Miami in the Quarterfinals. They received and at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were the first seed in the Wichita Regional. They defeated sixteenth seed Albany in the First Round, ninth seed Gonzaga in the Second Round, fourth seed Tennessee in the Sweet Sixteen, and third seed Michigan in the Elite Eight before falling to eventual champions, and first seed South Carolina in the Final Four. This was the Cardinals fourth appearance in the Final Four in program history.

## Previous season

The Cardinals finished the season 26–4 and 14–2 in ACC play to finish in first place. In the ACC tournament, they defeated Wake Forest in the Quarterfinals and Syracuse before losing in the Final NC State. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they were the two seed in the Alamo Regional. In the tournament they defeated fifteen seed Marist in the First Round, seven seed Northwestern in the Second Round, and six seed Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen before losing to one seed and eventual champions Stanford in the Elite Eight to end their season.

## Off-season
### Departures

Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Dana Evans | 1 | G | 5'6" | Senior | Gary, Indiana | Graduated; Drafted 13th overall in the 2021 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings |
| Malea Williams | 3 | F | 6'4" | Freshman | Georgetown, Kentucky | Transferred to Cincinnati |
| Elizabeth Balogun | 4 | G | 6'1" | Junior | Chattanooga, Tennessee | Transferred to Duke |

### Incoming transfers

Incoming Transfers :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Emily Engstler | 21 | F | 6'1" | Senior | New York, New York | Syracuse |
| Chelsie Hall | 23 | G | 5'7" | Graduate Student | Boca Raton, Florida | Vanderbilt |

### Recruiting Class

Source:
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Payton Verhulst G | De Soto, Kansas | Bishop Miege | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Sydni Schetnan F | Sioux Falls, SD | Washington | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Schedule and results

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 4, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | No. 6 | Union | W 106–32 | – | KFC Yum! Center (6,587) Louisville, KY |
| Non-Conference Regular season ||||||
| November 12, 2021* 4:30 p.m., ESPNU | No. 6 | vs. No. 22 Arizona The Invitational | L 59–61 $^{OT}$ | 0–1 | Sanford Pentagon (2,345) Sioux Falls, SD |
| November 16, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 10 | Bellarmine | W 82–25 | 1–1 | KFC Yum! Center (7,014) Louisville, KY |
| November 17, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 10 | UT Martin | W 62–30 | 2–1 | KFC Yum! Center (6,809) Louisville, KY |
| November 20, 2021* 5:00 p.m., P12N+ | No. 10 | at Washington | W 61–53 | 3–1 | Hec Edmundson Pavilion (1,884) Seattle, WA |
| November 23, 2021* 8:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 10 | at Cal Poly | W 72–32 | 4–1 | Mott Center (662) San Luis Obispo, CA |
| November 28, 2021* 2:00 p.m., MWSN | No. 10 | at Colorado State | W 71–45 | 5–1 | Moby Arena (1,336) Fort Collins, CO |
| December 2, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 10 | No. 12 Michigan ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | W 70–48 | 6–1 | KFC Yum! Center (7,309) Louisville, KY |
| December 5, 2021* Noon, ACCN | No. 10 | Belmont | W 80–66 | 7–1 | KFC Yum! Center (7,092) Louisville, KY |
| December 12, 2021* 1:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 7 | No. 14 Kentucky Jimmy V Classic/Rivalry | W 64–58 | 8–1 | KFC Yum! Center (12,167) Louisville, KY |
| December 16, 2021* 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 6 | Eastern Kentucky | W 82–38 | 9–1 | KFC Yum! Center (6,937) Louisville, KY |
| December 19, 2021* 3:30 p.m., ESPN | No. 6 | at No. 7т UConn Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Showcase | W 69–64 | 10–1 | Mohegan Sun Arena (8,204) Uncasville, CT |
| ACC Regular season ||||||
| December 30, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | Boston College | W 79–49 | 11–1 (1–0) | KFC Yum! Center (7,709) Louisville, KY |
| January 2, 2022 Noon, ACCN | No. 3 | at No. 16 Georgia Tech | W 50–48 | 12–1 (2–0) | McCamish Pavilion (1,918) Atlanta, GA |
| January 6, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 3 | Pittsburgh | W 81–39 | 13–1 (3–0) | KFC Yum! Center (6,703) Louisville, KY |
| January 9, 2022 Noon, ACCN | No. 3 | at Miami (FL) | Postponed due to COVID-19 Issues | Postponed due to COVID-19 Issues | Watsco Center Coral Gables, FL |
| January 13, 2022 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | Syracuse | W 84–71 | 14–1 (4–0) | KFC Yum! Center (7,307) Louisville, KY |
| January 16, 2022 Noon, ACCN | No. 3 | at Boston College | W 63–53 | 15–1 (5–0) | Conte Forum (1,066) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| January 20, 2022 7:30 p.m., ESPN | No. 3 | at No. 4 NC State | L 59–68 | 15–2 (5–1) | Reynolds Coliseum (5,500) Raleigh, NC |
| January 23, 2022 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 3 | Wake Forest | W 72–60 | 16–2 (6–1) | KFC Yum! Center (8,802) Louisville, KY |
| January 27, 2022 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 5 | Florida State | W 75–62 | 17–2 (7–1) | KFC Yum! Center (7,755) Louisville, KY |
| January 30, 2022 3:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 5 | No. 21 Duke | W 77–65 | 18–2 (8–1) | KFC Yum! Center (9,001) Louisville, KY |
| February 1, 2022 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 4 | at Miami (FL) Rescheduled from Jan 9, 2022 | W 69–66 | 19–2 (9–1) | Watsco Center Coral Gables, FL |
| February 3, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 4 | at Clemson | W 93–71 | 20–2 (10–1) | Littlejohn Coliseum (493) Clemson, SC |
| February 6, 2022 Noon, ACCRSN | No. 4 | at Syracuse | W 100–64 | 21–2 (11–1) | Carrier Dome (1,401) Syracuse, NY |
| February 10, 2022 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | Virginia | Forfeited to Louisville due to Virginia's travel issues. | Forfeited to Louisville due to Virginia's travel issues. | KFC Yum! Center Louisville, KY |
| February 13, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 3 | No. 18 Notre Dame | W 73–47 | 22–2 (13–1) | KFC Yum! Center (10,056) Louisville, KY |
| February 17, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 3 | at No. 24 North Carolina | L 65–66 | 22–3 (13–2) | Carmichael Arena (2,115) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 20, 2022 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 3 | No. 23 Virginia Tech | W 70–56 | 23–3 (14–2) | KFC Yum! Center (10,294) Louisville, KY |
| February 24, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 4 | at Pittsburgh | W 66–55 | 24–3 (15–2) | Peterson Events Center (1,344) Pittsburgh, PA |
| February 27, 2022 Noon, ESPN2 | No. 4 | at No. 14 Notre Dame | W 86–64 | 25–3 (16–2) | Purcell Pavilion (7,531) Notre Dame, IN |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 4, 2022 6:00 p.m., ACCRSN | (2) No. 4 | vs. (7) Miami (FL) Quarterfinals | L 59–61 | 25–4 | Greensboro Coliseum (5,682) Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 18, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (1 W) No. 4 | (16 W) Albany First Round | W 83–51 | 26–4 | KFC Yum! Center (8,407) Louisville, KY |
| March 20, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (1 W) No. 4 | (9 W) Gonzaga Second Round | W 68–59 | 27–4 | KFC Yum! Center (10,414) Louisville, KY |
| March 26, 2022 4:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (1 W) No. 4 | vs. (4 W) No. 18 Tennessee Sweet Sixteen | W 76–64 | 28–4 | Intrust Bank Arena Wichita, KS |
| March 28, 2022 9:00 p.m., ESPN | (1 W) No. 4 | vs. (3 W) No. 12 Michigan Elite Eight | W 62–50 | 29–4 | Intrust Bank Arena (4,695) Wichita, KS |
| April 1, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (1 W) No. 4 | vs. (1 G) No. 1 South Carolina Final Four | L 59–72 | 29–5 | Target Center (18,978) Minneapolis, MN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=Wichita. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |