How About Those Lady Cardinals?

The above lead in was on ESPN.com last night, celebrating the mega-upset of the Tennessee Volunteers by the Ball State women's basketball team last night in Bowling Green, KY. The Cardinals knocked off the Vols 71-55 behind Porchia Green's 23 points. It was BSU's first trip to the NCAA Tournament and Tennessee's first ever loss in the first round. UT, the defending two-time national champions, was seeded 5th in the tournament and BSU 12th.

Aside from the notoriety of the Tennessee Lady Vols, the arguable gold standard for women's basketball in the NCAA, the game was epic, historic, legendary, and notable for several other key reasons...

• A defending champion had never lost its first round game the year following a title, until last night
• Tennessee had never lost a tournament game to a team seeded higher than 4th, until last night.
• Ball State had never played in, much less won, a tournament game, until last night.
• Tennessee had never missed a Sweet 16, going a perfect 27 for 27, until this year.
  

Now, I'm not much of a women's basketball fan, but even I was a little shocked and surprised at the outcome of this game. Even to the most casual fan, Tennessee, and more importantly Pat Summitt, is pretty much the epitome of success in women's basketball. For their reward, the Cards will face Iowa State in the second round.

Congrats to the Cardinals, first-year head coach Kelly Packard, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled football programming.