ESPN Women's NCAA Tournament 2009

ST. LOUIS -- Connecticut has beaten Louisville twice this season by an average of 33.5 points. On Jan. 26, the Huskies won 93-65 in Storrs, Conn. UConn then beat Louisville 75-36 on March 10 in the Big East tournament championship game in Hartford, Conn. Both teams were playing their third game in as many days, but the Cardinals also had played a double-overtime contest against Rutgers two days earlier.

With Tuesday's national championship game (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET) marking their third meeting, we had to ask, "Will this matchup be any different from the past two?" Can the Cardinals pull off one of the greatest upsets, or will the Huskies wrap up their third perfect season in program history?

Will Tuesday's result be any different from the past two meetings?

Expert	Will it be different, and if so, how?
Doris Burke	Louisville has shown tremendous heart, guts, determination, grit and commitment to Jeff Walz's scouting reports every game. But the Cardinals will need every bit of that and more in their next meeting against UConn. Louisville did not have the talent level of its opponents in its past two games, yet the Cardinals reached the national championship game by outplaying and outworking them. But no one has outplayed or outworked Connecticut this season. Pick: Connecticut
Rebecca Lobo	Yes, it will be different. The first meeting was in Storrs, which is a very difficult place to play. In the second matchup, Louisville had no legs left after playing Rutgers to double overtime two nights earlier, and the Cardinals also were playing in Hartford, which is Connecticut's home away from home. Louisville point guard Deseree' Byrd is playing a lot better than she did throughout the regular season, and the Cardinals are on a mission. They got the jitters out of their system Sunday by playing really poorly in the first half. The post play for Connecticut will be an X factor. Can UConn take advantage of Louisville's lack of experienced size in the post? Keshia Hines is big, but she is a sophomore, and Monique Reid is a freshman. Can Huskies juniors Kaili McLaren and Tina Charles exploit that youth and inexperience? I still think UConn has the advantage, but it's not going to be a 28- or 39-point game. Pick: Connecticut
Graham Hays	The upside for Louisville is that it gets to play this game on a neutral court after playing Connecticut in Storrs and Hartford earlier this season, although the Huskies still will be more familiar with the stage -- if not the physical court -- than the Cardinals in this game. An already fearless group, the Cardinals aren't likely to fear the unknown going in against the mystique of the Huskies. They've taken it on the chin twice, picked themselves up and worked their way to the championship game by beating three top-five teams. And they're simply playing better basketball than at either of those earlier points in the season against the Huskies -- Becky Burke is a better shooter, Deseree' Byrd is a better point guard, Keshia Hines and Monique Reid are better interior presences. It all suggests a better game than the first two meetings. But better against a team that has beaten Stanford, Oklahoma, North Carolina and, yes, Louisville by an average of 28.8 points might be a relative measure. Pick: Connecticut
Mechelle Voepel	Considering the lopsided scores of both previous meetings between Louisville and Connecticut this season, the suggestion that anything might make a difference the third time around might seem absurd. Still, there really are tangible differences. The Cardinals were weary after a taxing Big East tournament slate had battles with Rutgers and Pittsburgh preceding the league final with UConn. The Huskies were in their second home, in Hartford, for that game. Are those things enough to make a difference in the final result Tuesday? No, but add in the experience that Louisville's younger players have gotten by making the Final Four, and at least there's a chance for Louisville to play this UConn team the way that Oklahoma played the 2002 Huskies in the national championship game. The Sooners lost, but they kept it competitive. Pick: Connecticut
Beth Mowins	The Cardinals must take better care of the ball against UConn than they did in their previous matchups (15 turnovers on March 10 and 23 giveaways Jan. 26). "If we turn over the ball to UConn, there's a 100 percent chance they're going to score. Not 99 percent, 100 percent," Louisville's Angel McCoughtry said Monday. "We just can't allow them those free opportunities." A lot of that responsibility falls on Louisville point guard Deseree' Byrd, who's playing with a lot of confidence. She did a real good job of keeping it together Sunday, as she played the final eight minutes of the national semifinals with four fouls. Louisville must come out in the first five minutes and establish that it is a different team and that this game is a different matchup. If the Cardinals open the game with another drought as they did Sunday, they'll be down 25-0 instead of 11-0. Pick: Connecticut
Charlie Creme	Despite a 34-4 record and wins over every highly regarded team it has played except UConn, Louisville has adopted an us-against-the world underdog mentality that has worked to perfection. Tuesday's title game is the Cardinals' ultimate David versus Goliath, and the first two meetings between the clubs are proof. Subtract the first 15 minutes of the first meeting, and Louisville was not at all competitive with the Huskies. No one has been in this tourney, except Cal in the early stages in the Sweet 16 and Arizona State for select moments in the Elite Eight. No factors indicate that Tuesday night will be any different. Does anyone really believe the Cardinals can pull the upset? Coach Jeff Walz and Angel McCoughtry can play to that emotion, but swagger is a necessary ingredient to performing at UConn's level. Where will that confidence come from when Louisville looks across the court and sees a team that beat it by an average margin of 33.5 points? Physically, the Huskies are just much better, too. Tina Charles posted huge numbers in the two meetings (19.5 points and 12.5 rebounds). Maya Moore offsets what is usually Louisville's biggest personnel advantage in McCoughtry. Renee Montgomery wasn't even near her best in the earlier meetings, yet UConn was still dominant. Now she's playing with a greater sense of purpose. Expect the Cardinals to be much better, especially if they can avoid the long offensive droughts that doomed them Jan. 26. But the end result will be the same: a sizable defeat. Pick: Connecticut