4 Reasons You Should Root for Louisville to Win It All

March Madness is here.  I’ve been watching the tournament pretty avidly and have had varying success in my numerous brackets (3).  In other words, I won’t win any money but I won’t finish in last place either.

As I’ve lost work days studying these teams, I’ve stumbled across one I knew next to nothing about before the season started, but now have grown to love.

Louisville.  That’s right.  Louisville.  They’re a storied program for sure, but since 1985 they haven’t done much.  And here they are — back in the Final Four.  And I have four reasons to root for them to win it all.

1.  Peyton Siva

The diminutive point guard has had a pretty tough life.  He was constantly picked on for being an outsider as a kid, and his father was basically an absentee parent.  Several times, Peyton had to go down to skid row and pull his dad from the clutches of death due to drugs and alcohol.  It worked.  His dad is sober and he and Peyton have patched it up.  Nice work, kid.

2.  Rick Pitino (yes… Rick Pitino)

Sure, Pitino has garnered his share of bad press the last few years.  He’s made some questionable decisions and he’s put himself into the hole with some people in Louisville.  But… He gets to potentially square off against his former acrimonious employer — Kentucky.  There’s nothing like a common enemy to bring out strange alliances… This is one.  If you can’t find a reason to root against John Calipari and mighty Kentucky (if you need four of those I got them too) then this is it.  Go Cardinals.

3.  Louisville – The Town

This town has flown under the radar for too many years now.  It has a burgeoning music scene, some of the nicest people on the planet, is the home of Muhammed Ali and they love their Cardinal basketball.  That’s more than enough reasons to pull for L-Ville.

4.  They’re the underdog

This is the NCAA tournament.  If you’re unaffiliated with the remaining teams, and you’re not pulling for the underdog — that’s Un-American.  Move to China.

Here we go Cardinals!  HERE WE GO!