The 2020–21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represented the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November 2020 and ended with the championship game of the 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on April 4, 2021. Practices offi ...

. The Cardinals, were led by 14th-year head coach

Jeff Walz Jeffrey Jacob Walz (born October 27, 1971) is the head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Louisville. In his second year as a head coach, he guided his team to a national championship appearance at the 2009 NCAA Division I w ...

, and played their home games at the

KFC Yum! Center The KFC Yum! Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is named after the KFC restaurant chain and Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC. Adjacent to the Ohio River waterfront, it is located on Ma ...

in their seventh year in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. On January 18, 2021, following a 12–0 start, the Cardinals were ranked number 1 in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

for the first time in program history, garnering 20 of 29 first place votes. 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 Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

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 in the First Round, seven seed Northwestern in the Second Round, and six seed

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

in the Sweet Sixteen before losing to one seed and eventual champions

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

in the Elite Eight to end their season.

Previous season

The Cardinals finished the 2019–20 season at 28–4 and 16–2 in ACC play. They finished as the regular season ACC champions and earned the first seed in the ACC tournament. They defeated

in the Quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions NC State in the Semifinals. The NCAA tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 outbreak The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Off-season

Departures

Incoming transfers

Recruiting class

Source:

Roster

Schedule and results

Source , - !colspan=6 style=, Non-Conference Regular season , - !colspan=6 style=, ACC Regular season , - !colspan=6 style=, ACC Women's Tournament , - !colspan=6 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll. This is the first time Louisville has been ranked number 1 in the AP Women's Basketball Poll in program history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team Louisville Cardinals women's basketball seasons Louisville Louisville Cardinals women's basketball, 2020-21 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball, 2020-21 Louisville 2020s in Louisville, Kentucky