Louisville’s 1st & Last American Athletic Tournament

Mark BlankenbakerMarch 12, 2014

Tonight, the American Athletic Conference Tournament begins in earnest at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN. Louisville plays tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. and will play a conference tournament outside of Madison Square Garden for the 1st time in 9 years. The result of a coin flip put the Cards in the #2 position, opposite of the Host Team/City Memphis.

Louisville in Conference Tournaments has had its share of magic. The Cards didn’t begin playing a conference tourney’s until UofL joined the METRO in 1976 where the Cards won 11 of 20 Tournament League Titles. The most thrilling of which came in 1986 at Freedom Hall when the Cards’ Milt Wagner was fouled with 1 second remaining, the Cards down by 1. Before going to the line Milt actually flashed a “W” to the crowd before he sank both. The crowd was in such a fervor that a man actually had a heart attack in the crowd and paramedics were tending to him while Wagner shot his foul shots. Louisville, of course, would go on to win the National Championship in 1986. Just like in 1980 and in 2013 after winning Conference Tournament Championships.

When the Cards left the METRO Conference they did so by winning the Conference Tournament in 1995.

When the Cards left Conference USA they did so by winning the Conference Tournament in 2005.

When the Cards left the Big East they did so by winning the Conference Tournament in 2013.

The Cards have never won a conference tournament in their 1st year in a league and this tournament being the 1st and last, one sequence must break by Saturday around 8:10 p.m.

Louisville will be attempting to win their 3rd League Tournament in a row, something the program has done twice before (1988-90 & 1993-1995 both in the METRO). In the city of Memphis the Cards have won 2 of 6 League Tournament Championships (1988 & 2005) with the most recent being a famous game featuring missed free throws from Darius Washington, Jr. with no time on the clock leading to UofL winning their final appearance in the C-USA Tournament. The Cards would March to the Final Four St. Louis in 2005, and would fall to Oklahoma in 1988 in the Sweet 16 who was the eventual National Runner-Up.

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The Cards have won 3 of their last 5 Conference Tournament Championships and UofL has claimed 16 of 38 (42.1%) League Post-Season Tournament Titles.

What’s going to happen next? No one knows. But you can bet it will be exciting.

	Conference	City	Result
2013	Big East	NYC	Champion beat Syracuse
2012	Big East	NYC	Champion beat Cincinnati
2011	Big East	NYC	Runner-Up To UCONN
2010	Big East	NYC	Lost to Cincy (2nd Rd)
2009	Big East	NYC	Champion over Syracuse
2008	Big East	NYC	Lost to Pitt (Qtrs)
2007	Big East	NYC	Lost to Pitt (Semis)
2006	Big East	NYC	Lost to Pitt (1st Rd)
2005	C-USA	Memphis	Champion over Memphis
2004	C-USA	Cincinnati	Lost to Cincinnati
2003	C-USA	Louisville	Champion over UAB
2002	C-USA	Cincinnati	Lost to Marquette
2001	C-USA	Louisville	Lost to UAB
2000	C-USA	Memphis	Lost to Charlotte
1999	C-USA	Birmingham	Runner-Up to Charlotte
1998	C-USA	Cincinnati	Lost to Cincinnati
1997	C-USA	St. Louis	Lost to Charlotte
1996	C-USA	Memphis	Lost to Cincinnati
1995	Metro	Louisville	Champion over So Miss
1994	Metro	Biloxi, MS	Champion over So Miss
1993	Metro	Louisville	Champion over VCU
1992	Metro	Louisville	Lost to VCU
1991	Metro	Roanoke, VA	Runner-Up to Florida St
1990	Metro	Biloxi, MS	Champion over So Miss
1989	Metro	Columbia, SC	Champion over Florida St
1988	Metro	Memphis	Champion over Memphis
1987	Metro	Louisville	Runner-Up to Memphis
1986	Metro	Louisville	Champion over Memphis
1985	Metro	Louisville	Lost to Memphis
1984	Metro	Memphis	Lost to Virginia Tech
1983	Metro	Cincinnati	Champion over Tulane
1982	Metro	Memphis	Runner-Up to Memphis
1981	Metro	Louisville	Champion over Cincinnati
1980	Metro	Louisville	Champion over Florida St
1979	Metro	Memphis	Lost to Virginia Tech
1978	Metro	Cincinnati	Champion over Florida St
1977	Metro	Memphis	Lost to Georgia Tech
1976	Metro	Louisville	Lost to Memphis