By Bill Eichenberger

updated 10:59 a.m. ET March 14, 2009

NEW YORK - Why not Louisville?

If what matters in the NCAA Tournament is the present and not the past, if a bad November loss to Western Kentucky and mildly disturbing December losses to Minnesota and UNLV do not disqualify a team, if a puzzling blowout at Notre Dame in February can be explained away as just one of those nights, then why aren't Rick Pitino's Cardinals the consensus choice to win the national championship?

That was the question on everyone's mind Friday night at Madison Square Garden after top-seeded Louisville dismantled No. 4 seed Villanova 69-55, using an incredible 43-21 second half that earned the Cardinals their first berth in the Big East tournament championship game, which they went on to win Saturday night. The fifth-ranked Cardinals knocked off Syracuse 76-66.

It seems nearly all season, ever since Louisville's November/December losses, the talk of the mighty Big East has centered on Pitt and UConn, UConn and Pitt. Louisville emerged as the regular-season champion on the last night of the regular-season, but even then, the spotlight went to Pitt's win over UConn earlier that day.

Perhaps visions of those early-season losses still stick in too many minds. Those ugly memories re-emerged in the first half Friday night.

Louisville fell behind Villanova 34-26 with a lackluster effort on both ends of the floor, prompting a scolding from Pitino.

"Coach could see that wasn't Louisville basketball he was watching," senior point guard Andre McGee said. "He said he didn't know who we were. ... We weren't causing turnovers, pressuring on defense. We were taking quick, forced shots. That's just not how we play."

That was how Louisville played early this season, however, as those embarrassing early losses attest.

"We started off ranked third or fourth in the country and we really fell as we should have losing to those caliber of teams," McGee said.

But the Cards didn't stand still.

"We understood that to get back to where we wanted to be, where we are right now, we would really have to work," McGee said. "We dug ourselves a hole and have climbed the last couple of months to get out of it."

Count Villanova coach Jay Wright among the believers.

"They are the best defensive team in the country," he said. "And what makes them the best is the pressure those four guards, the pressure they're able to put on the ball for 40 minutes, full court, it never stops."

Pitino hopes his team learned a lesson with its Jekyll-and-Hyde performance against Villanova — "not to impersonate another basketball team."

Just being themselves should be more than enough for any opponent to handle.

"There are not a lot of teams in the country that could be down eight at halftime against a team as good as Villanova and come back and win," said senior forward Terrence Williams, the only Cardinal on the All-Big East first team. "But we're not happy where we're at, we still have other things we want to accomplish."

At the top of that list is a national championship. But Williams said he doesn't want the tag of consensus favorite, even if it now is deserved.

"Teams that get that either lose by a lot or get upset," he said. "We just want to be known as a team that plays hard."

Consider that mission accomplished.

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