LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville baseball team will open its 2006 season visiting four-time College World Series Champion Miami (Fla.) on February 15, one of six first-time opponents in the first season of competition in the BIG EAST for the Cardinals.

"I am very excited about our schedule this season in our first full year in Jim Patterson Stadium and first season in the BIG EAST," said Head Coach Lelo Prado.

"This year we will have the opportunity to play two National Champion programs in Georgia and Miami on the road before we get into the conference slate. It should be a great test for what we think is going to be a solid team."

After the meeting with the Hurricanes, U of L will remain in Florida for a three-game series against 2005 NCAA Regional qualifier Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton for the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

Louisville's home opener will be on February 22 at 3:00 p.m. ET against Xavier, the first of an eight-game home stand in Jim Patterson Stadium where the Cards will also host Northwestern for three games and Eastern Michigan in a four-game set.

The Cardinals will travel to Athens, Georgia for three games, March 10-12 to face the Bulldogs, against whom the Cards took two of three last season.

Rutgers will be the conference opener for Louisville on March 24 at Patterson Stadium in the first of three over the weekend.

The Cards will also host Connecticut, Cincinnati, Villanova and Seton Hall in BIG EAST play, playing the Huskies, Wildcats and Pirates for the first time.

Road games in the BIG EAST will be at Georgetown, a team the Cards will play for the first time, South Florida, West Virginia and Notre Dame.

The 2006 schedule will also feature the traditional midweek home-an-home games against regional rivals Eastern Kentucky, Evansville, Kentucky and Western Kentucky, as well as home games against Murray State and Morehead State.

The BIG EAST tournament will be held May 24-28 at a site to be determined, and will be a double-elimination format featuring the top eight teams in the 12-team league.

The Cardinals return 22 letterwinners, including 12 pitchers from a team that was 32-24 overall, and 15-14 in Conference USA last year.

Prado, who is in his 11th season as head coach of the Cardinals has 289 wins, just 20 behind Dr. John Heldman Jr. who is the winningest coach in U of L history.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Terrence Williams scored 16 points and No. 11 Louisville continued its dominance in the Billy Minardi Classic with a 78-63 victory over the College of Charleston in Wednesday night's championship game.

MVP Brandon Jenkins added 13 points and four assists for the Cardinals (8-1), who remained unbeaten in the 4-year history of the tournament they host.

Dontaye Draper had 16 points for the Cougars (4-4), while Josh Jackson had 13 points and seven rebounds.

The Cougars closed within 46-42 on a 3-pointer by Draper with 11:20 to go. But Louisville responded with perhaps its best stretch of basketball this season, a 21-6 run behind Jenkins and guards Terrence Williams and Andre McGee.

The trio combined for 16 points during the run, with Williams' steal and slam giving the Cardinals a 67-48 lead.

The Cardinals began the game with the kind of sustained defensive intensity coach Rick Pitino has been asking for the last two weeks. Louisville contested shots, rebounded and ran the floor while building a 26-11 lead.

When the Cardinals slowed down to catch their breath, Charleston caught up. Renardo Dickerson hit a jumper to end an 8-minute field goal drought and start a 12-3 run by the Cougars, who drew within 29-23 with 2:49 to go in the half.

Louisville guard Taquan Dean, just 8-of-27 from the field over his last two games, tried to shoot himself out of the slump. Nothing worked. During one possession in the first half Dean airballed a 3 then had his shot blocked. Dean finished with six points and six rebounds on 2-of-11 shooting.

Still, the Cardinals led 34-23 at halftime as Dean hit David Padgett for a layup and little-used guard Bryan Harvey drilled a 3.