Steve Serby

NEW ORLEANS — In Louisville’s wildest dreams tonight, the final night of the Madness of March, the part of Rollie Massimino will be played by Rick Pitino. Gary McLain will be played by Peyton Siva. Chane Behanan would be Dwayne McClain, or Harold Pressley. Gorgui Dieng would have to be Ed Pinckney. Kyle Kuric or Chris Smith, and maybe Brooklyn freshman Russ Smith could be Harold Jensen.

Villanova had an improbable dream 27 years ago tomorrow night at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., and now Louisville has that same improbable dream as this year’s NCAA Tournament reaches the Final Four.

Corbis

SHOCKING THE WORLD: Villanova coach Rollie Massimino was carried off the court in 1985 following his team’s stunner over Georgetown in the national title game, and Massimino believes Louisville can pull a similar feat tonight. “They can definitely pull off an upset,” Massimino told The Post.

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Only Villanova, a 10-point underdog, believed it could shock Patrick Ewing’s Big Bad Georgetown in the national championship game and shock the world. Only Louisville, a nine-point underdog in the national semifinal, believes it can shock Anthony Davis and Big Bad Kentucky and shock the world — and the world of Kentucky basketball.

Here is Rick Pitino, asked by The Post yesterday morning whether a Louisville upset of Kentucky would be comparable to Villanova-Georgetown: “It would probably be a little bigger, in terms of where we are, not nationally, but regionally, because it would be one of the upsets of all time but it has so much ramifications in this state.

“Georgetown-Villanova was a tremendous upset, and it was the type of game we’re going to have to play — we’re going to have a pitch a perfect game to beat them. And Villanova pitched that perfect game. But, it was a great upset in the annals of college basketball, but it wasn’t a bitter rivalry like this one is.”

Some four hours later, Pitino told the national media he has not played the underdog card. “Mainly because I want my team to have confidence that they can play with Kentucky,” Pitino said. “I think at this level, if you take the underdog mentality, then I think they feel they don’t belong and it works against you.”

Either way, these Cardinals believe they belong every bit as much as Massimino and the Wildcats believed they belonged that one magical night.

“They definitely can pull off an upset,” Massimino told The Post last night.

I asked Massimino, who will be at the Superdome tonight, what he told his 1985 Villanova team moments before tipoff.

“I told them to play the game to win,” he said, “instead of playing not to lose. You’re going to be hugged and kissed by your moms and dads, your girlfriends, so we might as well try to win this thing. Let’s not worry about the pressures, the emotions, and give ourselves an opportunity to win.”

I asked Louisville’s Chris Smith: “Where would this rank as a college basketball upset?

“I would say this will probably rank as No. 1,” Smith said.

Why is that?

“Because throughout the whole tournament and throughout the season, everybody said we were frauds,” Smith began. “When we were ranked No. 4 in the country — ‘Oh they’re a fraud.’ But now we’re in the Final Four, we’re still a fraud though ... it’s just motivation really for us, and it’ll have the world shocked when we beat Kentucky tomorrow.”

I said to Smith: “You said WHEN we beat Kentucky, you didn’t say IF.”

He chuckled and smiled and said: “When we beat Kentucky, I don’t want to say when we lose.”

“But you believe that you’ll beat them.”

“I believe it, yeah,” Smith said.

Smith was asked: “What it would be like in Kentucky if you guys win?”

“It’d be like Derby ... on crack,” he said, and laughed.

Smith believes Louisville’s withering press will take its toll on the Wildcats. “Because young guys tend to turn the ball over a lot,” he said, “and pressure bursts pipes really, so, that’s our main thing. You put the pressure on ’em early throughout the whole game, they’re not as conditioned as us, so that will wear on them throughout the game.”

Then there is The Pitino Factor.

“You can’t let Coach have too many days to let his team prepare, because we probably know the ins and outs of them right now,” Smith said.

Doesn’t that apply for them too?

“I would say it applies to them but. ... I would say they have more talent than us, but we’re probably a better preparation team,” Smith said.

The Cardinals need their 6-foot-11 center Dieng to stay out of foul trouble and try to draw fouls on the imposing Davis.

“We got to get him in foul trouble,” Smith said, “and that will pretty much give us the game.”

The best team in America doesn’t always win.

“It’s going to be a great game,” Massimino said. “I can’t wait to see it.”

steve.serby@nypost.com

Rollie Massimino, Chris Smith, Chris Smith, Rick Pitino, Louisville, Louisville, Russ Smith, Villanova coach Rollie Massimino, Kentucky online, Kentucky, Massimino, Massimino, perfect game, Villanova team, Villanova

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Us consumers in February spent like drunken sailors — but the cash came from savings and not from increased wages so some on Wall Street feel the goods times can’t continue to roll.

“It’s definitely not sustainable,” said John Lonski, chief economist with Moody’s.

The Commerce Department said spending in February rose 0.8 percent, higher than expected, while incomes increased just 0.2 percent.

The spread between the two figures dropped the savings rate 14 percent to its lowest point, 3.7 percent, in 30 months.

Without savings, consumer spending can quickly fall if costs — such as gas prices — spike.

On the bright side, consumers appeared to be buoyed by the improving labor picture and by the warmer spring weather.

“Nicer weather might make consumers more inclined to buy big-ticket items,” said Lonski.

Lonski predicts the more bullish aspects of the US economic picture will win out.

He said spending will continue to climb, albeit at a lower rate. Savings, Lonski added, will continue to grow rather than drop.

Consumer spending is a key ingredient to the recovery as it represents 70 percent of the entire domestic economy.

“Consumer confidence is being driven by the improvement in the labor market,” Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, told the Associated Press.

Higher gas prices accounted for some of the spending spike last month, but Americans were also looser with their wallets when it came to goods and services.

The average price of gas has been approaching $4 a gallon for months now and is already exceeding that mark in some states, according to the AAA. But excluding inflation, which eliminates spending on gas, spending still jumped a solid 0.5 percent — the best showing in five months.

Spending on so-called durable goods, which includes cars, appliances and other big-ticket items, jumped 1.6 percent in February, following a strong 1.4 percent rise in January.

Consumer optimism could be contributing to a greater willingness by recession-weary Americans to dip into their savings, economists said.

While far from out of the woods, the economy has added 245,000 jobs a month between December and February, a rate that’s helped to lower overall unemployment to 8.3 percent — the lowest in three years.

But economists like Lonski said it’s still too soon to see a sustainable rise in consumer spending based on the improved, but still weak, jobs numbers.

“It would be a mistake to extrapolate too much good news about the future from February’s unsustainable strong showing,” he said. The economy is still sputtering toward a recovery, he added, which means occasional “firecrackers” lighting up the data, but “no fireworks,” he said.

kwhitehouse@nypost.com

John Lonski, consumer spending, consumer spending, gas prices, savings rate, chief economist, Naroff Economic Advisors, Commerce Department, Wall Street, Joel Naroff, consumers

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PORT ST. LUCIE — Bobby Parnell can send a thank you to Sandy Koufax and Jason Isringhausen when he breaks camp with the Mets next week.

the Mets just wanted to see a sign of life from Parnell this spring after a catastrophic two months to end last season. They have instead received dominance, in the form of no runs allowed over 8 1/3 innings, with eight strikeouts, spanning nine appearances.

It has left the Mets with a potentially valuable complement to new additions Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch and Ramon Ramirez, all of whom have struggled this spring, in a revamped bullpen.

AP; Mike Puma

A HALL OF A MENTOR: Mets reliever Bobby Parnell has dominated in spring training, allowing no runs with eight strikeouts, and he can thank legendary pitcher Sandy Koufax, who spoke with Parnell earlier this month.

Koufax, in his visits to camp, has preached location to Parnell. But that advice alone may not have helped if Isringhausen, in his final days as a Mets reliever last season, hadn’t taught Parnell a curveball.

“I’ve been throwing the curveball and focusing on that,” Parnell said yesterday. “It’s coming out real easy, and I’ve been able to throw it for strikes. I throw it ahead in the count and behind in the count.”

Parnell used to rely on a slider as his second pitch, but threw it so hard that hitters’ timing wasn’t disrupted. He began toying with the curveball in the final weeks of last season.

The curveball’s success has allowed him to take Koufax’s advice closer to heart and start throwing high heat, with the intent of producing foul balls.

“Sandy told him he’s got to learn to pitch upstairs,” manager Terry Collins said. “I know Sandy said, ‘This guy has got too good an arm not to have guys fouling balls off of him all the time.’ If he throws upstairs, he will change their eyesight. He’ll get some swings and misses up there, too.”

But Parnell said he needed to master the curveball before he could focus on getting hitters to chase the high fastball.

“Sandy wants to see more fastballs fouled straight back,” Parnell said. “That comes with me being able to elevate, and for me to elevate I have to be down [with the curveball] first.”

Though Francisco, Rauch and Ramirez have struggled, Collins said Parnell is destined to pitch the sixth or seventh inning, lengthening the Mets’ bullpen.

Parnell auditioned for the closer’s role over the final two months of last season and flopped, leaving the Mets to seek other options.

“Bobby came in this camp and we wanted to see how does he react after last year?” Collins said. “He’s done nothing but worked on some things, gotten better, locating it and putting him in some situations, not just against minor league guys, but putting him against big league hitters, and they haven’t been taking very good swings.

“As things go, he’s going to be an important piece. He’s been there when it’s crunch time. He knows how to deal with it.”

Parnell doesn’t have to examine the statistics to know he has had a good spring.

“My confidence is definitely a lot higher right now, and my pitches, I’ve definitely heard a lot of good feedback,” he said. “Everybody is real high on me. As long as I can keep my confidence up and keep battling, I think I have a good chance to be a key factor on the team.”

mpuma@nypost.com

Sandy Koufax, the Mets, Mets, the Mets, Bobby Parnell, Jason Isringhausen, Terry Collins, Frank Francisco, Mets reliever, Ramon Ramirez, curveball, Jon Rauch

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Steve Serby

NEW ORLEANS — He has his father’s face and his father’s voice, and tomorrow night he will be seated on the bench helping his father try to coach Louisville to a Final Four upset over hated Kentucky that would send shock waves through the Commonwealth.

“There’s always pressure on me being his son because I don’t want to let him down,” Richard Pitino told The Post, standing outside the Louisville locker room at the Superdome. “I don’t really worry so much about the outside pressure. I put so much pressure on myself to make sure we’re as prepared as possible so that he can hopefully win the game.”

General Motors not only plans to close the Opel plant in Germany’s Bochum and the plant in the UK’s Ellesmere Port but is set on simultaneously boosting capacity in so-called low-cost countries such as Poland, Russia, China, India, Mexico and Brazil, according to a GM strategy paper presented at the GM Global Business Conference, Der Spiegel reported yesterday.

According to the strategy paper, named Global Assembly Footprint, GM plans to manufacture up to 80 percent of additional vehicles in these countries once unit sales rise, saying that currently, about half its cars are manufactured in high-cost countries in Northern America and Europe.

General Motors, GM, Der Spiegel, Ellesmere Port, strategy paper, GM Global Business Conference, GM strategy paper, Global Assembly Footprint, plant

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Poly Prep’s girls lacrosse team has a bull’s eye on its back and it’s something the team relishing.

The Blue Devils, who lost in the NYSAISAA finals last year to Riverdale, come into this season thinking they are the favorite. With the taste of defeat still fresh in their mouths, they know nothing will be easy, and are looking to fulfill their lofty expectations.

“Everyone is going to be gunning for us,” coach Anni Zukauskas said. “We have that target on our back and I think it will bring the best out of us.”

Zukauskas coaches a Poly Prep team that returns five seniors, three of which are core midfielders, with the other two playing attack. The Blue Devils also return their starting defense. Top to bottom, they have the experience that is critical for the pursuit of a championship.

Denis Gostev

Poly Prep's Jessica Dahldorf wants to lead her team to the NYSAISAA title.

“We have an incredible senior class,” Zukauskas said. “They’re up to the challenge that they face, and it’s critical to have them here.”

Zukauskas notes just how hungry her girls are for the championship, saying that the loss in the finals is still very fresh in their minds, and is a big driving force for the team.

“They’re still feeling that sting of losing last year,” Zukauskas said. “I’m glad they haven’t forgotten.”

One senior who wants to leave Poly Prep with a trophy is Jessica Dahldorf. The Northwestern recruit was named the The Post’s All-City girls lacrosse Player of the Year last season. She had an amazing 80 goals and 16 assists is joined by star midfielders Sam Domurat and Kayla Metelenis, both of whom are major goal scoring threats. Anna Lisa Westfield will be back in goal.

“She’s really accepting the challenge of being the best player in the city,” Zukauskas said.

Zukauskas calls Dahldorf the hardest worker she’s ever coached and stated that despite Dahldorf signing with Northwestern, she’s remained focused on Poly Prep and leading the Blue Devils.

“Our league is only getting better,” Zukauskas said. “By no means is this season going to be easy for us, but we know everyone is after us, and we’re going to give it our all.”

One team gunning for Poly Prep will be Fieldston, which struggled last year and was under .500 . Head coach Sara Gorman believes her team is stronger than last year, and much more seasoned.

“We bring back five seniors,” Gorman said. “They’re great leaders for our team out ther and I’m just trying to push everyone to the next level. “

One of those leaders, senior Annie Smith, will have the task of anchoring Fieldston’s defense. Smith and her fellow defensemen will aid junior goalie Sydney Bryant in keeping opponents off the scoreboard.

“She’s another year older,” Gorman said of Bryant. “She has the skills to get the job done, and she’s going to be great for us.”

On the offensive side, Fieldston’s sophomore Chloe Chasanoff leads the squad after producing numbers last season as a freshman. Gorman believes she will only improve this season after having a year of experience under her belt.

“Overall, we’re a better team across the board,” Gorman said. “I don’t know how far we can go, but we will definitely improve.

Over in the AAIS is Staten Island Academy, which looks to win its league after losing to Chapin by one goal in the championship game last season.

SIA has four seniors returning, all of which are four-year starters. They have Bridget O’Hara and Bethany Claps on defense, Gabby Tricorico as a midfielder and Erin Gibbons as an attacker.

Gibbons, who was named to the The Post’s All-City girls lacrosse first team, scored 55 goals and had 17 assists last year.

“We’re going to go out there and try to win our league,” coach Mike Bowler said. “We have an exciting mixture of youth and experience, so it should be a good season.”

Poly Prep, Blue Devils, Anni Zukauskas, Jessica Dahldorf, Zukauskas, Poly Prep’s girls lacrosse, NYSAISAA, Fieldston, Sara Gorman, Dahldorf

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10-1

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6-Buzzards Roost

7-2

4-Captain Twitch

8-1

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10-1

5-One FrenchKiss

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Half of the Elite Eight is set and the rest will be determined tonight in the NCAA tournament.

See the bracket here to find out where and when all the games will be played on the way to the Final Four in New Orleans.
Nypost.com

NCAA Basketball Tournament

Regional Semifinals

Tonight

At Boston

Favorite

Line

Underdog

Syracuse

3 1/2

Wisconsin

Ohio St.

7 1/2

Cincinnati

At Phoenix

Marquette

1 1/2

Florida

Michigan St.

5

Louisville

Tomorrow

At Atlanta

Kentucky

9

Indiana

Baylor

6

Xavier

At St. Louis

Unc

10 1/2

Ohio

Kansas

8

Nc State

NBA

Favorite

Line

Underdog

Pacers

7

WIZARDS

BUCKS

4

Celtics

ROCKETS

8

Warriors

Clippers

3

HORNETS

BLAZERS

1 1/2

Grizzlies

KINGS

3 1/2

Jazz

NHL

Favorite

Line

Underdog

PENGUINS

$160-180

Predators

FLYERS

$150-170

Capitals

LIGHTNING

$105-125

Oilers

Flames

$120-140

WILD

Canucks

$115-135

STARS

COYOTES

$110-130

Avalanche

SHARKS

$100-120

Bruins

KINGS

$105-125

Blues

Home team in CAPS
Nypost.com

TODAY
Mar. 22

FRI
Mar. 23

SAT
Mar. 24

SUN
Mar. 25

MON
Mar. 26

TUE
Mar. 27

WED
Mar. 28

Knicks

NO GAME

Tor. 7:00 MSG ESPN

Det. 7:30 MSG ESPN

NO GAME

Milw. 7:30 MSG ESPN

NO
GAME

Orl.
7:00
MSG
ESPN

Nets

NO GAME

Atl. 7:30 YES WBBR

Charl. 7:30 YES WFAN

NO GAME

Utah
7:30 YES WFAN

NO
GAME

Ind.
7:30 YES WFAN

Rangers

NO GAME

Buff. 7:00 MSG2
WNYM

Tor. 7:00 MSG2
WBBR

NO GAME

NO GAME

Minn.
8:00
MSG
ESPN

Winn.
7:00
MSG+
WNYM

Islanders

NO
GAME

NO GAME

T.B. 7:00 MSG+WRHU

Fla.
5:00 MSG+WRHU

NO GAME

Pitt.
7:00
MSG+2
WRHU

NO GAME

Devils

NO
GAME

Tor. 7:00 MSG+ WFAN

NO GAME

Pitt. 7:00 MSG WFAN

NO GAME

Chi.
7:00
MSG+
WFAN

NO GAME

Red Bulls

NO
GAME

NO
GAME

NO GAME

Colo.
4:00
ESPN

NO
GAME

NO
GAME

&Boston
7:05
TV- YES Network

&^Min.
7:05
YES

&Det.
1:05
No TV

&^Det.
1:05
YES
WCBS

NO
GAME

&Tor.
7:05
YES

&Atl.
1:05
ESPN

&Houston
1:10
TV- SportsNet NY

&Atl. 1:10
No TV

&St.L. 1:10 WPIX
WFAN

&Wash.
1:05
No TV
WFAN

&St.L.
1:05
No TV

&Atl.
1:10
SNY

&Wash.
1:10
SNY

& - Spring training game; ^- Split squad

HOME

AWAY
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