Softball Falls in Game 1 vs Duke -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Comeback Comes Up Short

Louisville softball fell behind early in the opening game of their series against Duke yesterday, but they made a hard push to come back at the Blue Devils. Unfortunately, the hole was just a bit too deep for them to recover, and the teams will continue the weekend with Duke taking the 1-0 series lead after a 7-5 victory. 

Brooke Gray got the start for the Cards and the Blue Devils welcomed her into the game rather rudely. The leadoff batter laid down a bunt single and advanced to second on a first pitch single into right by the #2 hitter. A foul out gave Gray a chance to recover, but a walk loaded the bases with one out. In the heart of the order, Duke knocked a single into left, scoring two, and the batter advanced to second on what was considered an error by the left fielder. I assume this was a throwing error, but it isn't listed so.... who knows? Another single scored the two remaining baserunners, one being unearned, before a pair of fly outs ended the top half of the first. Louisville trailed 4-0.

To their credit, the Cards tried to respond immediately. Easton Lotus had an unfortunate foul out before Chelsea Mack was, shockingly, thrown out at first on a bunt single attempt. I guess teams are starting to look for that. Char Lorenz singled, and Bri Despines reached on an infield error. Taylor Monroe was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs, but a strikeout ended the rally. 

Gray settled in a bit in the second by taking care of a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. Unfortunately, Louisville responded with a 1-2-3 inning of their own. They were able to put the bat on the ball, but that doesn't offer much consolation. Gray returned in the third and went walk, flyout, steal, single before her day was ended. Sam Booe came on in a tough spot with runners on the corners and one out, but stepped up herself to help Gray's ERA a bit. After a steal put runners on second and third, a squeeze bunt attempt popped up and Booe flashed the leather to catch it herself. She then put together a seven-pitch strikeout to end the inning.

The bottom of the third was remarkably similar to the bottom of the first, with Lotus and Mack getting out, Lorenz singling, and Monroe taking an HBP to load the bases. The only difference was that Despines walked instead of reaching on an error. Katie Thatcher came in to pinch hit, but Louisville left the bases loaded for the second time in three innings. They still trailed 4-0.

For the good ending to the third she had, Booe's start to the fourth was similarly less than ideal. A pair of singles were followed by a fielder's choice to get the lead runner at third, but a walk loaded the bases anyway. A Duke single scored two and Lindsey Mullen came on in relief. Mullen was able to limit the damage with a strikeout and a fly out, but the lead had grown to 6-0. 

Louisville's offense finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth. After a groundout, Maddi Grant doubled to center and Riley Janda came on to pinch run. Ally Alexander hit a grounder straight to short, which is not really what you want with a runner on second, but the traffic on the base paths meant everyone ended up safe. With runners on the corners, Duke shifted into a five infielder set up, which Easton Lotus punished with a two-run triple to left. A groundout meant the Cards were down to their final out, but Lorenz stepped up with her third straight single to score Lotus. Not to be outdone, Despines got tired of reaching only first while at the plate, so she smoked a two-run homer to right center. Monroe couldn't pick up her third HBP of the game, but Louisville left the fourth down just one run: 6-5.

Unfortunately, the Cards wouldn't score again. Perhaps if they had one more inning, they could have had a five-run eighth, but that's not the way it goes. In their remaining three trips to the plate, Louisville mustered just one walk and one single, not in the same inning. Duke was largely held in check, as well, until a solo home run in the top of the seventh. That set the final at 7-5. 

Both teams were able to find success on opposing pitchers, but Louisville would have hoped for a bit more consistency at the plate and a bit more stability from the bullpen. Mullen pitched the best of the Cardinal hurlers yesterday, finishing with just three hits, one run, and a strikeout in 3.2 innings. Booe, as I mentioned, started out well but ended up giving up three hits, two runs, and a walk with one strikeout in her one full inning. Gray got dinged around in the first, but was helped out immensely by Booe in the third. She finished with five hits, four runs (three earned), two walks, and two strikeouts in 2.1 innings. 

Louisville's offense managed eight hits, two walks, and two HBP, and they scored all five of their runs on one pitcher. The Cards struck out four times, and although eight runners left on base doesn't seem like too terribly many, the fact that six of the eight were with the bases loaded is definitely painful. Char Lorenz continued to show why she's batting third, getting three hits in four at bats and Despines reached base three times as well. 

The Cards and Blue Devils will continue the series at 2PM today, with today's game airing on ACCN proper. Louisville will look to pick up a ranked win and fight for another series victory, while Duke tries to finish off the series and climb back to where they think they should be in the ACC standings. 

No CCRHP This Week

I know that last week I said we'd probably be back this week, but sometimes things go sideways. Our hosts are still a bit scattered, and some things have been abnormal, as you may have guessed from the column schedule. We appreciate your patience and continued support and we'll get the podcast back in your feeds as soon as we can. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Games at Home and Away (?) -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Welcomes Duke for Weekend Series

After a brief road trip last weekend, Louisville dragged something back home with them from North Carolina. The Cards will return to Ulmer this week for a three game slate against the Duke Blue Devils. Duke is approaching their tenth season of play, and they're a bit down on previous seasons. That said, they're still no slouch. Following their home sweep at the hands of Florida State last weekend, they took out some frustrations on East Carolina in the midweek game, taking down the Pirates 11-0 in five innings. 

The Blue Devils are 4-5 in conference, right in the middle of the pack and one game ahead of Louisville. They've had some big losses so far, like Louisville, but they've also grabbed a few major wins, something the Cards can't quite say. Duke has wins this season over (in chronological order) #24 Mississippi State, #2 Florida, #16 Nebraska, and #4 UCLA. They haven't won a ranked game in seven attempts since that February 23rd game, but Louisville's lone ranked win of the season came at FAU on 2/16. Granted, the Cards have had many fewer opportunities. 

Louisville is narrowly outscoring Duke overall 198-191, but they're down 37-48 in runs scored in conference play. That's alarming, given the two teams' opponents so far. Every game is a new opportunity, though, so Louisville will see if they can right the ship against conference foes this weekend and earn their second series win of the season. First pitch tonight is scheduled for 6PM and the game will air on ACC Network Extra. 

Lacrosse Hosts Annual Military and First Responders Day

Louisville lacrosse sees no rest for the weary in a loaded ACC. The Cards are 5-6 overall but just 1-4 in conference play. In fairness, those conference games have come against three teams in the top-15, with two of them being ranked first and second in the nation. After a tough loss to Clemson on the road, Louisville returns home for another big match as they take on 4th-ranked Stanford. Tomorrow's game will be the Military and First Responders game for Louisville, which may be a bit triggering for Stanford. 

The Cardinal are 9-3 this season with wins over ranked (at the time) USC, Colorado, Virginia (away), and Yale. Their losses came in double OT on the road at Syracuse and at home to Boston College. No shame in those. What's a little odd, though, is that they followed the home loss to BC on Saturday with a midweek loss on the road at Army. Uhhhh... Huh? 

Louisville shouldn't take that loss to mean anything other than that Stanford slipped up. The Trees have shown themselves to be more than capable of blowing teams out, including a 23-4 win over Virginia Tech who, as you may remember, gave the Cards a fair waxing earlier this season. As Louisville will play just nine conference games this season, they'll need to win out if they want to finish above .500 in conference play. That's a tall order, so I'd settle with a couple of nice upsets. Tomorrow's noon game at LLS would be a good place to start. 

Volleyball Plays Vanderbilt at Central Hardin

Louisville volleyball is also in action tonight as they kick off their spring slate. The Cards will officially be the away team for tonight's match, but they'll have a shorter drive than the "hosting" Vanderbilt. The two teams will play at Central Hardin High School in Elizabethtown. The match was originally scheduled to be played at E'town High School, but the venue change came just a few days later. 

This will be the Commodores' second spring match and their second in a high school gymnasium. The first was much closer to home, as they hosted Tennessee at Brentwood High School two weeks ago. Brentwood is an exurb of Nashville. The 2025 season will be the first for Vanderbilt Volleyball. 

The 'Dores are helmed by Anders Nelson, a former associate head coach at UK. They'll be led on the floor by transfers, as you might expect in today's climate and for a new program. They've added Sydney Conley from Florida State and Jacquelyn Moore and Isabella Bareford from Loyola Marymount. Perhaps the gem of the class is Kamryn Chaney, the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year who was also named to the AVCA All-North Region First Team. Chaney, an outside hitter, comes from Princeton. Vandy will also sport a local connection. Their first ever program commit came from Hailee Mack, a libero from Louisville who played at IMG Academy. If that name rings a bell, it might be because her father was the head men's basketball coach at UofL. 

On the Louisville side, this will be the start of the Dan Meske Era for the Cards. Louisville will see what life is like without a handful of familiar faces, as along with Dani Busboom-Kelly, the Cards move into a new season without Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, Charitie Luper, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, and Phekran Kong. That's... um... a lot of hitting to replace. We'll see what Dan has in store for the Cards soon. Tonight's match is at 7:30pm and admission is free.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

UofL President, Kim Schatzel resigns -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers,


It's Daryl checking in a day early this week.


Just when the Cardinal athletics schedule gets a breather and you think you've got a free write, something quite monumental happens for the University.. once again.


The University of Louisville announced Wednesday afternoon that Kim Schatzel would be leaving after 2 years at helm.

Photo: UofL News

It feels like just yesterday that the university was inaugurating its 19th president.  It was 544 days ago, in fact.  Which makes it seem like there was barely any time for Kim to get truly acclimated to her position and make true on her 8 campaign promises, as seen below. I mean.. it took 240 days for them to plan the inaugural event... 

https://www.uoflnews.com/post/uofltoday/president-schatzel-outlines-8-priorities/

Provost, Gerry Bradley will be taking the position instead. But he was just announced as to have accepted a parallel position at the University of Cincinnati just 8 days ago.  The current president at UC is 2016-17 interim UofL president, Neville Pinto. 

https://www.louisvillecardinal.com/2025/03/provost-bradley-accepts-position-at-the-university-of-cincinnati/


This one has been strange to follow as we knew that with a new administration in the White House, it could affect the public universities and it funding.. sure.  But just following the emails we have received as employee's since the transition of power. The university was put on a hiring freeze, programs are losing funding and the emphasis on cracking down on diversity and inclusion has crippled operations and now.. we're seeing some affects of the pressure.


We're still gathering some details surrounding the sudden departure... for now, the university has moved on to it's 20th president in history.  

List of UofL Presidents

As Always, 

Go Cards

~Daryl 

Softball Gets Late Winner in Bowling Green -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Wednesday, folks. Let's start with a brief note on recent transfer portal news. While some of yesterday's revelations look to have immediately called Jared's Tuesday column about WBB returners to question, we don't typically trade in incomplete information here at Cardinal Couple. We'll address any major WBB news when its official, but for now, portal announcements don't serve to promote the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. 

Softball Takes 3-2 Victory Over WKU

In a bit of an oddity yesterday evening, WKU hosted a "Red Out" for the visiting team. WKU softball promoted the event, encouraging fans to wear red, only for WKU to take the field in traditional home whites while Louisville softball wore their red tops with red pants. Go Big Red, indeed. The Cards struck first and last in this one, breaking a tie in the sixth inning for a 3-2 win. 

Coming off of a discouraging Saturday and Sunday in Chapel Hill, Louisville headed down I-65 for their fourth in-state matchup of the season. WKU entered the game at just 15-13 overall, but they've played some tough competition already. Their losses include a pair to UK, a pair to Georgia Tech, and a pair to ranked Liberty. The Hilltoppers were coming off of a road trip to El Paso, where they went 1-2 against UTEP, so they may have been a bit more travel weary than the Cards. In the end, Louisville prevailed to improve to 4-0 against in-state competition this year. The Cards will really put that record to the test next Wednesday when they bring the Wildcats into Ulmer. 

Louisville took the plate first yesterday and got to work. After Easton Lotus had an unfortunate foul out on a 2-0 pitch, Chelsea Mack laid down her 2-0 attempt for a bunt to third. At this point, that's an automatic single. She likely would have stolen second, but she was helped out by a wild pitch to advance. In stepped Char Lorenz batting third. A note on Lorenz: other people have noticed her. This is good because she's pretty hard to ignore. Softball America issued their midseason lists and Lorenz was ranked as the top freshman in the ACC. Pretty good. It was a timely announcement, as Lorenz singled up the middle to score Mack and give Louisville the lead. She advanced to second on the throw to the plate, and she came around to score when Bri Despines doubled in the next at bat. Despines advanced to third on a throwing error, but Louisville couldn't continue the scoring rally. The Cards grabbed their gloves with a 2-0 lead. 

Alyssa Zabala got the start and took one batter too long to settle in. The WKU leadoff hitter smoked a double to open the bottom half of the first and advanced on back-to-back sacrifice flies to score. A walk and a ground out ended the inning, and Louisville maintained the lead. It looked as though they would immediately extend it, as Taylor Monroe tripled to lead off the second inning. After a line out, though, Ally Alexander hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that Monroe misread, taking off for home. The WKU shortstop threw to the plate instead of first and Monroe was tagged out. That was made doubly unfortunate when Lotus singled with two outs. The Cards couldn't bring a runner around, but they still led 2-1 heading into the home half. 

Zabala got a bit more comfortable in the second, working around a leadoff HBP to avoid any runs in the inning. Louisville went down in order in the third, and Zabala continued to show resilience. She was having a bit of trouble finding the zone, but her pitches were working to fool the WKU batters. Alyssa gave up two walks and a wild pitch in the third, but she also picked up a pair of swinging strikeouts, adding to the one she had in the second inning. 

Louisville tried to play small ball in the fourth after Jac Hasty singled to open the inning, but she was stranded at second after a sacrifice bunt was followed by two quick outs. Zabala had a fairly quick inning in the bottom half, giving up a full-count single after two fly outs and ending the threat with a pop out. Louisville went down 1-2-3 for the second time in the fifth inning, and Zabala returned to the circle for her fifth inning of work. In hindsight, Coach Holly Aprile might have considered pulling the trigger on relieving her a touch sooner. WKU opened with a double, and the Cards responded with an intentional walk to create a force out at any base. When a single loaded the bases, Aprile made the call to the bullpen and Brooke Gray entered a tough situation. 

Unfortunately for Zabala, Gray surrendered Zabala's win chance in the first at bat, giving up a four-pitch walk to score a run, tying the game and leaving the bases loaded. Fortunately for Louisville (and Zabala's ERA), Gray locked in after that. She struck out the next two batters to flip the situation from very bad (bases loaded, nobody out) to a fair bit less bad (two outs, force out at any base). A fly out ended the inning with the score tied 2-2. 

With the middle of the order due up, Louisville responded immediately. Despines laid down a first-pitch bunt up the first base line and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Hasty singled for the second time in the game, and Aprile chose to hold Despines at third. Riley Janda came in to pinch run for Hasty and immediately stole second. With two runners in scoring position, Monroe worked a strong at bat, fouling off strike three twice for an eight-pitch walk. Ava Venturelli pinch hit with the bases loaded and one out but fouled out. With the potential rally in danger, Louisville was bailed out by a wild pitch, with all three runners advancing 60 feet and Despines scoring the go-ahead run. Alexander ended up walking to reload the bases, but Lotus grounded out to end the threat. 

WKU tried to match Louisville's efforts in the bottom half, with the leadoff batter attempting a bunt up the first base line. She was thrown out, which was good because the next batter singled. Gray responded by forcing a fly ball, walked a pinch hitter in the DH spot, and forced another fly out to end the inning. Louisville's 2-4 hitters went down on just six pitches in the seventh, but Gray was up to the task. She answered the quick top half with an efficient bottom half, using just 12 pitches herself to force two ground outs and a pop out to end the game and earn herself the win. 

Louisville's offense wasn't lighting the world on fire, but that was largely due to a good outing from WKU's Rylan Smith. She threw 120 pitches in the complete game, giving up three earned runs on eight hits, two walks, and a pair of wild pitches. She struck out four. Zabala and Gray combined for 145 pitches, six hits, six walks, one WP, one HBP, and five strikeouts. The Cards left seven runners on base, including an uncharacteristic three from Lotus. Granted, those all came in one at bat. 

Louisville (20-12) returns home this weekend for a series with Duke. The Blue Devils are 21-12 so far this season with a 4-5 conference record. They went 2-1 against Clemson and Syracuse before being swept at home this past weekend by 9th-ranked Florida State. Duke was outscored 33-17 in the series, but they took the Seminoles to the wire on Saturday, losing 12-11. The Blue Devils will face East Carolina today before catching a flight to Louisville to start the series Friday. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB Departures and Returners -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Basketball Returners and Departures

Now that we have concluded the season for Louisville women's basketball, we can start to prepare for offseason changes.

On the coaching side, there have not been any rumors or hints about departures. We also haven't seen any assistant coaches on watch lists to taking head coaching positions elsewhere. The current coaching staff should be sound next season and will be hard at work for recruitment and NIL opportunities.

Departures

As of this time, the only known departures are those graduating. Olivia Cochran and Merissah Russell both played all five years with the Cards. Cochran saw heavy minutes and had a starting role for a majority of her tenure. Russell played a bit more of a reserve role but provided veteran leadership in her later years.

Jayda Curry spent her final two seasons with the Cards and played a point guard and shooting guard role during her time. She went out with a band, scoring a career-high 41 points in her final game.

Ja'Leah Williams used her final year of eligibility at Louisville after four seasons at Miami. She was brought in to provide experience and be another ball handler for the Cards. She also proved to be one of the better defenders.

Returners

As of right now, all other players are expected to return for Louisville. As the transfer portal opens up and other schools throw NIL money out there, we could possibly so a player or two decide to leave. Only time will tell there.

The current returners are:

Nyla Harris, junior, forward

Elif Istanbulluoglu, sophomore, forward

Eseosa Imafidon, redshirt freshman, center

Izela Arena, freshman, guard

Imari Berry, freshman, guard

Mackenly Randolph, freshman, forward

Rebekah Graves, freshman, guard

Anaya Hardy, freshman, forward

Isla Juffermans, freshman, forward

Reagan Bender, freshman, guard

Tajianna Roberts, freshman, guard

I'd expect to see Walz and Co go after a veteran or two in the portal to help develop this young squad. Most likely, we will see Louisville go after a true point guard in the portal to help be the on court general.

There are some new faces that have committed to the Cards that will join in the fall including 6'5 forward Grace Mbugua and 5'9 guard Peyton Bradley. 

2025 NCAA Pick 'Em Update

After the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, the field is still close in the CC Pick 'Em Challenge. Here's how things look as we head into the Sweet 16. 

Thanks,

Jared

Cards Fall in Round of 32 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Curry's Career High Not Enough in 85-70 Loss

Jayda Curry did her best to will the Cards to a victory over TCU in the second round of the NCAA tournament, scoring a career high 41 points, but Louisville wasn't able to recover from a nightmare run by the Horned Frogs in the second quarter. In the end, Louisville outscored TCU by six in the second half, but a 21-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome. TCU advanced to their first Sweet Sixteen in program history (men's and women's), while Louisville missed out on its chance for a 13th under Jeff Walz. 

Curry scored the first basket of the game, which was an auspicious start to her day. She would go on to score 15 of Louisville's 17 first quarter points, which was incredible, while also becoming incredibly alarming as the game wore on. Louisville held TCU at bay for much of the first quarter, and a Curry three with 4:34 to go in the quarter gave Louisville its largest lead of the game at 13-7. TCU answered with a three of their own (far from the last) and hit another after a Louisville layup to make it 15-13. The Cards responded with another basket with 2:57 remaining in the first to go up 17-13, but then the wheels fell off. TCU went on a 7-0 run to close the quarter up 20-17. 

The quarter break didn't help Louisville at all. They continued to be unable to score, not making a basket in the second quarter until there was only 4:10 remaining in the quarter. That's almost a full quarter's worth of scoreless basketball. In that time, TCU had scored ten points to stretch their lead to 30-19. Louisville's shooting woes continued, while TCU kept taking shots on a kiddie goal. When all was said and done, the second quarter was a 27-9 bloodbath, TCU was on a 34-9 extended run, and it looked like it might all be over but the crying. 

This was a matchup long awaited by those that created the packages about Hailey Van Lith taking on her former school and coach, and the former Louisville guard didn't disappoint. Van Lith played all 40 minutes and finished with a double-double, totaling 16 points and 10 assists. She was a big part of that second quarter. While she only scored four points in the quarter, she tallied four of her assists (for 11 points), three of her five rebounds, and her only steal and block each in the second. When Louisville was on the mat, HVL and TCU didn't let up. 

If the first quarter was bad for Louisville from a defensive perspective, the second was a disaster. TCU went 8-13 in the first, with a 4-6 effort from beyond the arc. In the second, they improved, shooting 11-14 overall and 5-7 from three. The Horned Frogs were shooting 70.4% overall and 69.2% from deep. As the Cards watched them run away, they managed to find the bottom of the net on just 9 of 35 shots, going 2-7 from three. That's 25.7%. With a -44.7% disadvantage in shooting, almost no other stats matter. 

Jeff Walz must have lit a fire under Louisville at half time, or at least stirred some embers, because the Cards didn't fold coming out of the locker room. Olivia Cochran scored the first points of the half on a couple of free throws, and Louisville cut the lead to 15 with 7:28 to go. Unfortunately, the third quarter was a lot of "Louisville might get some momentum... oh never mind." The Cards were unable to claw back much closer, and the lead stretched back to 20 on two occasions. Even when Imari Berry hit threes on back-to-back possessions, TCU was able to respond with an and-1 on a layup to halt any progress. With 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Louisville's luck in the game was summarized pretty well by the final sequence. Berry drew a foul and responded by missing a pair of free throws. On the ensuing possession, Curry forced the ball away from Van Lith, again giving the Cards a chance at the last shot. Louisville worked the ball around to find an open Elif Istanbulluoglu, who missed a three as time ran out. 

Trailing by 18 entering the fourth, things weren't looking good. The Cards opened with a quick score by Elif, though, and TCU missed a three on their first possession. A Cochran three probably isn't what I'd recommend to get back into the game, and it missed, but Louisville weathered another offensive possession by forcing a miss from HVL. Curry was fouled on a three attempt and hit all three free throws to make it a 13-point game with 8:37 remaining. Another miss meant Louisville finding Berry for a three would have made it a 10-point game, but the shot was off the mark, as was the follow-up layup (not for lack of help by some contact, but the game was pretty loosely called). 

A couple of TCU free throws pushed the lead back to 15, but Curry dropped in a three to make it 12. Right on cue, the momentum killer came on a free layup and a Louisville miss. Another turnover meant that the Cards weren't out just yet, and a nice jumper by Cochran kept it at 12. A missed three fell to Curry, who brought it up court, kept it herself, and fired up a wild three that managed to hit almost all of the rim and the backboard before falling in. Louisville was down by just nine points with 5:26 to go. Consider by eyebrows raised. 

It wasn't meant to be, though. The Cards weren't able to keep up the pressure or go on a sustained run, and they never got closer than eight points with 2:47 remaining. TCU pushed it back to a 15-point deficit in the end, even without Louisville playing the foul game. Curry continued to do everything in her power to get Louisville across the finish line but she needed help. She got some from Cochran and Berry, who scored 15 and 8, respectively, but if you do the math on that, you're going to be disappointed. Allow me to help. 41+15+8=64 from three players. Louisville scored 70 total. Curry made 13 of Louisville's 24 baskets. She was 6-12 from 3 and Berry was 2-4. Louisville attempted 8 others and made none. The Cards got six points out of 113 player minutes. If you take Curry's 13-28 away, Louisville went 11-43 (25.6%) from the floor. The offense just wasn't there.

The FRED Report

Free Throws: The Cards had a good day at the line, making the most of their chances by going 14-16 from the stripe. Curry was her typical 9-9, but Cochran added a surprising 5-5. The super senior gave it a good run in her final game for Louisville, adding six rebounds, one assist, and three steals to her 15 points without turning the ball over. That was a bit beside the point, though. 87.5% is a capital 'F'.

Rebounds: There isn't a much more stark indication of Louisville's shooting woes (and TCU's hot hand) than the rebounding stats. The Cards and Frogs tied with 31 rebounds apiece. Louisville had 15 offensive boards. TCU had 29 defensive. That's right - 44 of the 62 rebounds came at Louisville's end of the floor. Woof. TCU scored on both of its offensive rebounds. Louisville managed fewer second-chance points than they had offensive rebounds. TCU was a decent rebounding team, averaging a margin of +7.8 this season. I'll go lowercase 'r' but I'm reluctant about it. 

Effort/Execution: I was ready to throw in the towel at the half, but I'll go ahead and tell you I'm awarding a capital 'E'. I know Louisville lost by 15, but they never gave up. Maybe there was a stretch in the second where they looked a little defeated, but they could have lost this game by 40 and they chose to fight back, cutting it to single digits. They also only had seven turnovers. Their problem was that they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. Sometimes that's the way it goes. 

Defense: This one is a bit of an enigma. The Cards forced 14 turnovers, six from HVL, and they had a good strategy to keep her off balance. They came away with 10 steals and picked up a block. They only gave up nine fast break points. All that said, they gave up 85 points overall on 63% shooting. TCU was better than 50% in every quarter. Their worst shooting quarter was the third, where they went just 4-8, but they made up for it by going 13-15 from the line in that period. Louisville was a bit late on help defense, and they overcommitted on traps on a few occasions. It is what it is. No letter.

That's a final score of F-r-E-_. A bit of a surprising score, given the way the game turned out, but stats don't always tell the story. We'll have plenty more to say on this team, but for now, let's be proud of the fact that the Cards made it to the NCAA tournament, despite some shakiness during the season, and they managed to get back into the second round. It was a tough loss to end the season, but we got a pair of pretty nice swan songs from Cochran and Curry, who I feel like I couldn't have given enough words to in this column. 

Walz showed that he could win games with the transfer portal last season, but he showed he still knew how to run a program this year. The Cards are set up for the future with the players set to return, so we'll see what there is to come. Louisville won't be dancing any more this season, but you can be sure that there are plenty of tournament wins yet to come for the program. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

SB falls to UNC Saturday, Tiebreaker Sunday -- WBB vs TCU Preview -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good Sunday morning readers, 

It's Daryl here. Happy Sunday to ya!

Just when you think you have our scheduled coverage nailed down.. we switch it up on ya.  

Softball

The Cardinals move to 19-11 on the season and 3-5 in the ACC.

Photo: Jared Anderson

Louisville 5 vs North Carolina 13


Both teams scoring 2 runs in the first frame before UNC was able to bust it open for a cruise to victory on day 2 of the series.  

Lindsey Mullen took the loss to move to 2-1 on the season.  The Louisville pitching staff threw almost 40 more pitches than the Tarheels and gave up 13 runs on 13 hits on the day. 

Char Lorenz lead the team in RBIs with 3 after going 2-3 on the day and recording a triple in the top of the fifth inning.   Easton Lotus also went 2-3 and scored a run.  

UNC's big 5 run 4th inning was propelled by two defensive errors from the Cardinals. 

Photo: Jared Anderson

UP NEXT 

Louisville vs UNC 

Sunday 3/23 12 pm 
ACCNX

WBB Preview

Photo: Jared Anderson

Louisville vs TCU 

Sunday 3/23 6 p.m

ESPN

 The Cardinals survived to advance to Sunday's much anticipated and  coordinated HVL rematch with her old squad.  If you couldn't tell by now, the NCAA has spent the last 2 seasons trying to get Hailey Van Lith to face off against her former former squad, the UofL Cardinals.  They could've just have put her up against the LSU Tigers eventually too but clearly they thought HVL vs Walz was must see TV.  TCU is looking for its first trip to the third round after leading the program to its first tournament win in 19 years on Friday afternoon.  

The Cardinals advanced to the 2nd round for the 2025 season and not so easily either.  They got a huge fight from the Nebraska Cornhuskers down to the wire with (thankfully) the Cardinals advancing.   

So the stage is set, Louisville at TCU for a trip to the Sweet 16.   

Back in November, TCU got a big win vs #13 NC State at the time 76-73 and #3 Notre Dame 76-68.  In January they got wins vs ranked squads such as #12 Kansas State, #17 WVU and #23 Utah.  The horned frogs have 3 wins over a ranked Baylor Bears.

The horned frogs are averaging 77.5 points per game while only giving up 57.1 ppg.    TCU is second in the Big 12 in 3 point shooting and #1 in bloceked shots with almost 6 per game.  Sedona Prince is second in the league in rebounding with 9.6 rpg. HVL averages 17.7 points and 5.4 assists per game.

As Always, 
Go Cards! 
~Daryl 

Cards Survive Husker Rally; Softball Wins Game 1 -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Advances with 63-58 Victory

Like the men's team a day earlier, Louisville women's basketball faced a team from Nebraska that had a strong post player and kept hitting threes when Louisville attempted to break the game open. Unlike the men, the women kept their cool and never let the game get out of reach. The Cards and Huskers played a game marred by long scoring droughts, sometimes by both sides at the same time (such as a three-and-a-half minute stretch in the first quarter), but ultimately, Louisville's defense stepped up to force Nebraska into the most important drought of all: not scoring for the final minute of the game. 

The Cards and Huskers traded blows in the first quarter, but it was Nebraska's inability to hold onto the ball that really kept Louisville in it early. The Cards shot just 30% from the floor in the first quarter, compared to 46.7% from Nebraska, but they trailed by only two at the break. That was largely due to a 6-3 Louisville advantage in turnovers, which resulted in a 6-0 advantage in points off of those turnovers. 

Louisville would ride that turnover advantage wave throughout the game, with the biggest difference coming in the second quarter. The second saw Louisville take its first real lead of the game (6-5 was immediately erased by a Nebraska 3 in the first quarter) when they went on a 9-0 run to close the half. The Cards had the same 6-3 turnover margin in the second quarter as they did in the first, but they scored 11 points off of those six turnovers while Nebraska could manage just two. The Huskers looked like they'd hold on to the lead throughout the quarter, as each time Louisville got close, they'd hit a three to stretch the advantage. Nebraska led by about five for the entire quarter until that Louisville run over the final two-and-a-half minutes. In the second, Nebraska shot an identical 7-15 from the floor, but Louisville brought their average up to 38.5% with a 9-19 quarter. The Cards also made two threes, matching Nebraska, and led 36-32 at halftime. 

Olivia Cochran picked up two fouls in the second quarter, but both came as a result of playing hard against Alexis Markowski, and it was paying off. Louisville had a strong post presence in the game, despite the potential Nebraska advantage in that area, and the Cards limited Markowski overall. In the end, she finished with a double-double, but she scored only 12 points, and her 10 rebounds came primarily on the defensive end. She was just 5-12 from the floor (1-2 from three) and had two turnovers. The Cards outscored Nebraska by 12 in the paint. One place Louisville struggled in this area was second chance points. The Cards had 18 offensive rebounds, compared to just 9 for Nebraska, but it was the Huskers that won the second chance points battle 8-7. 

Taj Roberts scored a layup on the first possession of the second half to push the Cards lead to six, and both teams decided scoring was optional for a bit. Olivia Cochran broke a four-minute scoring drought with a free throw to make it 39-32. Nebraska matched that with 5:07 remaining in the quarter, and a three by Jayda Curry, over five minutes after the last made field goal in the game, pushed the Louisville lead to nine. The Cards looked like they'd be in control from that point on, but the Huskers held on, cutting the lead to 46-44 with 1:10 to go in the quarter. A pair of layups by Elif Istanbulluoglu in the final minute pushed Louisville's lead to 50-44 going into the final stanza. 

Not so fast, my friend as Lee Corso would say. After Elif's layup in the final second, a bit of chaos ensued. The refs convened for a chat about whether a technical foul should be assessed for Louisville players coming onto the court before the quarter was over. Ultimately, the right decision was made, and no foul was given. The clock operator had mistakenly stopped the clock with 0.1s remaining after the field goal, meaning the bench did come out on the floor to celebrate before the quarter ended. However, the clock shouldn't have stopped for a made basket in the third quarter. The conversation ended with the refs correctly determining that the quarter would have been over if the clock hadn't stopped, and that was that. A whole lot of stress for nothing. 

As if the teams felt Louisville fans relax from afar going into the fourth quarter, things turned on a dime. Louisville decided that the beginning of the quarter would be a great time for a scoring drought, but Nebraska didn't agree. The Huskers opened the fourth on a 10-0 run over 3:30 that flipped Louisville from +6 to -4. The Cards would finally score in the fourth with 5:28 remaining, lucky to not trail by more. The Louisville basket made it 54-52 in favor of Nebraska, and given the final score, you can probably guess that the end was tense. Neither team scored for two minutes, and Louisville finally tied it at 56 with 2:20 remaining. Jayda Curry's second tough jumper in a row, coming after the second offensive rebound of the possession, gave Louisville a 58-56 lead with 1:16 remaining. 

Britt Prince (one of two Prince's Louisville needed to be very aware of entering the weekend) hit a layup to tie the game with 59 seconds remaining, and Jeff Walz called a timeout to draw up a go-ahead play on what could be Louisville's final possession. As the shot clock wound down, Curry put up a three that rimmed out. Cochran was there for yet another offensive rebound for the Cards, and she was fouled on her put back attempt. Olivia missed the first but buried the second to give Louisville a one-point lead. After a timeout to advance the ball, Nebraska looked to run the clock down and take a final shot to win. That is, until Prince saw what she thought was an open lane for a layup. (Side note, this was ill advised, in my opinion, in a one-point game. If you make it, Louisville has the ball down one and gets to hold for the last shot. Are you leading? Yes. Have you just subjected yourself to potential heartbreak? Also, yes.) As it was, Louisville stepped in to draw a charge on Prince, voiding the basket and fouling her out of the game. It was a bit of a late move to pick up the charge, but Louisville had just been called for the same thing a couple of minutes earlier, so if it was a bad call, at least it was consistent. 

From there, the Cards knew they were playing the foul game, and they wisely got it in to Curry, who tried to kill time but was fouled with 21 seconds remaining. She did what everyone hoped she would and calmly sunk both to give Louisville a three-point cushion. Nebraska advanced the ball with a timeout again, but the three-point attempt they drew up missed and Mackenly Randolph pulled down the rebound. She got the ball to Cochran, but Olivia couldn't get it away before being fouled. Cochran hit one of two at the line to stretch the lead to four. Another timeout (taking three into the final minute is a choice...) advanced the ball, but this time, Nebraska threw the ball away. Cochran was sent to the line for free throws that were largely academic and made one of two to set the final score of 63-58. 

Survive and advance. 

The FRED Report

Free Throws: The Cards weren't great at the stripe, going just 9-15. Cochran had a good game (14 points, 5 boards, just three fouls, and a block), but she was a big part of the lower percentage, going 4-8 from the line. Roberts missed her only attempt to convert a three-point play and Ja'leah Williams was 1-2. Curry led the way at 4-4. No letter.

Rebounds: Louisville held a huge advantage on the offensive glass, but they managed to outrebound Nebraska by just four overall. They also didn't convert those O'boards into second chance points consistently, though they did have some second (and third) opportunities that were clutch down the stretch. Nebraska had a height advantage in the post, so I'll award a lowercase 'r'.

Effort/Execution: Louisville never gave up, even when the shots weren't falling and Nebraska went on a late run. The Cards could have caved but they didn't. Jayda Curry played through getting hurt what felt like seven times, but hopefully she'll be ok going into tomorrow. Louisville got at least five minutes from everyone that played (11 players) and everyone that got on the floor contributed at least one positive stat. The Cards had just 13 turnovers, and only 14 fouls, and they had 14 assists on 25 made baskets. That kind of performance in a tournament game where momentum is everything gets a capital 'E' from me. 

Defense: Nebraska shot the ball well, but not really for lack of Louisville's defensive pressure. The Huskers were ultimately 23-52 from the floor, making fewer shots than Louisville. They took only eight free throws, and Louisville turned them over 24 times (scoring 27 points). Williams led Louisville with four of their ten steals, and she pulled down nine rebounds, seven defensive. She struggled offensively but she was a huge force on defense. The Cards also had three blocks. To put a bow on it, Louisville gave up just 58 points to a team that averaged 75.5 throughout the year. Capital 'D'.

That's a final tally of _-r-E-D, which is certainly nothing to slouch at. We'll need the Cards to get to the line more tomorrow and to take advantage of those opportunities, but this was a good showing from Louisville, who return to their winning ways in the NCAA tournament. 

Louisville will move on to face TCU in the matchup the selection committee was going for when they set the bracket last season. After Louisville was upset and didn't get to face LSU and Hailey Van Lith, the committee set the stage again. The Cards will face the Horned Frogs, led by Van Lith and Sedona Prince, on their ugly home floor tomorrow. The game will tip at 6PM. 

Softball Beats UNC 7-4

Louisville softball won their first game of a three-game set in Chapel Hill yesterday by a final score of 7-4. The Cards rallied twice in this one, powered by a pair of three-run homers. UNC took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and Char Lorenz sent a three-run shot down the left field line to take the lead in the fourth. UNC responded immediately with another two runs to regain the lead in the bottom half, but Bri Despines put Louisville back in front with a homer to right in the fifth. Camryn Lookadoo hit a pinch-hit double in the sixth to set the final score at 7-4.

The Cards didn't have a great hitting day, but they got hits when it mattered. Louisville left just three players on base, scoring seven runs on just eight hits and two walks. The long ball will do that for you. UNC managed 13 hits and two walks, but Alyssa Zabala (8-3) and Sam Booe combined to strand 11 runners. Zabala got the start and gave up all four runs on ten hits and one walk in four full innings, striking out two. Booe came in after Louisville retook the lead and earned the long save. Booe pitched three full and gave up three hits and one walk, while also picking up two strikeouts. Booe is listed in the pitching summary as giving up an HBP, but none is listed in her stats or the batting stats for UNC. 

The Cards and Heels will get together for game two of the series at 2PM today. 

CC NCAA Tournament Pick 'Em Update

After day one of our NCAA Pick 'Em, here's the scoreboard as it stands midway through the round of 64. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We've got hosts scrambled all over the place today, so we aren't able to get together for the show this week. We'll be back next week, hopefully to discuss a continued tournament run for the Cards.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB Gameday vs Nebraska -- SB heads to Chapel Hill -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Good morning readers, 
Honestly, im pretty bummed the way the men fizzled out  of the tournament after the first day.  Dont get me wrong, it was great to see them back in the big dance but what a bummer to watch those two squads in the first round rather than the round of 32 or something.    

Im hoping the WBB squad can avoid a repeat of last year and secure a victory today...

  

WBB

Basketball is still alive in the Ville as it is GAMEDAY for the Cardinals who are in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Photo: Jared Anderson

7-seed Louisville (21-10) vs 10-seed Nebraska  (21-11)

 Tip off is at 6pm on ESPN

This is the fourth time in program history that the Cardinals are a #7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the third time under Walz.  The first time they were a #7 seed was their first ever NCAA appearance in the 1983 tournament. The previous two times occurred in back-to-back years in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, the Cardinals upset #2 seed Xavier in Cincinnati to advance to the Sweet 16.

Walz is 14-1 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and the Cardinals are 31-6 as the higher seed under Walz. The Cardinals are 7-3 against current Big 10 teams under Walz but this will be the first time the Cards and Huskers will meet in the NCAA Tournament.

Photo: Jared Anderson

Louisville leads the series 3-1 (2-0 home, 1-1 neutral). The last time the two teams met was 11/29/18 at the Yum! Center where the Cards won 85-68.

The Huskers have 2 players averaging in double figures scoring.  Nebraska sophomore forward and 2024 Big 10 freshman of the year went down with a season ending injury in November.   The head coach of the Huskers is the Amy Williams and shes been at the helm since 2016. 

Alexis Markowski is a 6-3 senior from Lincoln, Nebraska leading the team with 16.5 points and 7.9 rebounds.  Freshman guard, Britt Prince is another hometown kid, from Omaha and averaging 13.4 points, 4 rebounds and 3.7 assists.   

We are hoping to see Jayda Curry and Merissah Russell back into the lineup tonight.  Their senior leadership, energy and minutes were greatly missed in the ACC tournament. 

Softball

Photo: Jared Anderson

The diamond Cardinals are heading to Chapel Hill for their first road ACC series. In the last meeting, UofL lost the 2024 series 2-1 with the Cards taking the first meeting and the Tar Heels taking the final two.


UNC is 23-7 on the season with a 4-2 record in conference play. North Carolina swept Pitt in its ACC opener and took one game from Clemson last weekend. The Tar Heels are coming off a 3-1 loss to #22 Liberty on Wednesday night, marking the first time all season that the Tar Heels have lost back-to-back games.

As Always, 

Go Cards

~Daryl 

Lax Crushes Xavier — WBB Bracket Breakdown — THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Defeats Xavier in Blowout Fashion

Louisville lacrosse made a Wednesday night trip to Cincinnati. The Bearcats weren't the opponent at the end of the trail this time, though. Instead, the Cards had their sights set on the Musketeers of Xavier. Louisville would go on to win, 19-6.

The Cards raced out of the gate with three goals in five minutes. Xavier cut the Louisville lead to one, but the Cards led 7-3 after the first quarter. Louisville outscored the Musketeers 4-1 in the second quarter for a comfortable 11-4 halftime lead.

Coming out of the break, the two teams traded goals. After that, it was all Louisville as the Cards scored five straight to close out the third quarter and lead 17-5 and have a running clock. With the running clock in play for the entirety of the fourth quarter, the Cards were able to relax, but still took the final period 2-1.

10 different Cards scored in the game. Reese Whiteman and Maggie McMahon each recorded hat tricks. J Pleck played the first half in goal, logging five saves to go against four goals allowed. Hanna John took over the second half with four saves and two goals allowed.

Louisville improves to 5-5 on the win. They remain on the road and visit Clemson on Sunday. 

Jared Breaks Down the Women’s Basketball Bracket

Blank NCAA Bracket

We are one day away from the start of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Arguably, the best time of the year has finally arrived as we get three weeks of nearly non-stop basketball.

Here at Cardinal Couple, we have a long-standing tradition of hosting the Cardinal Couple Pick Em Contest. We hope to have you participate.

Today, I’ll break down some of my thoughts on the bracket including exciting match-ups and potential upsets. Remember, these will all be my personal thoughts and opinions. You’re welcome to take it into consideration on making your brackets, but do so at your own risk. If I go 0-for-63 and you copied me, well… good luck!

Spokane 1 Region

I like 10-seed Harvard over 7-seed Michigan State for a first round upset. The Ivy League likes to play dark horse when it comes to NCAA Tournament time and Harvard has a good chance to play that role this year.

8-seed Richmond vs 9-seed Georgia Tech is interesting mostly because of 8-9 match-ups have been pretty even. The Yellow Jackets have been trending in the wrong direction while the Spiders had won 17 straight before falling in the A10 Championship. I'm going against the ACC here.

Host seeds rarely lose in the opening round of play, but 4-seed Baylor could fall victim to this against 13-seed Grand Canyon. The Bears have been nearly unbeatable on their home court though. The Antelopes lost just twice all year and have the best win percentage in the NCAA while cruising through their conference.

I have a hard time seeing the regional final being anyone but 1-seed UCLA vs 2-seed NC State. UCLA lost twice all season, both times to USC. Wes Moore is always tournament ready and has a team of veteran players. I'm going with UCLA to go to the Final Four in this region.

Birmingham Region 2

5-seed Alabama seemed to stumble down the stretch over the last two years. Their offense has made up for their porous defense. 12-seed Green Bay is riding a 22-game win streak, but that win streak doesn't feature much top talent. Being a 5-seed can be tough seeing as the 4-seed line and a chance to host was right there in front of them so the homecourt advantage is gone. If there is a 5-12 upset, I think this is the most likely one, but my gut says Bama sneaks by.

2-seed Duke vs 7-seed Vanderbilt is a likely possibility in the second round. Duke has one of the stingiest defenses in the country, which helped them win the ACC Tournament. Vanderbilt has the frontrunner for National Freshman of the Year in Mikayla Blakes, who has scored 50+ points twice. Thor's hammer vs Captain America's shield will be fun to watch.

If 6-seed West Virginia can get past 11-seed Columbia or Washington then I could see them upsetting 3-seed North Carolina. It would be defense vs defense in that game, but the Tar Heels don't have a good offense to begin with.

1-seed South Carolina seems to be a title contender every year. I don't see any reason why they aren't this year. I do think 2-seed Duke squeezes out a tight one against 7-seed Vanderbilt in the second round, but I don't see them being able to take down the Gamecocks.

Birmingham Region 3

5-seed Tennessee has been hit-or-miss this season. They could fall in the opening round to 12-seed South Florida if the Bulls get hot from three, but they could also take down 4-seed Ohio State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. I'm just not sure the Lady Vols can piece together back-to-back strong performances.

11-seed Iowa State was one of the final teams in but were able to hold on to beat a tough 11-seed Princeton team in the play-in game last night. Last year's "Freshmen Five" took the NCAA by storm. While only four of them returned to the Cyclones for a second year, I like their chances against a streaky 6-seed Michigan team.

2-seed TCU vs 7-seed Louisville will be a must-watch even for non-Louisville fans. Jeff Walz vs ex-Cardinals player Hailey Van Lith could get interesting and have plenty of drama. With TCU playing at home, I have to give it to the Horned Frogs, but I'm going with 3-seed Notre Dame to take them down in the Sweet Sixteen. The Irish went through a questionable two-week stretch to close out the regular season, but a starting lineup full of WNBA players will have things figured out for tournament time.

I think 1-seed Texas is the weakest of the four 1-seeds. Notre Dame got the best of them in December and I think the Irish do that again.

Spokane Regional 4

5-seed Kansas State has been not good since Ayoka Lee went out with injury. She could return for the NCAA Tournament, but if she doesn't then I like the odds 12-seed Fairfield has for pulling off the upset.

6-seed Iowa is not the same without Caitlin Clark, who could solve or hide a lot of problems. They have a tough match-up against one of the hottest offenses in the country in 11-seed Murray State. Without the Hawkeyes playing in the comfort of their home arena, I think the Racers can pull off the upset.

7-Oklahoma State against 10-seed South Dakota State is intriguing. I don't think the Cowgirls will "lose" this game as much as I think the Jackrabbits "steal" it. South Dakota State's schedule was full on NCAA Tournament teams and they still only lost three games. Their only bad loss was losing to to Texas by 46. 

1-seed USC vs 2-seed UConn is inevitable. The Trojans took the regular season meeting by two points. I think this could be the "Game of the Tournament" similar to Iowa vs LSU last year. Paige Bueckers gets her fairytale ending with a Final Four.

Jared's Final Four: UCLA vs UConn and South Carolina vs Notre Dame

Jared's Bracket

UCLA, Richmond, Ole Miss, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Harvard, NC State

South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Duke

Texas, Creighton, Tennessee, Ohio State, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Louisville, TCU

USC, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Murray State, Oklahoma, South Dakota State, UConn

UCLA, Baylor, LSU, NC State

South Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, Duke

Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Kentucky, Oklahoma, UConn

UCLA, NC State, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, Notre Dame, USC, UConn

UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame, UConn

UCLA, South Carolina

UCLA - combined final score 120 points

Blank NCAA Bracket

Katy's Bracket

UCLA, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Michigan State, NC State

South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Duke

Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, UConn

UCLA, Baylor, Florida State, NC State

South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Duke

Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Kentucky, Oklahoma, UConn

UCLA, NC State, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, TCU, USC, UConn

UCLA, Duke, Texas, USC

UCLA, Duke

UCLA - combined final score - 105 points

(today's photos by Jared unless otherwise noted)

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared