Women's track has two headed to NCAA, Hoops observations

TUESDAY presented by CARDINAL COUPLE:






-Sideline reporters challenge.
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-McCarty and Abdullah headed to NCAA Indoors...
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-Previewing the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament
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THIS IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH...2:55 p.m.
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STEVE SPRINGER HAS BEEN SELECTED THE BIGGEST FAN OF THE BIG EAST!
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A WARM THANK YOU AND JOB WELL DONE TO ALL OF OUR READERS WHO VOTED FOR HIM! ATTA BOY, STEVE. WHO GONNA BEAT THEM CARDINALS? NOOOOBODY!!!!
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Erin Andrews (top left) or Jenn Brown (top right) ? That's the question...both sideline reporters have their charms and idiosyncrasies...let us know which one you prefer in the comments section if you like. Paul is an Erin fan. David Watson goes with Jenn. Sonja prefers Jenn. The CARDINAL COUPLE Chimp staff interns are still battling their official pick out...over banana daiquiri's and papaya margaritas...could take them awhile. Winner advances to the round of eight...check tomorrow for another sideline reporter matchup. You can e-mail your pick to cardinalcouple@insightbb.com and yes..we'll include a few guys in here, too...


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UofL tossers D'Ana McCarty and Khadija Abdullah will compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on the Texas A&M campus.

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McCarty is the two time defending champion in the weight throw and will compete in that event and the shot put. She recently won the BIG EAST indoor weight throw title for the third year. This season, she has tossed a qualifying throw of 22.05 meters, which is fourth best nationally. In the shot put, she qualified with a toss of 16.30 meters...good for 19th. in the nation.


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Abdullah has the best throw in the nation for shot-putting. Her heave of 16.96 is also a personal best. This is her first time in the Indoor championship.


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You can follow the girls' efforts live on ESPN3 Friday and Saturday or catch a broadcast tape delay on ESPN2 on March 16th. at 2:30 p.m. Good luck to these strong-armed Cardinals!


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As conference tournament championships wind down over the next couple days in college womens' basketball, it looks like the BIG EAST might get a record number of school invited to the NCAA Tournament. Ten schools are in the mix...UConn, Notre Dame, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette and Louisville are locks...we believe. Rutgers and WVU most likely...and St.John's and Syracuse probable. Ten schools! We looked at some other conferences and did some reviewing...


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BIG 12. We can see Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Iowa State. Probably Kansas and possibly Kansas State and Texas with a couple of breaks.


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SEC. Tennessee, UK, Georgia, Vandy for sure. LSU a possible.


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ACC. Duke, North Carolina, Miami, Maryland, Georgia Tech and Fla.State.


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Our top seeds? Pretty easy...UConn, Stanford, Baylor and Tennessee. #2 seeds much tougher to predict...but we'll offer Xavier, Duke, Notre Dame and DePaul, in our BIG EAST biased opinion.


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Where will "the Ville" end up? The NCAA Selection Committee "is dedicated to keeping school within a reasonable distance of their locations" based on seeding...in first and second round games. Really? OK, going with that premise...we'll pen in the Cards as a #7 seed and send them to Cincinnati. Who will they face? They'll get a #10 seed if this happens...we'll guess Michigan, Vandy or Purdue... They'll probably send Louisville to Wichita to play Texas...knowing those wrascilally wabitts on the selection committee. The NCAA Selection Committee is well documented in shafting both the men's and women's team any chance they get. The abomination of picking the Lady Cards to go to Baton Rouge and play in LSU's bracket two years ago was a slap and insult to the hard work from that 2008-09 National Runner Up squad. Give the Cards a break this year...muckity-mucks and big-wigs...


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Selection Monday should be interesting. No word yet on whether UofL is having a selection viewing party. Two years ago it was at Cardinal Arena. Three years ago at the Parrish House. We hope they do have one...a good crowd would most likely attend.


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Notre Dame faces Connecticut tonight for the BIG EAST WBB Tournament title. We will have coverage in Wednesday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. In case you missed it last night, the Huskies had no trouble with the Scarlet Knights...75-51 and Notre Dame downed DePaul 71-67 in a classic in the semifinals. We're going with Geno's bunch here...by ten or so. IT IS TIME TO MOVE THE EVENT OUT OF HARTFORD. A neutral site would be best. We'll offer (6) suggestions...Columbus, OH., Detroit, MI., Lexington, KY., New York, NY., Boston, MA. or Indianapolis, IN.


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We'd also like to see a return to only the top twelve teams getting invites. #13-#16 this year did not get past the second round...five nights of the tournament is too long...


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