Tuesday Cardinal Couple : Cards Wolny takes BIG EAST honors

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Amanda Zahui to Minnesota


-Alicja Wolny named BIG EAST Player of the Week


-BIG EAST Softball Tournament pairings


-UNC pulls off verbal coup in WBB


-Post-Derby ennui


LATE BREAKING UPDATE:


Amanda Zahui to Minnesota. 


Swedish center Amanda Zahui visited the United States recently to decide on where she wanted to attend college and play basketball. Louisville, Minnesota and Washington were the schools she was considering. She has chosen, and the choice is Minnesota. 


Zahui revealed that her final two were the Cards and the Gophers but picked Minnesota because she felt her playing time would come more quickly and be more

"gonna be a Gopher"


significant with the Gophers....instead of with the "more talented Louisville players." 

 She also indicated that "she felt at home right away with the surroundings and players at Minnesota and they accepted her as one of them immediately." 


Back to the drawing board for Coach Walz.


(Thanks to Jenny who broke the story and confirmed the information with her Swedish journalist contact.) 


Here is the translated link...but it reads like something the Swedish Chef from SESAME STREET might have come up with. Original is at:


http://lt.se/sport/basket/1.1649757-amanda-till-minnesota


Teige's center star Amanda Zahui has made its choice. In August, she goes to Minnesota to continue his basketball career. 


After SM-Gold went Amanda Zahui to the U.S. to visit the three schools - Minnesota, Louisville and Washington - that she was considering to start playing for the fall.


Now she has decided to Minnesota.


- It feels great. I'm happy with my choice. I velade bit between Minnesota and Louisville, but both have Louisville more great players so it would be tougher to get some playing time there. And above all I felt really that one of the girls on the team in Minnesota, right from the first minute I was there, says Amanda Zahui.


Amanda expects to move to the U.S. in late August. 


Robert Tate
rickard.pettersson@lt.se


(Whew, I think I need a drink after that one...)




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Louisville junior first baseman/designated hitter Alicja Wolny has been named the BIG EAST Softball Player of the Week after the 13th week of softball action. 


Wolny's numbers were impressive for the Cards 3-1 record last week:


-Batted .462 in 4 games


-Had a .533 on base average


-Registered six hits, scored four runs and had six RBI's


-Two home runs and a 1.000 slugging percentage


It's the second time Wolny has been named BIG EAST Player of the Week this season. Louisville swept St. John's on Saturday and Sunday to clinch the #1 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament. 


USF, who had been just a game behind the Cards, faltered at Syracuse over the weekend and dropped to a #4 seed. 


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The BIG EAST Softball Tournament pairings are set for the three days of action that'll take place beginning Thursday, May 10th in South Bend, IN. Louisville, as a #1 seed will face #8 seed UConn at 12:30 p.m. in the second game of the day. Louisville finished conference regular season play 20-2. The Huskies were 9-13 in the BIG EAST. Here's the rest of the first day games:


10 a.m. -- #4 USF (17-5) vs.#5 DePaul (14-8)


4 p.m. -- #3 Syracuse (17-5) vs. #6 St. John's (10-12)


6:30 p.m. -- #2 Notre Dame (16-3) vs. #7 Rutgers (9-13)

All first and second round games can be seen on BIG EAST TV.  


It's the second time since joining the BIG EAST that the Cards have won the regular season title. Louisville also gave head coach Sandy Pearsall her 500th win since taking the head coaching job and starting the softball program from ground up back in 2000. 


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UNC women's basketball pulled off a recruiting coup Saturday when four of the top 2013 recruiting targets called on the same day to verbal to Tar Heel head coach Sylvia Hatchell. One of them was Brownsburg, IN. native Stephanie Mavunga...who Louisville was courting. Mercedes Russell, the #1 prospect for 2013 has not verballed anywhere yet, despite pressure from Mavunga to do so. 


Here's a link from CARDINAL COUPLE writers Jenny and Sandy about the Mercedes timeline:


Mercedes Russell isn't close to making choice


The roster of 2013-14 at Chapel Hill has nineteen potential players if all the verbals hold up and the returning players come back. With the addition of these four, UNC actually has seven verbals for the class of 2013. 


Credit the hard work of UNC associate coach Trisha Stafford-Odom here. She left Duke in August of last year and obviously brought a lot of phone numbers and contacts with here. She did get Elizabeth Williams, the #1 recruit in the class of 2011 according to many, to Duke before her differences with Blue Devils head coach Joanne P. McCauley reached boiling point. Coach "P" must have a way with assistants, Samantha Williams left Cameron Indoor Stadium to hook up with Walz at Louisville.  


Thanks to CARDINAL COUPLE writer Jenny for the find and additional information on this subject. 


Here's a link to the verbal commits: 


Another FAB FIVE?



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Baffert finished second in the Derby

-- We all know that Union Rags was the Derby favorite, right? Not so fast, my friend...as Lee Corso would say. A late influx of money in the final minutes before the race actually made Bodemeister the post time favorite. A million dollars plus poured in during the last minute of wagering on the Bob Baffert trained 3 yr. old to edge him past "Ragsie".  


-- Bodemeister went off at $4.20 -1 odds to win. It sure looked like there was going to be a payout, too. Can you imagine the feeling the person or syndicate that threw down the massive amount of money had after seeing the "almost" win? 

-- The winner I'll Have Another was actually named because of owner J. Paul Reddam's fondness for a certain kind of cookie, not a request for another beverage at a local pub. 


-- Gotta love the fact that Derby winner I'll Have Another has already hopped a plane and flown to Pimilco Race Track, where the Preakness will be held on May 19th. Horses aren't usually shipped out so quickly after a major win like that. Less than 48 hours after receiving the roses, he's looking for Black-Eyed Susans. We like the "arrive early" theory. 

"Security? Sonja's in the lot five hours before kickoff!" 

Been doing it for years when it comes to Cardinal Football tailgating. Not 12 days in advance, mind you...but several hours before kickoff. Sometimes, you just got nothing else to do and people that you want to see...


-- Found this scary prediction at a website about horse-racing:


"The 138th running of the Kentucky Derby will have a longshot winner and I'm going with I'll Have Another. He'll come flying down the stretch to overtake the leader -- which will probably be Bodemeister. Finishing third, another late closer in Dullahan."

Nostradamus predictions...

This prophetic and exact order of the top-three finishers was written and posted on May 3rd, two
days before the Derby. 


Nostradamus, have you returned? 


And, if you have...whaddya thinking about the Preakness? 
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