CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
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Monday, December 10, 2012

Monday Cardinal Couple - UofL women ready for ACC Golf?


MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Cards and ACC women's golf

-Louisville WBB 9-1. Not too shabby.

When the Louisville Cardinals join the ACC in 2014, the women's golf team will have three established veterans on the squad and three promising members of the 2013 recruiting class.

Katie Petrino, Emily Haas and Sara Karlsson will be seniors then and all three have been steady contributors since their arrival on campus. Coach Courtney Trimble has also inked three golfers due to arrive on campus next fall who have very impressive credentials.

Louise Oxner
Louise Oxner, from Greenville, SC is a Palmetto state two time champion. Emily Kurey out of Alpharetta, GA was second in the state last year and has won four major junior golf events throughout the south over the past couple of years. Shannon Gramley, from Shady Side Academy, PA is a two-time Pennsylvania state champ. These three look to be golfers that can come in and contribute right away for Trimble and the Cards and will have a year of experience in their bags when the Cards join the ACC.

Emily Kurey
Women's golf is a little different than the other ACC (and BIG EAST) sports in the nature of the season. Teams play in classics and tournaments and there are no two-team contests...like basketball, softball or field hockey have. The schools gather for a tournament at the end of the season to determine the conference champ...but there is no regular season title at stake.

The ACC had nine schools field teams (including Maryland) in 2012 and Duke won the ACC Women's Golf Championship. Seven of the teams qualified for the NCAA tournament regionals.

Shannon Gramley
Besides Duke...UNC, NC State, Virginia, Florida State, Wake Forest, Miami and Boston College field teams. Duke was ranked #4 as of November 30th...UNC #9, Virginia #16 and NC State #19. Notre Dame will add to ACC strength, ranked #17. The Cards were #58. Future members Syracuse or Pitt do not field field women's golf teams.

Emily Haas
How the tournaments and events that Louisville will participate in over the next couple of years set up probably won't change too much. The level of competition come tournament time, though...looks to be much stronger than the Cards have been facing in the BIG EAST...where they finished third in the tournament this fall.

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The Louisville women's basketball team (9-1) is ranked at #8 in the nation as the Cards prepare to spend a little time on Fall semester finals...then games on Friday and then next Tuesday and Friday before getting 10 days off for Christmas break.

Despite this success, there has been dialouge here (and on other sites) about the effectiveness of Jeff Walz's coaching style. Namely, the game against Kentucky...where the Cats came back from a 14 point deficit to win in the KFC YUM! Center.

Coach Walz will tell you that he will do what he and the staff feel is necessary to win games. We agree and trust fully in the options and style of play that the Lady Cards employ in their contests.

Witness the DePaul Blue Demons. They went into the Kentucky game Friday night with Doug Bruno (DePaul head coach) thinking they could run with UK.

Big mistake. UK 96 - DePaul 64.

Louisville, on the other hand, knew the Cats strength and turned it into a defensive struggle. They held UK to 48 points...their lowest point total of the year. Even Baylor gave up 51 to UK.

(Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game)
Walz has also developed his bench into players that can come in and produce immediately. Witness the improvement of Jude Schimmel and Nita Slaughter this season. Sherrone Vails and Cortnee Walton had strong games against Valpo and there's nothing to suggest that those two won't continue to contribute as the season goes on.

Still, the griping about Walz continues.

We hope the Louisville women's basketball fans realize what a great coach and staff the Lady Cards have. We hope that they are here a long time. The women's college basketball world realizes it...with Bethann Ord and Michelle Clark-Heard getting head coaching jobs after several years of Walz's tuteledge. Cam Newbauer is being groomed for a head coaching spot down the road as well and so is Samantha Williams. Both will make great head coaches someday. Stephanie Norman has been with Walz since he arrived here. Coach Steph is equally responsible for the Cards success over the last five years and she's probably had offers to have her own program as well. We'd hate to see her go as well.

The old adage is that you don't miss what you've got until it's gone. We hope we don't have to worry about that in regards to the UofL head coach and his staff for a very long time.

Sonja and I have sat through the lean years of Louisville women's basketball in the past. We endured the losses to Western, UK and lesser schools like FIU, Oakland, Evansville and Chattanooga. We have no desire to re-visit those days. We're confident that under the leadership of Jeff and staff, we won't.

The Cardinal football team implores you to "get on the train". We ask you to "enjoy the Sho" and quit tearing down the "Walz". (Sorry about the steal from the late President Reagan when he pleaded "Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbechev" )

9-1. #8 in the nation. Not too shabby, Cardinal fans. Beats a double-digit loss to UNC-Charlotte any day of the week. We recall travelling to Muncie, IN back in 2002 to see the UofL women's team play Ball State in the first round of the WNIT and lose. That's when things were rough. Sometimes a glimpse into the past makes one realize how good you've got it currently. 

You've got it good, Cardinal WBB fans. Appreciate it.
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10 comments:

  1. I have to agree with the statements here about Jeff Walz. I'm a IU WBB fan lurking over here. We lost to Valparaiso. We'd take Walz in a heartbeat. We'll even send you Cam's little sister and former UofL target Quaneisha McCurdy in exchange.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, IU has seen rough times. You have a good coach in place now though. Give him a couple of years to get his recruits in there and IU will rise again. Would love to see the IU vs. UofL WBB series resume.

      --Joe Hill--

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    2. We are well aware that Coach Walz is a keeper. I think the difficulty started with his post game complaints not focusing enough on his own strategy decisions.

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  2. Why does Cardinal Couple have to attack the UofL WBB fans? Totally unacceptable, Paulie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doesn't look like an attack to me. More of a call-to-arms to support Coach Walz. I support the concept. Lay off Walz, Cardinal fans and celebrate the successes of this team. We are damn lucky to have him.

      Curtis Franklin

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    2. Many people can look at the same thing and see it differently. We appreciate all the comments and responses and, like you, want nothing but the best for our team. May we continue to have great successes and enjoy Cardinal women's athletics.

      Paulie

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  3. Hi, Jeff from Boulder here. Just checking out what our Friday night opponent is all about and came upon your site. I love it! We face our biggest challenge of the season so far when Louisville comes to town and congratulations on your excellent season so far.

    Will your Bill the Goat be attending? I want to party that that rockstar!

    GO Buffs! Fear Ralphie.

    Jeff Robertson
    CU fan
    Boulder, CO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our legal counsel of Dewey, Cheatum and Howe are currently working on a plea bargin for Bill. They're thinking a few hours of community service and a re-upholster job on the Squid's seat. We're seeing if he can get him on Red and Blue Review to bleat a few Christmas carols for Howie and the boys. He won't be in Boulder. Something to do with he and Ralphie and the Colorado State Ram mascot a few years ago and the subsequent destruction of a ski lift.

      Paulie

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    2. Hey Jeff-
      I don't have the rock star status of Bill the Goat, but I'm coming to the game from Portland. The Lady Cards have a following in the Pacific Northwest due to Oregon's "native daughter" Shoni "Shotime" Schimmel and her sister Jude. Shoni tends to play to the level of the opposition, so I hope your Buffs are really good. If they are, you'll be treated to some no-look behind the back passes and NBA 3's.
      --PDX Phil

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    3. Hey Phil-

      Glad your making the trip down for the game. Both UofL's Schimmel sisters are very impressive and I remember them from their days in Oregon High School Hoops. Based on what I've seen, looks like the Cardinal like to open it up and run when they can. Hammond also looks pretty impressive from a rebounding factor.

      Enjoy Boulder. I normally get there right at tip-off for home games because of work commitments.

      Sorry to hear about Bill the Goat. Was hoping he might do a halftime show or something.

      Jeff Robertson
      CU fan
      Go Buffs!

      Delete

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