SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
-Crusaders face Cards Saturday night in KFC YUM! Center
-Where are we going?
The Valparaiso Crusaders travel down I-65 to face #8 Louisville in the KFC YUM! Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. Valpo (3-5) plays in the Horizon League and is coming off a 82-73 win over IPFW on Tuesday night in Ft. Wayne.
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| Coach Dorrow |
This will be the first meeting ever between the schools in women's college basketball. First-year head coach Tracey Dorrow took the program over in April 2012 after spending 14 years as the head coach at Ferris State University ( no, not Ferris Buehler U).
Valpo has never defeated a BIG EAST team...currently 0-52 against the conference. They did open the season with a win over Indiana University. They were on a five-game losing streak before the win over IPFW...falling to IUPUI, Butler, Duke and W. Illinois on the road and St. Louis at home.
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| Lange can put up big numbers |
The Crusaders are tough defenders of the three-pointer. Opponents are shooting just .248 from beyond the arc this season. They also rebound well for a team whose tallest player is just 6'1". They average +3.1 rebounds more than their opponents this year and have grabbed at least 11 offensive rebounds in each of their eight game this season.
The Cards have been notoriously slow starters in a few games this season and this could well be another night of that if they can't get shots to fall early. Offensively, Valpo can't throw much at Jeff Walz's squad that they haven't seen already this year...and with a decided height advantage...if the Cards can take care of the little things like blocking out, going after loose balls and getting second-chance baskets, they should be able to win this one pretty convincingly tonight. If the guards can solve the Crusaders' defensive pressure, they should be able to get the ball to bigs Monique Reid, Sara Hammond and Shawnta Dyer for close-in opportunities.
We'll be back later tonight (or Sunday morning) with a game recap.
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Had to share this one with you. Someome has some 'xplainin' to do...Lucy!
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| "this place doesn't look like Charlotte at all. Where are we?" |
Been there, done that.
Word of advice to the UofL Ticket office. Promoting this event might hurt Sugar Bowl ticket sales. Or, it is a secret, cryptic message from Coach...indicating that he's job-hunting again and considering a job opportunity with one of the Belk Bowk
teams?
We did the Belk Bowl last year. A cold, raw nasty day. Tailgating in 30 degree temperatures and 30 mph winds was brutal.
Advice to Cardinal football fans. If Charlie calls you, decline the offer. New Orleans will be warmer and the stadium is a dome.
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Valpo? Threaten the Cards? I don't see it, Paulie. Louisville by as many as they want tonight.
ReplyDeleteCurtis Franklin
They did beat IU, Curtis and played Duke close on the road. Coach Walz will tell you...never underestimate an opponent. Cards need to bring their "A" game tonight.
ReplyDeletePaulie
Please stop calling out the free throw shooting. Although they did not shoot free throws well against UK, the reason for the loss is Coach Walz'a continuing to have the guards hold the ball in the backcourt 15-20 seconds into the shot clock before trying to run any offense. It's awfully hard to get the ball into the bigs when you only have a few secconds remaing on the shot clock and have a defense as good as UK's up in your face. Dribble, dribble wing it is not good offense.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting! We've said it before and we'll say it again. The Cards need to shoot 70% from the free throw line to be successful in BIG EAST play. They haven't.
DeleteWe WILL continue to implore this team to sink free throws until they get to an acceptable level.
Walz did what he thought he needed to do to win the game. Maybe it was the wrong thing, but...we must remember...he is the head coach and knows more about this team than any of us.
Maybe Coach regrets his decision. Maybe he doesn't. The bottom line is that it is his team.
Seriously, folks. We have one loss. We're #8 in the nation. What say we back off the Walz bashing and channel that energy into cheering?
Paulie
Sink two of those three free throws at the end of the game and that three means nothing. You keep preaching free throws Paulie. Any idiot knows that it is the easiest points you can score in a game.
Delete--Joe Hill--
How about you stop bashing the young ladies on this team and place the blame on the coach who puts them in the position of a game coming down to free throws. That game should have never been dependent on free throw shooting deciding the outcome. U of L outplayed UK. The coach is to blame, period. And I do cheer quite loudly for the team.
DeleteWhen you lose a game by one point, you can point to any of a number of things that "cost us the game."
DeleteI tend to think that slowing down the game like Coach Walz did is probably a bad idea when pretty much the whole identity of the team is based on up-tempo, aggressive play. But he's still a dern good coach and I'm thrilled to be able to cheer him on again this evening.
I also tend to think our free-throw shooting is pretty bad and needs to be improved. But these young women are amazingly talented, incredibly motivated, and I'm proud to have them represent the University of Louisville and am looking forward to cheering them on again this evening.
Considered introspection of game play is good, and I'm sure Coach Walz and the team have done plenty of that this week. I'll continue to celebrate their talent and achievement thus far in the season, and wait expectantly for even greater success as the season goes on.
Jeff "Not Just 'The Volleyball Guy'" McAdams
Dear Anonymous:
DeleteIf our site distresses you, here's an idea. Go get your Cardinal WBB report somehwere else. And don't let the door hit you in the back on the way out.
We provide the most comprehensive and detailed reports on Louisville women's basketball of any site out there. We don't see ourselves bashing the team.
So, in arborist terms, make like a tree and leave.
Sonja
Please host n guest can't we all just get along and appreciate that we have a top 10 team to cheer on and critique.
ReplyDelete