CARDINAL COUPLE

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

It's July, that means basketball!


CARDINAL COUPLE WEDNESDAY

- Hoops heating up in July

( Jenny O'Bryan fills us in on her latest observations on women's basketball recruiting news. It looks like UofL has a lot of top-flight talent mentioning the Lady Cards and it also looks like Jenny is going to be busy keeping track of all this talent!)


July marks the summer NCAA Certified Evaluation Period where AAU basketball teams head all over the country to play in front of coaches.  You can expect the U of L Women’s Basketball staff will be out in full force over the course of the next month trying to reel in some top talent to join the team in 2014. 

We all know by now two recruits have already verballed to Louisville, Sydney Brackmyre and Ariana Freeman.  I expect they will take their official visit to Louisville in the fall and are likely to sign during the early signing period this Fall.
 
We all also know that Syd has been recovering from an ACL tear and is getting stronger every day.  Paul and I had the opportunity to see her at the first Elite Skills Camp. 

A great article surfaced last week about Freeman.  Wow, what a workhorse, and what incredible dedication this young woman is showing to the game preparing herself for being a future Cardinal.  If you are not excited about seeing this young woman as a Cardinal, you will be after you read this article. 

Just who will be joining this already talented duo in 2014?   The two evaluation periods in July are July 6-12 and July 23-29.  Below is a little of information about a few kids I have seen linked to Louisville.

Two west coast kids who play AAU ball on the same team are Mariya Moore and Natalie Romeo, a wing and guard, respectively.  Their names have been linked to Louisville basketball for months now.  

A 3rd incredible talent from California is Gabby Green.   Green will miss the summer circuit of AAU ball as she made the USA U19 World Championship team.  If Walz and Company want to see Green play in July, they will have to go to Lithuania.  She is a fierce talent.  Check out this clip:
 

Vivans is a scoring machine!
We have already mentioned Jatarie White ( 6-4 center ) out of S. Carolina was on campus recently as well as Victoria Vivians  ( 6 foot wing) out of Mississippi who has Louisville in her short list of 4. 

Another recruit who was on campus just this past weekend who will also be in the sights of the staff this month is Mackenzie Engram.   Engram is a 6-1 forward out of Georgia.  Her list of schools is SEC heavy with Georgia Tech, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi and Auburn.  I wonder what the Coach Purcell effect will be here?  Makes one wonder, does it not?

The final recruit on my radar, not necessarily Louisville’s radar, is Kortney Dunbar out of Edwardsville, Il.  Does that sound familiar?  It should, Dunbar was a teammate of incoming freshman Emmonie Henderson.  This 6-2 guard is a solid shooter, and certainly does not hurt to have that kind of size on the perimeter. 

It certainly looks like the staff is zeroing in on some top talent.  
I’ll be following their progress over the evaluation period and hope to recap how they have done at the end of the month. 

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Unless you have been away for a week and unplugged from technology, you have likely heard that U of L Women’s Basketball has been nominated for an ESPY Award for the biggest upset in sports.  If you have not voted, please do so.  Coach Pitino is also up for Coach of the Year and Angel McCoughtry is up for WNBA Player of the Year. 

Go visit the page and vote.  Let’s keep this Year of the Cardinal thing going!
 
Voting ends July 17 at 9:00 p.m. 

LINK BELOW
 


-Jenny O'Bryan

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3 comments:

  1. Seen Vivians play and she would be a great recruit for UofL. Where does UofL rank in her
    list? Also, what is the news on Moss?

    Tide rollin'



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here's what I know about the Moss situation. She now has been granted the opportunity to go elsewhere...as long as it isn't a SEC school. So, that rules out UK. I've read that UofL, WVU and Cincinnati are suitors. I've "heard" that UofL would find a spot for her...even though the roster currently has 16 players, with 15 scholarships available.

      You make room somewhere for Moss and her skills.

      UC? The playing time would obviously be there after she sits out a year. The question is...do you want to play for a team that is going to get maybe 10 wins a year and not participate in the post-season? Even in the American conference...where, in the 2014-15 season, it'll be UConn and pretty much no one else.

      WVU? Tough sledding for Mike Carey in the BIG 12 where you've got Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas...a winning record there won't be easy...which means post-season play is a no-go.

      So, Louisville is the (in my eyes) the obvious choice. There is interest on both the player and the staff's sides. I've been wrong before, but I'd say UofL is the leader for her services.

      AS far as Victoria Vivians, I'll leave that question up to our recruiting ace Jenny. I will say Jeff Walz likes shooters that are also scorers. "V-Dub" has shown she fits that category...at least on the high school level. It should translate easily over to WBB in college...

      Paulie

      Delete
  2. What about Hines-Allen?

    ReplyDelete

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