Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Ohio U next for Cards

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-BOBCATS bop into YUM! to test UofL WBB

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Beware the Bobcats?

Ohio University comes into town sporting a 2-0 record and recently defeated the Morehead Eagles and Xavier Muskies.

Their RPI is 4th in the nation.

They do have weapons.

-Sophomore forward Lexie Baldwin had 19 points in the overtime 64-56 win against Morehead...a career high for her. She also had 10 points in the 94-88 win over Xavier. It was the first time Ohio scored over 90 points since 2008.

-Freshman guard Quiera Lampkins recorded seven points and seven rebounds against the Eagles.

Black can score

-Off the bench, sophomore guard Kiyanna Black totaled 35 points against Xavier. Eight trifectas in that total. She also pilfered four steals.

-Junior guard Mariah Byard knocked down three treys as part of her 16 points against XU. She drilled three more against Morehead and finished with 12 points.

First year head coach Bob Boldon appears to have some shooters. We'll see what they accomplish against #3 in the nation tonight.

It'll be on CARDS TV and WKRD 790 AM with A.J. and Matty doing the broadcast if you can't go. Or, for fun...you can see if you can pick it up on WOUB 1340 AM, which we figure is based in Athens, OH. Michael Garr has the play-by-play on the Bobcats network.

Terri Garr in "Young Frankenstein"

We're 99% sure he isn't married to Terri Garr.

On paper...it looks like the UofL WBB team shouldn't have much of a struggle against these invaders from the Buckeye state. Their tallest player is 6'2", they are heavily guard-laden and they only have two seniors on the squad.

Hmmm...sound like anyone we know?

The MAC Conference, which Ohio University is a part of, released their early power rankings yesterday. The Bobcats are ranked seventh. Here's the skinny:

7. Ohio Bobcats (2-0)

Previous: Xavier (W), at Morehead State (W)

This Week: at Louisville (11/21), at Eastern Kentucky (11/23)

Don't worry, Bobcat fans -- your team isn't being punished per se in being ranked in the middle of the pack despite winning their first two games. If they keep winning, they'll move up, but at this juncture, I did not want to penalize early-season conference favorites for losses against tougher competition. Wins over Xavier and Morehead State (on the road) are nice, but Xavier is really down from where they were two or three years ago. And frankly, MAC teams should be beating Morehead State. Ohio needs to beat Eastern Kentucky on Saturday and show well against Louisville this week.

Nevertheless, the Cards can't afford to be looking past the Bobcats and with Jeff Walz at the helm...it's doubtful they will. The team has to be feeling really good about the body of work they've presented so far this season. Overcoming a 15 point deficit early on against Oklahoma shows me that, although this squad is still capable of disappearing for significant stretches in games...like last year's group...they do have the tenacity and desire not to throw in the towel.

We hope that tonight's game is a chance for Walz to give all the Cards about the same minutes on Denny Crum Court and maybe some extended looks at Monny Niamke and Emmonnie Henderson. We'd also like to see Starr Breedlove make her first regular season appearance and our Marshall from Bowling Green saddle up and ride onto the court. Concussion recovery can take time, so Breedlove may not be fully recovered yet.

I should know. I write these columns five days a week pretty much brain dead and with concussion-like symptoms.
 
Let's also hope the Cards can draw about 8,000 or so for a weeknight game against a non-big name foe. Without any Walz-fueled promotions.

I'm still waiting for the free Italian sausage giveaway or a promotion like Jenny O'Bryan mentioned to me the other night that I'll let her describe the next time it's her turn to tickle the keyboard and provide her views for Cardinal Couple.

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For the first time since we took to the airwaves, this Saturday's CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO hour will be a re-run.

We tried to pre-record the show last night. We showed up. Monkeyberry Moon Delight and Dead Air Al didn't, though...so no words were spoken into microphones.

So, it's summer rerun time. Or, maybe a live remote Saturday morning featuring Paulie and Sonja at UofL football tailgaiting.

Nah. Bad idea there. The radio waves aren't ready for that yet.

Maybe Jeff McAdams will saunter by the studio and discuss his worldwide accomplishments, plans and sing some Buddy Holly.

Maybe Bill the Goat will trot in and headbutt all takers live on the air for an hour. We're still not sure what happened in regards to the "lockout"...but I did brave the tumultuous journey of trying to go I-65 South to 1-64 West during rush hour to do the pre-record.

 

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in tribute to the visitors, this clip of CSNY singing "Ohio" below (in London, England and on Japanese video) I have no idea what the commercial before the clip is about :

HOW CAN YOU RUN WHEN YOU KNOW?


-paulie


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