MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
- WBB falls to Huskies by 17
- Softball stops RedStorm 7-0
- Lacrosse battles but loses to Duke
Taylor's 18 not enough...UConn remains undefeated
Unfortunately, the "boom" was delivered and it wasn't the Cards igniting the charge. A 17-5 Connecticut run over the next four minutes had UConn comfortably ahead 64-45 with 11:38 to go in the game.
A Breanna Stewart three, a Stewart layup, Moriah Jefferson with a three, Dolson inside...you know the story...UConn showed why they are the #1 team in the country. By a landslide. Stewart finished with 24 points and 10 boards.
Louisville kept it close for a long time, in regards to how UConn has been blowing opponents up. Asia Taylor's inside score made it 10-7 Huskies four and a half minutes into the game. A jumper from Sara Hammond and three from Nita Slaughter had the contest at 21-18 UConn halfway through the first half. UConn responded with a 6-0 run.
Louisville kept battling. Two straight baskets from "E" (Emmonnie Henderson) made it 29-24 Huskies with 5:45 showing on the clock.
Breanna Stewart responded with two threes in a row.
Asia connected on a layup to pull the Cards within eight at 39-31 with 2:10 left in the half. A technical on Coach Walz contributed to the five UConn free throws that gave the Huskies a 44-33 halftime advantage.
Welcome to Storrs, CT.
If there is any silver lining in this cloud, it is that Louisville kept the Huskies from running away with the game. Louisville actually outscored UConn by two after the Husky run in the second half. It gives hope for a re-match 3/3/14 in the KFC YUM! Center in front of what deservedly needs to be 23,000 screaming Cardinal fans.
UConn got 79 of their 81 points from the starters. Five in double figures...Stewart's 24 led all scorers, Moriah Jefferson had 18, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis 13, Stefanie Dolson 12 and credit 12 to Bria Hartley.
Yeah...that's one impressive starting lineup, no question.
Louisville, who was outscored in the paint 40-18, had Hammond also in double figures with 11. Nita Slaughter added nine and Shoni contributed a mostly invisible nine as well. A lot to reflect on before the re-match. Mostly, the Cards need to take care of business before the Dogs sled to Louisville. Wins over Temple, Memphis, Houston, Rutgers and Cincy must happen.
There is no disgrace in losing by 17 to the best team in the nation on their home court. There are some very good things to takeaway from Louisville's loss.
They'll meet again. With Bria. In our house. On Senior Night.
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Connell shines in Cards win over St. John's.
Caralisa Connell tossed a one-hitter against the St. John Red Storm in the Cards' final game in the FAU "Kickoff" Classic Sunday morning in Boca Raton.
Louisville jumped on the BIG EAST squad early...gathering five runs in the first two innings. Pearsall played 17 players in this one, letting Taner Fowler share the catching duties with "Marge"...getting Autumn McDuffie her first at-bat and Kristina Dillard time at third base.
“I thought we did a great job of coming out and taking care of business right away today,” said UofL head coach Sandy Pearsall. “Caralisa did a great job on the mound. Offensively, we did a good job of not swinging at balls that were out of the strike zone and we did what we needed to do.”
Louisville (3-2) comes home to see if they can solve the "sometimes bats...sometimes not" dilemma before heading to Jacksonville for another three-day, five game classic that begins with Missouri on Friday.
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LACROSSE LEADS EARLY, FALLS LATE AGAINST DUKE
It couldn't have been much of a better start for Kellie Young's lacrosse warriors. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead on #6 Duke in Durham, NC and led 5-1 before Duke rallied to take a 9-6 halftime lead. The Cards held Duke scoreless in the first seven minutes of the contest.
Louisville battled back to get within one in the second half at 12-11 with seven minutes remaining in the game...but the Blue Devils scored the final two goals of the contest to escape with a 14-11 win.
Nikki Boltja pacing the Cardinal attack with five goals.
The Cards come home for a game next Sunday against Detroit.
Please warm up Louisville. Lacrosse in below freezing weather isn't exactly the best thing to endure on metal bleachers.
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| Worldwide pleads his point... |
LINK below:
GIVE ASIA THE DAMN BALL AND CLEAR OUT
paulie
Anything can happen, that is why we play the game.
ReplyDeleteSunday #3 Stanford lost to unranked Washington 87-82. New AP and Coaches rankings out today. Thoughts?
Sandy W.
Wouldn't think we drop too far, if at all. SouthCarolina and Duke maybe climb? Tough to say. A 17 point loss to #1 shouldn't be too heavily penalized.
DeletePaulie
C'mon, Paulie - we got beat fair and square. Don't blame the officiating...18 fouls for Cards, 16 for UConn...16 free throws for UConn, 13 for Cards. Cards shot perimeter jump shots, Huskies took it to the hoop...no wonder Cards fouled more.
ReplyDeleteI thought Cards lost the game in the first half, and lost it for two reasons - eight early offensive rebounds by UConn and quite a few open misses from the perimeter by Cards.
No Bria Smith really hurt - Cards got no dribble penetration and Walz thinks UConn is vulnerable to that.
Shoni did not look like an All-American today - a couple lazy passes that led to UConn breakaways, and way too much 1-on-2 or 1-on-3 in the second half.
Jude played her usual nice floor game (5 assists vs 1 turnover in 24 minutes) but UConn totally dismissed her as an offensive threat. She needs to at least look for a shot every now and then.
I'm looking forward to March in the Yum! but 37% shooting won't do it.
Just saying...the first half UConn was getting the calls until Walz got "T'd" up. Then, magically...it evened out.
DeletePaulie
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Monday Cardinal Couple -- Stewart stifles WBB...UC...":
DeleteMike, check out Sunday's game film at 15:02 in 2nd where a commentator speaks of Dolsen's one handed defensive rebound in front of our basket. The reason she only had one hand to rebound was because the other hand and arm was busy heavily shoving Tia under the basket where she became unable to rebound the ball for a put back. No issue of the referee not in position as there was a clear line of site so what was the story as harm was definitely caused by the shove.
Season film shows that Dolsen regularly commits moving screens and clear fouls but rarely is in any foul difficulty. Earlier in the game Dolsen is the person who reached in but the foul was called on her teammate who had not even reached our player by the time the whistle blew. 3 fouls ( or what would have been 4 if she had not been taken out after 3) on Dolsen at 15:01 may or may not have created a different situation. We will never know what Sunday's outcome would have been had Dolsen's most obvious fouls been called. I know, everyone gets away with no callls...and each game calls stand on its own but this is the game and player that I am calling out as an example.
There is hope for UL March 3. Sundays outcome was without Bria who when "on" is our often the person to help run the point and who is also best able to drive the lane and draw called fouls.
It is Dolson, not Dolsen. I know spelling takes a backseat in Kaintuck but I do feel she's earned the right to be properly identified. After Vails mugging of Stef last year and Taylor and Hammond pounding away on her yesterday, it should become obvious to Walz that you don't beat the Huskies with physicality in the post. You score in the paint. Once Louisville learns to do that, they might just give us a decent game.
DeleteRuth Smith
Fairfield, CT
Ruth: Enjoy the American next year! Winning by 60 points every game in one of the weakest conferences in the nation will surely be attractive to top recruits.
DeleteSome Hillbilly in "Kaintuck"
Hey Ruthie - As a US Navy submarine service vet that was stationed in New London and married to a girl that was raised in Noank I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you weren't viewing or thinking straight when you watched the game and posted your comment here.
DeleteThose of us familiar with Connecticut are painfully aware of it's challenges as a state. Further those that know where Storrs is located are also aware of the rural location and the general demographic of the community. Enough said.
People generally respect the UConn program and Geno. That said I'm thinking that when Walz hits his 28 year anniversary here at Louisville he will have made significant rain and we will be viewing UConn WBB in the rear view mirror much like the MCBB world now views UCLA.
You should keep in mind what our friend Maximus stated..."The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end". We will see you soon in Kaintuck. You'll get a chance to see the respect and strength that UofL WBB enjoys. You'll also see the native tribes of America respecting Shoni and the other Card Seniors at their final home game. Finally you won't have the benefit of your home court and the refs that come with it.
Until then don't come around her and insult this State. The real season is just now getting started so I wouldn't be clearing a space in the trophy cabinet just yet.
Dear Ruth
DeleteI thank you and apologize for the spelling correction for Ms. Dolson as she and all of the players deserve the respect of a correct spelling of their names. I take full responsibility for not checking my auto correct program before publishing to CC. Although it comes with more spelling errors, arthritis in my fingers often causes me to choose the use of the mic option when writing electronically.
I must have mumbled when speaking while looking around to find my one pair of shoes to wear to Sunday church services.
Even with the mistakes we made I thought we looked pretty good. Particularly impressed with Asia and E. Truth is that if one or two more would have dropped for E, Sara,Tia or Nita we would have been right in the game. They were taking good shots but they just weren't falling. There's no way that Shoni has another 4 airball day in the return match.
ReplyDeleteAsia was a Beast. Loved her attitude. Couldn't figure out what was going on will all of the traveling calls on her though. It was like her something was going on with her feet / shoes or something. Weird. This game was great experience for E. She went right at 'em. Normally those mid-range jumpers will fall for her. She's going to be amazing before it's all over.
Congrats to Jude too. One turnover is excellent against this team, although Jefferson was on Shoni most of the time. Mike's right, Jude's got to be a threat to score or we can't get where we need to go.
I think Walz's approach was good. We've got the right Bigs to leverage the mid-range game against them. Just need to put the ball in the hole better next time. It's gonna take more than 80 points to beat UConn. We can do that if we move the ball.
The last game of the season is going to be a classic!
I believe that the floor beneath the court is their ice hockey rink. I don't know if some attempted stop motion that Asia was trying to do combined with a cooler arena floor contributed to the issue or not but it seemed odd.
DeleteYep. She has better feet than that. Something else at play.
DeleteLouisville played well considering Bria was out. Asia was sick Saturday (no more interviews, Paulie!) but fought like a true hero. It's said that one player doesn't beat a team and as you said all five UConn starters were in double figures but Stewart responded when the Cards cut it to seven.
ReplyDeleteAlso, way to go lacrosse! Close effort against #6 Duke. This will be Coach Youngs best team ever.
Curtis Franklin
Good effort Cards. Look forward to the March 3rd rematch in Louisville. You can cry about Dolson all you want but Taylor is no saint out there. She body slammed our players to the floor more than once.
ReplyDeleteHuskies #1
Yes, Asia Taylor is such a heavy weight. I hear that the staff have focused on calorie reduction on her future training table offerings.
DeleteI took issue with the ESPN characterization of the game as a route on their WBB homepage. I wrote Graham Hays a letter about it, and I did get a reply. I will hare it here for those that might be interested:
ReplyDeleteI liked your article on the Louisville/UConn game. I like most of your writing. Its excellent, articulate and insightful. But there are people at ESPN who seem to be always doing everything they can do to dump on Louisville and Schimmel. There has been plenty of positive stuff on Schimmel lately to offset all the negativity of the past. Let me illustrate by commenting on the current headlines of today's games.
The headline to the right of the image on the homepage says "UConn women rout no.4 Louisville." Rout is a pretty strong term to characterize a 17 point win 81-64, particularly for a game against a team that has won nearly all of its games by much larger margins. In fact, only Baylor's 11 point loss to UConn at Baylor was a closer score than the Louisville-UConn game.
When UConn beat Stanford by 19, the headline read "UCon controls Stanford"
When Maryland lost to UConn by 17, the headline read:
"Breanna Stewart leads No. 1 UConn past Maryland"
When UConn beat Stanford by 19, the headline was "UConn controls Stanford."
When UConn defeated Peen State by 19 the headline read "Hartley leads UConn past Penn State."
Go down a few lines and the headline of an 81-64 game reads "Baylor tops Oklahoma State." That is the same score as the UConn game, but in this case it is just "tops". Why?
Arizona wins by 18 over ASU and the headline is Arizona "upsets" ASU.
Notre Dame beats Syracuse by 37 and the headline reads "... as Irish top Syracuse."
So all these losses between 18 to 37 points are characterized as tops, past, controls or upsets, but a 17 point loss to UConn by Louisville is a "rout." Why?
I think these characterizations reflect someone's inherent biases.
Why does this matter? (1) It is spin that perpetrates "an image" and "a narrative" that could affect NCAA seeding, and (2) it speaks to biases in journalism where there should be an attempt to be as fair and as objective as possible. I know humans cannot be totally objective, but journalists should try to be as fair as possible. This is just one example of many I have noticed,, but I just decided to write about this one as an example.
Gary Witherspoon, Professor Emeritus
Anthropology and American Indian Studies
University of Washington
Great observations and research Gary. You are absolutely correct that spin perpetrates an image.
DeleteCurrently UConn is doing a very good job of spinning and spreading propaganda that Louisville is a much more rough and physical team than they are which is absolutely untrue. I presume this is in order to hopefully slant the thoughts of viewers and referees in the hope that it will create an additional edge in favor of UConn.
Over time, a big enough lie told often enough will start to be believed even when a visual review of the game(s) indicates the exact opposite.
Yes this is the way an image and a narrative are created and sustained. This goes all the way back to ESPN's playing of those two isolated clips of about 5-10 seconds each in which they claim poor Brittany is getting beaten up badly. Those clips were replayed hundreds of times it seemed to create the image that that was the way it was the whole game. But when Bria drives and scores, and the Baylor player clearly moves under her while she is in the air, a definite blocking call, the call was a charge. That cost Louisville 6 points with the added technical for "being out of the coach's box." That play is not replayed ever again. But the replaying of those isolated clips hundreds of times created the image of Louisville as a overly physical team, and some people are continuing to perpetuate that image. Gary
DeleteThanks Gary! From the gist of things over the years...its pretty apparant that if it's Louisvile, Graham Hays hates it. We seriously doubt he'll be asked to be a float rider in the Pegasus Parade here. Maybe a pooper-scooper...a fitting profession for the crap he doles out.
DeletePaulie
Wasn't a bad game, they hit their shots we didn't. We had some good looks, idk what the rebounding stat was but UConn is huge! giants that can bring you out. Long go go gadget arms make them even bigger deflecting, stealing passes. Wuda, cuda, shuda, we got another shot or 2 at them. Can't look back! GO CARDS! --U23
ReplyDeleteThanks to all who have offered their "takes" on Sunday's game. It should be pointed out that Dolson's hard tumble to the floor was basically of her own doing.
ReplyDeleteWhen Asia and her released from the arm-lock, it was Dolson's own momentum that sent her crashing to the floor.
Having known Ms. Taylor for the past five seasons, I can assure you that mal-intent is not in her makeup...she "isn't cut like that." She is, however, a fierce competitior and we wouldn't ever want that to change.
As far as "Kaintuck"goes...the early settler reference to our proud commonwealth is an accurate historical one. The people of our commonwealth also have a long and proud basketball heritage and love for the game. We feel certain that our track history in basketball championships in the game that Dr. James Naismeth created is one that stands the test of time and also that our current WBB Coach is one of the best five in WBB and has acheived incredible and most appreciated success since he took over the Louisville program.
Coach Walz is a very dynamic and outspoken crusader for the things he believes in. We are most fortunate that some of those many traits are directed toward our WBB program.
"where's waldo?" Well, he's right where he wants to be...guiding a very successful and popular college athletic team. On his terms and in his own magical way.
Paulie