SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
- Injuries lessen Tigers roster
- Season over for Pitino's players
- Radio today
Louisville starts NCAA Regional play Sunday against LSU. It's a 2:30 tipoff and will take place in the KFC YUM! Center. ESPN will have the broadcast.
LS(few) might be a better moniker for the Tigers (21-12)...who have lost a player in each of their two NCAA Tournament games so far. The Baton Rouge visitors are down to eight players.
Freshman guard Raigyne Moncrief suffered a season-ending knee injury against Georgia Tech in Sunday's game. In Tuesday's win over WVU, senior guard Jeanne Kenney was sidelined with a concussion and has played her last game of the year. Add a suspension to another player earlier in the season and Caldwell can now fit the entire roster in a Chrysler minivan.
It's nothing new to Tigers head coach Nikki Caldwell...who got to the Sweet Sixteen last season by beating Penn State with just seven players.
Freshmen guards Rina Hill and Jasmine Rhodes have been forced into starting duty and had solid games in the Tigers' win against the Mountaineers.
Yes, the schools have a history against each other. Louisville leads the series 3-1. The Tigers hosted the first and second round games back in 2009 and Louisville defeated them to advance to the regionals 62-52.
On a more recent note...Louisville downed the Tigers 88-67 on November 14th...when Jeff Walz drew national attention by having beerfest for the Cardinal fans and picking up the tab for 5,000 of his closest friends. Louisville used a 20-0 run to break the game open in the second half.
The Lady Tigers failed to contain senior forward Asia Taylor, who broke out for 23 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Shoni Schimmel provided another 15 points, and Caldwell expressed concern about guarding Louisville's leading scorer.
"Shoni is an exceptional player who not only can score for herself but can create other opportunities for her teammates," Caldwell said. "She's a great distributor of the basketball and really explosive in transition."
The Cardinals blew past Idaho and Iowa in the opening rounds, averaging a 38-point margin of victory between the two wins.
LSU's 2013 tournament run ended against California in the Sweet 16. The Lady Tigers' chances of taking the next step this year appear to be slim after the two key injuries, but they know it could be worse.
"We've got one more player than we did last year, so that's a good thing," Caldwell said. "...We're in March Madness right now, and it's madness for a reason. Our madness is that we're going to have eight crazies out there."
Jeff Walz has been there, done that. The 2010 UofL squad was decimated by injuries and Walz was down to six healthy players at times. It only takes five to play, though...and LSU has managed to get this far.
Game time is 2:30 Sunday. If you are a UofL student and one of the first 250 students to arrive...Jeff Walz has got your admission covered and will buy your pizza. Pizza and hoops? Says yes to me!
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The Cats move on...as an #8 seed...to face Michigan on Sunday.
The Louisville Lacrosse team adopts a word at the start of each season to serve as a primary guide post. This year it is "finish".
Maybe they should have loaned it to Russ Smith and Trez Harrell last night.
I hate losing to UK. The texts and e-mailed have already started...
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Cardinal Couple Radio today will feature Charlie Springer and also a phone call to Worldwide watching Volleyball. It airs at 11 a.m. on Crescent Hill Radio.
www.crescenthillradio.com
Give a listen, won't you?
paulie
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