CARDINAL COUPLE

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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Conflicts ahead for NCAA Tournament and Cardinals? -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple



Will UofL WBB Have to travel for 1st and 2nd round games?



It's way too early to be looking ahead to the 2015 NCAA Basketball Championship...we know...especially with plenty of conference play and conference tournaments ahead. 

Spurred by a reader comment, though...we did a little fact checking and it is entirely possible that if the Louisville WBB squad does finish in the top 16 in the nation after the conference season has come to an end, they might not be able to host 1st and 2nd round action in the KFC YUM! Center.

Here's why:

The 2015 NCAA Men's Tournament has already announced their 2nd and 3rd round sites and Louisville is one of them. Those games are scheduled to be played on March 21st and 23rd. Unless the bridge completely blows up under Pitino's crew...we're expecting they'll be playing in the KFC YUM! Center. 

The 2015 NCAA Women's Tournament has scheduled their
first and second round games from March 20th through March 23rd. The top sixteen teams (seeds) will host at their home arenas. If Louisville can hang on during the rest of what promises to be a tough ACC gauntlet to run through and finish in the top sixteen and get at least a #4 seed, they may be forced to go on the road to open play.

Even if games for the WBB Tournament were scheduled for the 20th and 22nd in the KFC YUM! Center...think of the logistical nightmares as far as practice for the eight teams and media access...plus other headaches. 

One observation is that if both scenarios happen, would they move Walz and the WBB squad to Freedom Hall? 


Could we ask the NCAA to let Asia come back and
play in the tournament? She had to miss a couple...
Given the NCAA's propensity for under-ranking Louisville WBB over the years...including last year's slap in sending the Cards to Iowa....where they blitzkrieged the competition as a #5 before returning to the KFC YUM! Center to defeat LSU and fall to Maryland...a few ACC losses could sent Louisville down the national rankings ladder and make the aspect of hosting a moot point. 

It's food for thought, though. How weird would it be to return to "blue-toned"  Freedom Hall to watch Louisville WBB? 


"Q" has a large fan base in Louisville. If Syracuse
gets a host opportunity, could he move the games
to Louisville?  More than 500 would show up...
We've sent out a few feelers to see if anyone knows more about this possible interesting dilemma. We've already got one answer back....by no means an official or person of influence...who advises that Walz's squad will be out of the top 25 come mid-March.

Ants in the pudding there on that response. Stay tuned. Play ball! We'll preview the Cards v. Fla State tomorrow.

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Feb. Contest Entries are open



Our Feb. CARDINAL COUPLE CONTEST (for the chance to win a fabulous Cardinal Couple T-Shirt) will test your prognostication skills. 

Who will score the most total points for Louisville WBB in the seven Feb. games and how many points will this player score? 

We know it won't be Walz...he hasn't scored a basket or grabbed a rebound in eight years here and needs to have his scholarship pulled. 

Sonja, who grimaced when I asked her prediction, came up with Sara Hammond and 97 points. 

To enter, please send us an e-mail at:

cardinalcouple@twc.com


Make sure and provide us both parts...player and points.

We've had questions about providing the answer in the comments section...but since we'll require an e-mail or phone number to get in touch with the winner and you may not want to leave such information in a public access site...do that at your own discretion. 

42 guys named Bill leaving a player's name and point total on Jan 31st. in the comments section with no identifying way to reach them...ah, the logistical nightmare possibilities are endless!!


(I just can't seem to come up with the answer)
The January contest...which was how many points would Mariya Moore score in January...had 49 entries and a few of you are already under the number (75) she's scored with three January games left. One entry was 500 !! At her current rate, she'll need to average 142 points a game in her next three.

Get the ball to Mariya!! LOL....

paulie

7 comments:

  1. One athletic department having to deal with two NCAA Tournament events seems a bit complicated. WBB will get moved, even if they are a #1 seed.

    Curtis Franklin

    ReplyDelete
  2. The men's teams do not play on their home court. So, U of L mbb will not be playing, at Yum, rather 4 teams not named Louisville will be. The women's program looks to be in the T16 for the foreseeable future. So, it begs the question how, and what, the school will bid on in the future? I understand the dilemma, as things are bid so far out and the women's rules just changed. However, given the state of the women's program, I hope the bidding on 2/3 round games on the men's side halts, so the women don't get kicked to the curb whenever YUM is hosting the men. Of course, the almighty dollar drives these kinds of things. Do we think the women (who play at YUM) could bring in enough fans and money to = what the men's side would bring in, even if the teams playing for the men are not U of L? I suspect that will be the question in determining when they bid again to host for the men.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did not realize that UofL MBB could not play at home if Louisville was selected as a 2 and 3 ropund site.

      Interesting. So we are the host scholl but can't field a team...

      It's one of many reasons that NCAA = Morons

      Paulie

      Delete
  3. It appears that once again the incoming volleyball recruits match or excel the outgoing players. One player with 1 year of eligibility, an incoming 5'9" JUCO plus one other JUCO.
    It appears that since the coaching change that V-ball is on a recruiting down hill slide.
    Thoughts?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not exactly sure where you're going with those thoughts...

      Overall, we have 7 incoming players and only graduated 2. Though quantity isn't everything...

      3 transfers, Erin Fairs with a single year of eligibility remaining (but what year it might be...she's a very good player), plus two JUCO transfers, Ashley Pettibone and Kelynn Mullally that I haven't yet written about (how did I let that happen?) but we did talk about a bit on Saturday's radio show.

      There are also 4 signed freshmen that will be joining the team (I'm not sure I wrote about these, either...I'm really slacking). Jasmine Bennett from McCracken County (daughter of UK basketball standout Winston Bennett), a good middle blocker; Aniah Hatfield-Philo, an outside hitter from Rockwell Texas; Morgan Miller, a setter from Magnolia High School in Magnolia Texas (same town, different school, as Roxanne McVey); and Molly Sauer, a Libero/DS from Assumption here in Louisville, maybe one of the best Libero/DSs in the country this past year.

      We graduated Tara Gowan and Courtney Robison, neither of which, as much as I personally like both of them, are all that hard to replace on the floor.

      Delete
  4. One of the "4 teams not named Louisville" will almost certainly be UK. That will guarantee a sellout every time. No way the women could do that. So my guess is that Louisville will bid for the men's tourney every chance it gets.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We have it from an undeniable and accurate source:

    That's correct. UofL will not serve as a host for the women's NCAA Tournament
    first and second rounds due to a conflict with the men's NCAA Tournament.

    ( And in other news...how the weather in Tampa?)

    Oh, well....can't be any colder than it was in Iowa last March, right?

    Paulie

    ReplyDelete

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