NO CONFERENCE TITLES FOR CARDS
No ACC Conference Championships.
What a difference a year makes, right? With the improved competition level, the Cards have struggled for any dominance against their ACC foes.
Softball will finish either third or fourth in conference and hope to do well in the ACC Tournament to be considered for a NCAA bid. It's right about where they were picked to finish in the pre-season poll.
Lacrosse won two games in ACC play and was eliminated in the powerhouse-packed tournament. They're a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament and will sorely miss the leadership of Faye Brust if they do get a bid.Women's Tennis was 12-16 and 2-12 in the ACC. It looked like a rebuilding year for Coach Beckham and that's how it turned out. Losing Fellerhoff and Shine was inevitable but no one has stepped up to replace them.
Women's Golf did beat Kentucky this year but struggled in conference events. They got an at-large bid to play in the NCAA Regional Tournament up in South Bend but it would be a big surprise if they advanced past that.
No one expected overnight success in the move to the ACC. What we'll look for next year is improvement. Coaches Pearsall, Young, Beckham and Copeland have some very talented underclassmen that will help build the nucleus for next year but they all could use a few high school All-Americans to join the ranks.
Whether they can get them to Louisville or not will determine whether Louisville will be either a major player down the road or a nice place for opposing squads to visit and pick up a win.
HAPPY OAKS DAY!
It is Oaks Day, the day before Derby and we've had the chimps running all over Churchill Downs to get the inside scoop, wise guys picks, the backside chatter and banana smoothies laced with rum...all integral parts of delivering our Oaks picksYou can find our six Stakes races selections at the link below:
www.paulsykes.com
paulie
Paulie, I think that all Louisville sports have about a three-year window that will go a long way toward determining where they will fit long-term in the ACC pecking order. No worries about MBB, WBB and Baseball - those three programs were national powers before the move to the ACC and nothing will change. But as for the other sports (Women and Men, including Football) the next few years are crucial if a program wants to compete at the top of a really strong conference.
ReplyDeleteI would agree. We've seen what we're up against and the coaches know what they need to do. I think a three-year indoctrination program fits here. Tom Jurich demands the best and we'll see how he responds if any of the sports aren't showing improvement after three (or four) years.
ReplyDeletePaulie