CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
We report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports here. Thanks for checking us out! Click the picture of Louie to hear the latest Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast!!

Friday, June 3, 2016

Louisville women's basketball flocks back to campus...Louisville Baseball -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE



FROSH, LETTERWINNERS RETURN TO BELKNAP FOR WBB


It's a busy time on the UofL campus for Louisville women's basketball. No, there aren't any games but the 2016-17 squad is filing in to the Student Activities Center for the summer preparations for the season.

I had the good fortune of running into Louisville women's basketball assistant coach Sam Purcell while on campus to interview Sandy Pearsall on Wednesday. The bouncing-with-energy, effusive coach was waiting out the arrival of Ciera Johnson and a flight delay. We spoke of her and also of Bionca Dunham who is finishing up classes in Philly and will arrive later. 

Coach Purcell is a constant ball-of-energy...even apologizing to me for standing up and pacing while we chatted. He's in the right profession. If this guy was confined to a cubicle for eight hours a day in an office building...he'd go nuts.

We also talked about how more school districts are looking  at year-round school for students and I wondered out loud to Sam whether this would affect the current sports scheduling structure of these schools and also the travelling teams players spend the summer participating with. Sam seemed confident that it would not change that much and thought the year-round concept was a good one in general. (I wonder if I should bring that up around the Purcell kids when they reach school age?) 

As of June 1st, Sydney Zambrotta, Jazmine Jones, Jessica Laemmle and Taylor Johnson were on campus. Kylee Shook and Johnson were expected to arrive Wednesday. Players from last season already on campus include Myisha Hines-Allen, Cortnee Walton, Arica Carter, Erin DeGrate, Sam Fuehring, Briahanna Jackson and Brianna Jones. 

They'll spend the next couple of months preparing themselves for the Cards' trip to Cuba. Louisville will be the first women's basketball program to visit Cuba and they'll be there Aug 6-12...prior to fall classes. On tap for the Cards are medical screenings and official workouts begin on Monday, June 6th. 


LOUISVILLE BASEBALL BEGINS NCAA QUEST


Even though we are a womens' sports site, we know many of our readers...and the coaches and players we interview...are fans of Dan McDonnell's Louisville baseball squad. Dan recently received a $1 million dollar a year contract for his hard work at Louisville...warding off any attempts from Texas or other schools to draw him away from Jim Patterson Stadium. 

McDonnell genuinely seems to love Louisville and the program he's built here. I've had the fortune of hearing him speak several times and he is one of the most articulate, passionate and well-informed men around. 


The Cards (47-12) start regional play tonight at "The Pat" against Western Michigan (22-32) with a 6 p.m. first pitch scheduled. Louisville puts Kyle Funkhouser on the mound to face WMU's Keegan Akin. Akin was eighth in the nation in strike outs this season and has allowed just one home run in 105 innings. The Broncos were a surprise NCAA Tournament entry...finishing the regular season as the seventh place team in the MAC Conference but winning the MAC Tournament to get the NCAA berth. 

ESPN 3 will have the broadcast and fans can also listen to Sean Moth's always excellent call on 93.9 FM.

paulie
xxxxx

7 comments:

  1. Hey Paulie!! Good stuff as usual. Question, have you heard anything about a possible Degrate transfer?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was just getting ready to ask that question. I saw what looks like an unconfirmed report/rumor about that on Jody Demling's website.

      Delete
    2. We have also seen the Tweets about this but we have no official word out of UofL about this yet, so we cannot confirm or deny this about DeGrate.

      Paulie

      Delete
  2. Paulie, here is her tweet:

    I would like to take the opportunity to thank the staff of University of Louisville & the incredible fans that supported me throughout my freshman year. With deep consideration I have decided to transfer to another university. I want to personally thank all of my teammates for taking me in as family and for being by my side when I needed them the most and for that I will always love you guys. I plan to find the university that best fits me to further my education and to become the best player that I can possibly be, again thank you to the University of Louisville and the fans! & I would like to give a special thank you to Coach Walz and staff.

    Not much grey area there, Paulie. The Deb Factor

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We'll wait for UofL to confirm or deny. This does to be a pretty plain and clear announcement of her intentions, though.

      Paulie

      Delete
  3. Hey Paulie! I'm curious if any Cardinal Couple readers are heading to Cuba? I'm excited to say that I am heading to Cuba! Who else is in?

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    Replies
    1. I CERTAINLY wish I was going but unfortunately will not be able to. Sounds off, readers, if you're headed to Cuba.

      Paulie

      Delete

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