CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
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Monday, November 28, 2016

Louisville women's basketball -- Cards fall to USC 83-59-- Kelly New VB head coach...MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE



CARDS GET DEFEATED BY "A" EFFORTS


South Carolina got a 51-point by the "A" Force...17 each for Alaina Coates, Allisha Gray and Aja Wilson...and the Cards fell victim to a 23-5 run over an nine-minute stretch that spanned the end of the second quarter and most of the third quarter...eventually losing to #3 South Carolina 83-59.

The Cards won the first quarter 20-18 against Dawn Staley's squad and had drawn to within two at 31-29 after two Mariya Moore free throws with 3:22 until halftime when the Hens exploded and the Cards started laying eggs. A 6-0 run by USC gave them a eight-point 37-29 lead at the break and with 5:24 left in the third quarter the score read 53-34 in favor of South Carolina..

The Cards were no match inside for the powerhouse duo of Coates and Wilson and guards Gray and Kaela Davis combined for 30 points...the Hens held a 20 point lead at 64-44 after three and it was pretty much over at that point...and it was just a matter of how badly Louisville would take their first loss of the season. 

A combination of early foul trouble and ineffectiveness from the court held Louisville star Myisha Hines-Allen to just two points in 20 minutes. She didn't score until there was just 8:30 left in the game and fouled out four minutes later. Two fouls in the first couple of minutes limited her to just five on-court minutes in the first half. 

Moore led Louisville in scoring with 17 points. Asia Durr added 13 and Briahanna Jackson reached double figures with 10. Jazmine Jones came in for 11 minutes of inspired play to finish with six for UofL. 

A definite glimpse Sunday into what the Cards need to work on...both offensively and defensively again a team that showed their worthiness of the #3 in the nation ranking. 


HOW DID FRED DO? 


Freddy Krueger..for that nightmarish
effort yesterday. 
-- Free Throws-- Louisville went 7-10 from the stripe and that's our dividing line for good vs. bad. Only three Cards attempted them...Moore going 6-8, B.J. 0-1 and Jessica Laemmle 1-2. On the other side, it was a free shot buffet for the Hens...going 24-31 (77.4%). Having "Silly Joe" as one of the refs is never a good thing for the Cards...but foul calls and free throws didn't lose this game for the Cards. Louisville hit 70% and that's good for a small case "f". 

-- Rebounding -- Coach Walz has been saying since the start of the year that the Cards need to improve here and it definitely showed agains the taller and much more physical South Carolina squad. They out-maneuvered and out-hustled UofL all day on the glass and ended up with a 46-29 advantage over the Cards. No letter awarded here. 

-- Effort/Execution -- Louisville had 17 turnovers (14 in the first half), so USC won that battle with 13. The Cards were outscored 14-2 on fast-break points, 20-5 on second chance points and 40-24 in the paint. We cannot award a letter.

-- Defense -- When you lose by 24 points and allow 83..it's pretty obvious your defense...as well as your offense...wasn't having a very good night. Coates and Wilson had no trouble scoring inside and Gray and Davis were connecting on wide-open threes pretty much whenever they felt like it. No letter. 

FINAL ANALYSIS: 

f-_-_-_


WHAT WE LIKED

Not much to like about this one, except that Louisville hung in there for most of the first half without Myisha Hines-Allen.

That 16 minute effort was just a teaser. Durr and Mariya were frantically working to keep the patient alive...but once the SC guards got firing, it was too much to stop and it was over.

Cortnee Walton did return to the floor. We're happy she's able to play but she was mostly ineffective in her 14 minutes out there...adding two points and three grabs. She'll get better, just one of those things on a day where not much worked well. 

Mariya stepped up with some nice baskets trying to keep the Cards in it...but, if it's OK with you... we'll just pretend that the final 27 minutes of the game didn't happen...because we certainly didn't like them and there was no joy or excitement of UofL women's sports present in them. 


THINGS TO WORK ON

These will be "Captain Obvious" items...so we'll just list them and leave it at that. You can add your own epitaphs to each listing.  

-- Defense
-- Rebounding
-- Turnovers
-- Fouls
-- Consistency
-- Game management


A tough thing to watch yesterday after the first half. The Cards will learn and improve from the surprising drubbing from South Carolina. They better. Maryland on Thursday and Kentucky on Sunday aren't going to be an easy next two at all...

paulie
xxxxx 


Dani Busboom Kelly New Volleyball Coach

Before the Men's Soccer game (a 3-1 victory over Notre Dame to advance to the quarterfinals of the
NCAA tournament), Tom Jurich, introduced the next head coach of the UofL Volleyball squad.

Dani Busboom Kelly is not a stranger to Louisville Volleyball having been an assistant coach to Anne Kordes in Kordes' first year here at UofL, before returning home to her native Nebraska for the past five years to be an assistant coach to John Cook.  Nebraska has been a perennial powerhouse in the volleyball world and sets the bar high for success.  Dani is considered one of the top recruiters in the nation.  Prior to her experience as an assistant coach at Louisville, she was an assistant at Tennessee from 2009-2011.

Dani's played volleyball at Nebraska with experience at both the setter and libero positions.  She also had the opportunity to play for the US Women's National Training Team (where she played with Sarah Drury Petkovic) and has coached the USA A2 Select team.

Dani's husband is Lane Kelly, who is a former football player for Nebraska.

After the press conference concluded, I had a brief moment to greet Lane, and welcome him back to Louisville.  I expect the Kelly's to settle back into the UofL athletic world with ease.  The press conference was held at Lynn Stadium before the soccer match and Lane's question to me was to ask who UofL was playing in the soccer game.

Dani is a great coach, and a phenomenal recruiter.  The UofL program is in good hands.

-- JMcA

32 comments:

  1. Three rebounds in 14 minutes is nothing to sneeze at and she was never a big scorer. That is not Cortnee's role.

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    1. Yes I agree ,glad to have cortnee back she can be a stabilizer on the boards.

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    2. I know...but...she was one of a succession of front-line Cards who couldn't stop Coates and Wilson. You want to be top-four team? You have to be strong on the paint. I do expect her to get better and become the rebounder the Cards need but a stabilizer she was not yesterday. When USC took over in the third quarter, Walton was not on the floor. That tells me she's not quite ready to be out there for extended minutes yet.

      Paulie

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    3. I Agee paulie we need a heathy cortnee on the floor.Coates and Wilson are very good with lots of experience.
      It takes time to develop post player .
      Kylee & Ciera have very little experience at the Collegiate level.

      Delete
  2. The only bright spot for me was the continued good play from Jackson. Pre-season I was hoping that T. Johnson would be good enough to be the main PG but right now I don't see that happening.

    Sounds silly to talk about a "turning point" in a blowout loss, but the series of mostly unforced turnovers late in the second period really turned the momentum in SC's direction.

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    1. Agreed about B.J. and she deserves, as of now, the majority of the minutes out there at point.

      Cards were still breathing (maybe on the respirator) at half. The SC start to the second half effectively did UofL in

      Paulie

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    2. The only chance we had was to keep the pressure on them offensively in the 2nd quarter. Not only did we not do it we didn't get shots off due to traveling calls and turnovers. South Carolina is a great front running team. They did not start playing with swagger until we self destructed on offense in the 2nd quarter. After that the pressure was off and South Carolina dominated. You do your part on offense and not make it easy for SC and they are a different team

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    3. I agree on Taylor and Jackson and I am not a Jackson fan but she is improving and deserves the minutes she is getting

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    4. I agree with that statement, that turn over did change the complexity of the game and stunted the momentum.

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    5. Good point Wade, way to many turn overs and the momentum shifted.

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  3. Busboom for the new Volleyball head coach job seems like a great call to me. I'm not much of a WVB fan but I know that Nebraska has a great WVB tradition and track record. Looks like a great move. Jurich Strikes Again.

    AS far as the SC game...seems like I remember a great coach from back in the day saying that you don't learn much from winning but you learn a ton from losing. Hopefully our kids will learn from this. They got their @sses kicked, particularly the upperclassmen who should have stepped up. It is what it is. We'll see how they react in short order.

    I agree that BJ should start at the point. She can be a turnover machine but she has energy, plays defense, makes things happen and can score.

    It's starting to get interesting.

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    Replies
    1. I still like Taylor @ the point.It was SC trapping the guards.
      After MHA got in foul trouble it changed the ball game.

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    2. Your call. I'm not seeing it. She seems ok handling the ball but is little or no threat offensively.

      In any case we need to lock down on a point guard before ACC play. Taylor, BJ or our Long Beach kid. Doesn't matter to me but someone needs to take control and call the shots.

      Say what you want about Jude...she maybe had half the natural ability of those three kids but she ran the show. That's what a good One does.

      Delete
    3. I agree on Busboom. The tradition at Nebraska for vball is amazing (think we could get to an avg attendance of over 8,200 for vball anytime soon?).

      This hire is perfectly in line with Jurich's playbook that he used to perfection with hiring Walz, McDonnell, and Lolla. She's young, but an ambitious up-and-comer. Time will tell if she's up to the head coaching position, but I think she'll do well.

      I wouldn't look for any more coaching staff announcements until after NU is eliminated from NCAA tourney (which could easily be a few weeks), as she is continuing her duties as an assistant coach there through the end of their season.

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    4. You are right I love Taylor but she is not showing it on offense. That back door pass in the 2nd quarter she drilled off Asia's ankle was an easy basket. Plays like that she can't flub. Walz removed her right after. Again, she is my favorite but she is in slightly over her head right now.

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    5. I think Hines-Allen is a non factor this year so far because of the addition of a post player in our offense which leaves Myisha out of the mix. Ciera is an improvement over DeGrate but she is taking up touches Hines-Allen would get

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    6. I agree we have a good point guard in Taylor Johnson ciera needs to calm down around the basket mha will be fine she had a bad game I think we where going too fast for the game.

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  4. Yes I agree Paulie it's only one game.They'll be games were going to get away with inexperienced post players, but this was a game when we needed experienced post players. It takes time to develop post player's. Hopefully they will develop fast.

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  5. I agree MHA is missing alot of touches that should be hers and not Ciera. Too much rotating to make everyone happy with playing time! We need more consistency. Hasn't MHA earned that spot?! It's nice to have a deep bench when needed but not the circus I have been seeing. Of switching all the girls out etc...NOT GOOD!

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    Replies
    1. I agree. These great recruiting classes create some problems. Walz has said that playing time is always dictated by what recently happened in practice but experience & continuity matters.

      Trying to keep high potential inexperienced kids / parents happy with playing time is fine in cupcake contests but when the chips are down on national tv against ranked clubs you'd better have a go to plan. We got caught short in this contest. Not good but fortunately early enough in the season to get it fixed. Hopefully lesson learned.

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  6. The UofL has a great lady's basketball team.Go Cards beat the Terps!

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  7. I'm not going to get too worried about this loss. I wasn't convinced we were a 4th ranked team going into this game and I think we may take another loss or two in the five-game sequence. Walz needs to quit acting like a pissed off soccer mom on the sidelines and make substitutions that make sense. Hines-Allen should have been in there the final two minutes of the second period and neither Jackson should have started the second half.

    Yes we played terrible ball in the stretch that Paulie mentioned but the Cards should have had two experienced player out there to start the second half, not a fifth-year transfer and freshman center. If Walton could play in the second quarter, why not use her to start the third? BJ needed to be starting the second half too.

    Curtis "I'm no coach but I drove by a Holiday Inn Express last night" Franklin.

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    1. You get the Best Comment of the Day Traveling Trophy...That "pissed off soccer mom on the sidelines" blurb had me laughing so hard that Gina wondered what happened. Congratulations Sir.

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  8. We probably don't see as good of a high-low game as Coates and Wilson the rest of the year and Davis came out pumped up to start the second half. That being said...we did miss some pretty easy looks to start the second half and settled for threes way too early in the sequences.

    Paulie

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  9. Yes I agree paulie SC front line is awesome, 6-5 feeding 6-5 down low in the post playing catch.
    No one else we play has a front court like that.

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  10. Sam Fuehring has to get better back up MHA when she gets in foul trouble.

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    1. There only one player from that NO.1 class of 2015 that really producing so far that Asia Durr.

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    2. If MHA get in foul trouble I don't know if we have a reliable backup for her.

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    3. Trying to replacing the 4 spot this yesr is the problem in those top ten match ups.
      Next year kylee will backing up the 4 spot, she's a good rim protector.She can shoot the three ball and hit the shot from the elbow as well.

      Delete
  11. Last year syracuse made it to the championship game.
    You have peak in February & March,so if your rank number 1,2,3 or 4 it doesn't mean you're make it to the final four.
    So what dose this means?There's a lot of basketball left to play.Go Card's ....!

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    Replies
    1. Outstanding reminder. I have renewed hope!

      Delete
  12. Basketball Drills for High School: How to Become a High School Basketball Coach Basketball Drills

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