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Friday, January 26, 2018

WBB wins at Miami...A Look Into Louisville Softball... FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE



PAULIE REPORT: CARDS CONQUER CANES



Myisha joins in with the screaming.
The University of Louisville Women's Basketball team did what the guys couldn't do in Miami...beat the Hurricanes, in a game that had way too many whistles and a cadre of screaming grade school kids.

A little less than 2800 were in attendance for this one. I'm pretty sure 2700 of them were from the 22 schools represented and most of them hoarse this morning. 

The Cards got a big effort from senior Myisha Hines-Allen with 26 points on 11-13 shooting. She also climbed to second on the all-time Louisville rebounding list, her 1009 is only eclipsed by Angel McCoughtry's 1261. 

Louisville led this one for 39:28 of the 40 minutes but has some first half troubles...going through a five-minute scoreless stretch...and seeing a 26-19 lead shrink to 28-27 before DOOO-BLAY connected on back-to-back jumpers. The Cards held a 37-30 halftime advantage. 

With 67% shooting in the second half, UofL started to increase the lead as the game went on...despite UofM's Emese Hof putting up 20 points off the bench.  Sam Fuehring also performed well for Jeff Walz's squad with 17 points. The front line contingent of Sam, Myisha, Kylee and Bionca combined for 18-24 shooting (75%).

The whistles in this one were...well...ridiculous. 56 of them, resulting in three players fouling out and four players gathering four each. Asia's off-night was understandable...she was double-teamed all day and got off just seven shots in 31 minutes. Her lone make was a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half. 

Louisville returns home to face Wake Forest on Sunday.  A 1 p.m. start. 


FRED REPORT


The "fred" an indicator of our
economic data. 
F- Free Throws.  With 35 attempts from the line, it must have seemed like a foul-line drill at practice. The Cards made 25 of them, which falls at the 71% mark and does not earn a letter. 56 fouls in the contest. I think they were shooting them on the plane home..

R- Rebounding.  The Cards won the boards battle 37-25, mostly because of Hines-Allen's 11. Nine of hers were on the defensive glass. We'll give out the capital "R" here for out-grabbing the taller Canes. 

E- Effort/Execution.  18 turnovers and nine Miami steals aren't stats to brag about. At times, the Cards just didn't value the possession and make things happen. I did like the way Louisville finished the second half and increased the lead...but I can only award a small case "e" here...Miami won the second chance battle 13-9, a key hustle stat. 

D-Defense.  The Canes shot 40% and Louisville sent them to the line with an uncharacteristic 30 fouls. They had no answer for Hof inside or Davenport on the boards. It's tight between no letter here or a smallcase, but I'll go with a smallcase "d" because it was a win and won the second half 47-44. 

Fred Total:  _-R-e-d

   Paulie
xxxxx


JARED ANDERSON LOOKS AT SOFTBALL.

Happy Friday! You’ve just about survived another week. What’s next? You prepare for another exciting episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour tomorrow morning. All four of the regulars will be there.

I am not Worldwide- he had something come up- but I am filling in for him today.

For those who know me or follow any of us from Cardinal Couple on Twitter you know I am actively involved as a fan at softball games. With media day behind us and the regular season in sight I thought we could look at some softball today.

Key Returners

-Nicole Pufahl is a red-shirt senior on the team. Puf has spent her career with Louisville directing the outfield. The California native has shown speed in center field as well as proven to have the arm to gun down runners headed home. On the offensive end she is no stranger to the home run ball.

-Megan Hensley takes over the role as the ace. With Becker gone it’s up to Hensley to corral a fleet of young pitchers into having a top-notch bullpen. Her fastball blows right by batters but it’s what she will be able to do with off speed pitches this year is what we’re looking for. Despite having a slump part of last season Meg typically has a hot bat.

-Jenna Jordan steps into the catcher position for the second straight year after transferring in from Northern Colorado. Alison ‘Mike’ Sydlowski decided she prefers playing infield and will stay there this season leaving JJ with the catcher duties. Her knowledge of the game is impressive, and she will help captain a defense with many new faces.

-Sidney Melton returns after a season-ending injury early last season. She red-shirted last season which should make her a red-shirt junior this season, but the roster lists her as a normal senior. Another member of Team Sid/Syd, she moved in from the outfield to her original position at shortstop. Her quick hands and speed have also helped her on the base path, so we should see her as one of the runners we can get to scoring position.

Newbies

There are 11 new faces on the team this year. The current roster has 22 active players. It is extremely rare to see 50% of a team being brand new, but coach was determined this off-season to make some changes. Of those 11 new faces:

-Nine are true freshmen, two are junior transfers (Butler CC and Mississippi State)

-Two are from Kentucky (Ballard and Bullitt East), one is from California, one is from Texas, one is from North Carolina, one is from Louisiana, one is from Illinois, and four are from Indiana (a pair of twins from Borden and a pair of high school teammates from Osceola).

-Five are pitchers (three also play other positions)

The Schedule

"We got next!" 
Coach Pearsall knows how to find some tough competition out there. However, with so many games to play she is wise enough to find lesser teams as well. The season starts with a five-game tournament at Disney World, followed by a four game ACC/Big Ten challenge in Raleigh, and another five-game tournament in Orlando before the Cards ever return home.

The Cards will play 14 straight games at home. You might just want to get a tent and hang out at Ulmer for a few weeks with that one. The remainder of the season will trade off back and forth away and home with Senior Weekend being against Boston College, despite a single game against Marshall being the true final home game.

Louisville’s two toughest ACC opponents are Notre Dame and Florida State. The Irish visit Ulmer Stadium in mid-March. The Seminoles get to host UofL down in Tallahassee. I will be there for the first two games of that series. Rival Kentucky is on the road for their single meeting this year.

My Prediction
Louisville will be better than last year. The added talent and speed will help tremendously. With it being hard not to finish top four in the conference I will go out on a limb and say the Cards will finish second in the ACC.

Overall, I think the Cards will win between 35-38 of their 53 listed games. Weather has been known to affect scheduling in the past, so it wouldn’t be uncommon to see a handful of games rained out, affecting my prediction.

Louisville’s weaknesses last season included infield defense, knocking baserunners in, and a lack of depth in pitching. The pitching issue has been resolved from the looks of things and I don’t expect Coach Pearsall to allow the defensive problems to continue. My main concern is if the correction to scoring runs has been made.

As we venture closer to the start of the season I will dive into softball a little more.

Until then, enjoy your weekend and a Sunday afternoon game of WBB vs Wake Forest! Go Cards!


Jared

18 comments:

  1. Can't believe today's column has twice as much about softball as it does basketball.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quite honestly, it was Jeff's day to write, he couldn't because of work, Jared stepped in, forgot we had a basketball game yesterday and I went in and added the Miami game part after the article was published.

      Yeah, we suck.

      Paulie

      Delete
    2. Ha ha Lol LMAO that's funny Paulie.
      We love our Women's Basketball.
      Go Cards good ACC win go AC 7 Asst. LA Girl getting done.
      Also more time for Bionca,Kylee & Z,MHA was a beast against the Canes ACC Player of the year!
      The Lady Cards are a very balance team from top to bottom.
      MLW

      Delete
    3. I like it when a top notch organization can screw up and just take it in stride! You guys deserve a few mulligans a year.

      Delete
    4. Thanks, Wade. That was more like driving to the golf course, forgetting your clubs, borrowing a set from the clubhouse and breaking the driving and putter on the first hole...than a mulligan.

      I gotta watch these guys every second...LOL

      Paulie

      Delete
  2. It was a weird start time, for sure. We'll give you a mulligan on that. I agree that Louisville got a great performance from Myisha and it had to be a distraction to have that many screaming kids, but it was a basketball game, not a tennis match. Credit goes to Miami for the fan support.

    The Cards turnovers continue to be a problem. They need to clean that and ball possession up before Syracuse and UConn.

    I found it interesting that, at times, he had Laemmle and Zambrotta on the court together. Was he trying to prove a point to the starters? Did they have great practices?

    Louisville was never serious challenged in the final half, though, and that is a postitive aspect in a dreadful game that was overshadowed by too many whistles an some really bad ones, at that. Hopefully, the Cards never get this ref crew again.

    David Watson allegedly was trying to go to this game. I hope he felt well enough for the trip and provides us a synopsis later today.

    -- The Real Joe Hill --

    ReplyDelete
  3. That was on my end. With the 11:00 tip-off I didn’t get to watch it and completely forgot about the game by the time last night/this morning rolled around. Let’s go back to the afternoon and evening games for my poor old self! Lol

    -Jared

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd like to see Hines-Allen get drafted in the first round because its almost in automatic you make the W so Ive been keeping an eye on mock drafts and "experts" views. The color analysis for the TV Cards Miami game yesterday is an ex WNBA exec turned broadcaster. Megan Perry (twitter @MissMegs42) after the game tweeted

    "She is a top 10 WNBA Draft pick on my list. I wouldn't pass on her...just saying!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Speaking of WNBA draft. Shoni was taken 8th and probably will no longer play in the league. Not hating on Shoni she was great to watch.

      Asia Taylor picked 36th (last by a team with the hardest roster in the league to make) did it the hard way given no chance to stick and this will be her 4th year

      Delete
    2. Two players from the past I wish could just had one more year to play because they were about to come into their own are

      Jude Schimmel
      Shawnte Dyer

      Did you know Cortnee is 2 inches taller than Shawnte? Dyer left playing her best her Sr year and left you wanting more. Cortnee played her best her Jr year filling a big role.

      Delete
    3. Yes cortnee is 6-3 shawnte is 6-1,also the best stretch 4 in Louisville history Antonita Slaughter is 6-1.
      MLW

      Delete
    4. Got to say it. Nita is my favorite Cardinal of all time.

      Delete
  5. Doing on poll on Boneyard "Will Myisha Hines-Allen be a 1st round WNBA pick?

    So far,
    Yes 53%
    No 47%

    Whoo hoo!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Bird Lady1/26/2018 4:07 PM

    I liked your softball write up Jared. I haven't followed uofl softball closely and plan to change that this season, so your insights are appreciated.

    Not sure what everyone's issue is with the screaming kids. Don't we want our arena loud? Why are kids being loud such a problem? I heard them yelling defense cheers when UofL had the ball. Cheering when their team made a basket. I think it is great. Expose them to it young. They have a good time and bug parents to bring them back. Good marketing.

    For the record, I have, and plan to continue being louder than those kids ever thought of being. Just ask the people that sit in front of me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, thanks for that. I guess.

      Delete
  7. Hey-O! Dave-O here. I did not get to go to Miami. Still a bit in recovery mode after my bout with upper respiratory infection and pneumonia. I did watch (between coughs) on the ACC Network Extra and I have to wonder just where they get some of these announcers.

    My neighbor's beagle and Frank the Wonder Mule could have done better job on the call of the game. So, I switched to the I Heart radio feed but it was so hard to follow with the screaming that I gave up and watched the rest of the contest on line with the volume turned off. Myisha had a huge effort.

    Miami has a trick they use from time to time. They have a volume level bar they have on the scoreboard and it jumps around depending on how loud the volume in the arena is. The kids responded to that quite well. I also believe that they can "pump in artificial noise" through their PA system, although that's never been proven.

    In any event, this was a game that Louisville could scarcely afford to lose and ACC wins on the road are quite valuable. No real surprises last night except Ohio State got hammered by Iowa. Wake Forest, the Cards next foe, got handled pretty easily by NC State.

    Go Cards!
    Dave-O
    David Watson

    ReplyDelete
  8. Darn that sounds tough Dave. Continue to battle I'm sure you got a few haymakers left in your bag of tricks to tko it soon. Pulling for your complete recovery soon.

    Thank you for sharing about the volume level bar. I would have liked to been there for that. Love seeing kids having a good time like that.

    As far as the announcers. I watched the game late last night and I loved them ha! Megan Peter I thought was freaking awesome with her confidence, timing and knowledge. The Joe play by play guy was good too. Got some names wrong but I liked how unassuming they were and the take they had on their team and Cards. I learned some stuff which is kind a dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Of course that Jersey girl will be 1st round no doubt! MYZILLA is on the prowl this is going to be an awesome senior year! Stay tuned....

    ReplyDelete

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