Basketball Goes to Virginia Tech
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| at least the Cards don't have to deal with this guy... |
It's another game later in the day thanks to TV, but the time is still a pleasant one and more TV coverage is always nice.
Unlike 9pm weekday starts, 4pm on a Sunday is quite civilized and the Cards will get some more ACC Network time vs Virginia Tech.
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| She wont be playing but she'll be there |
The Hokies will be retiring Elizabeth Kitley's jersey, while I don't know how much Louisville fans necessarily want to celebrate her college career, I think we can celebrate that she's no longer playing at Virginia Tech!
Of course, VT is also without Kenny Brooks at the helm since his move over to Kentucky, but they are now led by Megan Duffy who spent her last five years building Marquette's program into an NCAA tournament team, and two years before that at Miami (OH). She sported a 70% win rate in those seven years and is currently on a pace to equal that this season as well.
VT is 12-5 so far (.706) but struggling a little more in conference at 3-3. Losses have come to Iowa, Michigan, Duke, Florida State, and Virginia in their most recent outing on Thursday. Their best wins are all in conference to the likes of Miami, and Georgia Tech.
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| Rose blooming in Blacksburg |
So who does VT turn to these days with Kitley having moved on? They have four players that score at a double-digit clip, Carleigh Wenzel, Rose Micheaux, Matilda Ekh, and Carys Baker; ranging from just over 14 ppg to just over 11 ppg. Lani White and Samyha Suffren fall just short of the 10 ppg mark.
In comparative stats, the team stays pretty even with their opponents in rebounds, but well outpaces them in assists (one mark of a well-coached team). They are a disciplined team avoiding large numbers of fouls compared to their foes, but they aren't particularly aggressive on defense, getting the ball pilfered more often than they steal the ball from their opponent. They do outblock their foes by a bit, tho, so taking well considered shots and moving the ball to get an open look will be important.
Most of their shooters are outside threats, will all the above mentioned players hitting in the 30% range with the exception of Micheaux and Suffren who just don't take many from beyond the arc at all, and White at the other end, who is the sharpshooter of the squad at 48%.
As mentioned, the game is at 4pm on ACC Network (linear). And I would suggest that you mentally prepare yourself for near-non-stop patter about Elizabeth Kitley.
More Volleyball
I promise, I will not single-handedly try to turn this into a Volleyball blog, but I do want to bring significant news items to attention.
Firstly, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, the brilliant right side hitter than joined us from Arizona has signed with a Romanian volleyball club to play professionally. The club is the defending champions of their league, so she should be getting the opportunity to play with some high caliber teammates. Our congratulations to Sofia!
Secondly, we got an announcement on Thursday of the startup of a new professional volleyball league in the US. Yes, yet another one, because apparently we need four!
The new startup will be called "Major League Volleyball", a name that has been used before for a professional volleyball league, in the late 1980s. The new organization claims $100+ million investment, which, honestly, is not that big for a professional sports league. The Omaha Supernovas, currently a member of the Pro Volleyball Federation league will be one of the launch teams for MLV. An ownership group for Sacramento has already been lined up as well. The league is expecting to launch with 10+ teams, will apparently require teams to have home facilities that seat 10k+ fans, and are targeting teams in Nebraska, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, Ohio and Washington. Other than Omaha and Sacramento, no ownership groups have yet been identified.
Initial response within volleyball communities have been mixed at best, with many people questioning whether MLV will be able to distinguish itself from PVF, which uses the same franchise ownership model, as well as questioning whether they'll be able to deliver on their claims of attracting top level talent (80% of the USWNT plays in LOVB).
While I'm certainly excited about the possibility of a team here in Louisville (the likely location, when they talk about Kentucky), and am just generally positive about the growth of the sport, going from no professional volleyball to four leagues in just four years seems....a bit much? An honestly, you can largely discount Athletes Unlimited with their odd-ball scoring system and small size and narrow that time frame down to two years and three leagues.
I rarely make absolute proclamations about the future, but I feel safe making one here. There will be consolidation of these leagues in the future in some form or another. To borrow from Howard Schnellenberger, the only variables are time and what form that consolidation takes.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
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| We get all kinds of opinions on what we do here at Cardinal couple |
A show about basketball was what the CCRHP was yesterday. We did have the usual meet and greet session at the beginning, and particularly welcomed Daryl, she of the new last name (Irwin), back from her brief hiatus for her nuptials and honeymoon.
Otherwise, it was pretty much all basketball for the hour with Case, Daryl, Paulie, and I. It's a good time of year to dive into it and we start really getting into the heart of the conference season.
Available at your favorite podcast directly as always, you can find it directly at:
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JMcA
VA Tech may have lost Brooks, Amoore and such, but they are still a viable, strong team, And, in Cassell Coliseum, they are a very hard team to beat.
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