We Read Your E-mails -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

FROM THE MAILBAG  

Yes, it's true ,we read your mail and we are not even stealing your personal information of running a spam game. It's stuff you send us. 

Occasionally ,we get an e-mail here at Cardinal Couple from you loyal readers asking the brain trust here at Cardinal Couple (me) a question. And, I do read your e-mail and reply when requested or if I have a counterpoint or different viewpoint. Mind you, there is still a lot of degrees of separation and distance between me and the Belknap campus salaried propaganda distributors...but, the last I head, it's still possible to speak one's mind about events, people, places, things and positions about the gendarme down where The Thinker sits and wonders why a major city would close their main north-south stretch of Interstate for several months and direct traffic through GPS and the ancient railroad overhang on 3rd street near campus(what a joke) or the crumbling Watterson Expressway. Only in Louisville. 

Enough of that nonsense, though...onto the questions.(and answers I provided). Names of the askers have been omitted...I am just focusing on WBB in this article. Hold your nose, here we go...

Did Yevheniia Putra leave Louisville WBB? 

The answer is "no". Putra returns for her sophomore season and is expected to be a valuable backup front line player for the Cards WBB squad. She and Grace Mbugna will provide valuable time for the Cards. 

Are the Cards playing in Alaska this season? 

The answer is "yes". Louisville WBB will participate in the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska. The Cards are one of four squads participating...along with Seattle, Chicago St. and the host team, Alaska-Anchorage, from November 21-22. 

What does Jeff Walz make a year? 

Public records do not indicate Walz's yearly salary  at UofL, but it is estimated that he pulls in around $1 million a year, with incentive packages based on yearly performance and scheduled raised designed to take him up to $2 million a year by 2028-29. Not bad for a bench warmer at NKU during his collegiate days and who still cuts his own grass.  

Where did Anaya Hardy go? 

The answer is Notre Dame. Hardy took her game to Notre Dame after two years at Louisville. She stated that it "felt like home" when she was there and coach Niele Ivey's warmth and the irish's sincerity were factors as well. She went to high school in Detroit. Michigan.

 Is Elif Istanbulluoglu the only foreigner on the UofL roster?

The answer is "no".  Ayse Melek Demirer, also from Turkiye joins Elif on the squad as a freshman. She is 6'5" and averaged 15.4 ppg and 17.4 rpg in 2025 for the Turkish FIBA National Youth squad in the 2025 FIBA U16 Women's Eurobasket Division B. 

Where did all the Cardinal Couple writers go? 

A variety of reasons for leaving the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports for them . Case Hoskins cited increased job responsibilities at where he works as his reason to depart. Daryl Foust was unspecific in her dropping us....but accepted a job at UofL and may have been trying to avoid collusion.  Jared Anderson was bullied out of taking pictures for us by UofL Athletics if he wanted to keep his media pass. Jeff McAdams left to start his own website about UofL Volleyball, which failed to launch.  

Why do you no longer attend games Paulie? 

A couple of reasons. UofL pulled my media credentials and close-in parking permit because my X account was hacked and had questionable material posted on it by the hacker. I have since deleted my X account but was unable to go back in and delete what was posted. UofL refused to re-issue my media credentials, though..another case of their media department's vendetta against me. I am still on Facebook and Instagram. I was told the hackers were probably looking for financial information access and got mad when they found none and put up derogatory messages. I wish they would have asked me, I am so poor I can't even pay attention.  I also am going thru end stage kidney failure and attend dialysis three days a week for four hours a day. Simply stated, the treatments leave me weaker than I used to be, but keep me alive...so even if UofL put me back on media row, i would probably be too weak to physically walk from the parking lot to seats. i still have access to certain coaches and player, though, ad they can't prevent that. 

Sorry that today's article was late. I had all intentions of having it posted early but a technical glitch prevented it from being posted and I did not realize it until I got a message from a reader.  I guess that's the way it goes sometimes, eh? 

paulie