Lax Hosts UNC -- Dana Evans -- Pick 'EM -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Cards Host North Carolina at Cardinal Stadium

It's a Top 20 showdown on Floyd Street. However, this time Louisville lacrosse won't be at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. Instead, the Cards will play their first ever match at in the 65,000-seat Cardinal Stadium. No, I don't think we'll see 65,000 fans but that would be darn cool.

Cardinal Stadium has a way better setup with lighting for night games and the setup for video cameras is quite nice too. Plus, as a photographer, it'll be cool to capture the Cards in a large stadium.

The competition fits the setting as #1 North Carolina is in town. The Tar Heels are 7-0 on the year with five of those victories coming against ranked opponents.

North Carolina has been a dominant force this year and is a heavy favorite to take the title at the end of the year. UNC is averaging 16.71 goals per match (fifth-best in the country) while allowing 5.57 goals per match (third-best in the country). Their closest margin of victory this year was by six goals against Florida. Most recently, UNC is fresh off a 22-1 win over Virginia Tech.

UNC's Taylor Moreno has been the primary goalkeeper, but due to several blowouts she has passed the torch to two of her colleagues for a total of 68:17 in four matches this year. Moreno has allowed 33 goals on 125 attempts for a .593 save percentage.

Jamie Ortega leads the team with 27 goals, which is also good enough for second-best in the country. She sits just one goal behind UC Davis' Sorana Larson. Many of Ortega's goals have come from Katie Hoeg, who has logged 21 assists on the year. Hoeg is also second in the country and also one away from leading the NCAA. Ortega does have 12 assists herself.

We do have to acknowledge Rachel Florek, who has 67 saves on the year, third-best in the country. The senior keeper is tied for 13th in save percentage at .532.

The Cards have had a balanced scoring attacked with Caroline Blalock, Ally Hall, and Hannah Morris having scored 14 goals. Seven other Cards have scored at least two goals.

Draw controls have also been by committee. Megan Mangines has recorded 15 draw controls. Caroline Blalock has 14 and Alex McNicholas has 13. Ashley Osbourne showed a lot of promise as well at the draw in the Marquette contest. . 

Now... here's the catch- the weather. Normally lacrosse is able to play in light showers, but the forecast is showing thunderstorms. Personally, I wouldn't want to play with lightning going on if a had a metal pole with a net in my hands, so if we see the match postponed or even potentially moved inside the Trager Practice Facility I wouldn't blame them. Hopefully the weather folks prove to be wrong and we end up with some nice weather tonight.

The match is currently scheduled for 7:00 p.m., on ACC Network. If we hear of any schedule changes we will let you know.

Dana Evans

The awards and recognition for Dana Evans continue to roll in. She was named a First Team All-American. Evans joins Angel McCoughtry and Asia Durr as the only Louisville players named to the first team.

Evans is joined by Paige Bueckers (UConn), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), NaLyssa Smith (Baylor), and Aliyah Boston (South Carolina).

The Second Team All-American squad included Elissa Cunane (NC State), Naz Hillmon (Michigan), Aari McDonald (Arizona), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), and Charli Collier (Texas).

Another in the Cardinal trophy case for the Gary. IN superstar. We laud her performances as a Cardinal and go by the old adage:  "Is the best yet to come?" 

Cardinal Couple Pick Em

You still have a few more days to get your brackets in. I'm still researching mine so don't stress too much. I do know I have all the 1-seeds and 2-seeds winning their first two games but I haven't gotten much beyond that.

You can enter early to help in the event of a tiebreak or if you need to research more or want to wait to hear of any COVID-19 situations you can hold off for a little while longer.

So far we have four entries in the following order- David Watson, Kenny Schneider, Paulie, Joe Hill. If I missed yours please don't hesitate to reach out so I can get you added! Dave-O's and Joe's are in the comments section from recent days and Paulie posted his pics yesterday.

Kenny emailed his over and they are as follows for those keeping their own tab:

1st Rd: Stanford, Oklahoma State, Missouri State, Arkansas, Oregon, Georgia, Northwestern, Louisville; South Carolina, Oregon State, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Texas, UCLA, North Carolina, Maryland; UConn, Syracuse, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Baylor; NC State, Washington State, Gonzaga, Indiana, Rutgers, Arizona, Iowa State, Texas A&M

2nd Rd: Stanford, Arkansas, Oregon, Louisville; South Carolina, West Virginia, UCLA, Maryland; UConn, Iowa, Tennessee, Baylor; NC State, Indiana, Arizona, Texas A&M

3rd Rd: Stanford, Louisville, South Carolina, Maryland, UConn, Baylor, NC State, Arizona

4th Rd: Stanford, Maryland, UConn, NC State

Finals: Stanford, UConn

Champion: Stanford

Feel free to share your picks in the comments or email us at eupherjared@gmail.com and cardinalcouple@twc.com.

You have until Sunday at 11:59 a.m., ET. Good luck!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

NCAA Tournament -- Lacrosse Rankings -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Louisville Named 2-Seed in NCAA Tournament

Unlike the men's side, where Louisville fans had to sweat out if the Cards would go dancing (spoiler: they're not), the women's team was waiting to see what seed they would end up being. The Cards were announced as a 2-seed, making them one of the top eight teams.

The Cards are in the Alamo Region, which has Stanford as its 1-seed. The other top teams in the region include 3-seed Georgia and 4-seed Arkansas.

Louisville is one of eight ACC teams to find themselves dancing. No other conference had more than seven teams. The list of ACC teams includes 1-seed NC State, 2-seed Louisville, 5-seed Georgia Tech, 7-seed North Carolina, 7-seed Virginia Tech, 8-seed Syracuse, 9-seed Florida State, and 9-seed Wake Forest. Notre Dame did not make the cut. They were the third team of the first four out joining Houston, DePaul, and Oklahoma.

The SEC had seven teams announced highlighted by 1-seed South Carolina and 2-seed Texas A&M. The Big Ten also had seven teams in with Maryland as the top team as a 2-seed. The Pac-12 has six teams dancing with Stanford being a 1-seed and the top overall seed. The Big 12 has five teams in with 2-seed Baylor as their top team. UConn is the other 1-seed.

Our friends to the east down I-64 are also dancing. Kentucky was named a 4-seed in the River Walk Region with UConn being the 1-seed.

Let's take a moment to look at more teams in the Alamo Region and some potential match-ups the Cards may have.

Louisville will open the tournament against 15-seed Marist. Marist College is a private liberal arts college based in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. They're located about halfway between New York City and Albany. Enrollment is roughly 6,600 students.

Marist went 18-3 overall and used a 13-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) record to win the regular season. The Red Foxes went on to win the MAAC Tournament by defeating Saint Peters 69-30 in the championship to earn an automatic qualifying bid. Feel free to share this paragraph with a certain CJ writer who asked Coach Walz what Marist's mascot is.

Marist is averaging 63.6 points per game and shot .416 from the field on the year. The Red Foxes profited off turnovers this season by forcing 13.7 turnovers per game and converting that into 15.3 points off turnovers. They allow 50.1 ppg. 

Their head coach is Brian Giorgis. Giorgis has been at Marist since 2002 and has dominated the MAAC since then. He is 461-166 overall at the helm. This is the Red Foxes' 12th NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002. Giorgis is also believed to be the first coach in men's or women's basketball to reach 400 wins as both a high school coach and college coach. Coach Walz mentioned he's also a big lover of Diet Coke and usually keeps a cup of it under his chair during games.

Assuming Louisville wins their first round game they'll go up against the winner of 7-seed Northwestern and 10-seed UCF. Northwestern is based out of Evanston, Ill., and was an at-large bid out of the Big Ten with a 15-8 record. The Wildcats fell to Maryland in the Big Ten semifinals. UCF is based out of Orlando, Fla., went 16-4 and was an at-large bid out of the AAC. They fell to South Florida in the AAC Championship.

The favorite in the Alamo Region is 1-seed Stanford. The Cardinal (no "S") went 25-2 overall this year with a 19-2 mark in the Pac-12. Stanford won their conference in the regular season and tournament to earn the automatic bid.

A potential dark horse would be 11-seed South Dakota. The Coyotes- not to be confused with South Dakota State Jackrabbits- went 19-5 on the year and went 12-2 in the Summit League to take the regular season title. South Dakota then went on to went their conference tournament winning by an average margin of 24 points.

The Cards and Red Foxes will play on Monday, March 22 at 8:00 p.m. ESPN will have the coverage. 

We will have plenty more NCAA Tournament coverage for the next several days and ongoing for a few weeks.

Jeff Walz and Dana Evans had a presser after the Selection Show and you can check those out here: 

JEFF WALZ 3/15/21 PRESSER

DANA EVANS 3/15/21 PRESSER

CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA Pick Em

64 teams. 63 games. Do you research, flip your coin, pick your favorite mascot, whatever helps you pick your teams. Just make sure to get your entries submitted before Monday/ March 21 at noon.

Each correct pick equals one point. There are not more points for later rounds.

COVID-19 raises the question of what would happen if a team has to bow out due to positive tests. After a bit of discussion between the Cardinal Couple staff we have come to a conclusion. If a team loses because they have to forfeit it will count as a loss. If a team advances because their opponent has to forfeit then it will count as a victory.

For example, Male High School and Manual High School are set to play but Manual cannot play due to a positive COVID-19 case and Male advances. If you picked Manual, it will just count as a loss. If you picked Male, you will be awarded a point on your bracket.

Feel free to add your comments directly to our daily articles or email us at eupherjared@gmail.com and cardinalcouple@twc.com.

Lacrosse Moves Up in Rankings

Another win helped Louisville lacrosse continue moving up the polls. They are now #15 in the IL Poll. US Lacrosse Magazine put the Cards at #17 and IWLCA has them listed as #19.

Louisville is 4-2 on the year and is on a two-game win streak and have won three of their last four matches.

The Cards host #1 North Carolina on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. You can catch this one on ACC Network.

We have gotten word of some cool news that Louisville Lacrosse will be playing the match at Football's Cardinal Stadium.  Paulie has a interview planned with Lax head coach Scott Teeter later today about the historic event and will run it in his Wednesday article. 

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB opens ACC tournament with Wake Forest, another VB cancellation & more; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good Friday morning, Louisville fans!  It's another gorgeous spring-like day in the 'Ville but let me get the bad news out of the way... We've got another cancellation in the spring volleyball schedule.  It's the third weekend in a row for the squad fall victim to the COVID protocol.  Yet again, the opponent producing the positive test, Virginia Tech announced Thursday afternoon.. just 48 hours after the men's basketball programs cancelled their midweek matchup. 

The weekend volleyball series with Wake Forest is still on schedule for now. The Cards and Deacs will meet Saturday 2 p.m. and also on Sunday. 

And on that note, let's call it what it is and I dub thee:

#WakeForestHateWeekend

ACC Women's Basketball tournament update 

The ACC WBB Tournament began Wednesday, as you all probably know. Just one game on Wednesday:

3/3 Boston College 67 vs Pitt 56

Thursday game results...

Wake Forest 82 vs UNC 71  -- The Deacs' starters put together a solid 40 minutes of play, accounting for all but three of the team's total 82 points.  WF freshman guard Jewel Spear went 10-15 on the day, 7-10 from 3-pt land and had four of the team's five triples in the first quarter.  Ivana Raca went 6-12 for 21 pts, 12 rebounds and went 8-8 at the FT line.  Gina Conte was 4-5 for 13 pts, 12 assists and 3 steals.  The Tarheels were able to come back from down 15 to get a 2 point lead with 5 min left in the 3Q but their lead lasted all of 3:15 minutes before Wake took the lead back and didn't let go. 

Syracuse 67 vs Boston College 61 -- BC was 6-27 on 3-pt attempts making 5 of them in the fourth quarter.  Syracuse outrebounded the Eagles 43-36 on the day, Emily Engstler with 15 for the Orange. As a team 'Cuse shot 42.8% from the field and went 9-13 from the FT line. "Q" bunch gets FSU today. 

Virginia Tech 72 vs Miami 64 -- The Hokies lead 24-12 after one quarter shooting better than 55% from the field and 44% from 3-pt land.  VT had four players scoring in double digits with D'asia Gregg coming off the bench for 13 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman and sophomore duo Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley had 16 pts each in 40 minutes on the floor. The Hokies lost senior guard and the teams leading scorer, Aisha Sheppard 12 minutes into the game to an ankle injury.  She did not return to the game and her availability for Friday's game against NC State looks very doubtful.. which is very unfortunate for the talented Hokies.

Clemson 68 vs Notre Dame 63 -- The Irish out-shot the Tigers 49% to 34.9% from the field but ND made only four 3-pointers, committed 21 turnovers and attempted just 9-11 FTs.  The Tigers won the offensive rebounding battle 18-6 and outscored ND 18-9 in the fourth quarter to upset the Irish. The most exciting game of the ACC Tournament so far.  Clemson goes on to face Georgia Tech today

On tap for today, four games...the first includes the Cards  

Louisville vs Wake Forest - 12PM

PREVIEW 

Louisville (21-2, 14-2) is the 1-seed in the ACC Tournament for the second consecutive season and for the third time in four years. The Cardinals won the 2018 ACC Tournament title as the 1-seed in 2018. They are 10-5 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 6-0 in the ACC Quarterfinals. Wake Forest (12-11, 8-10) entered the ACC Tournament on a three-game losing streak, but ended that skid with yesterday's victory.  The Deacons have several scoring attacks the Cards will have to stifle to secure the victory because this Wake Forest team will want revenge from the regular season matchup.  Ivana Raca leads the team averaging 17 pts and 9 rebounds per game. 

    UofL vs WF  

    (season averages)

    80.5          67.3  PPG 

      35.4          32.9  3-pt%

    39.9          35.2  RPG

    12.2          13.3 TO/G

The last time the two teams met...

UofL 65-63 WF

Cards won the first and fourth quarter to beat the Deacs in the final eight seconds of the game.  Both teams shot 39% from the field, WF was 1-11 from 3-pt land in Winston-Salem.  Dana Evans hit the go ahead shot on a drive to the basket and a Gina Conte foul put Dana at the line and into the Player of the Year conversation.

The Cards were grossly outrebounded 43-32 with WF senior forward Ivana Raca leading the battle of the boards with 13,  Olivia Cochran led Louisville with 11. Evans scored 25 points for Louisville who trailed by nine midway through the fourth quarter before going on a 14-2 run to push back in front for good.

For today, your viewing and listening options: 

TV: RSN (Fox Sports South) (Jenn Hildreth, play-by-play; LaChina Robinson, analyst)

Radio: 790-AM WKRD (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst)

Other games today:  

2:30 pm -- Florida State vs Syracuse 

6 pm --  NC State vs Virginia Tech 

8:30 pm -- Georgia Tech vs Clemson

 

OTHER SPRING SPORTS SCHEDULING

The University of Louisville field hockey team will open the 2021 spring season this weekend with a pair of road contests. The Cardinals, who compiled an 8-2 record in the fall, will face ACC foe North Carolina on Friday at 1 p.m. followed by a non-conference matchup at Ball State on Sunday at 1 p.m.

No. 25 University of Louisville women's lacrosse (2-1) opens its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule on the road against No. 8 Virginia (3-0) on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET.

University of Louisville women's soccer begins their spring season on the road against Dayton on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The match will not be broadcast, but live stats will be available.

The University of Louisville softball team will play host to Bradley, DePaul and Miami (Ohio) in the Cardinal Classic this weekend. The Cards will open play at Ulmer Stadium after playing their first nine games on the road in a three week span facing Bradley in a double header Friday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m.

CARDINAL COUPLE PICK 'EM Bracket update via text from Bracket Czar Jared:

After two days of the contest, here's how the 22 participants stack up: 

One at 5-0
Five at 4-1
Seven at 3-2
Seven at 2-3
Two at 1-4
Zero at 0-5

Six brackets already have an incorrect game going into Friday games. One bracket already has an incorrect game for Saturday. All chosen champions (UofL, NC State, Georgia Tech, FSU, Clemson) remain alive

Clemson Cuz is 5-0, and does have the Clemson Tigers falling to UofL in the final. Arthur is one of the participants with a  4-1 record but has Clemson beating the Cards in the final. Louavulfan is 4-1 but had Notre Dame beating GT. Our own Jeff McAdams is one of the 4-1 teams. The rest of the Cardinal Couple crew is as follows: 

Case, Sonya & Jared 3-2
Daryl & Paulie 2-3

The full standings: 

5-0 -- Clemson Cuz

4-1 -- David Watson, Blue Lou, Arthur, LouavulFan35

3-2 -- KStarks, Vivian, Kenny S., Sonya, Jared, Doug Anderson, Case

2-3 -- Paulie, Ramblin Eric, CC Chimps, Phil, Daryl, Nole Knowledge, Curtis 

1-4 -- Nick O, Joe Hill. 

Questions?  Disputes?  Shoot the Bracket Czar Jared an e-mail at: eupherjared@gmail.com or just go camp out on his condo front porch and confront him directly.  

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST:  

Time change alert: 

We've backed the show up an hour to 10 a.m. to accommodate the spring scheduling.  I will be heading into the ACC Network building, I think Paulie, Jeff and Jared all plan on going out to campus to catch some matches/games!! Looks like we've got some sporadic cloudy/clear skies out there so wear your sunscreen! 

Go Cards!! Let's get some W's today!

~Daryl  

WBB Awards -- T&F News -- ACC Pick Em -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Women's Basketball Awards

Dana Evans continues to rake in awards. Her most recent is being named the Kay Yow Scholar Athlete of the Year.

The award is in memory of Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow, who led NC State to four ACC Tournament championships as well as directing the 1988 USA Olympic Team to a gold medal. It honors an ACC player each year. Evans is the second Cardinal to earn the award, behind Asia Durr, who won the award in 2018.

Evans is also one of five Cards named to the ACC All-Academic Team. The senior will graduate this spring with a degree in Sport Administration. She is joined on the list by Kianna Smith (Marketing), Hailey Van Lith (Business), Elizabeth Dixon (Management), and Mykasa Robinson (Exercise Science).

Dana speaks of the award and other aspects of UofL WBB basketbll in the link below, from her media teleconference yesterday:

 DANA EVANS TELECONFERENCE 3/3/21

UofL and NC State led the ACC with five student-athletes on the list. The 13 ACC schools that played through the end of the season had at least one student-athlete make the list.

Continuing on with the awards, Coach Walz was named a semifinalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year. He is one of 10 finalists and one of two ACC coaches on the list (Wes Moore, NC State).

Track and Field Prepares for NCAA Indoor Championships

Four Cardinals (three women) have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The events will be held in Fayetteville, Ark., March 11-13.

Makenli Forrest is no stranger to the Indoor Championships as she makes her fourth appearance. She will be competing in the weight throw, where she finished runner-up in 2019.

Halee Hudson will also be competing in the weight throw. She has finished top three on three different occasions this year. Her best finish ranks 16th nationally.

Aliyah Welter will be competing in the pole vault. She tied a school record with a 4.32m mark and placed second in the ACC Indoor Championships.

Cardinal Couple's ACC Pick Em

We had 22 entries for this year's Cardinal Couple ACC Pick Em. Let's do a quick breakdown.

-- 15 brackets picked Louisville to win the tournament. Three brackets picked NC State. There were two picks for Georgia Tech and one each for Clemson and Florida State.

-- A UofL vs NC State championship game was most popular with 12 brackets have the top two seeded teams squaring off on Sunday.

-- No team was a unanimous pick for any game in the tournament.

-- After yesterday's first round contest, where 13-seed Boston College topped 12-Pitt 67-56,  we still have 15 remaining perfect brackets. So roughly 1/3 of all entries had Pitt getting the win. Boston College got a career high 33 points from guard Cameron Swartz in the win. 

Today will get more complex with four games happening. The first tips off at noon.

In second round action: 

8-seed North Carolina and 9-seed Wake Forest will start the day off.

 6-seed Syracuse and 13-seed Boston College will follow immediately after.

There will be a brief break before 7-seed Virginia Tech and 10-seed Miami square off. 

Then, 6-seed Notre Dame and 11-seed Clemson will close out the night.

Since Daryl has tomorrow's article I will give her an update to share with us. I will then give another update during our normal Cardinal Couple Podcast on Saturday morning before photographing softball at noon.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards WBB receive honors -- ACC WBB Tournament Starts Today -- Pick 'EM -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS WBB STUDENT-ATHLETES HONORED

AWARDS AND HONORS

A busy 24 hours, in terms of honors and recognition bestowed on members of the University of Louisville women's basketball team student-athletes. 

Dana Evans got two national award honors yesterday, being named as one of the five finalists for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award. This award goes to the nation's top hooting guard in college WBB, and it is the second straight year Dana has been named to the final five. Other honorees are Chelsa Dungee (Arkansas),Ashley Owusu (Maryland), Arella Guirantes ( Rutgers) and Zia Cooke (South Carolina) 

The winner will be annoinced on ESPN, but no firm date for the announcement has been established yet. 

Evans also was named to the Naismith Trophy Semifinalist list yesterday. This award is given each year to the player of the year in college WBB and Evans is one of 11 on this list. It's her second straight year appearing on this list. Others named are: Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Paige Bueckers (UConn), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Charli Collier (Texas), Elisa Cunane (NC State), Naz Hillmon (Michigan), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), Aari McDonald (Arizona), Michaela Onyewere (UCLA) and NaLyssa Smith (Baylor) 

This list will be pared down to four finalists on March 15th. and the winner will be announced the week of March 29th. 

The ACC announced WBB awards as well yesterday and there are two groups that award these separately. There is the Blue Ribbon Panel and the Coaches.

Dana Evans was named Player of the Year by the Blue Ribbon panel. They also put her on the All-ACC First Team.

Dana Evans was also named Player of the Year by the coaches. The coaches put Hailey Van Lith and Olivia Cochran on the ALL-ACC Freshman Team. Kasa Robinson was selected for the All ACC Defensive Team. 

Great honors for these Cards WBB student-athletes ! Our sincere congratulations to all of them and to the team. 

                                           *******************

UofL has a presser scheduled today with Jeff Walz and Dana Evans at noon. I'll try to hop back in here with a link to hear how it went when UofL provides it. 

ACC WBB TOURNAMENT BEGINS TODAY 

The first round of the 2021 ACC WBB Tournament begins today in Greensboro and it'll feature a contest between #12 seed Pittsburgh and #13 seed Boston College. These two will play at 2 p.m. and play for the right to advance to second round action and face Syracuse on Thursday at 2;30 p.m.

A bit of a different first day than we normally see for this event, with Virginia and Duke opting-out of playing. We saw three first round games last year, with the #10-#15 seeds doing battle to advance to the second round.  

The second round remains pretty much the same, with four games, but the #10 and #11 seed automatically advance to thee second day this year (Miami and Clemson) 

Louisville doesn't play until Friday, as the #1 seed. They'lll open ACC WBB Tournament action in the quarterfinals at noon against either Wake Forest or UNC. 

We'll give you full coverage of the five-day tournament here at Cardinal Couple. I won't be in attendance this year, the first one I've missed since 2014. That streak goes even further back, with attendance to the ACC and Big East WBB tournaments.  It's simply a matter of COVID this year and not wanting to take the risk of coming up positive during my six-day stay away from home. I wait patiently for the vaccine. 

RSN has the cover for the first three days before they turn it over to the ACC Network for the semifinals and final games on Saturday. Locally, that's FSNHD -- on Spectrum it's channel 70 or 929. In this day of 10,000 ways to watch stuff, check with your provider to see what channel FSNHD is on. 

CARDINAL COUPLE ACC WBB PICK 'EM

You have until 2 p.m. EST today to get your picks in for the ACC WBB Tournament Pick 'Em contest. As of 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, we had 18 participants for the event, and expect a few more today. 

$25 gift card Cracker Barrel is first prize and a $15 card second prize. If there isn't a Cracker Barrel in your area, and you come in first or second, let us know and we'll try to make a different arrangement for you.  They DO offer carry-out, if you don't want to dine in public yet. 

Sonya and I ordered for carryout the Sunrise Sampler the other morning and it was delicious.  A SPECIAL "SHOUT-OUT" to the Fern Creek location for donating the gift cards again this year. 

You can leave your picks in the comments section today, or email Jared or Paulie with your picks. Send them to

eupherjared@gmail.com

or cardinalcouple@twc.com

One interesting fact from the 18 entries we have received so far is that Louisville is picked to win in 12 of them. NC State is picked to win in three entries. Georgia Tech in two and Clemson in one. 

Have a great Wednesday! 

paulie

 

Cards WBB Down Irish -- ACC Tournament Bracket Set -- Softball at Florida -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE WBB 78- NOTRE DAME 61

The Cardinal womens' basketball squad jumped on Notre Dame early in yesterday's contest and never looked back, rolling to a 17-point win in South Bend and taking their fourth straight ACC regular season title. 

Dana Evans led all scorers with 26 points and was the key to Louisville's early 28-18 first quarter lead with 14 of those points in the first 10 minutes. Four pother Cards finished in double figures as well, Liz Dixon with 12, and Hailey Van Lith, Kianna Smith and Kasa Robinson totaled 10 each, as the Cards end the regular season 21-2 and 14-2 in ACC play.

The second quarter was all Louisville as well, the Cards outscoring the Irish 16-10 to take a commanding 44-28 lead into the locker room. Louisville had actually doubled the score on UND with two minutes left in the second quarter at 44-22, but the Irish scored the last six points of the half. 

The Notre Dame squad would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way, that coming near the end of the third quarter at 55-45. Robinson and Evans responded with baskets, though, in the final 30 seconds and the Cards were safe at 59-45 after three.  

Any worries of a UofL fourth quarter meltdown disappeared quickly when the Cards scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter.  Louisville would lead by 20 with 4:01 left in the game, 71-51,  after Olivia Cochran connected inside and the Cards won the fourth quarter 19-16 and the half 34-33 to clinch the game and the conference title.  All of Van Lith's 10 points came in the final 20 minutes, and Robinson added six of her points in the second half as well. 

Still work to be done was the message from Jeff Walz an Dana Evans in post-game comments. Walz was also asked about the eye-brow raising NCAA Tournament "reveal" released after the game -- where the Cards were ranked at #9 in the nation and dropped to a #3 seed in NCAA Tournament play.

Walz seemed unconcerned, noting that with the tournament being staged in one location this year, home court advantages because of high seedings were not a factor this year and that regardless of your seed, you still have to win games to advance. 

And, win Louisville did. 

A bit of query on his starting lineup against the Irish turned into an interesting reveal of it's own. The Cards started Evans, Van Lith, Ahlana Smith, Elizabeth Balogun and Olivia Cochran on Sunday. All five have started before...but Walz was asked how he came up with that combo. He matter-of-factly stated that he wrote each player's name on a slip of paper, dropped those in a shopping bag and drew out five to determine who would start. Dana Evans was not drawn, but, Merissah Russell, who was -- told Walz that she didn't feel she had earned the start and wanted Dana to have it in place of her. 

You just never know what you're going to get out of Walz. Yesterday, though, it got the Cards a win -- and we'll see if the "shopping bag starters" ploy gets carried over to Friday in the ACC Quarterfinals. Maybe he'll develop a "starters dartboard" or flip a coin...

THE FRED REPORT

We bring out the Freddy Mercury...
We are the Champions. my friends ! 

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 8-9 in a game that, thankfully, didn't feature constant Dee Kantner whistles. That 88% is good for a CAPITAL "F".   

REBOUNDS -- Notre Dame won the battle of the boards 35-28 but there were no players who grabbed more than seven on either team. Maybe that was because neither team shot worse than 45% for the game. But, you lose the boards battle and that won't get you a letter in the FRED stats. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The 51.6% shooting was impressive and the 16 assists on 32 made baskets noteworthy as well. Turnovers were moderate, not bad, at 12 Louisville actually won the points-in the-paint battle 38-32 and dominated the fast break points 13-2. A very good effort from the Cards, but not totally spectacular, so I'll offer a lowercase "e" here...a win by 25 or more would have made it a capital letter. 

DEFENSE -- This is where the Cards won the game. Notre Dame had 25 turnovers, Louisville had 10 steals, the Cards got 25 points off those turnovers and none of Notre Dame's starters reached double figures in scoring (reserves Brunelle and Miles led the way with 13 and 11 points). No problem handing out a CAPITAL "D" for defensive Cardinal efforts on Sunday

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-e-D

All in all, a nice bounce back from the FSU loss and it's always good to go into post-season play on a win streak.  Good to see Hailey Van Lith shake things up  a bit and Dana was spectacular as always...but my MVP of the game Sunday has to go to Kasa Robinson, who gave Louisville 27 minutes of 5-5 shooting, five charges drawn, four assists and three steals.  Having Kasa as a facilitator is good...but when she becomes a scoring threat as well, that is great. Maybe it was because she came off the bench in the topsy, turvy world of Walz "bag-o-nomics" , whatever inspited her Sunday needs to be bottled and distributed before the rest of the games this year. 

ACC TOURNAMENT BRACKET SET

After the action in the final day of ACC WBB regular season play, we had a bracket formulated. Not many changes from what was set before Sunday action, UNC and Wake Forest flopped sports, going from #9 and #8 to #8 and #9 and they still have to play each other on Thursday. FSU got the #4 after Syracuse lost Sunday and dropped to the #5 seed and Virginia Tech's loss made then a #7 seed. 

It all starts Wednesday at 2 p.m. with Pitt and Boston College. 

SOFTBALL FALLS 2-0 TO FLORIDA

Gabby Holloway and Jen Leonhardt combined to allow just three Florida hits in six innings, but the gators made the most of them...scoring two runs in the bottom of the third to win against the visiting Cards. 

The Cards registered three hits as well, but those didn't translate out into any runs. Taylor Roby, serving as the designated hitter yesterday, had two of the Cards hit and she and Taryn Weddle were both on base with singles in the fourth inning but FSU got out of danger with a strike out and a ground out. Louisville would get runners on the corners in the sixth but fail to get them home as well. 

The Cards return home for weekend action at Ulmer Stadium, starting out with a Friday twilight double header against Bradley.  Which Bradley?  No, not Bradley Paisley and/or Bradley Cooper -- it's the gals from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. Cards and Braves start it out around 4:00 p.m. (for now). 

THE CARDINAL COUPLE ACC TOURNAMENT PICK'EM 

Go ahead and get those picks in, the bracket has been determined and the contest has begun. $25 Cracker Barrel card to the winner, $15 card to the second place finisher. Free eats! 

Here are Paulie's Picks

FIRST ROUND:  BOSTON COLLEGE

SECOND ROUND: UNC, SYRACUSE, MIAMI, NORTE DAME

QUARTERS:  LOUISVILLE, SYRACUSE, NC STATE, GEORGIA TECH

SEMIS:  LOUISVILLE, NC STATE

WINNER:  LOUISVILLE

You can enter in the comments section or send your selections to Bracket Czar Jared at  eupherjared@gmail.com   or to me at cardinalcouple@twc.com 

Good luck and may the best bracket win! 

paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple - WBB and Softball Gameday

 Basketball Gameday

"Joy and excitement" is part of our mission statement, so let's start today by looking forward.

The season finale is upon us.  This topsy-turvy season where playing a game wasn't assured until the ref tossed the ball up in the air for the opening tip will be coming to a close and the post-season will be embarking with equal uncertainty.

UofL finishes out the season with Notre Dame at 3pm on ESPN with Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli on the call.  Of course audio coverage can also be heard on 790AM with the ever-excellent Nick Curran giving you the call.

The Cards are looking to clinch the outright ACC regular season title with a win in this game.  This would be the second straight outright, and fourth straight time of getting at least a share.  The only threat to this is NC State.  With their game against Syracuse tipping off at noon, by our game time, we'll know the whole scenario.

Former ND WBB coach Muffet McGraw

The Cards beat Notre Dame earlier in the season, of course, with Dana Evans scoring 27 points, including five in the last minute of the game to win the game 71-65.

We know the Notre Dame threat fairly well, with true freshman Maddy Westbeld, Destinee Walker, Dara Mabrey, Anaya Peoples, and Sam Brunelle as the likely starting five.

Will UofL shake off its recent slump and get back to playing the ball we know they can play?  Let's hope so.  Let's use this game as a re-set for the post season.

Softball Playing Hard 

There are no softballs on Softball's schedule so far.  The diamond runners will be playing their 4th game of this relatively young season against a Top 10 team today.

As Louisville wakes up to a cool and very rainy morning (Please be careful of flooded roads this morning, "Turn Around, Don't Drown" is the saying the National Weather Services uses, good advice indeed), the commentators during yesterday's game were almost bragging about the 82 degrees and mostly sunny weather in Gainesville.

The Florida Gators did win this one, and, to be honest, I don't think much of anyone was shocked by the outcome.  UofL isn't just coming into these games to "get the experience", they are playing to win, and are going in with the mindset that they can.  But Florida is the number five or six team in the country, depending on which poll you look at.

Louisville did get a run across the plate.  Rebecca Chung crushed one to the left field fence for a triple.  Charley Butler took over the base running duties at that point and was driven home by a Carmyn Greenwood single to right.

Florida was the better team in this one, though, winning the contest 5-1.

The rematch today is an early start, at 10am.  No video listed for this one, but a radio station is listed on Florida's site for audio coverage which looks like an ESPN radio station affiliate: https://www.wruf.com/listen-live/

Other Scheduling Notes

The Calendar is super packed with events.  A quick rundown of yesterday and the rest of today.

Women's golf will be in action in Bowling Green, which is hopefully drier than Louisville this morning.

Women's tennis got swept by Duke.  I may be more disappointed about losing the doubles point, than I am about losing the whole match.

And finally Volleyball's match against Notre Dame was postponed due to Covid issues within Notre Dame's program.

The Athletes Unlimited Pro Sports Volleyball league did kick off their inaugural season last night.  UofL alum Erin Fairs had a decent individual showing, gaining 35 points in digs, 32 in serve receive, got a nice 12 points for a service ace, but alas, lost more points on hitting errors than she got on kills.  She wasn't helped by her Team Cruz, in gold not winning a single set of the three, nor of course the match, so she got none of the set and match team points.  Pro rookie Leah Edmunds from UK leads the league after the first night of play.  For info on league play, check out https://auprosports.com/volleyball/how-we-play-volleyball/, as it's....different.  Also in AU news, it looks as if they're starting a Women's Lacrosse League this summer, with play starting in July, joining volleyball and softball.  Fairs will be in action again this evening at 9pm on FS1 against Team Sybeldon in purple with Louisvillian Deja McClendon.

Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament "Pick 'Em"

Here's your daily reminder that we will be sponsoring a Pick 'em contest for the upcoming ACC WBB Tournament. You can enter and win a gift card for a first of second place finish. Paulie has arranged for Cracker Barrel Gift Cards again this season -- $25 for the winner and $15 for second place. 

It's easy and fun to participate.   Just make your selections for the 12 games once we know the seedings. Submit them in any of our daily comments sections, or send them to Bracket Czar Jared Anderson at: 

eupherjared@gmail.com

Or to Paulie:  cardinalcouple@twc.com 

-- Make sure and put your name or "site handle" on the entry.

-- Make sure your entry is in by 2 p.m. Wednesday. Actually, the earlier the better, since first entry will break any ties for first or second.  

Then, just sit back and watch the fun! 

Here's an example off how you can submit:  

FIRST ROUND;   Paulie University

SECOND ROUND:  Jeff A&M, Case Tech, Jared State, Daryl College

QUARTERFINALS:  Chimps U, Case Tech, Card Couple U, Daryl College

SEMIS:  Case Tech, Card Couple U 

FINALS: Card Couple U

12 selections, five days, 13 teams and Ms. Wuf !!!  What could be more fun?  Join us! 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Lot's of talk about women's basketball including our version of the end of the year individual awards, softball, a brief touch of volleyball.  We, as a team, battled through a number of technical difficulties, Paul, Case, and myself all suffering from some various forms of gremlins through the morning.

Despite the hums and buzzing, I think it ended up being a good show.  Check it out below, or check out Case's release of it in podcast form where hopefully he was able to clean it up a bit, available at your favorite place to listen to podcasts.

--JMcA--

Louisville WBB victorious in Pittsburgh 82-58; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS GET TO 20 WINS IN PITTSBURGH

We got a game-day, Cards fans.  I hope you're staying warm and safe out there if you have to be out.  After a week in between matchups for UofL, looking to close out the regular season strongly, Louisville WBB wins on the road at Pittsburgh propelled by a 28-13 third quarter rout. 

Dana Evans scored 29 points, 21 of them in the second half and has scored a tleast 20 points 16 of Louisville's 21 games played this season. Mykasa Robinson had 6 points on 2-3 shooting from field, along with 5 assists, 5 steals, 9 rebounds and went 2-3 from the FT line.  The Panthers were lead by Gabbie Green.  She was averaging 5.5 pts coming into the game and had 20 points on 5-8 from beyond 3. 

RECAP: Louisville WBB (20-1, 13-1) vs Pitt Panthers 82-58

The Cards allowed 3 offensive rebounds in Pitt's second possession but they were 0-6 in first 1:30. Pitt's second leading scorer Dayshanette Harris came out of game 2 min into it with a knee injury. Olivia Cochran picked up 2 fouls less about 30 seconds within the other about 3 minutes in. Liz Dixon got the scoring going for the Cards, she went 2-2 for 4 pts 0-1 FT line to start.  Losing rebound battle 6-4 first 3 min off the clock. 

The Cards defense only allowed 2 points up until the 5:25 min mark when it was 8-2 Cards. Mykasa had 2 steals 5 min off clock and took a charge for the Pitt TO. She also got to the line where she went 1-2.  The team was 1-3 for 33.3% at FT line in the first quarter. Liz Dixon went 5-5 for 10 points and 2 rebounds.  Kianna Smith 0-3 from behind the arc.  Hailey Van Lith contributed 3 reb 3 assists and a clock through her first eight minutes on the floor. 

End of 1Q 17-9 Cards
FG %
8-17 47% Cards
4-21 19% Pitt
Reb.  16-12 Pitt
3-pt %
0-4 0% Cards
1-5 20% Pitt

Back to back 3 point jumpers made by Green in less than a minute made it 19-15 Cards lead. With Cochran on the bench with a couple fouls, we saw a Ramani Parker sighting early in the second quarter.  She was headed to the free throw line not long after entering the game and went 2-2. With 3 minutes off the clock Pitt was winning the quarter 8-4. HVL got her first bucket about halfway through the 2Q.  

Everett secured her first bucket with 4 min left till halftime. With 2:39 Green hits her fourth 3-pointer to tie it 27 all. UofL was 0-6 from 3 point land for the game by this point. Pitt had landed 3 threes in the quarter and the Cards were losing the offensive rebounding battle 15-6.  The Cards finished on a 6-0 run and the refs waved off what I think should've been counted as the Cards first 3 point bucket on a last .1 of a second chuck by Dana Evans 15 feet behind 3 point line but the Cards ended up 0-7 from beyond 3 point arc.  Pitt finished the final 2:39 scoreless and UofL was 6-6 at the FT line for the quarter.

End of 2Q 18-16 Pitt 
FG %
5-13 38.5% Cards
6-19 31.6% Pitt
Reb. 11-11 
3-pt %
0-3 0% Cards
3-6 50% Pitt

HALF 33-27 Cards

 Dana hit the first 3 of the game for Louisville with 7 minutes left on clock in the third quarter. Dixon scored her first points since the first quarter with 5:45 offensive rebound off a Kianna Smith miss for the put back underneath. Dana Evans was 3-4 from the field with 4:19 still left on clock and Pitt scoreless for almost 3 minutes after that until they got to the line.  The Cards pushed the lead to 18 making it 57-39 with 1:56 left in the 3Q. Cards lead by 21 at 61-40. Dana lead the team with 13 points 4-6 and 4-4 at the FT line. Mykasa secured two buckets, a free throw, four rebounds and two assists in the quarter. 18 of the Cards 28 points were in the paint. 

End of 3Q 28-13 cards 
FG %
11-18 61% Cards
4-12 33.3% Pitt
Reb. 11-6 cards
3-pt %
1-3 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

HVL hits a jumper from the FT line and Balogun scores on a fast break before back to back threes by Jayla Everett ,as she started to warm up to make it 65-51. Pitt was 11-4 in the quarter with 4:53 left in the game. Dana Evans then went on to score the next 8 points for UofL before exiting the game for the evening finishing 11-20 from the field, 3-5 from 3-point land a perfect 4-4 at the free throw line. Everett was 3-5 for 8 points in the quarter.

End of 4Q 21-18 Cards 
FG %
9-17 52.9% Cards
7-14 50% Pitt
Reb. 10-7 Cards 
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

FINAL 82-58 LOUISVILLE WINS!! 

 

Coach Walz post-game:

Coach admits there were 'glimpses of good and glimpses of bad' in this one.  That there were 'tough stretches but overall did some good things' thanks to a really good second half.  Also mentioned how he thought Mykasa had a fabulous night contributing 5 assists, 5 steals 9 rebounds and no turnovers.  

Coach Walz also added on to the Dana Evans players of the year campaign with her 21 point second half effort and how she been able to consistently do this especially in the month of February. 

WALZ'S FULL REMARKS CAN BE HEARD HERE:  JEFF WALZ POST-GAME PITT.

 

FRED REPORT 

In honor of Pitt, we bring you former
Pitt WBB great Fred Potvin ! 

F-Free Throws Lead by Dana's perfect four attempts at the line, the team went 13-15 on the evening for a strong 87% effort. In comparison, Pitt went 8-17 for 47% from the line. 87% is better than the 70% requirement for a CAPITAL F

R-Rebounding The Cards were outrebounded by Pitt 27-23 in the first half losing the offensive rebound battle 15-6. The team bounced back in the second half to win the battle on the boards 21-13 and ended up winning the night 44-40 against the Panthers. Robinson lead the rebounding efforts with 9 for UofL. CAPITAL R

E-Effort/Efficiency It's always enjoyable to watch the show Dana Evans puts on for basketball fans, the way she can take over any game but I also wanted to shout out Mykasa Robinson on her performance. She cuts into every lane, dives for every loose ball and takes almost every charge opportunity thrusted at her. It really is a pleasure to watch if you're a fan of competition. CAPITAL E

D- Defense UofL forced 20 Pitt turnovers in the game. Mykasa had 5 steals herself, Pittsburgh had 3 total. Pittsburgh shot 32% from the field landing 8 from beyond 3. Pitt landed 25% of their 40 shot attempts in the first half while making one more and attempting 14 less in the second half good for a 42.3% second half effort. The Panthers scored 11 points less than their season average so I give it a solid CAPITAL D

 

FINAL Fred Report :  F-R-E-D 

 LACROSSE DOWNS COLORADO 12-9 

Getting four goals from Ally Hall and a superb defensive effort in goalkeep by Rachel Florek, Louisville got their first win of the 2021 Lacrosse season with a 12-9 win over #24 Colorado yesterday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

The contest was an back=and forth affair early on, Louisville trading leads with the Buffs until UofL went on a 4-1 run to end the half and take a 8-4 lead. Hall had three of her goals in the first half and an assist. The Cards were having trouble winning draw controls, but were stopping Colorado after they gained possession. 

Louisville (1-1) increased the lead to 10-4 early in the second half after scores from Hall and Caroline Blalock, and the rout appeared to be on -- but a succession of yellow cards on the Cards allowed Colorado to play a "man up" and respond with four straight second half goals to make it 10-8 with 17:35 left in the second half. Three of the Colorado scores came from Sadie Grozier. 

The Cards were able to rally, though, and Blalock and Alex McNicholas went back-to-back over the next six minutes to push the Louisville lead out to 12-8. Colorado managed just one score the rest of the way, and Louisville "iced" a hard-fought 12-9 win. 

Scott Teeter was pleased with the win: 

"I thought we got off to an excellent start and we had answers whenever Colorado had a push -- we answered right back. Colorado is a great team, they are nationally ranked for a reason. We found a way to win, though, and we need to build off this." 

Teeter, goalkeeper Rachel Florek and attacker Ally Hall joined our own Paulie for these post-game remarks in the link below: 

TEETER, HALL AND FLOREK POST-GAME COLORADO

Have a great start to your weekend, we will catch you all the airwaves Saturday morning for another episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast.  

As always, Go Cards!
- Daryl