SWEET SIXTEEN -- Softball Visits EKU -- NCAA Sweet Sixteen Set -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Crushes Texas, Advances to the Sweet Sixteen

For the sixth straight NCAA Tournament, Louisville women's basketball is headed to the Sweet Sixteen! The Cards took down host Texas 73-51.

While there was plenty to celebrate, it was the postgame handshake that sparked controversy. It wasn't a case of Jeff Walz not talking to Muffet McGraw. In fact, this altercation didn't involve him at all. Hailey Van Lith was stopped by Texas' Sonya Morris and tv cameras caught part of it. Many tried to lip-read what Morris said and the consensus seemed to be that she said something along the lines of "honorable mention", referring to Van Lith being an honorable mention All-American (if that is what was actually said).

Either way, it appeared that a handful of Louisville players picked up it and were not a fan of the comment. We do not have confirmation on what was actually said. Hailey's post-game comments about the delay in the handshake line were pretty general and did not specifically address Morris being an asshole. 

Here's the ball game recap:

1Q: Louisville 16, Texas 16

The Cards raced out of the gate on a 7-0 with three different players logging a basket. It took Texas three and a half minutes before they logged a basket and got onto the scoreboard. The Longhorns did cut Louisville's lead to three before the media timeout. The Cards pushed the lead back to five before Texas used a 7-2 run to close out the quarter. Despite a rough 1-5 from three-point range, the Cards were tied with the host Longhorns

2Q: Louisville 37, Texas 23

Defense was the name of the game in the second quarter for the Cards, as they limited Texas to seven points. Louisville jumped out to a 9-0 run, including back-to-back baskets by Josie Williams, and forced Texas to burn a timeout. The Longhorns did cut Louisville's lead down to five before the Cards pushed it open to a double-digit lead that ended with a pair of free throws from CC Carr to go into the half.

3Q: Louisville 56, Texas 35

While Louisville was able to extend the lead to 16, Texas then began chipping away and got it back to single-digits midway through the quarter. Then, the Louisville defense stepped in. The Cards held Texas to four points over the final 5:29 of the quarter while going on 16-4 run to close out the period.

(Should I go start the bus?)

4Q: Louisville 73, Texas 51

Understanding that they were one quarter away from a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, the Cards had all the motivation they needed and opened up the final quarter with six quick points for a 27-point lead, the biggest lead of the game. The absence of having a killer instinct and being able to put opponents away had been something Louisville struggled with this season. Well, not this time. Louisville never let Texas get closer than within 22 points the rest of the way.

Louisville struggled to shoot the deep range shot, going 3-13 from three, but excelled in many other areas. Texas is a team known for its size but the Longhorns were limited to just four blocks. The Cards also won the rebounding battle 42-34. Louisville dominated down low with a 38-20 points in the paint advantage.

UofL limited their turnovers to just 10 and excelled in transition with 13 fast break points. The bench provided 25 points. The Cards shot 47% from the field and 66.7% from the free throw line.

Hailey Van Lith had another high-scoring effort with a game-high 21 points. She continues to climb the Louisville record books in terms of scoring in the NCAA Tournament. She was also credited with drawing six fouls.

Morgan Jones was the only other Cardinal in double figures, scoring 10 points, mostly close to the rim. She was a perfect 5-5 from the field. 

While Liz Dixon struggled to score, she dominated the boards, logging 10 rebounds with three of them being on the offensive glass.

Nyla Harris recorded six rebounds with a whopping four of them being offensive rebounds.

Texas struggled from the floor. The Longhorns went 1-10 from three and shot 34.5% overall. Texas turned the ball over 13 times and was limited to five assists.

FRED Report

The "crime dog" would approve of the Cards toughness.

Free Throws- A 10-15 outing is a bit on the lower end for what we want to see. CC Carr was the only Cardinal to attempt more than one free throw AND be perfect on it. The Jeff Walz philosophy includes rebounding a missed free throw for a made basket as a plus. We did see that happen one time. But a 66.7% free throw shooting percentage can barely qualify for a lower "f".

Rebounding- The Cards outrebounded Texas by eight. They turned 15 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points. Unlike the Drake game, Texas is bigger and plays more heavily in down low. Those numbers in this situation certainly earn a capital "R".

Effort/Efficiency- There's no doubt the effort was there for Louisville. The hustle and energy have been present nonstop since the postseason began. Despite the struggles from three-point range, Louisville shot well overall from the field and had a 1-1 assist to turnover ratio. They maximized scoring opportunities including making layups. Capital "E".

Defense- Fans questioned the defense from Saturday. There's nothing to question here after the win against Texas. The Longhorns never scored above 16 points in a quarter including a single-digit second quarter. Texas had difficulty getting good looks, which was a big part of their poor shooting. Also, giving up just 51 points to a team that was averaging 73 points per game is remarkable. Capital "D".

f-R-E-D is the verdict following the win.

5-seed Louisville now gears up for a game against 8-seed Ole Miss on Friday March 24, time TBD. The Rebels upset 1-seed Stanford last round and recently took South Carolina to overtime in the regular season before falling. Ole Miss is not a walk in the park by any means, but when it comes to March, Jeff Walz has his team ready to go and the Cards won't go down without a fight.

For us, we get to continue celebrating the joy and excitement of Louisville women's basketball a little bit longer this season.

POST GAME PRESSER WITH COACH WALZ, KASA , OLIVIA AND HAILEY BELOW: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Pt4YFfkRY

Softball Visits EKU

Fresh off a series sweep against Pitt, Louisville softball hits the road for a midweek game against Eastern Kentucky. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. ET, and will be aired on ESPN+. Louisville is 18-9 on the year and is currently on a three-game win streak.

The Colonels bring a 15-11 record into the game following being on the wrong end of a series sweep to Liberty over the weekend. Prior to that, EKU swept Valparaiso in Richmond.

Three Colonels are batting over .500: Vianna Barron (.371), Maggie Pertee (.368), and Jasmine Miller (.303). EKU has outscored opponents 142-119 on the year.

In the circle, EKU boasts a 3.89 ERA. Lauren Narvaez leads the pitching staff with 37 strikeouts while Brooke Davis has the best ERA at 2.57.

NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen is Set

The final games of the second round of the NCAA Tournament concluded yesterday and the Sweet Sixteen is set. All games will be played March 24-25.

Last night's scores:

5-seed Louisville 73, 4-seed Texas 51

3-seed Ohio State 71, 6-seed North Carolina 69

4-seed Tennessee 94, 12-seed Toledo 47

4-seed Villanova 76, 12-seed FGCU 57

9-seed Miami, 70, 1-seed Indiana 68

2-ssed UConn 77, 7-seed Baylor 58

6-seed Colorado 61, 3-seed Duke 53

4-seed UCLA 82 vs 5-seed Oklahoma 73

I didn't get a chance to stay awake to see the back half of UCLA vs Oklahoma (early alarm for work), but the Miami win over Indiana did some major damage to brackets, including a couple brackets that had the Hoosiers winning it all. Most brackets had the Cards getting the win over Texas. Before I went to bed, we saw three upsets in terms of seedings last night including the second 1-seed of the tournament go down.

So, it's down to South Carolina, UCLA, Notre Dame, Maryland, Ole Miss, Louisville, Colorado, Iowa, Miami. Villanova, LSU, Utah, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Ohio State, and UConn. 1/4th of the field ACC.  1/4th of the field SEC. 

Our condolences to all of our Hoosier fan readers...locally and across the Ohio River from us. I think a lot of us were wanted to see Grace Berger and her squad go a little further.  It's a mad, mad, mad, mad tournament...though.  (I know a guy selling IU Sweet Sixteen t-shirts VERY cheap...)

CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA WBB BRACKET PICK 'EM  UPDATE

HERE are the top 25 in the Cardinal Couple NCAA WBB Bracket Pick 'Em Contest. If you don't see your entry....well, better luck next contest !

38-10   Katy, Jason, Jared, JMCA

37-11   Sonja, Kenny S., K.Stark, Vivian

36-12   Arthur, Paulie, Wahoo Card, Joe Hill, Faris, Thomas, Daaryl

35-13   David Watson, Case, Vivian

34-14   Blue Lou

33-15   Curtis, Mike D., Becky, Cindy

32-16   Nick O. 

31-11   Bea

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Basketball Advances - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Basketball Advances

Let's get my shame out of the way.  I only watched a few seconds of yesterday's WBB tournament game.  I have season tickets to the Louisville Orchestra Pops concerts and last night's concert started at the exact same time as the game.  With the concert theme being 80s music, my choice to go watch a one time event with the LO playing the music of my childhood (Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, The Eurythmics, Elton John, Heart, Hall & Oates, Robert Palmer, Whitney Houson, Tears for Fears, Debbie Gibson, and more!) or see the first of what I was confident would be several tournament games this year.  Friends, I went to the concert, but not without a fair bit of FOMO.

Despite my fandom betrayal, the five seed Cards did win in their always dangerous 5/12 seeding battle with the Drake Bulldogs, 83-81.

Drake knew what they needed to do to beat the Cards, and it was a very binary offense, either they were in the paint shooting layups, or they were shooting threes.  There was no in-between.

Louisville, however, had Tournament Hailey, scoring 26 points, and add in a trio of assists and a couple of steals.  Quite an impressive tally by the Washingtonian after sitting much of the second quarter thank to having picked up a couple of fouls.

If Haily Van Lith shows up consistently, come tournament time, with 20+ points, Cards fans have also been conditioned not to expect impressive offensive output from Mykasa Robinson.  She has always contributed mind blowing defensive efforts, team leadership, that "spark" that makes everyone around her better.  Last night, however, she did all that, and plunked down a career high 14 points.

Nyla Harris, Chrislyn Carr, and Olivia Cochran joined HVL and Kasa in the starting lineup, all contributing well, but falling just short of double digits.  Credit Merissah Russell, coming off the bench and scoring nine.

A hot start for both teams, with a 25-23 first quarter where Louisville held a slim lead, but Drake would get the two back to tie the game at 39 at the half.  With essentially a new, half-length ballgame starting in the second half, Louisville held a slight edge in the third quarter, 17-15 in the quarter to end it 56-54.

But really, the ending is what has everyone talking.  With a minute left, the score was tied 75-75, HVL popped a shot from elbow.  The Bulldogs (c'mon, how is their mascot not "The Dragons" when their school name is Drake?!) brought it down and missed a lay-up and Harris got the rebound.  Drake realized they needed to foul because they had a foul to give before Louisville would be shooting free throws.  A foul on the inbound sent Kasa to the line with 20 seconds left.  Hitting one of the two, making it a three point game and leaving the door open for Drake.  Kasa then fouled Drake on the inbounds pass.

This starts the discussion of whether it's wise to foul in the waning seconds of the game if you're up three.  I've always been in the camp of going ahead and fouling in this situation, but reasonable people disagree.  Keep that thought in mind, however.

Drake hit both free throws, drawing within one.  Coach Jeff Walz uses one of his two timeouts to advance the ball to half-court.  Another timeout to avoid the five second call as Drake played great defense, denying the inbound pass.  On the second attempt, Mad Scientist Walz draws up a brilliant inbound play with nearly everyone breaking for the backcourt except HVL, gets an open inbound pass from Kasa, and scores with "and one" foul, putting the Cards back up three.  The stone-cold free throw pushed lead to four with 18.2 second left.

Drake uses one of their remaining two timeouts to advance, gets a relatively easy inbound and scores a very deep three with 14.4 seconds.  Louisville was now out of timeouts, but could count on Drake fouling.  HVL draws it, hits both.  Drake doesn't use their last timeout to advance, gets a look at a three point shot and misses.  Morgan Jones gets the rebound, but goes to the ground with it and gets called for a questionable travel call.

Drake gets the ball under their basket with 3.3 seconds left, and uses their last timeout to draw up their play.  Again, Louisville is up three, so the question of fouling to put the opponent on the line for two comes up again, this time I've got coach Walz joining me in my corner.  Louisville commits the foul even before the ball is inbounded.  Drake hits the first shot, which then brings up the next tactical question, do you intentionally miss the second shot to try to get the rebound and put back?  We don't know if that was Drake's intention, but they did miss the second free throw.  Unfortunately for them, Kasa Robinson grabs the rebound instead, fires a quick pass over to HVL in clear space preventing Drake from being able to commit another foul and extending the game.

I'm sure everyone was on the edge of their seat watching this one, and the score was certainly closer than any of us would've liked for a 5/12 seed matchup, but Louisville comes away with the win.

Next up for the Cards is a matchup against four seed Texas, tomorrow.  Texas easily beat East Carolina in their first game.

Fred Report

(Lamont, can't they stop a back door layup?)

I forgot to add the Fred report upon first writing, my apologies, I haven't done too many recaps this year, I'm a bit rusty.  -- JMcA

Free Throws - 78.9% on the game, that's good enough for a capital F, regardless of the variances of how we grade this (I only do capital F's for above 75%, and lower case f's for 70-75%).  The bulk of those were from HVL and Kasa Robinson who went 5-5, and 6-8 respectively.  Well done.

Rebounds - No letter here as Drake outrebounded the Cards 33-28.

Effort/Execution - A bit subjective here, and tougher to grade when I didn't get to watch the bulk of the game, but there's certainly a letter worthy thanks to the execution in the crucial last minute of play.  The close score through the game suggests that there were more breakdowns earlier in the game, so I'm going out on a limb here at only going with a lower case e.

Defense - Drake clearly had a game plan and stuck with it, lay ups and three pointers with nothing in between.  You'd like to see the defense preventing so many entries into the post and force at least some mid-range, or long twos.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen evidence to award a letter here.

F-_-e-_ isn't a great outing in the Fred report, but ultimately the game still goes in the win column and the Cards advance.

Post Game Walz, Van Lith and Robinson

NCAA post-Drake presser below with Walz, Hailey Van, Lith and Kasa Robinson and Drake's presser. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftZii9phAoI

POST GAME DRAKE COACH AND STUDENT ATHLETES

Cardinal Couple NCAA Pick 'Em Contest

So, the first round is done and we have a bunch of very wise game predictors !  After 32 games, here is my highly unofficial, "probably wrong" and subject to scrutiny and persecution results for the "top three"

27-5   Vivian, David Watson

26-6   Kenny S,  Katy, Paulie, Sonya, Curtis, JMCA, Jared, Karen J, Thomas, Daryl, Jason. Joe Hill and a partridge in a pear tree

25-7  Arthur, K Stark, Case,, Mike D. Faris

If you don't see YOUR name, it's probably because you did worse than 25-7. Do better and get on the "top three" list !!  Any disputes, questions, objections, or tips on removing messy stains should be directed to out bracket czar JaredKodak.  Of course, that means he'll show up at your home or work office, take a bunch of selfies with your stuff, any animals, public conveyances, motor vehicles and any surviving members of the Great Flood of 1937 that he stumbles across. Or, just ask in the comments section. 

Asker beware. If the Chimps get the message first, they'll convert it to Basque and don sombreros with intent of taking over UofL's Humanities building

Swimming and Diving

Louisville finished up their appearance at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships with a fourth place finish for the team total.  The finish was bolstered by some point scoring finishes in the diving side of the pool, an aspect of the sport only recently seeing success for the Cards as well as a third place finish for the  Gabi Albiero, Christiana Regenauer, Julia Dennis, and Ella Welch 400 free relay team.

The men still have the championship on their side of the competition, but the focus for Swim and Dive switches to more individual competition, as well as metric system measurements.

Congratulations to another great season for Arthur Albiero and team.

Today's Action

Lacrosse

Scott Teeter and the Lacrosse team head north to Milwaukee to take on Marquette today at 1pm.  The video link for it goes to Flo Sports: https://flosports.link/3ljknvp

Marquette is 6-1 on the season, but for the most part, hasn't faced intense competition.  The loss is to a very good Northwestern team, ranked fourth in the country, but otherwise the Eagle's schedule is filled with decent teams, but no one to write home about.

Softball

Softball will try to get enough warmth into the Don Dobina Field and Ulmer Stadium to be able to host the third game in the series against Pitt.  Originally scheduled for one game each of Friday, yesterday, and today, the teams instead played a double-header on Friday, with the third scheduled for yesterday.  Yesterday turned out too cold to play so they moved the third game back to today when it was originally scheduled.

So they're currently slated for a 2pm start.  The hourly forecast from the National Weather Service predicts 36 degrees with a wind chill of 30 at 2pm.  That is just on the cusp of being allowable conditions to play.  Will we have a delay?  It's possible, but the forecast does show the temp and wind chill continuing to rise, so it shouldn't be much of a delay if there is one at all.

Louisville beat Pitt in a run rule in the first game Friday, 12-2 in five innings, with a closer game for the nightcap, but The Cards still emerging victorious 5-4.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

A full house for the CCRHP yesterday, or as I prefer to call it, four of a kind with a queen high.

As you might expect, we covered the then upcoming game for basketball, as well as past games of lacrosse and softball.  We got a first hand account of just how cold it really was for Softball from our intrepid photog, Jared.

It was good fun and great discussion as always, it's always a special delight when all five of us can make it onto the call.  Check it out at it's newly renovated Spotify home at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Softball-Sweep-and-NCAA-Tourney-Underway-e20lvh9

It is, of course, still available as always, at all major podcast directories.

JMcA