Cards WBB faces Duke tonight in the KFC YUM! Center -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 11-0 IN ACC SQUADS DUEL FOR CONFERENCE LEAD

(photo by Clarissa Li) 

it's the highlight game of the ACC schedule so far this year, when Kara Lawson brings her Duke squad to Louisville for a nationally televised game on ESPN tonight at 7 p.m. 

Duke comes in on a 13 game win streak and the Cards have a 14 game win streak. Duke has one of the best player in the league in forward Toby Fournier, a Canadian, and the Cards have an incredibly balanced team that plays as a unit so well and efficiently. Taj Roberts recently was named to the mid-season Anne Meyers Drysdale Award List for best guard in DI basketbal. she's one of 10 named as mid-season finalists. l 

Jeff Walz talks about the upcoming game Here .

The Cards are 9-6 against Duke all time but lost the matchup in Durham last year 61-48. Mac Randolph (13 pts..) and Olivia Cochran (11 points) led Louisville in scoring...Duke was led by four players in double figures...Oluchi Okananwa (3 points) Reigan Richardson (12 points). Ashton Jackson (11 points) and Fournier (10 points). Jackson and Fournier are still on the squad...Okananwa transferred to Maryland and Richardson was waived by the Minnesota Lynx in training camp.

UofL has a $7 ticket promotion for the game. Tickets available at box office. 

The Cards are #6 in the nation and Duke is #17, according to AP Poll. Seven out of ten Duke writers pick the Cards to win this one (Read here)

We'll cover it and Daryl will have the recap Friday.

pauiie

Nine down and Nine To Go for WBB -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS AND DUKE ATOP THE ACC WBB RANKINGS. 

We are halfway through the ACC WBB conference slate now and...even though the city of Louisville is in a polar deep freeze currently, the women's basketball team is "en fuego". 

At 9-0 in conference and 19-3 overall, the Cards and Duke are the only two teams at 9-0 and the much awaited matchup between these two will be on Feb 5th in the KFC YUM CENTER. The Thursday night matchup will be shown on ESPN. 

The Cards are ranked #7 in the nation and Duke checks in at #20. Duke has struggled out of conference, with losses to West Virginia, South Florida, South Carolina, UCLA, LSU and Baylor....for a 5-6 record out of the ACC, Five of the schools they lost to, however, are in the top 25. 

Retired head coach "Katie the Lady" Meier of Miami

Duke has won 11 in a row, though, under Kara Lawson ...but faces a potentially tough outing in their next game, when the face Miami on Thursday in Miami. Head coach Tricia Cullop, formerly out of Toledo, is in her second year at "The U" . Former head coach Katie Meier is now a "special advisor and ambassador" for Miami athletics in Coral Gables and "Katie the Lady" was always a tough out for Walz and company when the two matched up....hanging losses on the Cards in 2022 and 2019.  

Looking at Louisville, their west coach swing , coming up next, should prove to be an interesting test for these Cards. Thursday, January 29th has the Cards on the Stanford (4-4, 15-6)  campus and Feb 1st brings the Cards to Cal (3-5, 12-8) . I do applaud the scheduling that lets  Louisville get both West coast games in a row...but I still have to chuckle when I tell people that the Cards have two Atlantic Coast Conference games in California. 

Toby Fournier is the leading scorer of Kara Lawson's crew, at 17.7 points per game and she had a long laundry list of schools she consider back in 2024. She also grabs 7.7 rebounds a contest. The Toronto Canada native looked at South Carolina, UConn, Stanford, UCLA, North Carolina, Arizona and Michigan. And, she's just a sophomore...if you needed any other reasons to have a headache. Maybe one redeeming feature for an opponent is to foul her...she is 68 for 129 (53%) from the charity stripe. 

So, who are some of the more worrisome foes left in the Cards final nine conference games before the tournament? Duke, obviously...and Cal, Stanford, Notre Dame and Syracuse. 

Any ACC WBB game, though, can be a nightmare for a visiting team, especially on the road...because of the big home team fan support in the league. Maybe it's just best to follow the philosophy of UFC great Conor McGregor when he said

"Success isn't a result of arrogance, it's a result of belief." 

paulie

WBB Falls at Duke 63-56 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

BALOGUN'S DOUBLE/DOUBLE HELPS SINK CARDS IN DURHAM

Sometimes, things come back to bite you. 

When Jeff Walz went after Elizabeth Balogun and Liz Dixon when they decided to leave Georgia Tech, most saw it as a nice move to make the prospects of the 2019-20 Cardinals team even stronger. After all, Balogun was the reigning ACC Freshman of the Year and had averaged almost 15 points a game. But, after two years, she felt the need to move again and Kara Lawson and Duke brought her aboard. 

The first player in ACC history to play for three different ACC teams went off on her old teammates Sunday in Cameron Indoor Stadium with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Duke kept their ACC slate unblemished with the 63-56 win over Louisville, 

An 8-0 run in the fourth quarter was the deciding factor. After Louisville got a three from Olivia Cochran with 4:38 to go, the Cards had managed to trim a seven point deficit to two at 51-49 . Louisville would not score again, though, in the next three minutes and see the Duke lead grow to 59-49.  Although, the Cards would manage to get back within three with 42 seconds to go, four straight Blue Devil free throws to close out the contest (two by Balogun) allowed the Durham squad to get the "W" and go to 13-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC so far in the 2022-23 season. 

The Cards jumped out to a 5-0 lead to begin the game, but found themselves behind 18-11 after 10 minutes. It was 32-24 at the half and the Cards went into the fourth quarter on the short end of a 43-38 score, thanks to a late Balogun three that turned a 40-38 contest to the five-point home team advantage The Cards used a 7-0 run late in the third quarter to knock a 11 point Duke lead to four, but when they needed a run to pull out a win on the road, UofL fell just short. 

Coach Walz pointed to the 12 first half turnovers by Louisville in the first half as a deciding factor in the contest in post-game remarks. The triumvirate of Van Lith, Carr and Robinson had nine of those miscues, but the Cards still managed to find their way back into the contest after being down by 14 with about four minutes left in the second quarter.  

It figured to be a tough test on the road for Louisville and the Cards certainly didn't get any assistance from the refereeing --Duke made 14 of 16 free throws and Louisville got just two -- making both

Hailey Van Lith kept the Cards in this one, despite Duke's best efforts to deny her the ball and make life rough for her when she got it. Duke did shut down Carr, though, to just eight points and UofL probably needed both of them to be at top-notch to take this one Sunday. 

Kara Lawson:  "This is a great week for us...to go to NC State and win and now to beat the team that was picked to win the league. That's a good start for us, to go 3-0 in ACC play. 

The stretch ahead doesn't get much easier for the Cards (11-5, 2-1) this week...Georgia Tech comes to town for a 8 p.m. game Thursday night...but...the Yellow Jackets did get shellacked by FSU by 41 points Sunday in Tallahassee.

THE FRED REPORT

(It was "Nightmare in N.C for the Cards) 

FREE THROWS -- The "free ones" weren't much of a factor in this one for Louisville, except for the huge discrepancy in the attempts. Olivia Cochran got one attempt and made it and so did Nyla Harris.  (Fill in your own thoughts on this ---Duke got 16 unguarded attempts to score a point and made 14). Still, 100% is better that 70%, so we'll award THE CAPITAL "F".for accuracy, if not quantity.

REBOUNDS -- 32-28 in favor of the Cards. Dixon and Cochran combined for 13. I'd normally award a CAPITAL letter here , but with the loss, we'll make it a small case "r"

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 17 turnovers is way too many, even if it was the best defensive team in the ACC that you were playing. Seven assists on 25 baskets is low and 4-16 three-point shooting is just abysmal. 11 first quarter points wasn't the start that inspired much confidence or displayed stellar execution. No letter.

DEFENSE -- Holding Duke to 63 point isn't all that bad, but the defense collapsed at times in the second half and was substandard in the first half. Six steals is about average for the Cards. Duke did shoot 40%...but the big factor here is that the defense gave up more points than the offense scored and that equals loss. No letter

FINAL FRED REPORT --    F-r-_-_

So, it was great to see Kasa back out there and she'll only get better the more she plays, after the concussion inactivity,  but to get just nine points out of Dixon, Williams and Harris in a  combined 43 minutes is troubling. 

A tough loss, but...as Jeff Walz will tell you...you've got to be at your best any time you take the court against an ACC foe, or you're going to take an "L" or be extremely lucky to win.  Let's hope Louisville learns from this one and comes out playing better Thursday night, 

paulie

 

New Year "Resolutions" - Sunday Cardinal Couple

 New Year, New Goals

It's day one of the year twenty twenty-three, a time traditionally thought of as part of a renewal of goals, and a chance to take a step forward.  So let's take a look at some potential resolutions and goals around some of our favorite sports teams.

In no particular order...

Swimming and Diving

Louisville has a solid history at this point with solid Butterfly swimmers, and the current squad continues that tradition.  Also, you know, people with the last name of Albiero seem to do pretty well, so there's that, too.  Gabi Albiero continues both of those traditions, swimming Freestyle in addition to Fly.  She finished her sophomore year last year with good finishes in NCAA championship action, and certainly will be looking to improve on those finishes this year.  I wouldn't be surprised to see her set a goal of at least making the podium at the end of the year in one or more of her events.

The Cards don't have much of a history of success in diving, but Else Praasterink looks to start to change that.  Praasterink finished in the top 10 at the NCAA championships on the platform event, and much like Albiero, will likely be looking to get on the awards platform this year.

As a team, UofL Swim and Dive has hovered around the middle to upper single digit rankings quite a bit over the past few years.  I'm sure Coach Arthur Albiero would love to see the overall team efforts step up into the higher rankings.

Field Hockey

It has to be said that Field Hockey had a little bit of a disappointing year this year - at least relative to the standard that has been set by UofL Field Hockey teams since joining the Field Hockey power conference that is the ACC.

I think Coach Sowry keeps this one simple.  A return to the 2021 level of performance.  Just to remind you, that's a 16-4 overall record, and a 6-0 conference sweep.  I know, that ends up being a big resolution, but this program has shown that it can do big things. 

Basketball

Of course, basketball is right smack in the middle of their season, having just really started conference play.  Again, a program that has shown that it can compete, routinely, at the top levels of the sport, and coming off of a final four appearance last year, I think the resolution for Coach Walz and the squad is to achieve the program's first ever back-to-back Final Four appearances.

(You knew we couldn't start  a new year without a Jared selfie)

The program has made it to the Final Four four years now, in 2009, 2013, 2018, and 2021, continuing the impressive accomplishment of all players who have played at least their four years of eligibility with Coach Walz and the Cardinals have made an appearance at the Final Four.  A National Championship is always the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and while certainly no one is going to be dissatisfied with "only" another Final Four appearance, getting the big trophy is the ultimate goal, here.  We'll borrow that old Howard Schnellenberger prophecy  "The only variable is time." and apply it to the residents on the left side of the Kueber Center.

Softball

I always enjoy my visits to Ulmer Stadium on Floyd Street, particularly as the weather warms and you can enjoy the fresh air looking out over a brown infield and green outfield.  And let's shout out the amazing facilities folks at UofL for always keeping our playing venues in great shape.  That's across the board, but maybe never more visible and apparent than at Ulmer.

Coach Aprile's squad has struggled some over the past few years, though to be fair, at least last year they got hit hard by injuries.  The team looks to be back and fully healthy now, with a lot of talent on the squad and available.  Taylor Roby returns her amazing talents both in the circle and in the batter's box.  On the pitching side of that equation, the staff looks ready to back her up better this year.  Sam Booe led the squad in the fall exhibition season with 14 Ks in 13 innings, Taja Felder sat down 10 in seven innings of pitching.  Freshman Cassie Grizzard started in the circle twice, both wins with no hits on her watch, and struck out 12 batters in 11.2 innings.

So what's the goal for the team this year?  I don't think anyone is expecting a national championship, but of course, you always do your best and...well, you never know, right?  But let's shoot for being above .500 in conference (10-14 last year), at least 30 wins overall (27-25 last year), and let's get back into the NCAA tournament.  I think those are reasonable goals to show some improvement.

Volleyball

Volleyball...I mean, there's really only one thing that anyone can really look at to improve on the past few years.  Years that saw the program's first even elite eight appearance in 2019, the first ever final four appearance in 2021, the program's first ever national championship appearance in 2022, and an undefeated regular season in 2021.

So let's put it out there, the only real goal left for advancement of this program is to win it all, to get the National Championship trophy.  Coach Walz will point out that, regardless of the talent and effort a team puts into their play, there is always an element of luck to it.  We will acknowledge that, and a back-to-back-to-back final four appearance would be a joyous outcome to the 2023 season, but the goal at this point, and I think it's quite achievable with the team we have returning and new players coming in, is to win that National Championship.  I'll repeat it here, "The only variable is time."

What do you want to see with various programs for goals for 2023?  Sound off in the comments.

Basketball Gameday

It's a New Year's Gameday for WBB, with the squad taking on Duke in Durham, NC.  With a noon tip, let's hope the squad doesn't party too hard for New Years.

Kara Lawson leads the Blue Devils, she of "Handle Hard Better", which, to be fair, is a good slogan and approach to life.  Let's see how it translates on the hardware at Cameron, though.

The Blue Devils are 12-1 overall and 2-0 so far in the young conference schedule.  Their only loss is against a then 3rd ranked UConn in late November, which, no shame there.  UConn has, of course, been decimated by injuries this season, but on November 25th still had more to experience.

Both Louisville and Duke are at the top of the "Receiving Votes" section of the AP rankings, with Louisville just ahead of Duke, gaining 19 points from the press vs Duke's 18.  So that probably makes this game a game to see who gets to step up into the Top 25 rankings tomorrow, and who continues to hover just out of the list.

Duke is coming off of a big upset win over number six NC State that was in Raleigh, so they have already taken a step towards that ranking.

Two players score at double-digit clips for Duke, Celeste Taylor at 12.2, and former Card Elizabeth Balogun at 10.2.  Kennedy Brown falls just short of that mark with 9.2, but is definitely a threat in the post at 6'6".

TV for this one is listed as the dreaded "RSN", so may the luck be ever in your favor finding a way to watch this one.  Bally Sports South seems to be the source here in the Ville if you have Cable and Spectrum. Paulie confirms it is on his Spectrum Guide on Channel 70. at noon. (Results may vary). Of course, you always have Nick and Cortnee to listen to on 93.9 FM The Ville, which is always a great experience if you can't get video.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

No CCRHP this week as the gang prepared for New Years celebrations and Paulie declared it a "day off" since we podcasted on Christmas Eve.  We should be back next week with a fresh Youtube 2023 CCRHP playlist as well.

-- JMcA

Cards WBB 77 -Duke 65 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 VAN LITH'S 17 LEADS LOUISVILLE TO 18TH WIN OF THE SEASON 

(DANA IN THE HOUSE !!)

The Cards put three in double figures, led by Hailey Van Lith and her five threes, got a huge 13 points off the bench from freshman Payton Verhulst and held off a determined fourth quarter run from Duke to win Sunday afternoon in front of 9001 attendees in the KFC YUM! Center. 

Louisville looked to be on their way to another systematic dismantling of an ACC foe early on in This one. The Cards cruised to a 25-14 first quarter lead against the Blue Devils .Van Lith was "on" -- sinking three threes in the first quarter, and it looked like Olivia Cochran might be headed for a big game, too, with five points early, but she picked up her second foul with just slightly over two minutes gone and Walz lifted her from the contest for Liz Dixon.

The Cards were dominating inside in the first quarter with a 10-0 points in the paint edge and

if there was anything to raise an eyebrow over, it was Duke's 3-4 three-point shooting. The Cards had six assists on their 10 baskets and a solld 9-5 edge in rebounding.. Former Card Elizabeth Balogun was a non-factor in the quarter - - just two points on three shots, Engstler and Kasa Robinson doing the shutdown work on her defensively. 

(Caption this...)

Louisville continued to build the lead in the first five minutes of the second quarter, stretching it out to 36-16 after a Chelsie Hall jumper  Cochran did not see any second quarter action, but Louisville was getting solid play from Dixon and Engstler inside and Payton Verhulst was also having a huge second quarter...nailing two threes and putting eight points on the board. Duke found some fight left in them, though, and cut the Card lead to 36-23 with 3:24 left in the half after a Vanessa de Jesus jumper.

That is as close as the Blue Devils would get, though...Threes from Hall and Ahlana Smith put Louisville up 42-25 and a Verhulst three with 39 seconds left in the half pushed Louisville's edge to 45-25. Halftime had the Cards up 45-27. 

The Cards were letting the three ball fly in the first 20 minutes and sank eight of their 19 attempts. They were also rebounding by committee well and held a 18-10 halftime edge. Van Lith led all scorers with nine points, Day-Wilson had seven for the visitors. 

Expecting a Cardinal blowout? I was, but Duke regrouped and made a game of it. The Blue Devils methodically cut into the Cards lead and Day-Wilson and Lexi Gordon led a charge that has diminished the Louisville lead to 47-36 with 6:43 left in the quarter. .A 9-2 run for the Durham school which was finally slowed by baskets from Kianna Smith and Engstler. Another Smith score gave Louisville a 55-41 lead with 3:16 left in the third, Duke would cut that to nine at 55-46 over the next minute, but Verhulst turned in the final five points of the quarter for the Cards with two free throws and then a three with four seconds on the clock and Louisville held a 60-47 lead after three periods.

Duke gave Cards fans a nervous few minutes to start the fourth quarter when they outscored Louisville 10-2 in the first 2-1/2 minutes to make it a 62-57 game. A  K.Smith bucket and Hailey Van Lith three over the next minute were huge, though, to push the Cards lead back out to ten, and Engstler got a turnover off of Balogun and created two points to make it 69-57 with 5:45 left in the game. Engstler was whistled for a foul -- her fifth -- was 3:10 to play, one of many questionable calls during the game by Eric Brewton, Angelica Suffern and Thomas Danaher. Without Emily, Duke managed to outscore Louisville 8-5 the rest of the way. A Van Lith jumper was UofL last score with 27 seconds left to make it 77-63 and the Cards get the win 77-65.

FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS --  No complaints here, except for the disparity in the team's attempts. Louisville went 8-9, Duke went 15-21. No Card attempted more than two in the game, Day Wilson alone went 9-10 for Duke. Still, 86.9% is well over our 70% standard needed for a letter, so we give out the CAPITAL "F". ..

REBOUNDS --  The Cards won the battle of the boards 28-26. Kianna Smith and Engstler grabbing five each for UofL to lead them, An 11-6 advantage on the offensive boards for UofL but Duke took the defensive rebounding total 20-17. The Cards only got three combined from Dixon and Cochran. I'll go with a small case "r" here...

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville shot 47.5% for the game and had 20 assists on 20 made baskets, a number I'll take any time. The Cards won in points-in-the paint stat 24-20, points-off turnovers 29-17 and 2nd chance points 17-6. 25 bench points would also indicate that Walz was able to successfully distribute the minutes successfully, something he wanted to do,with three games in the next eight days. I asked Van Lith post game about her team high 31 minutes and she responded "I was fine with it. You know me, I think I'd be fine and happy with 40 minutes, because of my conditioning". I'll assign a CAPTAL "E" here.

DEFENSE -- The Blue Devils shot 46.8% and were just 8-15 from three-point range. For the third straight game, an opposing player went off for over 20 points against UofL -- Day Wilson getting 25. The Cards did have seven steals and forced 20 turnovers . A quiet night for Balogun, who finished with just five points, three rebounds and no threes. I'll give a CAPITAL "D" here, because of the win and the way the Cards fought back and pushed the lead back out every time Duke threatened. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-e-D

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON) 

(Who does Balogun think she is supposed to be guarding?)

POST GAME VAN LITH and ENGSTLER

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

Louisville departs tomorrow on a three game road trip that starts against Miami Tuesday night.

paulie

Lax vs. UNC in ACC Tourney Today -- Justine Sowry Presser -- Balogun to Duke -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE LACROSSE TO FACE UNC IN FIRST ROUND ACC LACROSSE ACTION. 

It'll be Louisville vs. North Carolina today in the first round of the ACC Tournament. All eight teams go at it today, with the Cards and Heels taking the field at noon. 

Louisville is the #8 seed in the tourney, UNC the #1 seed...so, it'd be a pretty big surprise to the world of Lacrosse and sports in general if the Cards pull off the win. They met during the regular season, back on March 18th, when UNC traveled to Louisville, faced the Cards in Cardinal Stadium and took a 19-7 win. 

This time, the squads are in Chapel Hill, and UNC is still the #1 squad in the nation, sporting an unblemished 15-0 record.  The Cards come in ranked #19th in the nation and are 5-10 on the season. Louisville is currently on a four game losing streak and went 1-9 in ACC regular season play, defeating Virginia Tech...the #7 seed. 

Sweet Caroline ! 

The Cards will have Caroline Blalock on the pitch, she was named to the All-ACC Second team yesterday, and Bella Karstien received All-ACC Freshman team honors. 

Louisville will need top performance from those two, plus scorers Ally Hall, Hannah Morris, Nicole Perroni, Kokoro Nakazawa and a strong effort from goal-keeper Rachel Florek and the defense, if they are to get past the TarHeels. 

Good luck, Louisville Lacrosse!! 

JUSTINE SOWRY PRESSER

Louisville head Field Hockey Coach Justine Sowry held a presser yesterday to talk about the Field Hockey squad playing in the NCAA Tournament and other things yesterday. Although I was unable to take part in it, due to a prior, scheduled appointment elsewhere, our Daryl Foust took part in the Microsoft Teams Q&A session. 

Daryl's thoughts: 

"It was cool to tune into Coach's PC today. (My co-workers also got to listen in. Ha-Ha. 

I got to ask the questions we came up with and I appreciated her answers. Sowry started off her post-season media campaign with a quote I doubt a lot of others around the tournament field could mirror in "coolness" -- she mentioned that she wouldn't normally be sitting wherever she was remotely talking to us about "hockey"-- she'd be prepping for the Derby.  She did not say what that meant, or whether she actually goes to Churchill Downs for the First Saturday in May or hosts the squad  at her house for "the greatest two minutes of sports" -- and I didn't ask. But, she did say she's got HOT ROD CHARLIE (8-1) who will come out of the #9 gate hole winning the roses. 

Sowry was very easy to listen to, she had a calmness in her voice that I imagine the team can feed off as they look ahead to their first NCAA Tournament game  (Sunday, MAy 2nd against either UConn or Rider) at 3 p.m.

With as weird of a season it has been, I believe the team can find inspiration and weather whatever storm comes their way. As far as HOT ROD CHARLIE goes...be sure to check out PAULIE PICKS this Saturday to see what he thinks of the Louisiana Derby winners chances. 

You can hear Sowry's remarks at the link below: 

LINK:  Juaatine Sowry 4/27/21

BALOGUN TO DUKE

Elizabeth Balogun entered the transfer portal on April 6th. and has decided that Duke will be her destination for the upcoming 2021-22 women's basketball season. 

Balogun joins former Cardinal WBB student-athlete Nyah Green on the Blue Devils roster and will be under the direction of head coach Kara Lawson. 

Balogun never really lived up to the promise that being ACC Freshman of the Year brings. At Louisville, she was hot and cold from the three-point range and  never really looked totally comfortable play "Walz Ball" to me.  One thought that she might step up into a leadership role after the graduation of Jones, Shook, Dunham and Diop -- but it never developed.  

Her 2019-2020 numbers were 28 games played and 26 starts. She saw an average of 24.1 minutes a game, averaged 8.1 pts., and 4.6 rebounds.

Her 2020-21 numbers were 29 games played with just 16 starts. She saw an average of 19.6 minutes a game, averaged 5.8 pts., and 3.8 rebounds. 

It's a good fit for Balogun. She should get the playing time she seeks. Kianna Smith emerged as a preferable choice in the lineup and Balogun's time shrunk. Her length will be missed and those occasions when she was hitting the three. But, players want what players want and, will go search for it. In Balogun's case, it's a new coach to the ACC and college basketball that has tons of playing experience. Kara Lawson is drawing some good talent because of her playing acheivements and work on ESPN and other platforms. How that will translate out into coaching should be interesting.  

We wish Elizabeth the best of fortunes at Duke and hope she has a great career there -- except when the Cards face the Blue Devils. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday! 

paulie

The WBB Hiatus Continues -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards' Game vs Duke Canceled

College athletics saw their first power program bow out yesterday when Duke women's basketball announced the cancelation of the remainder of their season. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that we made it through football season without a team doing this, and I kind of thought that since we had, no basketball programs would make this decision independently. That this would come from Duke, whose men's coach has also questioned the concept of a basketball season in a pandemic, is an interesting note. Kara Lawson, the new head coach of the Blue Devils, had previously expressed concern about having a season at this time.

Officially, the decision was made by the players, according to the statement from Duke's communications officer. Effectively, each player made the choice to opt out, as some other players did for football earlier this year, and the program had no more players to put on the court. I'm certain there were many team meetings and a consensus reached before they pulled the trigger on this. Duke has announced that no other teams within the program are impacted by the decision and all other competitions will remain as scheduled. 

With the fallout from this cancelation, Louisville's second matchup against Duke scheduled for Thursday is now off. Due to Louisville's own Covid issues, the Cards haven't competed since December 9th, and they will now have to wait until January 3rd to get back on the court when they travel to Virginia. That said, Louisville has already had three games postponed, and they now have an open conference date to try and rectify that. A team that stands out as a contender to fill the opening is Florida State. Louisville's game against the Seminoles was postponed from the 17th. Florida State last played on the 20th and is not scheduled to play again until the 3rd. They were scheduled to play Duke on the 7th. The Seminoles are the only team that Louisville has postponed a game against to have Thursday open. 

While this would have Louisville play FSU twice in two weeks -- they're scheduled to play again on the 10th -- it isn't much different than Louisville traveling to Duke for games on the 9th and 31st. As Coach Walz said earlier this season, most teams are going to be scrambling to find 13 games. With the two teams already scheduled to play twice, I'm not really sure what the difference in having an extra week between the matchups is. I would hope the ACC is working hard to redefine their schedules given the struggles that teams have already had and the openings that the Duke cancelations now present. I'm sure we'll see more news come out soon, and we'll be sure to keep you updated about any scheduling revisions here.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Skype room will be a little less full today, as Daryl and I both sit this week out for birthdays, but Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will still bring you the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. Gee, I wonder what they'll talk about. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the replay anytime after the show ends. As always, you can add the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast to your subscription list and have the show sent directly to your device when it's posted.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cards Open ACC with Win -- Jill Morton -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Cards Claim Conference Win at Cameron

Louisville women's basketball opened ACC conference play when they visited Duke for a rare Wednesday game. Yes, today is only Thursday so don't get in that weekend mindset quite yet.

The Cards left Cameron Indoor Stadium with a 73-49 victory to put that first tally in the ACC wins column.

Overall shooting was rather poor in the first quarter, but the 5-for-5 shooting from three-point range helped the Cards to a 21-12 advantage. Duke held a small 4-3 lead early in the game, but Louisville had a stretch of three straight three-pointers that saw the Cards pull ahead 9-6.

Louisville went into halftime holding a 35-22 lead. Evans led all scorers at the time with 13 points. The second quarter was quiet for Louisville, who won the quarter 14-10. The Cards struggled with shooting, including a fair number of missed layups. The only three-point attempt was a miss, but a 6-0 Dana Evans run helped ignite some offense.

Duke cut the Cards lead to six points midway through the third quarter before Louisville stepped it up a notch defensively. Louisville would hit a 15-point lead, but allowed a late score to end the quarter with a 49-36 lead. Evans had a quiet quarter with two points. Smith saw a small spark and pushed her point total up to 13 at the buzzer. Louisville went 0-4 from three-point range in the third quarter.

A little splash from three-point range from Evans off a nifty assist from Mykasa Robinson just before the break in the fourth quarter put the Cards up 20, triggering a Duke timeout. Depending who you were rooting for, it either got progressively better or worse form there. HVL contributed five of the next seven points, igniting a Duke timeout as the lead grew to 27. The Cards would win by 24.

Duke, who usually relies on amplified crowd noise from the small Cameron Indoor Stadium, played in front of an empty arena. The Blue Devils announced they will not allow fans for men's and women's basketball games this  season.

Louisville finished with a 44.4% shooting from the field with a solid 43.8% from three-point range. They also had an impressive showing from the free throw line, going 10-11.

Evans led all scorers with 24 points. Kianna Smith had 15, HVL had 14, and Olivia Cochran had 11. Cochran also had 12 rebounds to complete her double-double.

Surprisingly, Ahlana Smith and Norika Konna both saw few minutes, seeing seven minutes and six minutes, respectively. Robinson saw a fair amount of minutes and even though her scoring issues continued she was effective with six rebounds and one assist to go along with no turnovers.

Layups, which has been a weird issue in recent years, seemed to be Louisville's Achilles heel for much of the night. Whether it was a fast break or a contested shot in the paint Louisville was frustrated by the point blank range shot all night.

The Cards limited their turnovers to 12, quite an improvement from their mark fo 22 against DePaul. The 23-4 points off turnovers advantage proved to be the difference maker in the game. Duke actually won the fast break battle, 10-9. The Blue Devils also had the advantage in second chance points 15-11.

It was a relatively quiet night with fouls and whistle interruptions. The two teams combined for 22 fouls. Allowing the game to go on without constant interruptions will award the officials an A for the game.

F-R-E-D Report

(Fred Mertz stunned by the realization Louisville held Duke to under 50). 

Free Throws- 10-11 for 90.9% certainly earns a Capital "F".

Rebounds- Louisville and Duke tied with 38 rebounds a piece. The Cards are averaging nearly 50 rebounds per game. Duke had been out-rebounding foes by 24 a game. We cannot award a letter here for an averaage showing on the boards. 

Effort/Efficiency- The 44% shooting from the floor and nearly 44% from three-point range is always a good mark to hit. 23 points off turnovers is also a big number, especially when you when by 24, showing to be a big difference maker. On top of that Louisville, limited its turnovers and made smarter shots. There is certainly enough evidence to award a Capital "E".

Defense- The Cards held Duke to less than 50 points. They also forced Duke into 1-16 shooting from three-point range and forced 18 turnovers. The only area of concern would be allowing 36 points in the paint, including a couple open looks after giving up offensive rebounds. Still, there's a strong case for a Capital "D".

So we have a F-_-E-D after last night on the Fred Report. .

Louisville is now 5-0 on the year with a 1-0 mark in conference play. They host North Carolina on Sunday at 4:00 p.m., on ACC Network. Georgia Tech is the only other team with a conference victory after defeating Boston College. We'll see four more conference games tonight.

Jill Morton Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame

Jill Morton will be joining the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame as a 2021 recipient. Morton played for Louisville from 1996-2000. To give you an idea when that was, Morton was starting her freshman year the same time I was turning two. Paulie was celebrating his 80th birthday back then... or close to it, right?

Morton is Louisville's 12th leading scorer all-time. She finished her career with 1402 points. She also holds a career 44.5% three-point shooting mark, which still ranks first in program history. Her 201 three-pointers is seventh all-time at Louisville.

Morton is also Louisville women's basketball's first ever All-American. She is also the Cards' first ever WNBA draft pick, going 34th to the Charlotte Sting in 2014.

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

Radio Daze

We are back on air/internet/podcast for our Cardinal Couple podcast this Saturday and hope to have Daryl joining us. As for myself, I'm back to banking this Saturday and will be out. Abbott and Costello are taking some time away from learning baseball rosters to teach me how to convert a 5 into two 10s.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB vs. Duke Preview -- Scott Teeter Interview -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

#2 CARDS FACE 3-0 BLUE DEVILS

We have the start of ACC play tonight for the University of Louisville women's basketball squad and they begin the 2020-21 conference slate with a trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a 7 p.m. ET tilt against the 3-0 Duke Blue Devils. 

There's a new sheriff in town for the Durham, NC squad and she needs no introduction to women's college basketball fans. Kara Lawson has guided the Blue Devils to an impressive 3-0 start this season with wins over Longwood 94-64, Western Carolina 83-56 and East Carolina 72-47. Duke has played all three opponents at home but the fans haven't been there for the contests. That'll remain in force this evening, but, the game can be viewed on the RSN Network. Locally in the Louisville area that translated out to Fox Sport South. Nick Curran and  Adrieenne Johnson will have the radio call on Cards Radio 790 WKRD AM. 

Duke has had three different leading scorers in the three contests, so that's as good as anywhere to start previewing tonight's contest. 

Miela Goodchild went for 24 points in 26 minutes in Duke's win over ECU. She's a 5'10" junior guard from Queensland, Australia. The ECU performance was no flash in the pan, Goodchild has average 15 points a game in the other two Duke wins this season. She's also a legitimate three-point threat, having sunk 12 of her 25 attempts from beyound the arc. 

Sara Anastasieska led the Blue Devils over WCU with 23 points in 28 minutes. She's a grad transfer, originally from Sydney, Australia and previously played at California. She comes off the bench for Kara Lawson, averaged 14.5 for the Blue Devils in the first two games and seems to be the other major three-point threat with a 6 of 17 (35%) success rate. 

Jaida Patrick totaled 21 points in 31 minutes for the Blue Devils in the opener against Longwood. The 5'10" guard/forward is a sophomore and is out of West Haverstraw, NY. 

All told, nine Blue Devils have hit the floor from Lawson this season and other threats include 6'5" forward Jada Williams, 6'3" forward Jada Williams and freshman guard Vanessa de Jesus. 

Duke ranks second nationally with a +24 rebounding margin, so we'll see how the Cards "rebound by committee" fares against that. They average 83 points a game and allow just 55, so, will the run-and-gun, full throttle Cards be a serious threat to put up the most points of the Blue Devils? 

It should be an exciting one to watch tonight. Louisville has sputtered a bit out of the gate this season in their opening quarters but has put devastating second and third quarter efforts up against their four opponents. We'll look to see how the pre-season player of the year Dana Evans fares against a squad that gave the Cards all they wanted last year in thee KFC YUM! Center. The Cards fell behind early, struggled to a 55-55 tie with a minutes to go and got a huge three from Evans, plus two clutch Bionca Dunham free throws to eke out a 60-55 win. In all fairness, that Duke squad had Haley Gorecki, Leaonna Odom and Kyra Lambert -- and those three won't be walking through the doors at Cameron tonight. 

We'll see if the Duke defense is ready for the triple-talented guard attack of Evans, Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith and the talented interior crew of Olivia Cochran, Liz Dixon and Ramani Parker. The length of Elizabeth Balogun could come into play tonight and, as we've seen, Louisville can htt you in waves with fresh bodies and a unrelenting attack offensively 

                                                                                   ****

SCOTT TEETER INTERVIEW

I had the chance to catch up (via phone) with the head Louisville women's lacrosse coach yesterday and got filled in on many aspects of how the fall went and what's ahead for his LAXers. 

A great 17 minute discussion with Coach Teeter that covered a wide range and variety of topics. You can hear the interview at the link below: 

LINK:  SCOTT TEETER INTERVIEW

Have a wonderful Wednesday!  

paulie