Women's Tennis to Face Boston College in ACC Tournament -- Walz at Baseball -- WEDNESDAY CARINAL COUPLE

 #14 seed Cards open against BC

Louisville women's tennis begins the ACC Tournament against Boston College today with a 3:30 p.m. first serve in Rome,GA. 

The Cards (8-14, 0-13) haven't had the best of seasons this year, but tournament time is that "second season" and, hopefully, Louisville can pull off the first-round upset. A win ovet BC would set the Cards up tp face sixth-seeded Georgia Tech. on Thursday night. 

The two faced in the ACC regular seaso, GT taking a 7-0 win over UofL. 

Louisville looks to end a eight-game losing streak as they go into the match against the Eagles..

Boston College is 8-12 on the season and 3-10 in ACC play. 

Cards head women's tennis coach Mark Beckham is in his 14th season at Louisville. 

#1 seed North Carolina, #2 seed Duke, #3 seed Miami and #4 seed Virginia received byes and will begin play Friday. If the Cards get by BC and GT, they'd face Miami then. 

Good luck to Louisville women's tennis !!

WALZ THROWS OUT FIRST PITCH AT UK VS LOUISVILLE BASEBALL

A nice honor Tuesday night for Louisville head women's baseball coach Jeff Walz, getting to throw out the first pitch at the Cats vs. Cards baseball game at Jim Patterson Stadium. 

Jared Anderson was there to get photos of the event and reports that Walz sent one right down the middle of the strike zone. 

The Cards won baseball's version of the Battle of the Bluegrass 4-2. 

... (There is no truth to the rumor that Jared stepped in to bat against Walz after the first pitch and got a high and tight "brush back" pitch delivered to him...or that Daryl Foust (a former softball player) went "grass, track, wall...touch 'em all" in the next at-bat against Walz...)   

We're also trying to verify the rumor that Walz invited Louisville baseball coach Dan McDonnell to receive the first "technical" of the Cards WBB 2022-23 season. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Baseball and Soccer

it's not often that we get to talk about a diamond sport and soccer in the same articles, seeing as we're a UofL focused site, and baseball and soccer at the college level are in opposite seasons.  Today, though, we have both UofL Baseball playing the College World Series and the US Women's National Team in action in the Women's World Cup.  OK, neither are perfectly on point for the Cardinal Couple mission, but we do stray off the side where interest and significance warrants, so let's do this.

Women's World Cup

2 matches today in the Women's World Cup.  both in Group F.  Sweden is starting off the day against Thailand.  At the time of this writing, the game is 23 minutes in and Sweden leads 2-0.  The US will match up against Chile at noon eastern time (EDT).

The US played Thailand on Tuesday, and won convincingly, 13-0.  Thailand qualified for the World Cup.  That means they are a good team in the overall context of the world stage, as only 24 teams qualify, but in the context of the World Cup competition...yeah, ok, they're not great.  After the game there was some punditry and commentary about whether the US should've let up on the gas, put in substitutes, or not celebrated goals after a certain point.

Hogwash (and I'm doing my best to resist using stronger language, here).

They're playing in the World Cup.  This is the most prestigious soccer competition around (yes, even surpassing the Olympics, in my estimation).  Any team that is playing in the World Cup, is a world class team, pretty much by definition.  Goals scored are things to be celebrated.  Goal differential is a thing that can, and frequently does, matter for advancing and seeding in the knock-out round.  Put in the subs?  Doesn't matter too much on this deep US team, and besides, you can only substitute 3 times in International soccer.  Goals are hard to achieve in soccer.  Celebrate away!

So, back to today's matchup.  Chile played Sweden on Tuesday and lost 2-0.  The US should come out on top of this one, but again, this is the World Cup, there are no bad teams, here.  The World Cup history is replete with plenty of big upsets over the years.  The US will need to come out and play the game that they know they're capable, don't listen to the sexist punditry saying they shouldn't play their hardest, and play their best through the last echo of the last whistle.

All Women's World Cup games are televised on Fox Sports.

College World Series

Now let's come back to UofL sports, though we'll need to switch over to the guys side of things.

Baseball starts their College World Series campaign today at 2 eastern (EDT), and will be matched up against a familiar, and always challenging, foe in Vanderbilt.

The CWS is structured as 2 parallel 4-team double-elimination tournaments, the winner from each of those double-elimination tournament then plays a best of 3 series to determine the final champion.  Softball has much the same structure, but they have a "crossover" where the loser of the 1-0 game in each bracket crosses over to the elimination side of the opposite bracket.  Baseball doesn't have that feature (and I do consider it a feature as it gives a little bit more mixing up of the teams than the baseball format that lacks the crossover), so for near future, UofL only has to worry about the other teams their 4 team bracket.

Interestingly, all 3 other teams in Louisville's half of the CWS bracket are SEC teams, with Auburn and Mississippi State joining Vanderbilt as the potential opponents.

From the other 4-team bracket, the potential championship series opponents are Texas Tech, Michigan, Arkansas, and Florida State.  Florida State has been playing very well of late, as a sort of grand farewell tour for their coach who is retiring after the season, so there's a very real chance of an all-ACC championship series.  The CWS did kick off, overall, yesterday with a Florida State win over Arkansas, and Michigan over Texas Tech.

Back to today, Louisville and Vanderbilt have a long history of entertaining and competitive games, including a number of games in NCAA Regionals, a Super Regional, and even at the College World Series (Vanderbilt won, on the way to winning the whole event).  The oak barrel, the trophy for the matchup between the two teams, currently resides in Nashville with Vanderbilt after they beat the Cards 6-2 earlier in the season.  The barrel is not on the line for post season games between the teams, so regardless of the outcome, it will remain in Nashville until next spring when the teams meet up in the regular season again.  The Barrel rivalry began in 2012, and the series is currently evenly split at 4 wins apiece.  In the full history of the teams, which goes back to 1971, Vanderbilt leads 24-10.

Today's game is available on ESPN.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The quiz slump is real!

Paulie, Case, Jared, and myself were in the studio yesterday and the usual hilarity ensued.  We talked
about Asia "Nite-nite" Durr's 20 point WNBA performance, the Women's World Cup, and plenty of other random topics.

Paulie brought a mixed bag of questions for the Cardinal Couple quiz, on the theme of coaches, where some were (at least in my opinion) easy, and some got a bit tricky.  Jared came away with the one-eared toothpick holding bear, with toothpicks, trophy.  See if you can beat him.

As usual, the stream is available on Facebook Live:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/vb.123009984388960/693043604477833/


Happy Fathers Day ! 

From all of us at CARDINAL COUPLE to all of you Dads out there...HAPPY FATHERS DAY. This is your day, so we hope you have the chance to spend it in the way you choose.

If you're Dad is still living, be sure to do something special for him today. Even a phone call or visit for lunch and conversation.

Remember, it "took two to make you" -- so give a bit of acknowledgement to the guy who taught you how to put the chain back on your bicycle, stood patiently across from you while you tried to toss the ball in his glove, gave up that weekend morning of golf to make sure you got to (fill in the sport or activity) practice and offered advice when you were uncertain or listened when you had something you needed to discuss. The guy who played with you and your siblings in the yard and responded so sagely when Mom yelled "You're tearing up the lawn!" with the reply "No we're not. We're raising kids."

-- 

JMcA

New Cardinal All-Americans; Super Regional Baseball -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Track and Field Wrapping up Today

Yesterday saw three final events on the women's side at the National Championship meet and all three events saw Louisville Cardinals earn All-American Honors. In the hammer throw, Makenli Forrest finished 15th overall and was named to the second team. She'll get one more shot at a championship later this afternoon when the women's discus event happens. Also on the field side, Gabriela Leon finished 19th overall in the pole vault and was named an Honorable Mention All-American. Leon earlier broke the school record for the women's pole vault. In track, Ivine Chemutai finished 22nd in the 10,000m run and earned Honorable Mention as well.
Louisville performed quite well this season in Track and Field, and although they may not end up with any champions this year, they put a record number of athletes in a position to compete for a championship. As long as the growth and training continues, Louisville will soon be succeeding greatly in these events.

Cards Scuttle Pirates in Game 1

Around this time almost every year, this site sees a little bit of baseball talk. It's usually me that does it, but I am able to do so only because of the success of the baseball team that allows them to continue playing after all women's sports at UofL have finished. This season, the Cards have once again made it to the Super Regional round of the NCAA tournament. This is the Sweet 16 of baseball. The Cards are taking on East Carolina, which may not sound like much to you, but Sean Moth reminded us all yesterday, from 2007 to 2014, Louisville was the no-name team from a small conference. Louisville was also looking for a bit of longstanding revenge. ECU was the first opponent Louisville faced in Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cards lost that first game in the new building, and went on to be swept. It is the only time that Louisville has been swept in a three game series in Jim Patterson Stadium. The bottom line was to not take the Pirates too lightly.

ECU made sure we wouldn't do so when they sent out their First Team All-American pitcher, Jake Agnos, who threw 129 pitches on Sunday in ECU's regional. Agnos took on Louisville's Second Team All-American, Reid Detmers. Early, it looked as though the Cardinals would be the ones to blink first. In the first three innings, the Pirates put two runners on in multiple innings while Louisville lacked a baserunner through the first three with four strikeouts. Detmers was able to pitch out of trouble, but Agnos looked dialed in. Then the second time through the order happened. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Agnos started by getting a quick out from Lucas Dunn. Not to be sent back to the dugout again, Logan Wyatt decided Louisville needed their first hit, so he smacked a double to the wall. Tyler Fitzgerald thought that looked fun, so he did the same thing. Wyatt came in to score and Louisville led 1-0. Alex Binelas, the super freshman and hero of the regional, then took a four pitch walk and Jake Snider hit a soft single to load the bases. Needing to avoid the double play to do damage, Danny Oriente just snuck a ball between the first baseman and the bag that rolled all the way to the corner for a bases clearing double. Agnos got through the rest of the inning, but Louisville led 4-0. Detmers responded by putting the Pirates down in the fifth with just one walk and no damage.

Agnos's day was done, as ECU looked to save him for later in the weekend if they need him, but Louisville's offense hadn't quite done everything they wanted to yet. The Cards used six hits, two free passes (a walk and an HBP), and a fielder's choice to add five more runs in the fifth inning. Detmers finally gave up his first run on a solo shot by Spencer Brickhouse in the sixth inning, but no more damage was done. We'll give him a break as he had to sit for nearly 30 minutes, heading to the bullpen to stay warm once, during the Cardinals' fifth inning. 

Louisville continued to pour it on in the sixth with a Fitzgerald single, Binelas triple, a wild pitch, Britton single, Campbell double, and Davis groundout scoring three more runs for the Cards. Detmers put up another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh and Louisville added two more runs to what would be the final tally of 14-1. Schmeltz came on for Detmers in the top of the 8th and finished out the final two innings. 

Louisville now needs to win just one of the next two games to advance to their fifth College World Series. In addition to the Pirates, though, Louisville's opponent will also be the weather. After avoiding rain delays completely last weekend, the remainder of this weekend's slate may not be so lucky. The teams played through a brief shower yesterday afternoon, but have already decided to move today's game up to Noon, from the scheduled 3PM start. According to Kelly Dickey (realCardGame), the latest a Super Regional has ever finished was Tuesday. Let's see if the weather cooperates and we can wrap up before then. Ideally, the Cards will just end it with a win today.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

I'm finally back in the studio this week as various summer events have kept me away up to this point. We thought we might see a full house today, but the decision to shift the start time of today's Super Regional game pulled Jared away for fear of missing his media pass. At the very least, Paulie, Jeff, and I will bring you the latest news in Louisville women's athletics, as well as this week's Worldwide Quiz. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour at 11AM on WCHQ FM. WCHQ can be found at 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ App, or on Facebook Live. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Sunday Cardinal Couple --Baseball, Volleyball and radio...OH, MY !!

Baseball Upside Down Regional

First, let's jump over to the men's side of sports for just a moment.  UofL Baseball and Track and Field are the only UofL sports left with action in the spring.  Track and Field will be back in action with 5 UofL athletes at the National Championships in Austin Texas starting Wednesday.  Baseball, however, is in action this weekend with NCAA Regionals action at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Friday play saw the Cardinals dispatch the University of Illinois - Chicago into the elimination bracket, though not without some drama.  UIC would meet with Indiana, who found themselves unexpectedly facing elimination after losing to Illinois State.  In the elimination game yesterday, Indiana stayed alive and sent UIC back to the Windy City.  In the 1-0 game, however, Illinois State was still riding high in the pumpkin carriage and claimed the upset win over UofL, 4-2.

That means, in this topsy turvy regional competition, the 1 and 2 seeds of the regional, Louisville and Indiana respectively, will be facing each other today at noon with the loser heading home.  The winner will turn around and face the Cinderella 3 seed, ISU, at 6pm.  If Illinois State loses this evening, then the two teams fill face off in the "if necessary" game Monday at 1pm to decide the Regional.  This is the same format as the Softball Regionals, it just is spread out a bit longer because a baseball game takes so much longer to play.

A Volleyball History Addition

Jared shared a bit of the UofL Volleyball program history Friday, and thanks to Sandy for reminding us that a number of the programs at UofL do have history prior to the "official" record books that UofL Athletics keeps, it's just awfully hard to find information on it.

Sarah Drury in 2003

I would like to add one recognition from the mid-2000's that got missed, as well.

Sarah Drury, as she was known at the time, was a stand-out Defensive Specialist for Louisville (this is just before the Libero position was created).  She started as a walk-on player, earned a scholarship her final two years, and after graduating went on to play for the US National Volleyball team from 2003 through 2008.

Sarah is the only player from Louisville to have been named to the main US National Team roster.

Today, we know Sarah as Sarah Drury-Petkovic, and she is the Director of Operations for UofL Volleyball, a position that she has held under both coaches Anne Kordes and current coach Dani Busboom Kelly.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Paulie and I held down the fort, or mansion, on Mellwood for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.  Jared was rolling quarters, Case was selling off fescue, and Daryl was gallivanting off to parts unknown.

We brought back an intra-squad edition of the Cardinal Couple quiz, by popular demand.  The theme for the quiz was Volleyball, obviously right in my wheelhouse, so the scoring bar was set pretty high, if I do say so myself.  If you met or beat my score, brag in the comments, because you deserve it.

The FB live stream is available at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2457752054282041/

-- 

JMcA

Analyzing Contract Extensions -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Tyra Extends Contracts for Walz and McDonnell

Jeff Walz will be in Louisville just a wee bit longer.  Actually, there is a good chance he will spend the rest of his career here, but for now we have him through the 2024-2025 season.  Vince Tyra, Jeff Walz, and the Board of Directors came to an agreement yesterday.

Walz, who joined Louisville women's basketball for the start of the 2007-2008 season is the winningest coach in program history, the first to accomplish a 30-win season, reached the Sweet Sixteen in his first year, three Final Four appearances, one ACC Championship, and two  National Runner-Up finishes.  At 299-96, Louisville has averaged 27 wins per season under Walz.

The entire details of the contract have not been officially released by the university, but with his resume it's hard to imagine Walz not being in the top three or four in terms of women's basketball salaries.  Of course, there will be bonuses tied in for feats such as conference titles, advancing in the NCAA Tournament, and some sort of nice payout when (not if, it's coming at some point) he brings home the championship trophy.

"I'm really excited to extend my contract," said Walz.  "It's not just important to me, it's important to our entire staff.  It's nice to know where you are going to be for an extended period of time and I'm excited about the future."

"Coach Walz has been happy here and we're trying to keep him happy here," said Tyra.  "We're excited that he will be through 2025, and I think that's important to him."

For someone like Walz, who has become an idol around Louisville and has four young children, being able to stay here is important.  It also means we have more opportunities to be serenaded by Lucy and Lola.

Walz has taken three different sets of players to the Final Four. Think about that a minute. The Angel and Candyce Consortium. The Shoni/Slaughter Syndicate. The Myisha/Asia Alliance

Dan McDonnell also learned of his contract changes.  His is not actually an extension, but is more of a restructure.  McDonnell's contract still runs through another eight seasons.

We know even less about McDonnell's contract other than that his salary is increasing substantially.  One of the biggest names in college baseball, McDonnell has led Louisville to four College World Series appearances, seven NCAA Super Regional appearances, and 11 NCAA Regional births.  He has two conference titles, is a three-time ACC Coach of the Year, and two-time National Coach of the Year.  Louisville's 554 wins with McDonnell at the reins leads the country,  and his 53-win season in 2017 set a school record.

"Dan's been happy at the University of Louisville for a long time and we're making sure he's happy into the future.  When you have quality coaches, we know they're going to be approached with other opportunities, but, I'm confident we have everything here Dan wants and needs in order to continue our pursuit of winning a national championship," said Tyra.

Rumors circulated recently about McDonnell possibly leaving Louisville for Mississippi State, although no Louisville media outlets ever showed concern about it.  With this contract upgrade it looks like the Cards have their keeper and the full-time position with the Bulldogs remains open.

Louisville 1, Mississippi State 0

Tyra has been quick to work with coaches at Louisville with hopes of continuing to stabilize the athletics program.  When a new athletic director comes into play it is not uncommon to see a few coaches leave for other schools.  Our AD has been working tirelessly to make sure that doesn't happen here.  With successful contract negotiations for Lolla, Ferguson-Dayes, Busboom Kelly, McDonnell, and Walz we have seen a strong future ahead for Louisville.  Expect to see Arthur Albiero, Mark Beckham, and Courtney Trimble being on the block next for contract extensions.

Imagine the excitement that a new coach, like a Scott Teeter or Chris Mack, has to feel when he joins a coaching fraternity like that. Imagine what a drawing card it will be for a new softball coach.

Dear UofL Board of Directors,

We have some top notch coaches at Louisville.  They have had a high rate of success on the field as well as helping grow and develop the student-athletes to help better prepare them for the rest of their lives.  Remember that 'most of them will go pro in something other than sports.'  Give the coaches their well-deserved contract extensions and upgrades.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Women's NCAA Track and Field Qualifiers -- Baseball Done -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FOUR UOFL WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES IN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS THIS WEEK

The 2018 NCAA Track and Field Championships begin Wednesday, June 6th, in Eugene, OR at Hayward Field. Four women student-athletes from the University of Louisville will participate in the finals. 21 Women's event in all will be contested. 

For the Cards, three participants will test the field on Thursday and one on Saturday. 
All times are Pacific. Here's a breakdown of the specifics: 


THURSDAY  1:30 PM  HAMMER THROW FINALS


Makenli Forrest will throw for UofL. She'll be in the first of two flights and is seeded sixth in that flight. Her best throw of the qualifying distances was 61.62m. The best throw of the participants was 71.26m. The top nine total finishers will qualify and then throw in the finals.  She has an outside chance of qualifying for the finals but adding 10m over her best might be more than the freshman might have in her. Hammer down, Makenli !!


THURSDAY  4:30 PM  POLE VAULT FINALS

Gabriela Leon, another freshman on the squad, is one of 24 trying to clear the bar. They're a little less formatted in this event. Qualifiers had to clear a seed mark of 4.18m. 

She's got as good a chance as anyone from what I can tell. They start the vaulters at 4.0m and if you clear it, they set the next mark at 4.15m. They go to 4.3m next, then 4.45m and finally 5.0m until just one remains. I'm not sure what they do in case of a tie. A vault off? 

Pole vaulting, I will admit, is one of my favorite field events to watch but one that I only tried once while in high school. It did not go well. The object is to go over the bar, not have it hit the top of your head when you go under it. 

THURSDAY  6:38 PM 10000M RUN

Dorcas Wasike, Louisville third freshman that qualified, will run in the one-heat final. She qualified with a time of 33:46. The top qualifying time out of the 24 was 32:14...so Dorcas will need to "pick up the pace" by a minutes and a half if she wants to challenge that.  Just to give you a general idea, 10,000 meters converts to about 6.2 miles. I'd never make it, unless it was in a golf cart. 

SATURDAY  5:25 PM 5000M RUN

Bailey Davis, a junior, competes in the finals of the 5000 meters (roughly 3.1 miles) in a single, 24 runner heat.  Her time of 16:15 got her in the last event of the NCAA Track and Field Championships...she'll need to improve about a minute to match the top qualifying time of 15:19. 

She's also a local product, having run for Louisville Assumption in high school.


Best of luck to these four and also to the Louisville men, who will have six participants in the finals! 


BASEBALL ELIMINATED IN REGIONALS


It was a good start for the Louisville baseball team on Sunday, with their second win of the regional over Kent State 12-6 to advance to play Texas Tech down in Lubbock, TX. The Cards had 15 hits against the Golden Flashes. 

They had to come back 55 minutes later and play Texas Tech in the nightcap, though...and the results weren't so good. The Cards fell 11-6 to the Red Raiders and end the season with a 45-19 record. 

Louisville fell behind early, Tech getting four first inning runs, and the Cards faced a 6-0 deficit after four innings. To their credit, Louisville never gave up and battled back to trail 9-6 after eight innings. The Red Raiders added two run in the top of the ninth, though, for the final score and the Cards went scoreless in the bottom of the ninth. 

A scary moment when Cardinal great Josh Stowers went down in center field after fielding a base hit. What appeared to be a serious groin injury had him writhing on the grass in obvious pain...but he was able to get to his feet eventually and walked off the field with assistance. Nothing serious is the report from the Louisville camp this morning. This was after he took a fastball to his hand a couple of innings before and had to shake that off before heading to first base. 

It is the first time since 2012 that Louisville has not advanced to the Super Regional. 


WNBA

A tough Sunday for the Atlanta Dream and Washington Mystics, but pretty good totals for the two UofL players in the league. 

Angel McCoughtry totaled 21 points and 10 grabs in 34 minutes for the Dream in a 78-71 loss to Phoenix in Atlanta. She drew the start and was the Mystics leading scorer. Atlanta goes to 2-3 with the loss. 

Myisha Hines-Allen ended up with 7 points and a rebound for Washington in 22 minutes...coming off the bench for the Mystics. It was a bad beat for her squad, though, falling 88-64 to the 5-0 Connecticut Sun. The Mystics are now 5-3 for the season....obviously missing the recent absence of Elena Della Donne, who was in street clothes, feeling the effects of Lyme's Disease.   


paulie
xxxxx

Cardinal Couple Sunday - Baseball Faces Elimination

Baseball Regional in Lubbock, TX

I feel like we turn into Baseball Couple a little bit each year around this time of year.  While we focus on women's athletics at UofL, we're not exclusive, and our Baseball team represents the school and the city every year with honor and excellence.

This year really is no exception, though they did take a hard shot yesterday in their loss to Texas Tech 10-2 in the 1-0, 1-0 matchup of the Regional hosted by TT.  The lose moves Louisville down into the "Elimination bracket" of the regional, and dramatically drops the likelihood of the Cardinals making it out of the regional.  The winner of the 1-0, 1-0 match goes on to win the regional upwards of 90% of the time.  Part of the reason for this disparity is that the winner of that game only has to win one more game to win the regional, while the other two teams (which at this point in the format, number 2) have to win 3 straight games, including 2 against the team that they just lost to.

So 2-seed UofL will be playing 3-seed Kent State, again.  This is the team the McDonnell squad beat 16-3 to meet up with 1-seed Texas Tech.  Texas Tech beat 4-seed New Mexico State.  Kent State defeated NMSU in the first elimination game to stay alive and meet up with UofL again.  In other words, so far this regional has been completely chalk.  The game will be today at 3pm on ESPN3 streaming.  What may be the hardest part of the march back to success in the regional is a win today means a double-header for the Cards with the rematch with Texas Tech which would be tonight at 7pm...essentially immediately following the end of the 3pm game...while TT will be playing on a day of rest.  If the Cards survive the day with 2 wins, the "If necessary" game would be tomorrow at 7pm to decide the regional.

CCRH Quiz

The famous (or infamous) Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Quiz returned to the airwaves yesterday in the latest indication that the summer news slump is upon us.

All four knuckleheads were in the studio yesterday, with Case back to even driving his own car and not wearing a boot.  We had good fun, and razzed Paulie on several points, but I repeat myself. Such blatant disrespect for a beloved and veteran moderator is shameful and the NCAA has been notified and a full investigation is "allegedly" pending. 

The quiz ended up tied between Jared and I, with Case coming a very close 3rd (once we sorted out how the bonus question scoring had worked in the past).

Check out the fun on the Facebook Live video at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2052302481459691/

--
JMcA

WNBA Update -- Sauer Finishes 4-1 in China -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards in the WNBA

While the NBA Finals began last night as they reach the final two weeks of the season the WNBA season is still young.  Teams have played anywhere between four-to-six games in their 34-game season.  The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 124-114 in overtime in game one, that ended poorly with an ejection and a mild scuffle.

Shoni Schimmel- She gave it her best shot with two WNBA rosters in New York and Las Vegas but was waived from both.  She saw time in two games for the Aces for a total of 13 minutes.  Schimmel had no points, two rebounds, one assist, and one turnover. She was 0-5 from three range. When Plum and McBride returned from Euro ball, the three-point shooting was bolstered and Schimmel got shown the exit.

Angel McCoughtry- She has tallied 107 minutes in four games, which is fourth-most on the team.  Her 60 points is second on the team while she is third with 22 rebounds.  McCoughtry also has six assists, nine steals, five blocks, 11 turnovers, and 12 fouls.  It's safe to safe Angel has secured her spot in the starting lineup.

Myisha Hines-Allen- The Mystics have the second-best win percentage at .833.  Connecticut has only played three games so far so their 3-0 record can appear deceiving.  The rookie has recorded 100 minutes while playing in all six games.  She has 41 points and is second on the team with 32 rebounds.  Hines-Allen also adds one assist, three steals, two blocks, five turnovers, and 12 fouls.  Oh My-My-Myisha, you are having a solid rookie year including a double-double during Tuesday's game.  Hines-Allen will bounce back-and-forth between being a starter and a key reserve.

Sauer Returns Home

We gave an update on Molly Sauer and the US Collegiate National Team in China on Wednesday.  They went on to win their final two matches of the tour.  The US defeated Beijing BAIC 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23) and Hebei 3-1 (25-11, 25-20, 19-25, 25-19).

Some of the top performers for the US include Stephanie Samedy (Minnesota), Dana Rettke (Wisconsin), Madison Lilley (Kentucky), and Rachael Kramer (Florida).

Cardinal Couple hopes to set an interview up with Louisville-native Molly Sauer in the upcoming weeks to learn more about the trip and get a preview of the upcoming season.


Baseball Begins NCAA Play

No. 21 Louisville Baseball plays their first game in the NCAA Tournament tonight at 7:00 p.m., against Kent State in the Texas Tech Regional.

The Cards hold a 16-12 edge over the Golden Eagles.  They last faced in the 2014 Louisville Regional and Louisville was victorious 5-0.

Louisville went 1-1 against Texas Tech this season, which is also their only to meetings ever.  The Cards are 4-1-1 against New Mexico State with the most recent game being 3-2 in the Cards' favor in 2012, but all other games came in the 1970's.

I expect Louisville will take the first game of the regional with ease as they ride a hot streak into the NCAA Tournament.  The Cards have won six of their last seven games.

You can catch this game online on Watch ESPN or tune into 93.9 The Ville on the radio to hear the always-colorful Sean Moth give play-by-play..


Cason goes rolling along

Olivia Cason completed her first round of 18 holes yesterday in the LPGA U.S. Open and fired a +4 over par at Shoal Creek in soggy conditions. Sarah Jane Smith, who is on the LPGA Tour and from Australia, fired a first round -5 under par to lead the way.

No idea on the projected cut line just yet, but a sub par round could definitely help Cason, a UofL junior out of Owensboro, KY make the final two days. (By sub par we mean below 72...not anything bad intended toward her performance.) Hit 'em straight and long, O.C. !!

Other News and Notes

Congratulations to Joe Walker Jr on his retirement.  Walker has been with Louisville track and field since 2012, but has coached at the collegiate level since 1970 and one year of high school before that.

Moving into a new month means all sorts of new holidays including Flip a Coin Day, Donut Day, Leave the Office Early Day (as if we all could), Oscar the Grouch Day, and Say Something Nice Day.

The city of Louisville took some damage yesterday as severe weather rolled through.  Downed trees and power lines have left tens of thousands without power and have left a few hundred homeless due to damages.  Keep them in your thoughts and/or prayers.

Congratulations to all of the high schoolers graduating this weekend.  You will soon take the next step of life as you move onto college, work, or another path in life.

Catch the entire A-team in the studio tomorrow as we talk about golf, baseball, WNBA, and make up stuff to get us through the remainder of the hour! It's rumored that tomorrow will also be the majestic return of the renown and highly heralded WORLDWIDE QUIZ.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Ranting, Baseball, Track&Field, and Soccer

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're going to start off with the CCRH show from yesterday.  First and foremost, if you didn't hear it, you can check it out:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2045317638824842/

Case didn't make it into the studio yesterday...he was apparently too busy turning left...or something like that, but Jared, Paulie, and I were there and we had some good conversation.  We had praises for UofL Baseball (more on that below), Track&Field (again, more below), and even some Lacrosse honors.  Much of the time, however was spent ranting about the NCAA and their hypocritical and uneven standards of behavior for their participating institutions and personnel.

Of course, we were talking about the one game suspension handed down to Coach Jeff Walz for supposedly aggrieving NCAA officials on the sidelines of the National Semifinal game in Columbus for the terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad officiating on display.

We were all in agreement that Coach Walz can occasionally be...aggressive...in his language, and honestly, the punishment probably fits the crime here pretty well.  And when we're playing Upper East Southwest Albuquerque State Community and Technical College of the Ozarks (a name I hope is sufficiently absurdly made up to not bear any resemblance to any real school, and if it somehow does, I assure you I mean no ill will towards it) in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, I suspect having Walz more-than-sidelined, will not cause CardNation any real heartburn.  Coach Norman, the Coaches Sam, Kate Williams, Lamont "Mr. Russell, sir" Russell, and the rest of the UofL WBB staff will surely have everything well in hand.

No, the vitriol here comes from the hypocrisy and unevenness of NCAA punishments, as well as complete lack of trust and respect that the NCAA has engendered towards itself.

The NCAA apparently thinks it's critical to punish a coach for using some salty language, but all but
completely ignores decades of "paper classes".  They have already demonstrated a willingness to give in on sexual abuse scandals by rescinding the bulk of the punishments doled out to Penn State in the wake of their sexual abuse scandal, and by all accounts are poised to take very little action against Michigan State in their unfolding scandal. The Auburn softball scandal mysteriously "went away" after Clint Myers resigned as head coach. The NCAA has not pursued it, a travesty in itself.

On a less societally impactful facet of the discussion, but more on point for the punishment in question, the NCAA has built a monumental trust deficit, specifically when it comes to WBB officiating.  I've said before, and I'll say it again, WBB officiating (and this is at nearly all levels of WBB, not just NCAA Div 1) is awful.  There is no sugar-coating that, it is terrible.  As a product, it is, or at least should be, embarrassing to those who have a had in creating it.  The NCAA, by completely shielding officials from any formal or public criticism, have utterly and completely destroyed any trust the the public, or school officals and coaches, can have that the obvious and egregious shortcomings are being addressed in any meaningful way.

The NCAA is weaponizing concepts like "amateurism", "respect" and "sportsmanship" to suppress and marginalize anyone that isn't on board with their agenda.  By, from a position of "authority", imposing their own notions and form of "respect" and "sportsmanship" they can, and are, shutting down opposing voices who are able to see the shortcomings of the NCAA process and organization.  It's a playbook seen in authoritarian political regimes and even some that ostensibly aren't necessarily (said with a nervous glance towards Washington D.C.).

The NCAA is a diseased organization.  It's time for its constituent schools, via their Presidents and Athletic Directors, to stand up and refuse to abide by the hypocrisy and authoritarian-style undermining of the very concepts the NCAA claims to uphold.

Baseball Wins Again

OK, on to more positive things.  The idiocy of the ACC pool play format is over, and UofL, with a
minor upset, and a major margin of victory, over Duke advanced to the 4-team single-elimination tournament Semifinals.  There they met with Pitt, a team that the Cardinals had played only two weeks ago in the three game series in conference play on Pitt's home field.

Pitt, valiantly, scored two upset wins in their pool to advance despite being the lowest seed in the competition at #12.  The Panthers would be no match for the Cardinals, though, with Dan McDonnell's squad advancing with the 5-2 win over Pitt.  Devin Mann and Josh Stowers continue to be among the names to mention with heroics at the plate.  Mann took one yard, and hit for a triple in his 2-3 appearance, while Stowers was 2-4 with a double to his credit.

Nick Bennett pitched 6 innings of keeping the Panthers off the scoreboard, but allowed 2 before being replaced by Adam Elliot to finish the 7th.  Austin Conway kept the Panthers off the board in the 8th and 9th to finish out the game.

The Cards will face FSU today at noon on ESPN.  The Seminoles advanced over 2 seed Clemson, to eliminate the last of the chalk from the ACC Baseball Tournament.

UofL will learn its fate for the NCAA tournament at noon tomorrow on ESPNU with the NCAA Baseball Selection Show.  There remains a slim chance that UofL could host a regional, and a win today, in addition to the awesomeness of winning the conference championship, would go a long way in convincing the NCAA that this team is peaking at the right time and should be considered for a host berth.

Track&Field

Four more UofL athletes were able to punch their ticket to Eugene, OR with their results in the
NCAA Track&Field Regional competitions.

Makenli Forrest advanced with a 9th place finish in the hammer toss with a distance of 61.62 meters.

Damar Robinson and Jerin Allen finished 3rd and 8th in the high jump to clear their way to the west coast competition.  They cleared 2.16m and 2.11m respectively.

Bailey Davis finished 5th overall in the 5k run with a strong kick to earn the trip to Oregon.

Congratulations to these Cardinal athletes on their success so far.

Soccer

Lastly, lets jump over to the professional athletics ranks for a moment.

Any time a Louisville team beats a Cincinnati team in Nippert Stadium is going to grab my attention, and last night the Louisville City FC USL soccer club were able to beat Cincinnati FC 2-0 in full time with goals by Cameron Lancaster in the 15th minute, and George Davis IV in the 73rd.

In another interesting note for Louisville City FC, they advanced this week in the Open Cup with a 1-0 win at Lynn Stadium over Saint Louis FC.  Their next opponent in the Open Cup will be the New England Revolution at Lynn Stadium on June 6th, an MLS team.  Of particular note is the re-uniting, in Louisville, on the University of Louisville campus, of Paulo Delpiccolo of Louisville City, and Andrew Farrell of New England.  Both were players at UofL some years back.  They're also notable as the hosts of the "Shakin' It Up with Salt 'n Peppa" video series (findable on Youtube) in which the two of them challenged various UofL student athletes of the era to competitions usually related to the other student athletes sport.  My favorites of the series were the volleyball competition with Katie George and Lola Arslanbeckova, and the soccer goalkeeping competition with Gorgui Djeng.

Louisville City FC currently sits atop the USL rankings (with Cincinnati FC in 2nd) after winning the league last season.

--
JMcA

Walz hit with one-game suspension -- Baseball blasts Duke -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NCAA SERVES JEFF WALZ WITH ONE GAME NCAA TOURNAMENT SUSPENSION FOR REMARKS

The ridiculous and sublime have crawled into bed together. Those friendly folks up in Indy with the NCAA, who love Louisville so dearly and go out of their way to accommodate and placate Cardinal athletics, have assessed a one game suspension to Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz for saying stuff in the heat of a game that damaged the ears of a few sideline chimps and officials. 

This is b.s. 

Let's just get that out of the way, right away. This wasn't grabbing or bumping an official. This wasn't hurling a chair across the court or running out to the foul stripe and doing handstands or cartwheels. It was words. 

Words that came out when the superior NCAA women's referees that grace the court didn't see what 23,000 saw in Nationwide Arena (and millions more witnesses on television). Myisha Hines-Allen was hip-checked fouled by Teaira McCowan while driving for a layup late in the contest. Walz did what any good coach would do. He went to the defense of his player. He said some stuff. It may have been questionable in nature but dead on in terms of correctness. 

Don't give me this "they're never going to make that call in a situation like that" stuff either. The referees' job is to call fouls. It doesn't matter if there is a 40-point blowout going on or a 2-point nail-biter with seconds remaining. You have a whistle for a reason if you're a referee. It's not given to you to summon the hot dog vendor or get the attention of a cute guy in row two. You make the call when the foul happens. 

The refs didn't. Walz reacted. Too strongly, according to the Victorian morals moguls who spend time on poop like this instead of the many more pressing problems confronting college athletics. 

We know Jeff. He's not afraid to tell it like it is. To shoot from the hip. No doilies or extended finger tea cup holding from this guy.  If the language is too rough for you...have you listened to what these kids he's coaching are listening to on their music devices? Walz comes across like a shy-mannered schoolmarm. 

Jeff also did the right thing. He offered an apology yesterday: 

"I used some inappropriate language as I expressed my frustration toward the scorer's table about the officiating. I realize that those comments are not acceptable, did not put the University of Louisville in the best light, and I apologize for my actions. I will be more mindful in expressing my emotions going forward." 

Vince Tyra weighed in on this as well: 

Director of Athletics Vince Tyra

“I had the opportunity to speak with Coach Walz at length and following our conversation have a clear understanding of the issue from both Coach and the NCAA’s perspective. Coach Walz’s intensity on the sideline is one of his most endearing qualities, but following our discussion, we both acknowledged that his behavior during the national semifinal game was not acceptable and is not how we want to represent the University of Louisville. I appreciate Coach’s cooperation resolving this matter and fully anticipate that he will adhere to championship policies, sportsmanship and conduct expectations in the future.”

So far, no admission of guilt from the referees or an apology for suddenly going snowblind. And, let's be perfectly clear that the missing of the foul wasn't the sole factor in leading to Louisville's loss. Jazmine Jones' follow-up shot was down and in the cylinder before the ball inexplicably came back out. McCowan was whistled for only one foul against Louisville and subsequently fouled out against Notre Dame. 

Coach Walz took the high road, he's the better man and class always comes through. Chances are the Cards will get to open again at home in the 2019 NCAA Tournament and Louisville will draw a first round, multi-directional, fake state or hyphenated school in opening action that Steph Norman and the rest of the coaching staff can easily lead the Cards to victory against. 

Some say...NCAA 1 - Louisville 0.

I say Jeff Walz took a few meaningless body punches from the tired old men in Indy and delivered a round-house right that sent them to the canvas. We support Coach and always will. He came out the better man in this. 

NCAA. It stands for: 

No
Constructive
Actions
Available. 

https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/louisville-women-s-basketball-coach-walz-reprimanded



BASEBALL DEMOLISHES DUKE TO ADVANCE TO ACC SEMIS

The final game of pool play for the Cards in the ACC Tournament was actually over in the first inning. Nine batters, four runs and key hits from Josh Stowers and Zach Britton. With solid Adam Wolf on the mound, the Devils would eventually fall 9-2 to the Cards. By then, the RSN/Fox Sports South camera crew had started showing things like a Cardinal bird in a grassy area eating sunflower seeds and the distraught Duke women in the bleachers who probably was wishing she was in Cameron instead of the Durham Bulls baseball park. 

Louisville advances to play Pittsburgh today at 1 p.m. in the semifinals. One has to hope that the Cardinal bats continue to erupt in the fashion they have in the previous two outings. 

We'll discuss it further on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR today at 11 a.m. and get that ol' Diamond Dog Jared Anderson's opinion on all things glove and bat. 


THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 


Join us today at 11 a.m. for three knuckleheads in the studio (Paulie, Jeff and Jared) as Case takes a hiatus to watch cars turn left in Indianapolis. We'll have a fun and action-packed 60 minutes for you discussing the joy and excitement of UofL athletics and showing our mugs on Facebook Live. 

Check in with us to see if Worldwide has changed jobs again this week, if Jared has discovered any interesting nickles or dimes and if Paulie can successfully find his way to the studio and gain access to the premises. It's live, unrehearsed and usually a big ol' time on the funky ol' Q from the magnificent media mansion on Mellwood. 

Join us, eh?  It don't cost nuthin. 

LINK:  THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR


paulie
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