With Cards WBB...the weapons could come from a variety of sources -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 SEVEN CARDS AVERAGING OVER EIGHT POINTS A GAME.

I wouldn't want to be an opposing coach preparing to play Jeff Walz's Louisville WBB squad. 

Normally a coach will clue his team in on the two or three opposing players that are the ones to watch and stop in order to win. If you are preparing for Louisville...you need to keep an eye on Tajianna Roberts, Laura Ziegler, Imani Berry. Elif Istanbulluoglu, Skyalr Jones, Mackenly Randolph and Reyna Scott. All are capable of taking a game over and ruining an opponent's night. 

Roberts, Ziegler and Berry are the three points threats. And, if Anaya Hardy is healthy and ready to go. it's a eight-pack of trouble that can score, rebound and shut you down on defense. Istanbulluoglu is playing arguably her best ball of her career right now and very few can prepare a team for post-season play like Jeff Walz.  

In the Cards seven losses this year, a few of them were probable. UConn is the nmber #1 team in the country...forget about this UCLA talk. Kentucky got a huge effort out of Key, Strack and Morgan to pull away in the second half and the Cats are a #5 seed in...you guessed it....the same bracket (Ft. Worth 3) as Louisville..they could meet in the Ft Worth 3 region final. 

South Carolina was expected to handle Louisville pretty easily but the Cards narrowly lost to them by two. Duke is that good, and beat the Cards in both meetings. Virginia was a narrow two point loss on the road and Notre Dame got a out-of-this-world effort out of Hannah Hildago. 

The key for Louiville to advance? Obviously, to win at home in rounds 1 and 2 and defeat Texas in Texas. Maybe the Longhorns could get knocked off, but I wouldnt bet against them reaching the Sweet Sixteen. Maybe the Cards get Kentucky again and play better and with more focus and killer instinct. 

It's the start of the "second season" for college basketball. It should be a fun run for Louisville and let's hope "It's in the cards for the Cards"  They play Vermont Saturday at noon, and it's a ESPN game. 

paulie

Lax Crushes Xavier — WBB Bracket Breakdown — THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Defeats Xavier in Blowout Fashion

Louisville lacrosse made a Wednesday night trip to Cincinnati. The Bearcats weren't the opponent at the end of the trail this time, though. Instead, the Cards had their sights set on the Musketeers of Xavier. Louisville would go on to win, 19-6.

The Cards raced out of the gate with three goals in five minutes. Xavier cut the Louisville lead to one, but the Cards led 7-3 after the first quarter. Louisville outscored the Musketeers 4-1 in the second quarter for a comfortable 11-4 halftime lead.

Coming out of the break, the two teams traded goals. After that, it was all Louisville as the Cards scored five straight to close out the third quarter and lead 17-5 and have a running clock. With the running clock in play for the entirety of the fourth quarter, the Cards were able to relax, but still took the final period 2-1.

10 different Cards scored in the game. Reese Whiteman and Maggie McMahon each recorded hat tricks. J Pleck played the first half in goal, logging five saves to go against four goals allowed. Hanna John took over the second half with four saves and two goals allowed.

Louisville improves to 5-5 on the win. They remain on the road and visit Clemson on Sunday. 

Jared Breaks Down the Women’s Basketball Bracket

Blank NCAA Bracket

We are one day away from the start of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Arguably, the best time of the year has finally arrived as we get three weeks of nearly non-stop basketball.

Here at Cardinal Couple, we have a long-standing tradition of hosting the Cardinal Couple Pick Em Contest. We hope to have you participate.

Today, I’ll break down some of my thoughts on the bracket including exciting match-ups and potential upsets. Remember, these will all be my personal thoughts and opinions. You’re welcome to take it into consideration on making your brackets, but do so at your own risk. If I go 0-for-63 and you copied me, well… good luck!

Spokane 1 Region

I like 10-seed Harvard over 7-seed Michigan State for a first round upset. The Ivy League likes to play dark horse when it comes to NCAA Tournament time and Harvard has a good chance to play that role this year.

8-seed Richmond vs 9-seed Georgia Tech is interesting mostly because of 8-9 match-ups have been pretty even. The Yellow Jackets have been trending in the wrong direction while the Spiders had won 17 straight before falling in the A10 Championship. I'm going against the ACC here.

Host seeds rarely lose in the opening round of play, but 4-seed Baylor could fall victim to this against 13-seed Grand Canyon. The Bears have been nearly unbeatable on their home court though. The Antelopes lost just twice all year and have the best win percentage in the NCAA while cruising through their conference.

I have a hard time seeing the regional final being anyone but 1-seed UCLA vs 2-seed NC State. UCLA lost twice all season, both times to USC. Wes Moore is always tournament ready and has a team of veteran players. I'm going with UCLA to go to the Final Four in this region.

Birmingham Region 2

5-seed Alabama seemed to stumble down the stretch over the last two years. Their offense has made up for their porous defense. 12-seed Green Bay is riding a 22-game win streak, but that win streak doesn't feature much top talent. Being a 5-seed can be tough seeing as the 4-seed line and a chance to host was right there in front of them so the homecourt advantage is gone. If there is a 5-12 upset, I think this is the most likely one, but my gut says Bama sneaks by.

2-seed Duke vs 7-seed Vanderbilt is a likely possibility in the second round. Duke has one of the stingiest defenses in the country, which helped them win the ACC Tournament. Vanderbilt has the frontrunner for National Freshman of the Year in Mikayla Blakes, who has scored 50+ points twice. Thor's hammer vs Captain America's shield will be fun to watch.

If 6-seed West Virginia can get past 11-seed Columbia or Washington then I could see them upsetting 3-seed North Carolina. It would be defense vs defense in that game, but the Tar Heels don't have a good offense to begin with.

1-seed South Carolina seems to be a title contender every year. I don't see any reason why they aren't this year. I do think 2-seed Duke squeezes out a tight one against 7-seed Vanderbilt in the second round, but I don't see them being able to take down the Gamecocks.

Birmingham Region 3

5-seed Tennessee has been hit-or-miss this season. They could fall in the opening round to 12-seed South Florida if the Bulls get hot from three, but they could also take down 4-seed Ohio State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. I'm just not sure the Lady Vols can piece together back-to-back strong performances.

11-seed Iowa State was one of the final teams in but were able to hold on to beat a tough 11-seed Princeton team in the play-in game last night. Last year's "Freshmen Five" took the NCAA by storm. While only four of them returned to the Cyclones for a second year, I like their chances against a streaky 6-seed Michigan team.

2-seed TCU vs 7-seed Louisville will be a must-watch even for non-Louisville fans. Jeff Walz vs ex-Cardinals player Hailey Van Lith could get interesting and have plenty of drama. With TCU playing at home, I have to give it to the Horned Frogs, but I'm going with 3-seed Notre Dame to take them down in the Sweet Sixteen. The Irish went through a questionable two-week stretch to close out the regular season, but a starting lineup full of WNBA players will have things figured out for tournament time.

I think 1-seed Texas is the weakest of the four 1-seeds. Notre Dame got the best of them in December and I think the Irish do that again.

Spokane Regional 4

5-seed Kansas State has been not good since Ayoka Lee went out with injury. She could return for the NCAA Tournament, but if she doesn't then I like the odds 12-seed Fairfield has for pulling off the upset.

6-seed Iowa is not the same without Caitlin Clark, who could solve or hide a lot of problems. They have a tough match-up against one of the hottest offenses in the country in 11-seed Murray State. Without the Hawkeyes playing in the comfort of their home arena, I think the Racers can pull off the upset.

7-Oklahoma State against 10-seed South Dakota State is intriguing. I don't think the Cowgirls will "lose" this game as much as I think the Jackrabbits "steal" it. South Dakota State's schedule was full on NCAA Tournament teams and they still only lost three games. Their only bad loss was losing to to Texas by 46. 

1-seed USC vs 2-seed UConn is inevitable. The Trojans took the regular season meeting by two points. I think this could be the "Game of the Tournament" similar to Iowa vs LSU last year. Paige Bueckers gets her fairytale ending with a Final Four.

Jared's Final Four: UCLA vs UConn and South Carolina vs Notre Dame

Jared's Bracket

UCLA, Richmond, Ole Miss, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Harvard, NC State

South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Duke

Texas, Creighton, Tennessee, Ohio State, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Louisville, TCU

USC, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Murray State, Oklahoma, South Dakota State, UConn

UCLA, Baylor, LSU, NC State

South Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, Duke

Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Kentucky, Oklahoma, UConn

UCLA, NC State, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, Notre Dame, USC, UConn

UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame, UConn

UCLA, South Carolina

UCLA - combined final score 120 points

Blank NCAA Bracket

Katy's Bracket

UCLA, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Michigan State, NC State

South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Duke

Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, UConn

UCLA, Baylor, Florida State, NC State

South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Duke

Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, TCU

USC, Kentucky, Oklahoma, UConn

UCLA, NC State, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, TCU, USC, UConn

UCLA, Duke, Texas, USC

UCLA, Duke

UCLA - combined final score - 105 points

(today's photos by Jared unless otherwise noted)

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Softball falls to Duke --- Post game thoughts after WBB loss to MTSU -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

A SEASON OF SO MANY "What if's" ...

I guess I'm just not used to seeing the Cards WBB season end this early in the NCAA Tournament. All day long Sunday, I sat and watched the tournament games, wishing the Cards could have had "that draw,or being glad we didn't get a differentt draw, getting envious when teams we had defeated in the season were playing well. Glad UofL didn't have to play LSU....they would have killed the Cards..A bitter, in some ways, but reflective Day Three of the tournament for me, watching games but also thinking and reflecting 

What if...the Cards had gotten a different draw in the brackets...what if UofL's guard play had been stronger....what if VanLith was still on the roster....what if,,, as you can see, it's easy to guess and second guess...

I rellected, also, that Cardinals squads tend to go a little further when there are qutie a few "lifers" (or three or four year players) that have been at Louisville the entire time on the roster. I also realize that changed dramatically (and maybe forever)  a few years ago with the advent of COVID, extra years, NIL and the jumping around of players from team to team,like checkers on a board. Jeff Walz won't use the term "play for pay" but it's here, kiddies...and will it contiunue to affect the game the way it has so far?. . 

The game changes. Players change. Coaches change. But, the women's game continues to grow and I love that, so i'll continue to cover the sport, write about it and tout it. 

Walz will get recruits and new players in, we'll find new players to fall in love with, talk about, see come and go and praise or moan about. I hope to see quite a few more seasons...I guess the cardiologists, nephrologists and other assorted doctors will help in that aspect. It helps to have a young crew here at Cardinal Couple. They'll pick up the flag when I can no longer carry it and go on with what we do here. Promote the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports. Even when it is awfully hard to do...like today.. 

SOFTBALL LOSES TO DUKE 5 to 3

The Cards gave it a try late, but, could not make up the early defecit and catch the visiting Duke Blue Devils softball squad Sunday at Ulmer. 

The Devills build a 5-0 lead on Cardinals pitchers Alyssa Zabala, Sam Booe over the first five innings, while the Cardinals batters were ineffective against Duke's 11-0 Jala Wright. 

Louisville finally put a run on in the bottom of the fifth when Ally Alexander made it all the way around, aided by a Paige Geragthy single and Duke error. 

The Cards added two more runs in their final at bat, off duke releif pitcher Dani Drogemuller and had the tying run on base, but could not get the baserunners home. 

The loss takes the Cards to 20-12 overall and 1-5 in the ACC. 

Louisville closes out the homestand when IU visits Tuesday night.

NCAA WBB TOURNAMENT AND CARDINAL COUPLE PICK EM

We now have eight of the Sweet Sixteen established, with Duke,Colorado,South Carolina, LSU, Oregon St, Texas, Baylor and Stanford, all getting wins. Eight more games today...

KStarkSr and and Thomas have battled their way to the Pick Em lead. Nick O, Blue Lou and Jason are a footstep behind. We'll have a full standings report once the Sweet Sixteen is wstablished. Thanks to Jared for his work here.  

paulie

PHTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

paulie

Jared Looks at the NCAA Tournament -- Softball Visits Miami (OH) -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Jared's First Look at the WBB Tournament

Photos: Jared Anderson

Now that the full field for the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament has been released, we have plenty of exciting games to look forward to. The women's tournament has shifted away from the mostly-chalk field from a decade or longer ago with more upsets each year, and this year looks to be no different. I haven't had a chance to look too deeply into each match-up and give my hopefully-accurate predictions, but here are some of my thoughts at first glance.

Note: If you are filling out a bracket, please take into consideration that these are just some of my early thoughts at first glance.

Albany 1 Regional

The undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks earned the 1-seed, no questions asked. I don't think they'll see much competition until they face 2-seed Notre Dame in the Elite Eight. The Irish are heating up at the right time and freshman star Hannah Hidalgo has now had a full season under her belt. Oklahoma was put in a tricky spot. They have one of the toughest opening round match-ups against Florida Gulf Coast, who won a 5-12 match-up last year. The Big 12 regular season champs have a tough pod. Indiana is the 4-seed in that pod and the Hoosiers are sure to have learned their lesson after falling to 8-seed Miami in the second round last year. 7-seed Ole Miss is no stranger to upsets as the Rebels took down 1-seed Stanford in the second round last year. The Rebels could give the Irish some fits early in the tournament.

My prediction: South Carolina has unfinished business after their exit in the Final Four last year and will be back there again this year.

Albany 2 Regional

Reigning national runner-up Iowa gets the 1-seed here, but the Hawkeyes have arguably the toughest regional. The selection committee putting 6-seed Louisville and 3-seed LSU in the same pod was no accident. Putting Hailey Van Lith against her former team in the second round would just add to the drama the Tigers have had this year. However, Louisville has a tough match-up in the first round against 11-seed Middle Tennessee. As Paulie mentioned yesterday, the Blue Raiders got the best of the Cards lost season in an 18-point regular season win. If Jeff Walz and Co make it to another Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight then they certainly earned it. 5-seed Colorado struggled the back half of the season and got paired with a red hot 12-seed Drake. This same pod features 4-seed Kansas State, who limped to the finish line. 9-seed Princeton is no stranger to causing postseason chaos. 

My prediction: The magic of Caitlin Clark runs out due to a weak supporting cast and UCLA will earn a trip to Cleveland.

Portland Regional 3

USC earns the 1-seed after impressing the country with their best season in 30 years. Their current head coach, Lindsay Gottlieb, took California to the Final Four back in 2013. The team that beat Cal that year? Louisville. 7-seed Duke gets an interesting rematch against 10-seed Richmond, a game that the Blue Devils dominated to start the season. Virginia Tech barely snuck into the top 16 with a 4-seed. The ACC regular season champs have some help by playing at home opening weekend, but I don't see Liz Kitley donning a VT uniform again. While the Hokies did make the Final Four last year, I don't believe they will repeat. 6-seed Syracuse is a bit better than many of us expected this year, but they got a poor draw by having to be in the same pod as 3-seed UConn. 2-seed Ohio State vs 3-seed UConn has the potential for one of the better games of the tournament early on pending the Huskies staying healthy.

My prediction: Of all the regions, I think this one will be mostly chalk, but I think the experience of Ohio State will prevail against the tournament newcomers in USC.

Portland Regional 4

Stanford believed it deserved the final 1-seed over Texas. It's a tough case to make. One team won the Pac-12 regular season title and the other won the Big 12 tournament title and neither team has a loss to a non-tournament opponent. Utah gets the dreaded 5-12 match-up and will face 12-seed South Dakota St, who is always dangerous come tournament time, but the Utes have flown under the radar due to the competitiveness of the Pac-12. Minus their surprising loss in the West Coast Conference championship, 4-seed Gonzaga has been a force to be reckoned with. Their last loss prior to that came to Louisville early in the season. 7-seed Iowa State has the 'Swag Wag Five' freshmen that have taken the Big 12 by storm, but are they ready for the dragon that we call the NCAA Tournament? 3-seed NC State has been one of the biggest surprises of the season as coach Wes Moore reloaded instead of rebuilt his team and survived the test of the ACC.

My prediction: NC State takes down Stanford and Texas en route to their first Final Four in over two decades.

Some NCAA Tournament notes to consider dating back to 2017. These figures do not account for tournaments prior to 2017.

-At least two 1-seeds have made the Final Four

-No team lower than a 3-seed has made the Final Four

-A 2-seed or 3-seed has made the national championship game in the last three tournaments

-The national champion has come from a Power Five conference

-At least three host teams have not survived opening week each tournament

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

Now, I want to remind everyone that this is just my first look insight and guesses. After I do more research, these might change so please don't base your selections based on my expertise... or lack thereof.

Please submit your Cardinal Couple Pick Em selections at least one hour prior to tip-off of the first game NOT including the play-in games. The first game is scheduled for Friday, May 22 at 11:30 am ET.

Softball Visits Miami (OH)

Coming off a successful 3-1 weekend in the Cardinal Classic, Louisville softball is quickly back in action as they head north to face Miami (OH) at 5:00 pm today. The Cards are 19-9 following this past weekend while the Redhawks are 18-6. Miami currently rides a five-game win streak. The Redhawks lead the nation in home runs and rank sixth in the country in batting average. 

There doesn't appear to be any type of video or live stream for this one and we have been advised to follow @LouisvilleSB on Twitter/X for game updates.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

 

Walz named Court Coach for USA National Team -- Softball Today -- PICK EM -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 JEFF WALZ NAMED AS COURT COACH FOR USA NATIONAL TEAM 

Jeff Walz is in a unique dilemma, He is, of course, getting his team ready for the 2022 NCAA WBB Tournament. He's also been named as one of the Court Coaches for the 2022 USA National Team. The dates for the training camp are March 29 - April 2 in Minneapolis. The "Great Eight" will be pared down to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament March 27-28 and Walz hopes to be in the mix for advancement...winning in Wichita and advancing to Minneapolis, playing in a Final Four game on April 1st. 

No April Fools Day joke here  

Walz obviously would love to be still alive in the NCAA Tournament from March 29th - April 2, but he's thankful to receive the USA nod as well, even if he can't serve. He was the head coach of the 2018 U 18 team and the 2019 U19 team and has served as an assistant coach for USA basketball twice. 

The other Court Coaches named are Adia Barnes (Arizona), Kara Lawson (Duke) and Joni Taylor (Georgia). Barnes and Taylor might still be alive in the NCAA Tournament and Lawson just might be in the Women's NIT with Duke.

Albany, the Cards first NCAA opponent, is probably hoping Walz is stressed out about the dual potential duties. If Jeff Walz is anything, he's cool under pressure and the Great Danes just might find themselves on a leash and tied to a tree against Louisville. 

SOFTBALL FACES WESTERN ILLINOIS WEDNESDAY 

Louisville Softball brings in W. Illinois for a softball game Wednesday at Ulmer Stadium . First pitch is 5 p.m. and the weather looks beautiful for ths contest. 

The Cards (15-8) are on a eight-game win streak after going 4-0 in the Bluegrass Challenge last weekend.  Western Illinois comes in with a 4-15 record, after losing 4-2 to NKU yesterday. 

Holly's Cards have been offensive-minded juggernauts and are hitting .306 as a team. Six UofL players are batting over .300 and Taylor Roby has eight home runs on the season. 

Admission is free.at Ulmer and you're welcome to bring your dog(s) to hang out with you on the outfield berm. 

CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA WBB PICK EM

The entries are rolling in for the 2022 NCAA WBB Bracket Challenge here at Cardinal Couple. It's free to play, you know and you would win a gift card if you come in first or second. Get those entries in by 11 a.m. Friday and don't forget the tie-breaker final score guess. 

Bracket Czar Jared Anderson has asked me to point out that if you have one of the "play in' teams advancing, he'd like to know which one (like a DePaul) instead of a hyphenated entry (like DePaul/Dayton).  , 

With the play-in games starting today, if you've previously submitted your bracket, don't worry about it. If you submitted a (DePaul/Dayton) entry, we'll work around that. Or any other play-in game double entry. 

Leave your picks in the comments section or e-mail them to Jared at eupherjared@gmail.com or Paulie at cardinalcouple@twc.com

And now, THE PAULIE PICKS !!

South Carolina, Miami, UNC, Ariz, DePaul, Iowa St, Colorado, Iowa, LOUISVILLE, Nebraska, Oregon, Tenn, BYU, Mich, S.Dakota, Baylor.

Stanford, G Tech, V Tech, Maryland, FSU, LSU, Utah, Texas, NC State, Wash state, Notre Dame, IUPUI, KY, IU, UCF, UConn  

South Carolina, Ariz, DePaul, Iowa, LOUISVILLE, Tenn, Mich, Baylor, G Tech, V Tech, LSU, Texas, NC State, Notre Dame, IU, UConn

South Carolina, Iowa, LOUISVILLE, Baylor, G Tech, LSU, NC State, UConn

South Carolina, LOUISVILLE, LSU, NC State

South Carolina, LSU

South Carolina

POINTS  122

Good luck !!

paulie 

. 

. 

 

Softball, Lacrosse, WBB and NCAA WBB Tourney -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

SOFTBALL SWEPT BY CLEMSON 

Another tough day on the diamond for Louisville Softball on Sunday, falling to the Clemson Tigers 4-2 at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards had a chance to tie it up in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on and tying batter at the plate, but Clemson pitcher Valerie Cagle shut the door on the UofL rally. 

Cagle definitely helped her cause yesterday, going to 12-1  on the season. She had all four RBI's for the Tigers and socked two home runs against Louisville pitching.  Clemson took and early 2-1 lead in the first inning, Cagle getting a two RBI single off Taylor Roby and her home runs in the third and sixth inning accounted for the other two Clemson scores. 

Louisville drops to 9-11 overall and 3--6 in ACC play. Clemson, who swept all four games in the series, improved to 20-2 overall and 12-2 in conference play. The Tigers are #23 ranked. 

For the Cards, their two runs came from Celene Funke in the first inning and Carmyn Greenwood in the sixth. 

Louisville hosts #16 Virginia next, that series starting on Friday, March 26th.

Cards head Softball skipper Holly Aprile had this to say about the game and the series vs. the Tigers: 

LINK:  POST GAME HOLLY APRILE 3/21/21 

(Thanks to Jared for the Softball photos) 

NOTRE DAME DOWNS LOUISVILLE LACROSSE. 

The Floyd Street action started at noon Sunday, when Louisville Lacrosse squared off against #4 Notre Dame at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

The Irish jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on the Cards in the first 12 minutes, before Caroline Blalock could get UofL on the score board and the match stood at 4-1 with 12:25 left in the first half. The Cards got hot, though, and goals from Bella Karstien, Allegra Catalano and Hannah Morris tied it up at 4-4 with 7:05 left in the first half. Notre Dame found a rally, though, against the Cards defense and put the final three goals of the half on the board to take a 7-4 lead to the halftime tent.  

Another slow start to begin a half hurt the Cards, as the ND squad connected for the first two goals of the second half.  Once again, the Cards built a rally and cut the lead to 9-6 after Paige Richbourg and Ally Hall found the net. The Irish responded with two goal, and Louisville returned the favor -- Ally Hall and Kokoro Nakazawa connecting to draw the Cards within three at 11-8 . 

Notre Dame showed why they are a top five squad, though, pushing their advantage back out to 13-10 and they ended the scoring with the final two goals for the 15-10 win. 

Ally Hall led Louisville with three goals, all in the second half, as the Cards go to 4-4 on the season and 0-3 in ACC play. Louisville heads to Boston for two matches against the Eagles next, 

Lou LAX head coach Scott Teeter spoke with me after the contest: 

LINK:  SCOTT TEETER POST GAME NOTRE DAME 3/21/21

(Thanks to Jared for the LAX photos) 

CARDS WBB GETS IT STARTED TONIGHT ! 

Louisville women's basketball begins their 2021 NCAA Tournament this Monday evening with an 8:00 p.m. contest against the Marist Red Hawks. 

The two squads will face off in San Antonio's Alamodome, Louisville the #2 seed and Marist the #15 seed. The contest will be aired on ESPN. 

The Red Hawks went  18-3 during the regular season and 13-3 in the MAAC, winning the regular season and conference tournament. They average 63.6 ppg and allow just 50 a contest. Marist post Willow Duffell leads Brian Giorgis' squad with 12.3 ppg and 9.2 grabs a night. 

 

The Cards are 11-0 in firt round games played under Jeff Walz and have four players on the roster who have previously played in the NCAA WBB Tournament. Dana Evans and Mykasa Robinson suited up for Louisville during the Cards run two years ago. Kianna Smith played in the 2018 and 2019 tournaments when she was at California and Ahlana Smith was a member of the 2019 UCLA tournament team. 

Jeff Walz, Kianna and Hailey Van Lith held a tele-conference Sunday morning to discuss the season and upcoming tournament. I have the audio of that below. Be advised, it runs over a half-hour, so grab a coffee and get comfortable. 

LINK: WALZ, VAN LITH AND K. SMITH TELECONFERENCE 3/21/21

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

In the first round of tournament play Sunday, 16 games were contested. The winners were Stanford, Oklahoma St., South Carolina , Oregon State, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Connecticut, Syracuse, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Baylor, NC State and South Florida. 

It was a "favorites" first day...the better seeds won each of the 16 contests. 

CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA PICK 'EM CONTEST

We ended up with 20 contestants in our CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA WBB TOURNAMENT PICK 'EM, and Bracket Czar Jared and I have verified your first round results and standings. 

One person remains undefeated in the 16 games contested Sunday -- that being first-time entrant Callie Blue  She's being closely chased by Kenny S., and Jared at 15-1. The rest of the numbers: 

14-2:  Jeff McAdams, Jason, David Watson, Paulie, Clemson Cuz

13-3: Sonya, Bea and The Cardinal Couple Chimps

12-4:  Vivian, KStarksr, Blue Lou, Case, Arthur

11-5:  Nick O, Curtis, Nole Knowledge and Joe Hill 

Squads that hurt brackets?   Wake Forest losing to Okla.State gave more than a few a bracket loss. FSU stumbling against Oregon State also tripped up a few bracket entries. Everyone did pretty well in the River Walk Region, though, Middle Tenn. State did have a bit of support but the Tennessee Vols eliminated them. 

Any disputes?  Contact Jared by leaving him a message in our comments section today or e-mailing him at eupherjared@gmail.com  Leave us a thought or comment in our comments section on the first day and today, AND...let's hope the Cards embarrass Marist. 

16 more games today! Best of luck to all !!

paulie

Louisville WBB -- Know the Foe: Boise St...Softball crushes NIU, Lacrosse wins -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

BRONCOS FIRST FOR WBB IN NCAA

Another Thursday, another jam-packed results day and future events preview to get to. I do believe this is one of the busiest times of the year (March) for us at CARDINAL COUPLE, but we're ready for the challenge. Let's hit the gym, diamond, turf, brackets, etc. and do this! 

Will Coach bring out the yellow
gear to upstage what will surely
be another Sam Purcell clothing
statement? 

The WBB Cards got what they wanted in NCAA bracketing. Two in Louisville, which we all knew was guaranteed, two in Lexington...a little more speculation on whether that would happen or not, and Louisville MUST win the KFC YUM! Center games to travel to Lexington. Then...if all goes according to plan, the NCAA Final Four in Columbus. The Lexington region looks tough, thanks to Jared for dissecting that and more yesterday, today let us look at "first up" for Walz and crew.

Sam Purcell calls it three two-game tournaments. That's a very interesting way of viewing it.  

The Boise State Broncos gallop in from Potato-land to run by the river on Friday at noon. It's one of four NCAA opening day games at noon for the WBB side and certainly the one we'll be focusing on. Friday is a busy day at the YUM! with two games and the men continue their NIT pursuits on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. against MTSU. No game time has been announced yet for round two of the NCAA WBB Tournament on Sunday. My guess is around 1 p.m.? We'll see what happens and let you know. Maybe the women will play the first half against MTSU and let the guys finish the game. They could probably do better in the first half then the men did against NKU...

This "fake state" school (last time I checked...Boise hadn't seceded from Idaho and formed their own state) comes to the YUM! with a 23-9 record. They were 14-4 in the Mountain West Conference and won the regular season, plus conference titles...like Louisville. They took the  MWC Tourney with wins over Air Force (60-46), Colorado St. (76-51) and a thriller in the finals...62-60 over Nevada. It took a buzzer-beating shot from A'Shanti Coleman to get the Broncos their second consecutive MVC Tourney title. 

BSU is no stranger to the "dance"...having been four previous times and 2018 marks their third visit in the last four years. 

BSU is on a roll, winning their last 10 games and 15 out of their last 17. Their last loss was delivered to them by UNLV on Feb. 3rd in Las Vegas. They had a bit of trouble getting the horses out of the gate in the non-conference slate...with losses to CSU-Bakersfield, St. Mary's, Northern Arizona and San Diego....all non-NCAA Tournament bound schools. 

Similar opponents? We've seen they have faced the Air Force Academy, like the Cards. Three times, as a matter of fact, and won all three. 

They also played both San Diego and San Diego State this year. That's got to be confusing:

"Who ya got tonight?"

"San Diego."

"San Diego State?"

"San Diego isn't a state, they're a part of California." 

"No, the school. San Diego State."

"The school left the state and formed their own state?" 

Riley Lupfer leads the Broncos in scoring with 16.4 ppg and shoots 47.1% from the court. 

She's also the one who questioned whether the Cardinal players knew where Boise State was. 

Wouldn't it be great to see Asia or someone stop her in the post-game handshake line and say. "Idaho. Your school is in Idaho. Go back there, now. Your season is over." 

Martin Hermida, a Spanish import, is good for 10.8 points a night and leads the Broncs with 4.8 assists. Shalen Shaw, kinda of a neat name...I think, is the top board-grabber with seven a contest. 

We'll find out how Coach Walz plans to corral these Broncos later this morning...they have a 10:50 a.m. press conference scheduled at the Media Room in the KFC YUM! Center. Maybe we'll learn more. Pressers like this are sometimes are unfortunately plagued by some media moron who knows nothing about UofL WBB and uses it as a briefing. Read your facts sheet before you sit down in the room, first timers! 

These two have never met. The game will be shown on the "deuce"...ESPN 2. We got Beth Mowins and Nell Fortner on the call. That sounds like turn down the TV volume and listen to Nick and A.J. call it on 790 WKRD to me. Opinions may vary.

Interesting Sidebar:  The Broncos play their home games in Taco Bell Arena. From nacho fries to original recipe chicken for them, it looks like. I wonder what BSU gives away if the team scores 80+ points a night. Free tacos? A chalupa?  Can a guy get a couple of burritos and a beverage here? 

I see Louisville by 27. Whatcha think? 



Tournament time. It's the most wonderful time of the year. 



SOFTBALL SLUGS BY NIU 9-4

Hello, Megan Hensley! The junior slugged a grand slam homer in the bottom of the sixth inning and came to the circle in relief to pick up a win in Louisville Softball's five-run win yesterday at chilly Ulmer Stadium. 

Her blast broke a 4-4 tie game wide open as the Cards get their 20th win of the season against just five losses. She also pitched 4.2 innings of shutout softball against the Huskies after relieving Darrianne Hale, who relieved Kyra Snyder. (What a relief...) 

Funky Funke, Mike and Maddy Newman all had two hits in the win for the Cards. Hensley goes to 7-2 on the season. 

Louisville opens ACC play on Friday with a 4 p.m. game at Ulmer Stadium against Notre Dame. 


LACROSSE DOWNS MERCER 21-14

It was a slow start yesterday for Louisville Lacrosse at Mercer yesterday, trailing 7-1 after the first ten minutes.  It was time for a Teeter time-out and whatever the Louisville head coach said to the squad should be framed and kept for future reference. The Cards proceeded to score the final 11 goals of the half, two by Tessa Chad in less than a minute and go into the break up 12-7. 

"We didn't come out of the gate like we need to." Scott Teeter commented after the contest. "But they responded after we challenged them in the timeout. We went on a pretty good run there after that and scored some goals, but it shouldn't take that."

The LAX Cards also had the first three goals of the second half, blowing out to a 15-7 advantage and went on to take their sixth win of the season. Louisville is 4-1 on the road this year. 

Chad scored her team-high six goals all in the first half.  

"That was just Tessa leading by example, just taking the game over by herself," added Teeter. "I thought there were quite a few of the seniors that stepped up, as well. Their play, their ability to demand the ball really elevated our team during that stretch, which was great." 

"Sweet" Caroline Blalock and Ally Hall added four scores each for Louisville and Madison "Upright" Hoover got a hat-trick with three goals in the win. 

Louisville comes home to face Boston College, in a return to ACC action, with a Saturday noon start. 


GET YOUR PICKS IN

Do you have your NCAA WBB Tournament picks lined up? What double-digit seeded teams will make the Sweet Sixteen? Can anyone keep UConn out of Columbus? 

You are cordially invited to provide an entry to The Cardinal Couple "Pick 'Em" Challenge for the Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament. It doesn't cost a penny and you could win a $25 Panera Card if you are the best. We've also got a $15 Cracker Barrel card for second place. 

Check the comments section on Tuesday and Wednesday for examples and leave your selections in today's comments section. One point for a win, most points wins. Earliest entry breaks any ties. 

Our bracket czar Jared Anderson has his war-room set up with all entries laminated, posted in strategic locations and he has a variety of colored markers and trend analysis scenarios lined up for the judging and scoring. A report from the mothership indicates he has 15 entries as of midnight last night and will be prepared for the last second rush of contestants. Remember, Jared...USF and FSU are two different schools...I hope he isn't dyslexic.

You need to have your picks in by Friday noon. A highly trained chimp-infused bracket staff is in Bracket Central closely monitoring the comments section, mixing up blenders of Banana Smoothies and Daiquiris and hotly debating scenarios, strengths and which pizza place to call for delivery. Pineapple and ham seems to be the favorite of the crew and Bill the Goat has been banished to the "Back 40" to consume empty pizza boxes and brackets that the chimps feel have no chance whatsoever. 

Play ball! Men's Tournament starts today. Get ready with the Visine and remote control. Gonna be a crazy week. 

Paulie
xxxxx

Louisville women's basketball -- Cards vs. Baylor tonight

WBCA All-Region Honorees Durr, Hines-Allen lead Cards into Sweet Sixteen play vs. Bears

Asia Durr and Myisha Hines-Allen are two of the 52 all-region selections for the WBCA All-America Team. They'll be in consideration for the 10-member Division I Coaches' All-America Team, that will be announced during the NCAA Women's Final Four in Dallas. A wonderful honor for these two. Our hopes are that they make that final ten list and are playing in Dallas when the announcement comes.

Kalani Brown and Nina Davis were also selected for the honor. The play for the Baylor Bears...who will play#13 Louisville tonight in the NCAA Regionals. The game will be on ESPN2 around 9:30 p.m. or so tonight. It'll follow the Washington vs. Mississippi St. contest in the Chesapeake Energy Center arena in Oklahoma City, OK. 

The Cards go into the contest a decided underdog against Baylor....according to the so-called "experts, talking heads and analyst gurus".  Baylor was the #1 seed in the Oklahoma City region. The Cards were the #4 seed. So, far...the rankings for this region have held to form...with Mississippi St #2 seeded and Washington at #3. Looking quickly at the other three regions...Bridgeport has the #1 seed UConn facing #4 seed UCLA and #3 seed Maryland against upstart #10 Oregon. In Lexington, the #1 seed Notre Dame gets #5 Ohio State and #2 Stanford battles #3 Texas. Finally, in Stockton...#1 South Carolina has surprising #12 Quinnipiac on their slate and #2 Oregon State will tussle with #3 Florida State. 

What must the Cards do to beat Baylor? 

(Say it in unison with me.....score more points) 

We'll look at (5) key factors in the contest that could determine whether Louisville will play on Sunday or not: 

1) "Durr"ection. Louisville has to have a big night out of the Douglasville, GA sophomore. Lately, that hasn't been a problem...she's averaging 19.2 points per game and has 114 threes on the season. Against a Baylor defense that will probably start guards Alexis Prince and Kristy Wallace...with Wallace being the most likely to draw the assignment on her...she'll need to move efficiently without the ball to get open looks and hope that Mariya Moore, Briahanna Jackson or whoever is running the assists counter is open for business and distributing. 



2) Close the bakery! Simply put, Louisville can not afford to have a turnover number in double-digits. When it comes to creating turnovers, the Bears run a part-time operation. They forced California into 24. Texas Southern coughed up 21. In the Big 12 Tournament, though, West Virginia committed only seven and Kansas St. was guilty of eight. Having Jackson back and available at point should help the Cards limit the miscues. Interestingly, Moore and Hines-Allen have committed the most turnovers on the Cardinal roster this season. It's time for those two to hang up their baking smocks and shut down the oven.

3) Let "Threedom" reign.  It was the turning point and factor in putting away a pesky Tennessee squad. Moore needs another 5-5 performance or better. Durr needs to be on the mark with her trifecta offerings. Anything that the Cards can get from Kylee Shook, Syd Zambrotta or even Jackson would be a benefit. The Bears allowed 5.5 made threes during the season and a .272 average on attempts. Louisville will need to blow those stats out of the Chesapeake bay tonight and have the ref crew raising both hands over their heads similar to when the Cards last played Baylor. 

4) Defense, defense!  It is the factor that Coach Walz stresses with great importance this time of year. Louisville has allowed 60 points per contest this season. Their opponents have averaged 36% shooting success. Defense starts with communication. Talking. Shouting out the switch, covering the outside shooter, making inside play difficult and preventing the dribble-drive and run-outs. Against Baylor, the inside game that the Bears use quite successfully has to be shut down. In the Cards seven losses this season, they allowed the victors an average of 76 points a game. South Carolina and Notre Dame (twice) scored over 80. We'll call the line of success at 70. If the Cards hold the Bears to that and score more than that, they'll win.

5) Free throws. Charity tosses are the 500 lb. Bears in the corner that everyone is certainly tired of talking about but can't be ignored. The Cards are at a 68% success rate on the season. They allow 70%. Louisville averages going to the line 11 times a contest. If that trend holds, we'll need to see the Cards sink at least eight of them. On the season, opponents have gone to the line 35 more times than the Cards and made 34 more. Durr, Hines-Allen, Moore, Taylor Johnson and Zambrotta are all above 72%. BJ and Walton are at 50%. Sam Fuehring at 65%. If it comes down to late fouling by the Bears, the Cards need to make sure they are getting the ball in the hands of the right player(s) and having "makers, not shooters" on the floor.  

I expect a close game tonight. I think the Cards will be able to slow the Baylor offensive juggernaut down and keep this one in the seventies. I don't think the Bears will have much success trying to stop Hines-Allen inside or Durr from outside...but Louisville will need to curtail what Brown, David and even Cox and Cave can do inside. 

Louisville will need production from "the Big Three" and freshmen Shook and Jazmine Jones would really help the win chances if they "are on".  Hopefully BJ is back to her old "flying around the court and making incredible plays" self and if Louisville can get contributions from Fuehring, Taylor Johnson and a few Syd bombs tossed in for good measure...they should be able to pull off the win. 

Walz and the staff have a plan. They are masterminds at getting a scenario together that will bring success. What they need is for the players to follow it and execute it properly. 

Will we see a repeat of the biggest upset in the history of women's college basketball? Will Louisville continue the quest to go dancing in Dallas? We'll know in about 14 hours (from the time of this article submission). Get in a nap if you need to, put on the coffee and hunker down by the TV or radio tonight and get ready for the game. 

If you're in Okla City and reading this, get loud, get crazy and pull the Cardinals through! 

Success is failure turned inside out.

The silver tint of the clouds in doubt.

And you never can tell how close you are.

It may be near when it seems so far.

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit.

It's when things seem worse that you must not quit.


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


THEY SAID IT: 

Walz, Myisha and Asia talk about the game, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant at the link below


twitter.com/VoXPz4vO5z



paulie
xxxxx