Sydney Taylor to Compete in 2024 Women's College All Star Game -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It may be April but we still have basketball news to talk about. Unfortunately, it's not to talk about Louisville women's basketball still dancing, but we do get to spotlight a Cardinal.

Sydney Taylor has been selected to compete in the 2024 Women's College All Star Game. Taylor is one of 20 players to participate in the event. The 10 vs 10 game will be held this Saturday, April 6, at 3:30 pm ET in Cleveland.

In her lone season with Louisville, the UMass transfer started 32 games with 34 appearances. Her 57 made threes was a team-high and her 10.8 points per game ranked second on the team. In the game against Georgia Tech, the senior hit seven three-pointers en route to 31 points for the highest point total for a Cardinal since 2022.

While the entire 20-player roster has not been announced, here are a few names that have been announced:

Bella Murekatete, Washington State

Azana Baines, Seton Hall

Kayleigh Truong, Gonzaga

Abbey Hsu, Columbia

Quinesha Lockett, Toledo

Lauren Gustin, BYU

Honesty Scott-Grayson, Auburn

Unique Drake, St Johns

These names have also been rumored to have been extended invitations pending they don't return to the NCAA next season (for those who may have eligibility remaining):

Dyaisha Fair, Syracuse

Caitlin Clark, Iowa

Cameron Brink, Stanford

Angel Reese, LSU

Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina

Aaliyah Edwards, UConn

Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana

Rickea Jackson, Tennessee

Deja Kelly, North Carolina

Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State

Maddie Scherr, Kentucky

Charisma Osborne, UCLA

Nika Muhl, UConn

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB Drops Back-and-Forth Battle; Softball Stays Hot -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Lose Second Straight at Home 73-68

After last week's drubbing at the hands of Virginia Tech, it looked as if Louisville women's basketball had course corrected when they beat Georgia Tech by 18 in Atlanta. That clearly wasn't the case, unfortunately, as the Cards looked all out of sorts against Virginia in a crucial home loss yesterday afternoon. What looked to be another episode of Louisville sleepwalking for two or three quarters before turning on cruise control to win easily turned into a highway pileup as the Cards allowed an extended 22-8 run over the final 7:37, ultimately losing the fourth quarter 26-14. 

It was just the third time Virginia has defeated Louisville all time and just the second since Louisville joined the ACC. The last victory for the Hoos in the series came in Charlottesville on March 1st, 2015. The Cards and Cavs split the series in Louisville's first season in the ACC. That loss was Louisville's second in three attempts against Virginia. Since, Louisville had been on an 11-game winning streak.

The first quarter looked fine for the Cards, although the defense left a bit to be desired. The Cards shot 54%, outpacing UVA's 44%, but an extra three for the Cavs put them ahead 16-15 after the first. Both teams cooled in the second, shooting a combined 33% from the floor. Louisville hit just four shots in the quarter. Again, Virginia had an extra three (and two extra buckets), and extended their lead to six at halftime. The Cards headed to the locker room trailing 32-26.

Whatever Coach Jeff Walz had to say in his halftime speech probably wasn't PG. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Virginia was just 5-10 in conference and 13-13 overall entering the game. Maybe he pointed out that the Cavaliers had already knocked off FSU and UNC as ranked teams and Louisville didn't want to join that list. Whatever it was, Louisville seemed to take it to heart, calling up a 28-15 third quarter performance to invert the lead in the game. The Cards shot 50% from the floor and hit three three's in the third quarter. The defense was still suspect (UVA shot 40%), but it seemed fine given the scoreboard. Like I said, it looked like another iteration of a game we've seen numerous times this season. Right up until it didn't.

Carrying a 54-47 lead into the fourth quarter with the Yum! Center now fully engaged, Louisville opened the scoring in the final period (after a couple of misses) with a steal and a fast-break layup to extend the lead to nine. It would never see double-digits. Over the next couple of minutes, basket trading kept the lead at nine before the wheels fell off. A 10-1 run erased Louisville's lead. In that time, Virginia's Camryn Taylor picked up her fourth foul. Taylor, who has fouled out of a handful of games this year, was a bit of a liability defensively. Did Louisville expose that liability? Nope. Taylor played the last five minutes of the game without picking up her fifth. Olivia Cochran, on the other hand, fouled out with two minutes to go, having just picked up her fourth before heading to the bench earlier in the quarter. 

Virginia's run, which I mentioned eventually stretched to 22-8, was 17-3 before Louisville made a field goal. The Cards went over six minutes without scoring from the floor, and made it to the free throw line only twice. In the meantime, Virginia did whatever they wanted on the offensive end, including pull down rebounds. The game was on a silver platter and Louisville fumbled it away. Sydney Taylor hit a three with seven seconds left to make things interesting, but Louisville had to foul to try to get the ball back and the excitement ended quickly. Here's where I make a quick note about a frustrating NCAA rule. The timeout advancement is fine, I get it. However, if you make an attempt to inbound the ball and it is denied by the defense, you shouldn't then get the free advancement. What's the point of guarding the inbound pass at all at that point? 

Nyla Harris once again paced the Cards with 17 points. She finished one rebound shy of a double-double in her 37 minutes. Kiki Jefferson did pick up the double-double, collecting 10 rebounds to match her 10 points in 27 minutes off the bench. Sydney Taylor also came off the bench, and she was the only other Cardinal in double figures as she scored 15. The remainder of Louisville's starting lineup could only combine to match Harris's 17 points. 

The FRED Report

F - Free Throws: Louisville's free throw shooting was pretty good if you look at just the second half. They were 7-7 in the third quarter and 5-6 in the fourth. Unfortunately, we can't ignore the second quarter in which they shot just 2-7 from the line. 14-20 is still 70% on the button, though, so it's a lowercase 'f'. 

R - Rebounding: This one is weird. Louisville had three fewer rebounds (39-36) and five fewer offensive rebounds (17-12), but they outscored Virginia 19-10 on second chance points. Virginia averages a 4.4 rebound advantage in their games, while Louisville averages 5.7 more boards than the opponent. Louisville just about hit their mark exactly and held Virginia below their average. That was a lot of preamble to award a lowercase 'r'. Could it have been better? Yes, of course, but I'm not willing to say it was rebounding that did Louisville in. Rebounding down the stretch? Maybe.

E - Effort/Execution: Ha. That fourth quarter was not good. The game was in the grasp and then it wasn't. Louisville shot just 29% from the floor in the final stanza and had the six minute shooting drought. They also had 15 turnovers and, oh by the way did I mention?, lost at home to a .500 team at the end of February. If you want more, they also trailed at halftime. No letter.

D - Defense: Virginia averages 15 turnovers per game. They turned it over 14 times. They average 73.4 points and shoot 40% from the floor. They shot 42% in this one. Had Louisville's defense been an average of what it had been throughout the game, Virginia would have scored just 60(ish). Giving up 26 points to that Virginia team in the fourth quarter would undo pretty much anything good Louisville had done in the first three quarters anyway, but they hadn't done much. No letter. 

Final tally: f-r-_-_ and I'm being generous with the rebounding score. This is not at all what you want to see from Louisville coming down the stretch. 

The Cards have two games left in the regular season. Fortunately for Louisville, those two games are against their direct competition for the four-seed and the final double-bye in the ACC Tournament. Unfortunately, that means they have to play FSU and Notre Dame (on the road) to close out the year. It's all to play for in these last two games, and Louisville can still finish the regular season strong. The Cards are back in action on Senior Night at the KFC Yum! Center on Thursday night. 

Softball Wins on Walk-off Grand Slam

After the early morning loss to Furman on Saturday, Louisville seemed up against it in an even earlier start yesterday against Bowling Green. The Eagles scored three runs in the top of the first to put the Cards under pressure immediately. After tying the game in the second, both teams would go without scoring for quite some time. Louisville exploded in the bottom of the sixth to end the game early, closing it out with a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam from freshman Ava Venturelli to win by mercy rule 11-3. 

Brooke Gray got the start for the Cards in this one and was dinged up early. She ultimately pitched a clean second inning but gave up three hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks in those two innings. She struck out four, but also hit two batters. Lindsey Mullen relieved Gray and gave up one hit and one walk with two strikeouts in two full innings, and Alyssa Zabala put up an identical line in her two innings while taking the win. 

Louisville got offense from up and down the order, with Riley Frizell leading the way. Frizell had three hits in four at bats and knocked in four runs. Venturelli, by way of the grand slam, also had four RBI on one hit in one at bat. Chelsea Mack matched Frizell with three hits, going 3/3 on the day, and scored two runs. Bailee Richardson scored two runs on a walk and a hit and Gabby Holloway had an RBI and a run on two walks. Vanessa Miller, Pickle Winkler, and Jac Hasty each had a hit and a run, with Miller and Winkler also picking up an RBI and Miller and Hasty each adding a walk. 

All in all, the Cards finished with 11 hits in 26 at bats and they added five walks to only one strikeout. Louisville left just six on base. Louisville, who moved to 12-2 with the victory, will open their home season tomorrow when they host Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers will come into Ulmer for a 5PM start on Tuesday. No video is listed. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB Dumps Demon Deacons -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Remain Undefeated in ACC

After a less than stellar first quarter, which Olivia Cochran attributed postgame to low energy by the team all week long, Louisville broke the game open in the second and went on to beat Wake Forest 83-62. On a day that saw Florida State knock off Virginia Tech in Tallahassee, Louisville's win moves them to the top step all alone as the only undefeated team in the ACC. As Cochran, Nyla Harris, and Jeff Walz all agreed after the game: any team can have your number on any given night in this league. The Cards will learn from today's win and look to stay atop their new perch.

As I mentioned, Louisville's start was rather sluggish. The Cards got off to what looked like a fast start, with O scoring the game's first points just ten seconds in. A Wake Forest miss prompted Daryl to lean over and suggest Louisville may jump out to a 10-0 lead as they did in the last game. I was less convinced, seeing as the Deacs appeared to reach the basket quite simply despite the miss. Sydney Taylor was sent to the line on Louisville's second possession and hit one of two free throws. Misses bookended the Cards' 11 free throws in the first half as they made nine in a row starting with Taylor's second. 

As it turned out, I was right about Louisville's inability to repeat their previous game's start. Cochran made two free throws after a Wake jumper before the Demon Deacons' first three of the game tied it at five. It seemed a bit of a sloppy start defensively, but the Cards seemed to turn it around with a steal leading to a fast break layup followed by a forced bad shot at the end of the shot clock. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the case. Wake Forest kept at it, heading to the line for six free throws (hitting all of them) and shooting 3-8 from behind the arc (2-3 inside it) to finish with 19 points. The Cards could force just five turnovers, equaling the number they committed, and scored only 20 points of their own. The quarter ended rather unfortunately, with Louisville looking to score the last basket of the stanza to go up by six or seven and instead giving up a steal that led to a buzzer beating three at the other end. The shot was quite ugly, and banked in, but it was well before the clock hit zero. The real question was whether or not the shooter's foot was on the line, and the refs headed to the monitor. With it being called a three on the floor, the replay couldn't overturn it and the quarter ended 20-19.

The second quarter was the one Walz said he'd like the team to find more consistently. It was one like the fourth quarter of the Pitt game, and it put the game rather out of reach. Louisville improved on their 5/12 shooting with a 9/16 performance, knocking down three 3s and turned it over just twice. Defensively, the effort was much better as well. Wake took just two free throws and shot just 3-11 from the floor and was 0-4 from beyond the arc. The Cards forced seven turnovers and won the quarter 26-8. Honestly, there isn't much more to say about the second. Louisville dominated the quarter the way they should have dominated the game. It was fun to watch and the team clearly fed off the crowd's energy. A 46-27 halftime score looked much more impressive than the score at the quarter break. 

Louisville returned somewhere to the middle in the third quarter. They once more scored 20 points, matching the first quarter mark, but allowed Wake to find a bit more offense with 14. The Demon Deacons shot an even 40% from the floor and behind the three-point line, while Louisville shot over 50% for the second quarter in a row. The Cards were 2-2 from three, but slipped a bit from the free throw line with just a 4-7 performance. Louisville's lead was never really threatened, as the closest Wake could get was within 16 points. The Cards pushed that lead to its peak on a bit of a goofy play. 

As the clock ticked down, Louisville's pep band initiated a fake countdown to throw off the Wake offense. As the band got down below five, Jayda Curry slipped the ball from Wake's Kaia Harrison. With momentum on their side, the band didn't quite stop counting. In their efforts to confuse Wake, the band appeared to confuse Curry as she launched a shot from midcourt and the band shouted one. I feel quite confident that Curry may have been a bit irritated when she looked up to follow the ball to see four seconds remaining on the clock. Walz later said that Curry has been putting in the work in the gym to get up shots and when you put the work in in the gym, sometimes that work pays off with luck going your way. Such was the case as the ball went in to give Louisville a 25-point lead heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was one to forget. It prompted notes from both Nyla Harris and Jeff Walz in their post game comments about not letting mistakes snowball. Walz worked to get the bench more minutes, causing -22.5 bettors to sweat all the way to their loss. Hennie van Schaik returned to the floor with six minutes played in the fourth quarter. While those minutes looked to start off great with a block/steal, they soured immediately as she threw the ball immediately to the lagging Wake defender. The turnover was the first of six for Louisville in the fourth quarter. They entered that fourth quarter with just 10 in the game. Walz noted after the game that there are some turnovers you just have to live with. He specifically called out a travel that came after an offensive rebound amidst three defenders. The only way to avoid that turnover is to not get the offensive rebound, which isn't something he wants to coach. Those kinds of turnovers are ok. The kind that opened the fourth quarter and was repeated twice later in the quarter are not.

Louisville still shot 47% from the floor in the fourth and were 2-3 from three (including Elif Istanbulluoglu's second three of the year). However, Wake's shooting was made simpler with Louisville's turnovers and they were 53% from the floor. They had just two turnovers in the quarter and outscored the Cards 21-17. Walz appeared ok with the result, despite the turnovers, as he was able to get quality time for more players. Every player dressed played with HVS totaling the fewest minutes. Alexia Mobley was the only other player with single digit minutes, finishing with nine. Everyone else played at least 17 minutes. That kind of court time is invaluable with the team still working to find themselves and build on their cohesion. Olivia reminded us after the game that they were just getting started and we would see plenty more as they continued to gel. 

In the end, a 21-point win is nothing to shrug at. Louisville was balanced offensively once more, with six players in double figures. Rebounds were spread out as well, with all but one player snagging at least one board and no player grabbing more than five. Jayda Curry and Olivia Cochran led the team with 12 points apiece, while Taylor scored 11 and Harris, Kiki Jefferson, and Merissah Russell all added 10. Elif put up nine of her own. Notably, Harris was 5-5 from the floor and Cochran and Jefferson were a combined 10-10 from the line. 

A game recap isn't complete without a FRED Report, though I'll spare you the CASE Report this time. 

F - Free Throws: Despite a hot start in this category, sitting at 9-10 at one point, Louisville hit just five of their remaining ten foul shots, finishing 14-20. That's 70%, good for a lowercase f. 

The CC Crew's execution wasn't lacking.
This picture took significant effort
due to the commitment of the refs
and/or cheerleaders to prevent
it by getting in the way.

R - Rebounds: Louisville had a size advantage in this game, but it didn't exactly show on the boards. Louisville had a three-rebound advantage in each half, and they were outscored in second chance points despite pulling down more offensive rebounds. I'll still award a lowercase r for a six-board win, but I'll note that I contested it internally.

E - Effort/Execution: Sixteen turnovers isn't great. Even with the ones Walz noted are livable, you'd like to see the number come down, especially with the lapses in the fourth quarter. However, after the slow start to the game, the Cards never seemed to be sleepwalking. They worked for loose balls and rebounds, even if they didn't pull them down or had slips on defense. I'll award a lowercase e here, with the caveat that it's based almost entirely on effort. The execution was lacking.

D - Defense: Wake scored 62 points, which isn't great, but 40 of those came in the first and fourth quarters. Louisville's defense was mercurial, sometimes looking stifling and others looking lost. The Demon Deacons shot 43% from the floor, and at least part of that was because Louisville players missed the scout. They and Walz both said so. For that reason, no letter. 

That's a final of f-r-e-_. Louisville will need to do better as they hit the road for games against Clemson and UNC. The bad thing is that it's a bit of a short turnaround to get the issues fixed. The good thing is that they're aware they need to fix them. Hopefully the Cards will take their off day to celebrate a win and being in the lead of the conference before locking in on Tuesday and Wednesday to hold that lead. Louisville is back in action Thursday night against Clemson on ACC Network Extra. Tip off is at 7PM.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Crush Pitt -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hot Start, Late Surge Fuel Cards to Blowout Win

Louisville opened the game on a 14-0 run and outscored Pitt 26-6 in the fourth quarter to earn a 74-44 victory. Sydney Taylor scored a team high 13 points on three made three-pointers. Pitt's Liatu King was limited to six points after being in foul trouble most of the night.

Kiki Jefferson and Olivia Cochran each scored 10 points. Nyla Harris led the Cards with six rebounds.

Pitt cut the Louisville lead to two late in the second quarter. The Cards would go into half on a mini 7-2 run highlighted by Jayda Curry's buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Louisville's lead extended to 10 at the end of the third quarter and the Cards blew the door open early into the fourth quarter. Pitt went scoreless for a 3:55 stretch in the middle of the quarter and then was held without a point for the final 2:01.

FRED Report

(Shredded Fred...the picture of my former grade school principal found shredded in the school dumpster. Someone said it was by a jealous teacher. I have no clue.)

Free Throws: Louisville shot 7-10 from the charity stripe. 70% is an okay number but we hope to see better. Lowercase "l".

Rebounds: The Cards won the rebounding battle by two. Harris was the top rebounder for Louisville with four other Cardinals earning four boards apiece. We'd like to see better results than a two rebound edge but a lowercase "r" is okay.

Effort/Efficiency: 20 assists on 30 made field goals is a beautiful mark to see. The Cards also limited their turnovers to 13 and remained out of foul trouble. No Cardinal had more than three fouls. UofL shot over 50% from the field. Capital "E".

Defense: Pitt was held to 44 points and never scored more than 14 points in any quarter. When it mattered down the stretch, Louisville limited the Panthers to six points in the final quarter. Pitt had more turnovers (24) than made shots (16). Capital "D".

f-r-E-D isn't a bad result for a 30-point win.

Louisville improves to 14-2 on the season and 3-0 in the ACC. The Cards return home on Sunday for a 2:00 pm game against Wake Forest.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB Drops Close Game to Alabama -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Can't Complete Comeback; Fall 78-73

In what was ultimately a wild back and forth battle between the Cards and the Crimson Tide in Katy, Texas yesterday afternoon, Louisville came out behind when they couldn't quite hold onto their lead after overcoming an 8-point second quarter deficit. The game saw 12 ties and nine lead changes, including three ties and four lead changes in the fourth quarter. (It may actually be six lead changes as its impossible to figure out what counts. If Bama had the lead and then it was tied and Bama took the lead again, I didn't count those.) It's difficult to look at the stats and pinpoint one thing that was overly bad for Louisville. In the end, I think it was just an average performance against an above-average team that played better. Such is the way it goes. Fortunately for the Cards, there is little time to dwell on this one, as they'll take on Liberty at 12 today with a chance to bounce back.

The first few possessions of this one could have been a glimpse into how it would turn out. Louisville missed a shot on the first possession of the game, then committed a foul before getting a steal on Alabama's first offensive effort. The Cards took the lead on a layup and then saw the lead disappear on a made Alabama three. With a chance to regain the lead, the Cards went 1-2 from the line to tie it instead. Louisville shot just 40.9% from the floor and 66.7% from the line, and they committed 26 fouls while Alabama turned it over 20 times. We had it all right in front of us in the first three minutes of the game.

The Tide were able to stretch their early lead to six points at 11-5, but a short run by Louisville tied it up with three to go in the quarter. The Cards never took regained a first quarter lead after going down 3-2, though, and they hit the first quarter break trailing by four after a buzzer-beating basket from Alabama. The tied shot 61.5% from the floor and were 4-8 from beyond the arc in the first quarter. They only made nine threes in the game, but those four in the first quarter came at the most opportune times to apply key pressure to Louisville. Louisville was 0-2 from three-point land in the first and their missed free throw count matched the deficit in the game. 

Things didn't improve much for Louisville in the second quarter. The two teams traded baskets (and turnovers) for the first few minutes as the lead ping-ponged between Bama +2 and Bama +4. Another key three broke the streak and the Tide used the momentum to build their lead back up to eight, the largest it would be in the game. Louisville didn't look ready to recover. After a layup cut it to six, the Cards gave Alabama every opportunity to break it open even further. A turnover led to a missed three that Bama collected the offensive rebound on. They missed the layup but were able to corral it again and put up another three. Fortunately for the Cards, this one was off the mark as well. Unfortunately for the Cards, so was Sydney Taylor's response effort at the other end. On the ensuing possession, another offensive rebound for Alabama finally led to second chance points and the Cards saw the chance to bring the game back to them by cutting the lead to two or less disappear as it grew back to eight. The final minute saw a bit of back and forth and Louisville, with the last basket, trailed by five at the half.

The third quarter was Louisville's only positive quarter of the game from a score perspective. Louisville led it by a pair with a 22-20 effort. Midway through the quarter, a three by Taylor saw the Cards take their first lead since the opening minute. It was short live, though, as Alabama's Sarah Ashlee Barker scored on the next possession to take the lead back for the Tide. Thus began the trades that continued through the fourth quarter. Louisville scored a layup in with 1:17 remaining in the quarter to match their largest lead of the afternoon at two. The last quarter saw more of the same from Alabama, though, as a key three from Barker took the lead back. Louisville had a chance after Nyla Harris pulled down an offensive rebound off of a Taylor missed three, but a steal by Barker led to a fast break to put the Tide up by three. Louisville held for the last shot of the quarter, but the layup was off the mark.

Which leads us back to that back-and-forth fourth quarter. Louisville scored back-to-back baskets to take the lead in the fourth but couldn't hold onto it. After a free throw by Alabama tied it at 61 with 7:25 remaining, Louisville wouldn't lead again. Twice, Alabama hit threes to break the tie. Since Louisville couldn't buy one of those, they struggled to keep up. The second of those came to break a 69-69 tie with 27 seconds remaining. Louisville cut the deficit to one two more times in the game, but Alabama made the free throws they needed to stay ahead. Final score 78-73.

I said that Louisville didn't do anything particularly bad, but I suppose that's not true, strictly speaking. Their three-point shooting stunk. The Cards finished 3-14 from outside, good for just 21.4%. Alabama was 9-24 from three, good for 37.5%. In addition to that, the two teams made nearly the same number of baskets (27 for Louisville compared to 26 for Alabama), so the fact that the Tide were making their threes was that much worse for the Cards. Bama also took 12 fewer shots than Louisville, so the Cards just really didn't take advantage of their numerous chances. They did finish with 21 offensive rebounds and converted those into 23 second chance points, but if they couldn't hit threes, they needed more possessions, which means more scoring on the first try and better defense on the other end. Alabama collected 13 offensive rebounds for 13 second chance points, minimizing Louisville's advantage.

While Louisville was not good from the free throw line, and their number of missed foul shots was larger than the final deficit, they only missed one more free throw than Alabama. The two teams both had 24 chances from the line, and Louisville made 16 of those. That 2/3 rate isn't winning any awards, but you can point to the other side and say that Alabama had every opportunity to get more free points as well. It just wasn't Louisville's day.

Alabama's Sarah Ashlee Barker put up a decent game for the Tide. Prior to fouling out in the final minutes of the game, she put up 18 points tying Nyla Harris to lead all scorers. She was just 7-16 from the floor and 2-8 from three, but her baskets came at very inopportune times. She was also tied for the team lead in rebounds and added two steals and two assists. Alabama had five players in double figures.

Louisville was led, as I mentioned, by Nyla Harris. Harris also fouled out, but her fifth foul came with just six seconds remaining. Very inconveniently for Louisville, it was an offensive foul with the Cards down three. It was a tough call for Harris, who added eight rebounds, an assist, and two steals to those 18 points. She was 8-13 from the floor and 2-2 from the line. Sydney Taylor was right behind Harris with 17 points. Taylor, who we probably expect to be the team's shooter, struggled yesterday. She went just 5-15 from the floor, 3-9 from beyond the arc (yes she scored all of Louisville's threes), and 4-8 from the free throw line. Louisville needed a few more makes or a few less takes from the guard. Nina Rickards was effective off the bench, picking up a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds.

The Reports

Not a great one for the Cards statistically, so lets have a look.

F-Free Throws: We've talked at length about 16-24. It's below 70% and you need better than that to win games. Whether Alabama missed theirs as well or not is irrelevant. No letter.

R-Rebounding: Louisville came away with 37 rebounds, including 21 on the offensive end. Bama finished with 33. Although it's close overall, Louisville had more rebounds than Alabama on both ends of the floor. The Cards collected one more of their own misses than Alabama and three more of Bama's. I don't think rebounding was the reason they lost, and I'm counting the second chance points as a reason to make this a Capital R.

E-Effort/Efficiency: They didn't shoot very well and they turned the ball over 18 times. Statistically, it's not great. However, this team weathered a few punches from Alabama and they were right there in the game at the end. They never gave up, so I'm going with a lowercase e with the caveat that it's just for the effort.

D-Defense: Alabama was almost 50% from the floor. Louisville forced 20 turnovers, but man you've got to prevent a bucket or two. The Tide shot no worse than 41% in any quarter and made at least one three in each. Louisville also gave up 13 fast break points and scored just 11 of their own. Perhaps worse, Louisville scored just 10 points off of the 20 turnovers. I'm struggling here, because I'm giving defense a worse grade based on offense, but that's just the way it goes. No letter.

C-Care: Louisville turned the ball over 18 times. We can probably just cut this and the a category here. But we won't. Since we look at the relative performance, Louisville has fewer turnovers than Alabama and fewer than Bama's average. The Tide entered the game 13th in the country with 24 turnovers forced per game. Louisville had more than 60% of that average, though, so it's just going to be a lowercase c.

A-Assists: As I said, 18 turnovers hurts here. We'll get that part out of the way because it's an ATO ratio below 1. Yikes. The Cards finished with 13 assists, which very nearly makes up half of their baskets. 48% is not 50%, though, so it's no letter.

S-Steals: Seven steals for Louisville yesterday. It's one more than Alabama but it's half a steal less than what I set as the arbitrary threshold years ago. Lowercase s.

E-Efficiency: Insert Tracy Morgan "nope. no. uh-uh" gif here. It was not great. Poor shooting overall. Poor shooting from three. Poor shooting from the line. No letter.

That's final scores of _-R-e-_ and c-_-s-_. Those are not likely to win games.

Yabba-dabba-doo not do that again, Cards.

We'll look for a better performance out of Louisville today when they take on Liberty at noon. Like yesterday's game, this one will be on ESPN+ only. Be sure to tune in and check out Jeff's recap of, hopefully, a win tomorrow. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With the noon kickoff at home in the rivalry game and family in town for the holiday, it's a thin crowd for today's episode of the podcast. Paulie and Jeff are around to hold down the fort, though. They'll discuss Jeff's trip to Pittsburgh and volleyball's bounce back win over Georgia Tech as well as the loss for basketball and what is next for both teams. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB Defeats Cincinnati -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville WBB Opens Season with 77-59 Win Against Cincinnati

On a rare day where we saw both Louisville women's basketball and Louisville men's basketball play, and even more rare that both won, Jeff Walz's squad was able to showcase the talent of all of the new faces to the team in a 77-59 win over Cincinnati. The Cards are now 14-3 in season openers in the Walz era.

This game wasn't at the comfort of the KFC Yum! Center but fans still had the option to catch the game via a live stream. Coincidentally, I was down at 'the Yum!' last night and was able to catch bits and pieces on my phone.

Sydney Taylor (from UMass) led the team with 16 points and Jayda Curry (from California) added 13. Olivia Cochran had a team high 10 rebounds to go along with seven rebounds and three assists.

Cincinnati would log the first points of the season less than a minute into the game before Louisville went on a 7-0 run to take an early 7-2 lead. The Bearcats responded with a 7-0 run of their own and would hold a slight 15-14 edge to close out the opening quartet.

The Cards burst out of the gate to start the second quarter, scoring the first eight points. Cincinnati tried to claw their way back in, bringing the score within 22-20 before Louisville went on a 12-0 run to surge ahead 34-20. The Cards would go on to hold a 36-22 lead at halftime.

The start of the third quarter was a bit rough. Instead of adding to their lead, Louisville saw their lead cut in half down to seven. They managed to scored the final five points of the quarter to get back to a double-digit lead at 52-40.

After Cincinnati cut the lead to 10 at 57-47, the rest of the quarter belonged to the Cards. UofL pushed their lead to 20 at two different points late in the quarter but a pair of Cincinnati free throws at the end brought the final score to 77-59.

11 different Cardinals saw action in the game with 10 of them in the scoring column and 10 getting a rebound. Collectively, UofL committed 14 turnovers, which isn't too bad considering it was the first game of the season. They did try to offset that with 11 assists. 

One of the biggest takeaways of the game is how balanced this team can be. Jeff Walz brought in several players who know how to produce both offensively and defensively without needing to rely on solely one player for the majority of the production. There also isn't a player on this year's squad that appears to need to be 'the star', which allows the team to gel more easily.

FRED Report

We get our first (of many) FRED Reports of the season! Since we are in early November and this was the first game of the season with several new faces, I went easy on the team.

Free Throws- The Cards made 26 of 32 free throws for an 81.3% rate. Every player who stepped foot to the charity stripe made at least two freebies with Kiki Jefferson being the only Cardinal to miss multiple. That's a good mark for game one. Capital "F".

Rebounding- Louisville dominated the glass with a 41-28 edge. Over one-third of the Cards' rebounds came on the offensive glass while Cincinnati was held to eight offensive boards. Capital "R".

Effort/Efficiency- With the exception of Louisville's uncanny ability to miss more layups than three-pointers, the Cards were pretty efficient across the board. They shot a little under expectation from three with a 29.4% mark. Their 15 offensive rebounds led to 12 second chance points. Louisville scored 17 fast break points. They also allowed just four second chance points. However, the game was won with 27 points off turnovers. Capital "E".

Defense- We've seen better defenses from Louisville in recent years but we've also seen much worse defensive performances. Allowing 59 points is a good goal in most games. The Cards limited Cincinnati to seven points in the second quarter and never allowed 20+ points in any quarter. They held the Bearcats to 3-13 from three-point range and forced 21 turnovers. For kicking off the season on the road, I thought the defense held their own. Capital "D".

F-R-E-D is the final result. Not too bad for the first game. Sitting at 1-0, Louisville comes home to the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday at 4:00pm to face DePaul.

(Our friend Karen Nolan made the trip up I-71 and was kind enough to provide us today's pictures.)

Scores Around the NCAA

The first day of NCAA women's basketball provided some exciting games, some blowouts, and some shockers. Let's take a look at how some of these teams of interest fared.

#20 Colorado 92, #1 LSU 78. Defending national champs and Hailey Van Lith's new team didn't fare so well to start the year. Angel Reese still appears to be the clear cut go-to player for the Tigers.

#6 South Carolina 100, #10 Notre Dame 71. The lack of Olivia Miles showed some, but they have a new freshman guard that took the spotlight. For the Gamecocks, Kamilla Cardoso looks to be a walking double-double this year.

#8 Virginia Tech 94, High Point 55. The Hokies didn't have a big match-up here, but Kenny Brooks' team already looks to be in midseason form.

#18 Florida State 99, Charleston Southern 63. The Seminoles had a cakewalk opening game. The entire starting lineup scored in the double figures.

#3 Iowa 102, Fairleigh Dickinson 46. Caitlin Clark continues to be one of the best players in the country and was three rebounds shy of a triple-double.

#25 Mississippi State 77, Alcorn State 42. Coach Sam Purcell has quickly turned around a Bulldogs program that fell apart after Vic Schaefer left three years ago. Year two already looks to be a great one for Coach Sam.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Syd Taylor and Team USA -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Photo courtesy of Jeff Walz's Twitter/X

Basketball in August seems like an odd time for the sport, especially with fall sports nearly upon us, but good basketball news is well worth sharing. Louisville women's basketball Sydney "Syd" Taylor has been with the Team USA U23 team and they have qualified for the Nation's League Final.

In the six days of competition and a grueling schedule, Team USA went 15-2. The teams would play a 21-style format where the first team to 21 or whoever was winning at the end of the time limit would win. Each day had its own tournament and Team USA won five of the six mini tournaments.

Taylor played in three of the six days and scored 52 points over nine games. Team USA won the mini tournaments in each of those three days.

Photo courtesy of USA Basketball 3x3

The current roster features Taylor (Louisville/UMass), Azana Baines (Seton Hall/Virginia Tech/Duke), Dyaisha Fair (Syracuse/Buffalo), Leilani Kapinus (Penn State), Madison Scott (Ole Miss), and Hailey Van Lith (LSU/Louisville).

Team USA will compete in the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Nations League Final in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from Sept. 13-15.

Louisville will get Taylor for her fifth and final season of eligibility for the 2023-2024 season.

In other news, we welcome August today, which means we're officially in the opening month for fall sports!

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Taylor to USA 3x3 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

I hate to break it to you, but you'll have to go one more regular-column day without Jared. He'll be back to regale you with tales from his latest escapades on Thursday, but you're stuck with me again today.

Sydney Taylor Earns USA 3x3 Nations League Call-Up

Fresh off of winning gold for the US with her Cardinal teammates at the Globl Jam event in Canada, Sydney Taylor will represent the Stars and Stripes again next week in Rancagua, Chile. Taylor was named to the 3x3 U23 Nations League Team for the Americas Conference play. Taylor will be on her way to Miami Lakes, Florida for training for the remainder of this week before the team heads to Chile for the event scheduled for July 24th through the 30th.

Taylor earned her spot on the team after hitting the game winner over Canada on Sunday evening. Her three gave her 53 points over the four game tournament. The effort saw her named MVP. Taylor twice led the team in scoring and proved herself to Cardinal fans as the prolific scorer those who had watched her before already recognized her to be. 

This month's conference play is a qualifier for the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League finals, which will be held September 13th-15th. The winning team from each of the 13 conferences will be invited to Mongolia for the event. The conference tournament is a brutal schedule. The competition consists of six three-game tournaments over a seven-day period. Each team can have only four players active for a game day, so the six players on the team will rotate. Head Coach Christina Batastini (Stanford 1996-2000) will have to decide between Taylor and the five who will join her for each day: Azana Baines (Seton Hall), Dyaisha Fair (Syracuse), Leilani Kapinus (Penn State), Madison Scott (Ole Miss), and Hailey Van Lith (..........LSU). 

Van Lith has become a bit of a golden girl for the USA, as she participated in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in the first week of June, where she won gold, and has also been named to the USA U24 Women's Series Team. That gold medal in June resulted in her being on the header of  the league's YouTube channel (which you can find here), where FIBA 3x3 games will be available to stream. We'll make sure to keep this link available as the event comes closer. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Taylor three leads Cards WBB past Canada 68-66 in GLOBL JAM -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS TAKE GOLD MEDAL IN GLOBAL JAM

Down 66-65 to Canada with 30 seconds to go in the 4th quarter, the Cards got a game-winning three from UMass grad Sydney Taylor to give Louisville WBB a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way. The bucket made the Cards the winners of the Gold Medal game in the 2023 Globl Jam...and it also served a bit bit of revenge for UofL -- having suffered a loss to Canada on Thursday by three points. 

The Cards are probably glad this Team Canada squad isn't in the ACC. 

It was a back-and-forth game on Sunday, Louisville outscoring the Canadians by seven points in the final quarter to get the "W". It was a win where Louisville played better than they had in any of the previous three games of the Jam, but the Cards are also a team that are still figuring it out in terms of playing together as a team. That's not strange, considering they've had less than a dozen practices together and there are only four student-athletes back from the 2022-23 squad. 

Taylor had been hot earlier in the first half, going on a 8-0 run to help the Cards built a nice lead. Canada roared back to make in a two-point game at the half, though. Taylor ended up with 12 first half points. Her game-winner was her only score of the second half. 

Canada started the second half on a roll, though, and held the Cards "bucketless" for close to the first seven minutes of the third quarter....and built a seven-point lead in the process. Louisville rallied in the fourth quarter to get back in to the contest and Taylor put in the three-pointer that gave Louisville the win. 

Taylor's thoughts on the game-winner: 

"It was just a regular out of bounds play...just to the get in and run the offense. I think that's be nine of ten seconds on the shot clock. I saw Nina Rickards come across, I screen for her to try and get her open. Both of the defenders went with her, left me wide open, so I took the shot. It wasn't for me, I promise." 

Modesty, aside...it was a big shot for a team that'll have the rest of the summer and most of the fall to try and form some sort of identity and a game plan. 

The contest started out with a bit of a twist, with Jeff Walz doing wholesale, five-for five substitutions on the floor early in the game to try and find a scoring combo or someone that would listen to him.. Louisville finished the contest strong, though, scoring seven straight points to  take a 63-61 lead late in the fourth quarter. 

The old adage goes: "Those who score the most, win...unless it's golf."  And, with the players going back to campus to finish up summer classes, the coaching staff has video from four games to break down, analyze, learn from and use when the team returns for the beginning of the 2023-24 season practice. The Cards did score the most points on Sunday, though, and that got them the title.

They've found a three-point specialist in Taylor and Rickards looks like she could easily be a top-flight scorer in the pattern of an Evans, AD or Hines-Allen. 

It should be a fun season to watch.

paulie 

Cards Get Opening Win at Virginia; Walz Adds Another -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Roby and Otis Deliver Milestone Homers in 5-3 Win

In a game that saw both teams hit two home runs to provide the only scoring, Louisville came out ahead with a 5-3 victory over Virginia in the opening game of their three game weekend set. As Jared mentioned yesterday, this series is critical for Louisville to stay in the hunt for an NCAA tournament bid and to stay ahead of Virginia Tech (1.5 games back) for fourth in the ACC. A win last night helps to get the weekend started in a positive way.

While things ended up positive for Louisville, it didn't look great early. Korbe Otis singled to lead off the game, wasting no time in starting a new on-base streak, but the next three batters headed back to the dugout on a sacrifice bunt, a line out, and a pop out. Alyssa Zabala took the circle for the Cards and induced a ground out to open the inning. She gave up a single to the two-hole hitter but got a foul out to give the defense two outs. Unfortunately, the number of outs is a bit irrelevant when the cleanup hitter goes yard. A pop up ended the inning, but the Hoos led 2-0.

The second saw Louisville get a runner on base but leave none stranded in a 4-up, 3-down situation. After a ground out by Sarah Gordon, Daisy Hess laid down a bunt single. Pickle Winkler hit a line shot to center field that was caught, leaving Hess on first with two outs. That's not so odd, right? Except Ally Alexander wouldn't see an official at-bat. Hess was caught stealing to end the top half of the inning. After settling in a bit during the break, Zabala sat Virginia down 1-2-3.

In the third, Alexander stepped back to the plate just as she had the inning prior. She snagged a lead off single and was bunted to second by Paige Geraghty. Otis sent another liner into the outfield, but her hit was also right at a fielder, just like Winkler's. Easton Lotus delivered a single, but it stayed in the infield, advancing Alexander only to third. A ground out ended the inning, stranding two on base and leaving the Cards down 2-0. Still going strong, Zabala retired her fifth, sixth, and seventh straight batters.

The fourth inning was the big one. Taylor Roby opened with a second-pitch solo shot to center field to cut Virginia's lead in half. Gordon followed with a first-pitch single, and Hess drew a full-count walk. That chased the Virginia starter, which looked to be a good move for the Cavaliers. Winkler popped out, but Makayla Hurst loaded the bases with a pinch-hit walk. Geraghty put the ball in play, and the Cards narrowly avoided disaster with a force out at the plate that didn't turn into a double-play to end the inning. One extra chance was all they needed. Korbe Otis stepped into the box and sent a 3-1 pitch to left center for her first career grand slam. Lotus struck out, but Louisville had done its damage. The Cards hit two home runs in the inning and put five runs on the board to flip the advantage. Now trailing, Virginia was fired up to get back into it, but Zabala made quick work of them, using just seven pitches to get her third straight clean inning.

Louisville was quiet in the fifth, earning just a walk, but it was moot with Zabala continuing her fantastic start after the first inning home run. Six pitches retired the side in the fifth inning and five pitches was all it took in the sixth. The sixth inning for Louisville showed a lot of promise. The Cards threatened by loading the bases with a two-out rally (with the help of an error), but they couldn't capitalize and the teams headed to the seventh with the score still 5-2.

Louisville got another pair of runners on base in the top of the seventh but one negated the other. Neither came around to score, meaning Virginia needed three runs to keep the game going and four to win. Zabala reentered for her seventh inning of work, having thrown only 63 pitches in the first six innings. Just as she had over the previous five innings, Zabala retired the first two batters. Abby Weaver was committed to not going down without a fight, though, and she matched Roby's fifth inning solo shot with one of her own to break Zabala's out streak at 17. The home run made it 5-3, but that was the final as a pop out ended the game. 

Alyssa Zabala, take a bow. Three runs on three hits in a complete game win. Is it great that two of those hits were home runs? No. However, it is great that she gave up no walks and had one strikeout as part of the aforementioned 17 out streak. Louisville's offense gave her the cover she needed, and she threw a complete game in only 75 pitches. In comparison, Virginia needed 122 pitches from their three pitchers to get the same 21 outs. It was a fantastic outing that would have been terribly undersold if Louisville hadn't managed to show up at the plate. But they did, so I'm giving Zabala her flowers. Zabala had been a bit cooler of late, and it seemed a bit like the college season was getting to the freshman. I'm happy to report that it appears to have been just a minor slump and Zabala is ready to keep showing her stuff in the critical part of the year.

In the win, Taylor Roby hit a solo home run to set a program record with 18 homers in a single season. Already the owner of the career home run record, Roby has eight regular season games remaining to extend her single season record. She seems likely to do so and it seems like a record likely to stand for quite some time. We talked a lot about how last season saw her struggle at the plate and in the circle due to the overwork and steep expectations at both positions. It didn't manifest right away this year, but it seems clear that Roby has thrived by not being depended on as the only arm and the biggest bat.

Korbe Otis held an on-base streak of 35 games prior to the win at Western Kentucky earlier this week. While it was unfortunate for her to miss out, she didn't let it cloud her play going forward. Otis had three hits in four at-bats in this one, with the aforementioned grand slam being the big one. Her run scored from the homer moves her alone into fifth on Louisville's single season runs scored list. She's now two behind Carmyn Greenwood's 2022 season for fourth and just 12 away from tying the record of 64 set by Melissa Roth in 2009.

Louisville and Virginia will face off again tonight at 6PM. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. A 4PM start wraps up the series tomorrow on ACC Network proper. Louisville will look for a pair of big wins before returning to Ulmer next weekend for their home finale series against Boston College. The Cards wrap up the regular season on the road against league-leading Florida State on Derby Weekend, so wins this weekend and next are key.

Sydney Taylor Commits to Louisville

Another day means another roster addition for Jeff Walz and the Louisville women's basketball squad, apparently. After getting a commitment from Nina Rickards Thursday, last night saw a commitment from Sydney Taylor, a transfer from UMass. Taylor, a 5-9 guard out of Long Island, will officially be a grad transfer. She played in 17 games during her freshman year and started in all 90 games she played over the next three seasons. She was on the All-Championship team for the A-10 as a sophomore and as a junior, and she was named to the A-10 All-Conference Second Team in her junior year. As a senior, Taylor was First Team All-Conference and made the All-Academic Team as well. 

Jared mentioned yesterday that Rickards was not known for being a three-point threat. The same can't be said for Taylor. Taylor averaged 16.1 points per game and scored her 1,000th career point in November. She scored a season high of 30 points at Dayton in late January, led by a career-best seven threes. Overall, Taylor led the Atlantic 10 in made threes and threes per game with 104 (3.2 per game). Those marks were tied for seventh and tied for sixth in the NCAA, respectively. As a junior, she averaged 15.9 points and was 2nd/20th in the conference and NCAA in threes per game. Overall, her senior season saw her shoot 41% from the floor, 38.5% from three, and 81% from the line. She added 5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.94 steals, and 2.5 turnovers per game. Not a major part of any 5-9 guard's game, she had just five blocks on the year. She averaged 2.5 fouls per game, highest on the team, but fouled out just once. 

Taylor's pickup now gives Louisville enough players to play 5-on-5 in practice without the volunteer practice squad, but I expect she won't be the last addition to the 2023-24 roster.

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With today being the start of Louisville's holiday season (Thunder Over Louisville), we'll be taking the week off from the show. Looking ahead, we're planning to record an episode next week before also having Derby Day off. It should be full steam ahead into the summer after that, with hopefully plenty of post-season softball to discuss.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case