Cardinal Couple

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Mid-term assessment for WBB -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

#6 Cards Doing Much Well But Room To Improve

The University of Louisville WBB squad has played 15 games so far in the 2014-15 season. Yes, fans...we've reached the halfway point of the regular season schedule...and the Cards stand at 14-1 and are #6 in the nation. And, tied for #1 in the ACC.

There is a lot to be impressed with so far. How many of you saw this team at 14-1? Raise your hand. How many of you with those hands still up thought the two leading scorers would be freshmen so far? Keep 'em up if you did. Finally, how many of you with hands still in the air thought this team...with four main scorers from last year would be averaging 80 points a game? And how many thought we would lose to UK in the KFC YUM! Center this year?

I don't see any hands left in the air.

Based on the record and ranking so far, the Cards are easily in the top 10% of the NCAA WBB squads this season and we'll give them an "A" for their first semester.

A recent CARDINAL COUPLE POLL indicated to us that 50% of you that voted considered Mariya Moore the MOP of the season so far. We'll not disagree...she has been impressive. She leads the team in scoring, has made the most threes (25) and is a 75% free throw shooter. She's also the team leader in assists with 55. She sits at the top of our class and gets an "A".

We'll hand out two more "A" grades also...to Jude Schimmel and Shawnta' Dyer. Jude's efforts aren't always the type that stuff a stat sheet...but she is the floor leader, ball controller and leads Louisville in steals (39). She's only averaging two turnovers a game in 26 minutes average court time. Shawnta's numbers are quite impressive for the amount of time she sees. Second in total rebounds, second in blocks and shooting 50% from the floor. She averages seven points a game in 16 minutes. Imagine where those numbers might be if she was getting 25 minutes.

We'll hand out four "B" grades to this squad...

-Sara Hammond. Fourth in scoring (10.7), now leading in rebounding per game (6.1) and almost 70% from the charity stripe. If she makes a few more two footers, especially early in games...we'll consider an "A" for the final grade.
Early fouls also need to decrease.

- Bria Smith. She's scored two more points than Hammond on the season (161) and has the only triple-double of the year. She defense can be quite good and she's over 50% from the floor. More successful mid-range jumpers will get her an "A".

- Myisha Hines-Allen. She started with a bang this season and is Louisville's second leading scorer. Although she's struggled a bit of late...as other team's have figured out how to defend her...we're impressed with this freshman. We'd like to see less fouls and more rebounding.

- Arica Carter. A slow start for this freshman but has really picked up the pace. As with Jude, a lot of what she does isn't stat material...but she's blazingly quick, passes well and the mid-range jumper is deadly at times. She is 0-10 from the trifecta arc, though...improvement needed there.

Earning "C" grades for this team are four players:

- Emmonnie Henderson. She's been great in spurts at times and then there are the brief appearances where you wonder if she's playing for the opponent. "Buying in" to the team concept means learning the scout and demonstrating that on the court. A more consistent effort raises this grade.

- Megan Deines. A valuable contributor off the bench...

Deines can hit the three, create with passing and get out on the break. Her rebounding (1.5 a game), free throw shooting (46%) and defensive aggressiveness could all use a overhaul, though.

- Sherrone Vails. Limited in playing time, Sherrone does what she can in her playing time and is still feared as a shot-swatter and shooting 50%. "Bigs" get fouled, though and her free throw % is only 61%. "Bigs" need to rebound also and her 33 grabs in 113 court minutes could improve.

- Arianna Freeman. Another who hasn't seen a bunch of minutes and it's difficult to judge just what she can do and how well it can be done so far. 2 for 13 from the floor isn't impressive but those stats could improve with time added on the court. Average, so far, in other game aspects and that gets her a "C". Give her a few more dribbles when you can, Jeff.

We're giving Cortnee Walton a "incomplete" since she saw so little action and is out now with injury. She probably would have graded out with a "B"...in professor Paulie's opinion...but four games just isn't enough to decide. Heal well, Arizona Archangel...

The second semester will be a lot tougher learning curve for

this team. Replacing GCU, Belmont, ODU and Lafayette with Duke, UNC, Notre Dame and Fla. St. means the wins will not come as easily (if there are wins against these four) and the stats could drop as the competition increases.

We'd be happy to see this 2014-15 team get through ACC play with a conference record of 12-4. We'd be thrilled to see Louisville go 8-0 in January...trips to Wake Forest and Florida State will be challenging, though. And Syracuse visits in January. They are to be feared.

14 games left... seven in the YUM!, seven on the road. Eight of them on national or regional TV. Three of them ESPN2 games.

They've reached the halfway point in the race and the Cards are looking good so far, among the leaders and strong on the approach. We'll see how this race is looking when the contenders hit the top of the stretch in February.

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Don't forget to e-mail us your pick in our January CARDINAL COUPLE CONTEST. This month the contest is...

How many points will Mariya Moore score in January? Your prize is a CARDINAL COUPLE T-SHIRT!!! (and the respect and admiration of the staff chimps here at CC). Regular reader The Real Joe Hill is going with 110.

E-mail to:

cardinalcouple@twc.com

REMEMBER WE NEED YOUR SELECTION IN BY JANUARY 14TH 1:00 PM

-Paulie

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Walton out for season -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

Junior forward to apply for medical redshirt

Louisville WBB head coach Jeff Walz has announced that junior forward Cortnee Walton will miss the rest of the season and will apply for a medical redshirt.

If granted by the NCAA, the Surprize, AZ native would have two years of eligibility beginning next season.

Walz indicates that Walton felt soreness after the Georgia Tech game in her middle toe...which was broken in the preseason. After playing against Pittsburgh, she reported significant pain and after the team's physicians evaluation upon return to Louisville...it was determined that continued game action and practice would just further aggravate the healing process and extended rest and continued therapy would be the best path to pursue.

Sometimes you have to consider what is best for the individual over team needs. Mr. Spock, of Star Trek fame, may have indicated that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one...but, in this case, the health, safety and future of a talented young lady takes precedence.

And it should.

Walton played in four games for Louisville this season. She started once...against Grand Canyon University and saw a total of 53 minutes on the court (an average of 13.3 per game). She scored a total of 14 points for the Cards (3.5 a game) and grabbed 14 rebounds. Walton was 6-8 from the free throw line and 4-9 from the floor.

Her experience, knowledge and aggressive defense will be missed.

On a squad that has only one player averaging over six rebounds per contest (Emmonnie Henderson), Walton's ability to get to the ball, cover the defender and get to the line will be a significant loss to a team that is outrebounding their opponents by 11 a game.

We wish her a full and complete recovery and look forward to seeing her on the side lines cheering on the team (maybe she and Syd can start a injured body parts support hot-line) and can't wait to see her back on the court next year.

Rumors that she and Syd are considering name changes to Cortnee Wal(toe) and Syd(knee brace)myer are unconfirmed

Cortnee's role will be important in 2015-16. The Cards lose Sara, Shawnta' and Sherrone. She'll be the most experienced front-liner on a squad next season that is currently projected to have no seniors, two juniors, one sophomores, one redshirt freshman and two freshmen patrolling the paint.

It is, unfortunately, an all-too-common and frequent aspect of sports...losing performers to injuries. We've seen it on the WBB squad too often. Dez Byrd, Monique Reid, Shawnta' Dyer, Sherrone Vails, Tia Gibbs...to name just a few. Competition can have its price to pay at times.

We hope Walton can "toe the line" and come back strong.

paulie

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Tuesday Cardinal Couple - Spring?

Let's Talk About Spring

With single digit temperatures forecast for tomorrow, its awfully hard to think about spring, but in Cardinals sport terms, spring is just around the corner.

The season opener for Softball is one month away. Think about that while you shiver waiting for your car to warm up tomorrow morning. In one month, Sandy Pearsall and the rest of UofL Softball will be in Las Vegas throwing out the first pitch against UC Davis. Hopefully that will help you feel a little warmer in these cold times.

The young pitching squad...two freshmen and two sophomores...start the season in Las Vegas in a tournament hosted by UNLV. They'll start the season off with a challenge, with Minnesota and Washington also participating, two teams that ended last season ranked 14th and 8th, respectively. UC Davis, CSU Bakersfield and the host UNLV also make appearances.

Keeping in warmer climates to start the season off takes the Cardinals to Orlando the next week where they meet up with a couple of SEC teams in Missouri and Arkansas. While Arkansas ended the season last year out of the rankings, they are frequently a team to be wary of in Softball, and Missouri finished the year ranked 16th. Other teams in this tournament are UMKC, Florida A&M and the ever-ready-to-surprise-you Middle Tennessee.

Getting closer to home, the 3rd weekend of the season sees Eastern Kentucky playing host to Kent State and Western Michigan.

Conference play begins before the Cards ever swing a bat in an actual game in Ulmer Stadium with Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Ulmer finally sees some use two months from now with the home opener on March 6th in the Louisville Classic where UofL plays host to Illinois State, Ball State, Massachusetts and Northwestern who ended the year unranked, but receiving votes.

The rest of the season is dominated by conference games, with visits by Virginia, and North Carolina in March. Road trips to Syracuse and Virginia Tech finishing out March and starting April, before returning home to what turn out to be the biggest challenge on the Cards schedule with Florida State coming to Ulmer. FSU finished the season ranked 3rd in the nation. The end of April sees Boston College come calling before finishing out conference play, and the regular season, with a trip to Pitt.

Non-conference play includes visits to the Buckeye state with trips to Miami of Ohio, and Ohio State ("The" purposefully omitted). Visits to Ulmer by a couple of nearby schools with IU and Kentucky. Road trips to DePaul, and Ole Miss follow, before we return the favor with a visit to Lexington to complete the traditional home and home series with Kentucky. The last regular season home game sees the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky calling at Ulmer.

We're still waiting for a Lacrosse schedule to be posted. It should be soon, as their season typically starts at about the same time.

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Sunday, January 4, 2015

WBB escapes at Pitt 63-57 --- Monday Cardinal Couple

GAME REPORT CARDS 63 - Pitt 57

Louisville held Pitt scoreless for the final 3:10 of the game and sank 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch to come from behind in the Petersen Event Center Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Pitt missed their final seven shots after Brianna Kiesel's three gave the Panthers a 57-55 lead with 3:10 on the clock. Although the Cards failed to score from the court in the same stretch, they capitalized from the charity stripe to go to 14-1 overall and 2-0 in the ACC.

This one looked like it might be a Cardinal blowout early on. The Cards were up 7-0 five minutes into the contest after a Shawnta' Dyer free throw.

Then, the wheel stopped spinning...

Pitt responded with a 13-0 run over the next five minutes to grab a 13-7 lead...which featured two Fred Potvin threes and it wasn't until Dyer connected inside with 10:52 on the scoreboard that the Pitt shutout was ended. The Cards couldn't find the hoop underneath and were breaking down defensively and making foolish turnovers when they managed to get the ball in scoring position. Pitt would blow out to a 27-17 lead with two minutes left in the half before the Cards countered with a 4-0 run to end the half.

It was 29-21 Panthers after twenty minutes and Louisville needed answers and some consistency. Sara Hammond led Louisville with six points. It was the lowest scoring half of the season for UofL.

The Cards came out strong, fortunately, to start the second half and a 10-4 run in the first four minutes drew the score to 33-31 Pitt after a Bria Smith steal and layup. After several minutes of exchanging baskets and misses...the Cards tied it 41-41 after a Myshia Hines-Allen free throw with 12:11 on the clock.

Louisville wouldn't regain the lead until a Moore three made it 50-48 with 8:30 left to play. The Cards had trailed or been tied for 25 minutes. Pitt responded with a 5-0 run, keyed by a Kiesel three and Louisville would not regain the lead until a clutch Jude three made it 55-53 with 4:33 left.

It was Kiesel's turn and she responded with two free throws and a basket to put Pitt back in the lead 57-55 and 3:10 to play.

It was Pitt's final points of the game.

Dyer hit a free throw to draw the Cards within one. Arica Carter stepped up and hit two pressure-packed free tosses to put the Cards ahead 58-57 with 40 seconds left in the game. After a Kiesel turnover from a Cardinal double team, Moore was fouled and sank two for a three-point lead with 27 seconds remaining. Jude converted on 1 of 2 from the line to make it 61-57 UofL and Dyer dropped in two from the charity stripe with six seconds left for the 63-57 final.

Pressure Cards defense in the final three minutes made the difference in the win...Pitt missed their final seven shots.

Jude led Louisville with 11 points. Moore was the only other Card in double figures with ten points...all in the second half. Hines-Allen and Bria finished with nine points, Dyer added seven points and 12 rebounds and Carter and Hammond had six each...Sara's all in the first half and Arica's in the final twenty minutes. Cortnee Walton had four points but Walz mentioned she was experiencing foot pain after the game and would be evaluated when the team returns to Louisville. Megan Deines added a free throw and Emmonnie Henderson saw a minute of action with no points which was explained as being a failure to follow instructions while in the game.

Kiesel led the Panthers with 19 and Monica Wignot added 11. The Panthers did sink eight threes against the Cards...Moore and Jude had two each from the deep for UofL.

A needed win from behind on the road...maybe...but not a very pretty game to watch. The Cards ended up shooting 41% for the game after a 8-27 (29%) first half effort. The Cards outscored Pitt 42-28 in the second half. They took Pitt's best punches early, staggered off the ropes and got the decision. Louisville's 63 points ranks as the lowest point output of the season.

Another week off before Louisville returns to action with a visit to Wake Forest next Sunday. Plenty of time to work on consistency, accuracy and two-foot jump shots...

Trying to listen to the UofL radio call and watch the ESPN3 feed was ridiculous...since they were about two minutes out-of-sync. I gave up on the duality at halftime and let Matt and AJ bring the win home for my ears. From what I saw and heard, though...Jeff Hathhorn and Jen Tuscano did a OK job as the Pitt based TV crew. Maybe they'll learn how to pronounce Deines before they call the Cards again in February.

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Like the rest of the sports world...we are saddened by the

death of Stuart Scott at age 49. The ESPN commentator brought us the catch phrases "Booyah!" and "Cool as the other side of the pillow" and his street approach toward delivering sports news made him a must watch on SportsCenter.

His death serves as a reminder to live each day to the fullest and never take things too seriously. We'll miss you, Stewie...

paulie

Women's basketball team looks to extend woe to the city of Pittsburgh -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

"Same day Arrival" Cards to face Panthers at 2 p.m.

Traditionally...a Jeff Walz team will arrive the day before in the venue they are supposed to play in and spend the night in a hotel before the game the next day. The plans have been shifted around a bit for the Pitt v. Louisville women's basketball game today. Louisville will fly up today and get off the plane ready to play a few hours later in their first ACC road trip.

A source close to the program told us last night that the Cards had originally intended to arrive in Pitt on Saturday but weather issues and then the pilots running out of flight time necessitated the cancellation of the Saturday charter.

Will it be an adversity? Will it affect how the Cards play against the Panthers?

We think not. I don't know for sure about the girls on the team...but I'm guessing they're like me and enjoy sleeping in their own beds instead of a hotel bed. Secondly, this is a tough bunch of Cardinals. You could air-drop them in from a Cessna...dressed in their uniforms...onto the banks of the Allegheny River commando-style under cover of darkness and Emmonnie and Sara would lead the charge up Pitt Hill to the Petersen Event Center...picking up any stragglers still at Heinz Field in shock after the Ravens eliminated the Steelers from the NFL Playoffs last night.

Add Michonne, Daryl and Rick and they could probably capture the whole city...

Pitt is having their best season in quite some time. They stand at 10-3 and beat Delaware State 93-58 on Dec. 30th.
The Panthers went 50% from the field and hit 21-23 from the line.

That doesn't impress you? Consider that they knocked off powerhouse Ohio St. earlier in the season.

Brianna Kiesel is the leader of this bunch of Pennsylvania felines and she does it well...with 17.8 ppg. If she's not open, look out for Stasha Carey...who averages close to a double-double with 10.4 ppg and 9.2 rebounds a night. The Panthers also average eight made threes per game.

( A special "thank you" to all you e-mailers who wanted me to know just how special Kiesel is. She seems to be the Shelby Harper of Pitt Hoops in terms of fan adoration.)

This one will be on ESPN3 and CARDSTV at 2 p.m. EST. Jeff Hathhorn and Jen Tuscano (Pittsburgh's version of Gary Fogle and Sara White we guess) will boldly handle the mispronunciation of the player's names and botched stats and play sequences.

(And another special thanks to our e-mailers who also wonder where Louisville or ESPN dug these two up from and can they be returned for a refund?).

I didn't hear their call of the Georgia Tech game...so I can't comment on how well the duo did...but can tell you that Fogel is now a communications teacher at Bellarmine University and was a sports reporter for WAVE TV and WHAS TV Sports for years...going back to 1987. White was a former UofL WBB head coach (in the dark days before Collen) was married to former Cardinal coach Martin Clapp and has bounced around to several schools before returning to Southern Indiana to train real estate agents.

Don't shoot me...I'm only the messenger...We see journalists and commentators of all types and temperaments in our coverage of UofL women's sports.

The comments I've heard on White is that she seems a little haughty and aloof so far...maybe it's because we don't really know her too well and she's new to the job. Fogle is probably best known for being popular morning show host Rachel Platt's husband. They'll do, we surmise...Paulie prefers Matt and A.J. when it comes to following games he can't be in attendance for. He also liked Tonya Harding instead of Nancy Kerrigan. Go figure...we're sure both Fogle and White are very capable handling television duties for ESPN3, Raycom Sports, UofL or whoever is signing the paycheck and sticking them in half-court seats.

Today will serve to be a good road test for the 13-1 Cards, who look to extend the series advantage to 9-2 against Pitt.

We'll be back later today for the recap.

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The latest edition of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO is up and

archived on the heavenly Soundcloud at Crescent Hill Radio. You should listen:

Link below:

THE FIRST CARDINAL COUPLE BROADCAST of 2015 !!!!

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Friday, January 2, 2015

Cards middle stretch stings Yellow Jackets -- Louisville 75 - Ga. Tech 48...Saturday Cardinal Couple

24-2 run puts Ramblin' Wreck in the garage

Walz adds two recruits for 2015?? Congrats Mayor Jer
and Madeline!! Which one is the shooter, which is the maker?

We usually talk about how the Cards begin and end a game here at Cardinal Couple to begin a game recap. Today, we'll look at the middle eight minutes of the contest...the final 4 1/2 of the first session and the beginning 3 1/2 minutes of the second half...in profiling the 27-point Louisville win. Although Louisville never trailed after an early 7-6 deficit, the Techsters were competing tooth-and-nail with UofL and the Cards could not gain more than a six point lead in the first 15 minutes.

Cards warm up for Georgia Tech

After Aaliyah Whiteside capped off a 4-0 Georgia Tech spurt with a layup to make it a two-point affair at 22-20...with 4:30 on the scoreboard...Louisville went on a 11-0 run to end the first half and take a 33-20 lead into the locker room.