Louisville women's basketball -- Cards Face 'Dores tonight THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LOUISVILLE WBB PUTS 9-0 RECORD ON THE LINE VS. VANDERBILT TONIGHT IN THE KFC YUM! CENTER. 

Please come see us do work tonight! 

The Louisville Cardinals women's basketball looks to sink the Commodores (minus Lionel Ritchie) tonight in their first test against an SEC opponent this season. The 'Dores arrive at the YUM! Center listing badly and at less than full nautical speed but have made some improvements recently and appear to be getting back on course after winning their last two contests. They shouldn't have any trouble seeing over the horizon, Vandy lists three girls on their roster at 6'5" and one at 6'4".

Mariella Fasoula is one of the "talls" on the team. If the name sounds familiar, she was about the only bright light Boston College had on their 2017-18 roster. She's on Stephanie White's boat now and sitting this season per transfer rules but will be a valuable commodity for the Commodores for two seasons after this one. I remember watching her almost single-handedly beating Georgia Tech last year in the first round of the ACC Tournament and falling just four points short. I dreaded facing her for two more years in ACC play but that solved itself with her transfer.  

Players that could have an impact for the Nashville school tonight include seniors Rachel Bell and Christa Reed. Both are closing in on their 1000th. points for Vandy. Bell is just 51 points away from quadruple digits and leads Vandy in scoring with 13.7 p.p.g. Reed needs 177 to make the 1000-point club. Also, keep an eye on heralded freshman Chelsea Hall...she's second on the squad in scoring with 13.0 points a night. 

Melanie tended to overdress.

Stephanie White is in her second year of trying to restore Vanderbilt WBB to significance. After Melanie Baucomb's departure from the captain's chair at the end of the 2015-16 season, White and former ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck, who was White's head coach at Purdue and now her assistant,  packed gear for Music City and managed a 14-16 season in their inaugural voyage...with a 5-11 SEC record. White has had success on the hardwood, she led Purdue to the 1999 NCAA Championship title as a senior and spent five years playing in the WNBA. She also coached the Indiana Fever for two years before taking the Vandy job. Louisville will be the first top 25 opponent the 'Dores have faced this season. Vandy did look pretty good in their last outing, against Iowa St..in Memorial Gym...but you're not in Nashville tonight, 'Dores. 

I remember my only visit to Memorial Gym. It was back in 2006 and the Cards were in first round NCAA action against Vandy. Louisville fell 76-64 that evening, I wasn't doing media stuff that night and was seated across the aisle from this crazy guy wearing a Commodore naval captain's hat who would jump up and run the steps when Vandy did something good and shake his finger in my face. All I could do not to punch him and probably would have if my voice of reason (Sonya) hadn't been there to back me off the ledge. Also, Howie Lindsey suffered an appendicitis attack during the game and had to be rushed to the hospital. Hopefully, no such drama will occur tonight.  

WOO HOO! Cleveland sez
"GO CARDS!" 

For #4 Louisville, it'll be a matter of offensive execution, defense and avoiding a slow start against the southern invaders. Louisville had no problems against the first Tennessee school they've played this year...soaring past the UT-Martin Skyhawks 91-56 Tuesday night.
Myisha Hines-Allen will be needed to provide a strong inside presence for Jeff Walz's group and if guards Asia Durr, Arica Carter, Dana Evans and Sydney Zambrotta can zero in on their jumpers and spur a few fast-breaks...the Cards should be able to get to 10-0.

Jazmine Jones could also be a factor against the talented foe. We'd like to see a reduction in turnovers (close the bakery tonight, Jazz!) from the Tallahassee sophomore and improvement on her three-point attempts. Louisville has the advantage of playing 10 players and not seeing any significant drop-off in production on the hardwood. As Walz mentioned recently, the Cards had Hines-Allen and Durr on the bench against Oregon and pushed a 10-point lead to 18.  Depth profitability and success will be important tonight, we estimate, since the Cards have games upcoming on Saturday and next Tuesday during this home-stand...plus Fall semester Finals going on. 

Cortnee patrols the floor again! 

If you are unable to get downtown tonight for the contest, it will be shown on the ACC Network Extra. "Dynamic" Don Russell and former Cards coach Sara White will be in the talking chairs and Cardinal great Cortnee Walton will be prowling the sidelines...ignoring Walz's requests to report to the scorer's table and hit the hardwood. It's a 7 p.m. start tonight and it is Thirsty Thursday with $3 beverages available....so make the effort and report to the court for this excellent product from the Belknap Campus. 

You got an undefeated team here, folks. Two All-Americans and a potential Final Four team. Give 'em some love and show up. 


MEN'S BASKETBALL USES STRONG SECOND HALF TO SINK SIENA

Coach has shed his tie. I will remove
my wrist-band to support him...

It was nervous-time in the KFC YUM! Center after the first half, as David Padgett's troops found themselves barely ahead of the visiting MAAC Conference Siena Saints 39-36. 

Padgett emerged from the locker room for the final 20 sans necktie and the Cards loosened up as well, using a 18-0 run to scoot past the Saints 86-60. UofL had 47 second half points...Anas Mahmoud ending up with 17 points and 13 grabs, Quentin Snyder added 16 and Deng Adel finished with nine. 

Louisville looked like a top 25 team in the final 20 minutes. Let's hope they put that in a jar and bring it back out when needed. 

The guys bring in Indiana next for a 2 p.m. tussle Saturday. Sans tie and casual, we hope. 


What's next, D.P. hiking shorts and a tank top? Go Cards! Beat Purdue Indiana! 


MARVELOUS MAL

Is Bermuda north or south of Cuba? Be the first to answer
correctly in the comments section and we'll put you in
the $20 Panera Card drawing! 

Amazing Mallory Comerford continues to make a big splash in the Ralph Wright Natatorium and across the nation for Louisville Swimming. She was named NCAA Division I Swimmer of the Week for her performance at the USA Winter Nationals. 

At Nationals, Mal posted times that placed her 6th. in the 50 free, 1st. in the 100 and 200 free, and 4th. in the 100 fly. She was also the Women's High Point Award winners for the meet. 

She was also on the Cards 800 free relay squad that touched the wall first and tied a school record of 6:58:41. 

The Cards will be taking a bit of time off before returning to the water against Kentucky on Saturday, January 20th at the Ralph Wright. 


Paulie

Louisville Women's Basketball -- Cards roll past UT Martin 91-56 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS PUT 5 IN DOUBLE FIGURES IN ROMP

( JARED ANDERSON BRINGS THE WEDNESDAY COLUMN FOR US) 

Another day, another win. 

The Louisville women had no trouble dismantling UT Martin in the KFC YUM! Center last night. Five players scored in double figures for the Cards, led by Myisha Hines-Allen's (DOOO-BLAY) 16 points. The irony, though, is that she did not record a double-double with just eight rebounds. 

This game wasn't supposed to be close and the Cards assured that by storming out to a 29-9 first quarter advantage. The Skyhawks could not handle Louisville's full-court pressure early and ended up committing 22 turnovers. Louisville head coach Jeff Walz called off the press after the first quarter. More importantly, the Cards managed 35 points off turnovers. You must make your opponents pay for mistakes and Walz's team did that. 

Cheerleaders help out with a stuck ball. Or is she dunking? 

We saw 10 Cardinals get playing time -- anywhere from 16-26 minutes -- in a balanced distribution of court time. One face missing from playing time was Retta Kakala. Walz discussed in his post-game presser the she was going through a few things and that the staff was working with her on them and that we would hear more in a week or so. Post-game speculation among the media centered around a possible transfer or a red-shirt but nothing has been confirmed. 

This was a good game to allow everyone ample playing time since it was a lesser opponent and with three more games in seven days coming up at the YUM! the distribution makes sense. It is also finals week at UofL so care is being taken to not drain the roster physically and mentally. 

After the conclusion of the first quarter the Cards worked on improvement of their half-court defense. That met with mixed results -- Louisville only outscored the SkyHawks by one but reserve Jess Laemmle, our favorite Attack Yorkie, directed the offense from the point for eight of those minutes with Hines-Allen, Kylee Shook, Arica Carter and Asia Durr primarily on the court with her. Walz implemented a few halftime adjustments and they worked well -- UofL outscored UTM by eight points in the third session and six points in the fourth period. 

I was impressed with the play of Sydney Zambrotta last night. Syd came into the program known as a three-point specialist, which she has done since day one of being on campus. The sophomore from New Babylon, NY has improved her defense drastically as well as worked diligently on ball control. She dropped 13 points last night -- including a team high three-pointers -- and had two steals and no turnovers. 

Arica Carter put on a nice show for the 6279 in attendance. She added 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. A nice stat line for the redshirt-junior starting point guard. The zero turnovers are impressive for 21 minutes of court-time. 


THE JARED REPORT

Paulie , Charlie  andAl have spotted something...is it Jared
inside the scoreboard? 

J - JUMP SHOTS. Louisville shot 52.3% from the floor and 33.3% from beyond the arc. The Cards were 40% or better each quarter. There were too many missed layups but it's hard not to be happy when you make over half your shots. A CAPITAL "J". 

A- ASSISTS. Dana Evans and Carter combined for 10 of the 21 assists last night. That is A LOT OF ASSISTS compared to UT-Martin's 10 for the night. The guards did a great job of finding the open players for some easy buckets. A CAPITAL "A"

R - REBOUNDS. UofL snagged 43 rebounds and 29 were on the defensive end. UTM finished with 34 rebounds and 19 were on the defensive side of Denny Crum Court. I like seeing the Cards 43 grabs but I don't like allowing an opponent 34 and 15 of them being offensive-generated. Better blocking-out is needed. I can only give a lower case "r" here. 

E - EFFORT. The overall team effort impressed me. With so many games in so few days plus dealing with academics it's easy to get distracted or half-hustle it against a mid-major. All 10 players that saw the court hustled and bustled their butts up and down the court (and off the court -- did you see Asia Durr hurdling over the scorer's table for a save of a loose ball?) All this with Walz changing things up with different looks and wholesale substitution patterns. The team adjusted well and I can issue A CAPITAL "E" here. 

D- DEFENSE. Holding an opponent to 56 works. Especially in a up-tempo game. Keeping them at 32.8% shooting is pretty good, too.  UTM managed just 9-14 free throw shooting as well (64.3%). Excellent pep-band prevent defense a factor there. Forcing 22 turnovers kept the bakery open until the game ended and the 35 points from them is quite impressive. THE CARDS EARNED THE CAPITAL "D" I'M AWARDING THEM. 

J-A-r-E-D.  Almost perfect. 

Next head coach of the Steelers? 

On a side note, Coach Walz was pleased with the free-throw shooting once again. 80% will effect such a response. Durr was a perfect 4-4. Walz did joke that they spend more time practicing free ones since they don't practice dunking. On the four misses from the charity stripe, there were no "3 is better than 2" conversions. Walz didn't mention that. He's also a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan and boasted he was texting people near midnight Monday with the words "Who dey?" after the Steelers came back to beat the Bengals. 

Whatever, coach. 

Vanderbilt visits next. Their 3-5 record doesn't do a historically good program justice. The Commodores have has opportunities in every game to win but have fallen short in a few. Fill those seats for a potential dogfight Thursday night.

POST GAME AUDIO: WALZ

POST GAME AUDIO: JAZZ and ARICA discuss the win


VOLLEYBALL

Dani Busboom Kelly was named AVCA East Region Coach of the Year yesterday. In her first year as the Wide Net Girls skipper, she led the Cards to an ACC title and a undefeated home record against ACC opponents. 

Melanie McHenry and Wilma Rivera were named to the AVCA All-East Region First Team. Both players were consistent all year and provided great leadership. More good news. They're back for 2018. 

Molly Sauer, Tess Clark, Maggie DeJong and Jasmine Bennett gathered second-team honors. The dynamic duo of Tess and Maggie are graduating but Jasmine and Molly return.


FIELD HOCKEY

Despite their season being over for a few weeks, the Stick Girls garnered some attention this week. Senior Nicole Woods and junior Ayeshia McFerran were selected to the First Team All-American squad and junior Taylor Stone was selected for third team honors. What? No Minnie Mink awards? 

The three additions push Louisville's All-American totals since 2001 to a whopping 18. Coach Sowry has to be pleased with that. Maybe Minnie and Katie Walsh join the club next season. 

JARED'S CORNER

If you're in town and looking to get into the holiday spirit I will be performing with a couple local musical groups during their Christmas concerts. It's a little different than the fantastic music WCHQ plays on a regular basis, but it is live and local. 

Tuba Christmas will be held on the main stage at Fourth Street Live on Saturday, Dec. 16th at 1 p.m. The Louisville Winds will perform at Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church on Sunday Dec. 17th at 3 p.m. Both concerts are free and a wonderful opportunity to come see the man with the music degree do something besides changing $20's into $5's and $10's. 

As always, keep cheering on the Cards. They ARE off probation from accreditation now so good news is continuing to come in on the Belknap Campus. 

(Photos today from Jared Anderson, Julie Sullivan and Frank the Wonder Mule) 

Go Cards! 
Jared Anderson  

Louisville women's Basketball vs. UT-Martin tonight! -- Lamar and Lacrosse -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB FACES SKYHAWKS TONIGHT IN THE KFC YUM! CENTER

"Yep, JC is giving herself an upgrade...." 

Fresh off eking out a 68-64 Sunday win over a tough South Dakota State team in Brookings, S.D., the Cards return to the friendly confines of the KFC YUM! Center to take on the UT Martin Skyhawks tonight at 7 p.m. 

I wasn't able to watch the close one in South Dakota because I was at the Louisville men's game against Seton Hall down by the Ohio River. A heartbreaking loss for David Padgett's team -- all things considered, I would have rather been in South Dakota. Trying to follow updates of a close game while watching another game is frustrating. The frustratingly erratic MBB squad had a chance to win this one and kept my head pounding and heart racing. 

The consolation was I was able to maneuver down to nice end zone seats . (Thanks to the students that didn't claim their tickets -- this old lady was able to sneak into their area in the lower bowl).

Having missed both women's away games and unable to watch replays had me feeling a bit disconnected. On the plus side, Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel...who I saw Thursday night...consoled my disconnect by throwing me an "L" and declaring "Go Cards!" Luckily, Paulie and Case shared great recaps here at Cardinal Couple and kept me in the loop. 

Now at 8-0, the #4 Louisville women's basketball squad have tied their second-best start ever and have a good shot at beating the 15-0 start that they got off to in the 2006-07 season. Tom Collen was Louisville's head coach back then and got the Angel McCoughtry led squad to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

"All together now...3 is better than 2 !!" 

Jeff Walz leads Louisville WBB into the first of a four-game home-stand tonight. The Cards will play four schools from Tennessee in the next eight days (UT-Martin, Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee and Tennessee State). The Cards are used to quick turnarounds this year and these games should allow Walz to go deep in the player rotation and get the bench some significant experience. 

UT-Martin (3-4) is coming off a disappointing 87-82 overtime loss at Chattanooga Saturday. The Skyhawks shot a blistering 60.4 % from the floor. Their leading scorer is sophomore guard Kendall Spray, who averages 17.1 points per game. Three other starters, Emanye Robertson, Chelsey Perry and Janekia Mason are also averaging in double digit scoring. There are three Kentuckians on the Skyhawk roster, including sophomore guard Tamiah Stanford, who played her high-school ball at nearby North Hardin H.S. in Radcliff, KY. 

The Skyhawks seem over matched tonight. They are 0-32 against ranked team in program history and that dubious streak doesn't appear to be in jeopardy tonight. They do force 21 turnovers a contest, 35th. best in DI ball, so the Cards guards will need to be mindful of the orange orb. I expect Louisville's stifling defense to force a few "bakery items" as well.

                                      >>>>>> JC PREDICTIONS <<<<<<

-- Myisha Hines-Allen will not get her 34th career double-double tonight. Not because of lack of effort but because I expect the reserves will see the majority of minutes once the Cards jump out to a significant lead. Better be a baller early, DOOO-BLAY. 

-- Jessica Laemmle and Retta Kakala will see floor time and score. 

-- Bionca Dunham will take a step forward and have a strong game. She may get the double-double honors tonight. 

-- Jazmine Jones should put on a show, both on the court and on the Cardinal sidelines. Watch for dancing feet, flailing arms and twirling towels from the flamboyant sophomore out of Tallahassee. And that's just in the pre-game warm ups...

-- Coach Walz will praise the officiating. (OK, that one was just to see if you were paying attention.) 

Make plans to come downtown tonight and be in the KFC YUM! Center before 7 p.m. It should be a fun distraction for the students facing finals week. It's also Faculty/Staff Appreciation night. Catch up with that professor who kindly gave you a "B" for the "C" work you did in Quantum Physics and get "teach" some nachos!   


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LACROSSE SIGNS 10

Recently hired UofL Lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter doesn't procrastinate. He's hit the ground running and garnered 10 commitments for the 2018 Lacrosse student-athlete roster. Teeter doing work to replenish a roster devastated by defections under the previous coaching staff. 

Welcome to the Ville Shay Clevenger, Kelly Coughlan, Courtney Deena, Madison McFadden, Kirsten Parker, Kristen Pezzullo, Mason Plymire, Paige Richbourg, Jen Scaff and hometown girl Elizabeth Janes from South Oldham high school. We now know where the team cookout will be held, right?  

Still no announcement on who Scott's staff and assistant coaches will be yet. The season begins Feb. 4th when Vermont comes to the L.L.S. 




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LAMARVELOUS

Congratulations to Lamar Jackson for getting a finalist invite to the Heisman Trophy award ceremony Saturday night in New York. The consensus seems to be that, despite Jackson putting up better numbers, Baker Mayfield...QB from Oklahoma...is the clear front-runner to win the award. 

Here's hoping the voters choose the best player despite team records. Lamar has always represented himself and Louisville with class and style and that makes him a winner in my book. We get (at least) one more chance to watch his fantastic skills when UofL plays Mississippi State in the TaxSlayer Bowl on Dec. 30th. in Jacksonville. Noon kickoff. 

Jackson in Jacksonville. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?  


JC Sullivan

  

WBB Notches Tough Road Win -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Earn Come From Behind Victory at SDSU

For the second time in eight games, Louisville has had to handle business in an extremely hostile, tough road environment. The Cards passed the test with flying colors when they dispatched then No. 2 Ohio State, but appeared to have their hands full early in yesterday's game against the Jackrabbits (great nickname alert) of South Dakota State. Perhaps they felt the relief of the men's team getting into action in with a rough start of their own from 900 miles away, as the second half turned in favor of the Cardinals. Or perhaps it was the turnaround of Asia Durr after halftime that pulled the Cards up by their bootstraps to get to victory. Given that this team has shown that it generally goes the way Durr goes, I'm going to go with the latter.

Full disclosure from here on out: like most, I was unable to watch this game. However, I was also unable to listen live to the radio broadcast. My statements and analysis come only from the stats sheet, play-by-play, and what I could glean from Twitter during the game. The women's basketball account and Paulie both do a great job of tweeting updates, mostly filling in the holes left by one another. Now that we know that, let's move on to talk about some goings on.

The first quarter was rough. Louisville made only one of their first five shots and committed two fouls before finding themselves down 6-2 in the first two minutes. Over the next four minutes, Louisville was able to go tit for tat and stay close, trailing only 13-10 with 4:05 remaining in the first quarter. Then it got a bit ugly. Over the remainder of the quarter, SDSU went on an 11-2 run to stretch their lead to 24-12. I don't have the official statistic, but that sounds like the largest deficit for the Cards so far this season. Louisville owned the early part of the second quarter, going on a 9-0 run to close the gap to only 3. The defense loosened its grip a bit for the remainder of the half, unfortunately, and the Jackrabbits extended their lead to 31-23 by halftime. 

The good thing for Louisville was that, at halftime, someone found the real Asia Durr hidden in her locker by some impostor. Durr was 1-6 from the floor in the first half. She was 0-2 from beyond the arc and had 1 rebound, 1 foul, 3 assists, and a turnover in 14 minutes. In the second half, the play went through Durr. She shot 6-14, still not a great percentage, but much better. She went 3-5 from beyond the arc and added 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal with just one turnover. Durr played every minute of the second half. 

The Cards came storming out of the gates after halftime, led by Asia Durr. Durr scored 12 of the first 19 points of the half, leading Louisville on a 14-5 run over 5:40 to take their first lead of the game at 37-36. SDSU quickly regained that lead and stretched it back to 4 before Louisville could recover. The two teams then traded baskets through the end of the quarter to go into the final stanza tied at 46. Louisville scored the first point of the fourth quarter just nine seconds in with an Asia Durr free throw. Louisville would not yield the lead for the remainder of the game, despite consistent pressure from South Dakota State and held on to win 68-64. 

Durr was joined in double figures by Arica Carter with 14 and Myisha Hines-Allen with 10. Bionca Dunham led the team with 7 rebounds. The Cards were plagued by foul trouble with Hines-Allen and Dana Evans having four apiece and Sam Fuehring was entirely uneffective on the day, fouling out with 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 turnovers in only 17 minutes. Looking at the stats of several key players would not inspire confidence in a Louisville win, but the Cards got it done.

South Dakota State is a mid-major, this is true, but that should not discredit the difficulty of this true road win for UofL. SDSU was ranked number two in the mid-major rankings this past week, receiving 2 first place votes. They defeated then No. 23 NC State over Thanksgiving, and were previously undefeated at home. The crowd was undoubtedly excited for the chance to defeat a top 5 opponent. For Louisville to go into a hostile true road environment and come out with a tough win, especially in the manner in which they did so, is impressive. The Cards are back in action in the safety of the Yum! Center on Tuesday when UT Martin comes to town. Tipoff is set for 7PM and the game will be on the ACC Network Extra.

The C-A-S-E Report

Let's take a look at how the Cards did in some major statistical categories. As a reminder for how this works: Louisville's performance is measured against the opponent (but mostly themselves) in turnovers, assists, steals, and shooting efficiency. 

Vikings 'Interim' Starting QB Case Keenum

C-Care: Louisville turned the ball over 14 times. Off the bat, that doesn't look like a great number. Upon further analysis, it isn't. Louisville only forced one more turnover, with SDSU committing 15. SDSU also forces an average of 15.71 turnovers per game this season. That mean's Louisville committed 89.1% of the average. That's not good enough, as we desire Louisville to play crisp, clean, and better than the opponent. Fewer turnovers is worth half a letter, though, so that's a lowercase 'c'.

A-Assists: The Cards finished with 14 assists. As we just learned, they also had 14 turnovers. That's an assist to turnover ratio of 1. That's not good. Louisville did assist on exactly 50% of their shots, though, so they'll also be awarded a lowercase 'a'.

S-Steals: Louisville finished with 10 steals and South Dakota State finished with 7. I'm going to push the benchmark to 7.5 (to prevent pushes), but Louisville still achieved both goals. That's an uppercase 'S'. 

E-Efficiency: The Cards shot only 35.5% in the first half, but followed it up with a blistering 58.6% in the second. That gave them a final line of 46.7%, just over the 45% benchmark. They weren't so good from the charity stripe, shooting just 7-12. That 58.3% is well below the 75% goal. They'll earn a lowercase 'e'. 

Louisville finishes up with a c-a-S-e in the CASE Report. I've noticed that Louisville generally does much better in the CASE Report than they do in Paulie's FRED reports. What do you think, comment section? Does the CASE Report need to be tougher? Let me know!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cardinal Couple - Just Keep Driving

On the Road Again

After upwards of 24 hours of traveling over a 3 day period, to spend less than 20 hours in Minneapolis, I'm back in the 'Ville.  I'm tired, disappointed in the outcome of events in Minnesota, but oh so very glad I made the trip.

EDITOR NOTE:  Jeff was nice enough to join us on the radio yesterday while watching his Tesla drive him back to Louisville, I haven't heard if he picked up beer cheese or Huber Beer yet...but you CAN hear the show HERE

VolleyThoughts

The UofL Volleyball playing year has come to a close with a disappointing 1st round NCAA
tournament loss to a surprisingly good Northern Iowa team.

My thoughts about the season are still all a-jumble, but I want to try to get some down here.

First and foremost, if you take anything away from my chaotic thoughts, take this one away.  This team over-achieved compared to what was expect of them...by a lot!  Picked in pre-season to finish 8th in the ACC, which would likely have left them on the outside of the NCAA tournament looking in (again), with a new coach...not only new to UofL, but new to being a head coach altogether, this team put together an amazing later season run through the conference only losing two matches, and taking the co-championship with Pitt and earning the NCAA automatic qualifying bid for the conference.  Drawing an NCAA tournament draw that pitted them in the sub-region of the 7th seed vs the much closer 4 seed in Lexington.

So what happened in Minnesota?  While I haven't had the chance to go back and rewatch the match (and I'm not sure I will) to analyze, my first instinct points to blocking.  Not our blocking so much, although we were certainly a better blocking team than we have been in recent past, but to the opponents blocking.  If you look at the later season losses and matches where we struggled, the one theme that I think I found is that the other team blocks well.  In the UNI match, we were even in total blocks on the stat sheet, but not all blocking efforts make the stat sheet.  Deflections and tips that don't result in a point don't show up in the stat sheet at all, and good blocking teams don't just rack up stats, they deflect and tip shots that give the defense a better chance to play the ball and get a good in-system offense set.  Getting tips and deflections also causes the hitting team to try to start adjusting their shots to hit around, tip over, or just power through the block, all of which are actions that can be fraught with peril.  Any time you can get the other team reacting to you, rather than the other way around, you have a leg up.

We had an amazing defensive trio this year in Molly Sauer, Gabbie Wiley, and Alexis Hamilton.  We got less playing time late in the season from Alexis due to a wrist injury, but these three did an amazing job covering the digging and passing duties using just two players at a time, particularly on serve receive, when most teams would use three.  Add in a sprinkling of all-around playing from the likes of Amanda Green, and Melanie McHenry, and our digging and passing were much improved over last years, and drastically so over two seasons ago.  In basketball, turnovers and rebounds can generate offense (particularly if you're playing Walz-style of basketball), the equivalent in Volleyball is digging and passing.  We lose Gabbie to graduation, and looking on the current roster, the name that jumps to mind to fill that spot would be Natalie Palastro.  We do have two signed Libero/Defensive Specialists, including a standout from Nebraska name Maggie Mullen who I expect will compete for this role.

In other graduations, we will lose Maggie DeJong (apparently we have a firm quota of one "Maggie" per season) in the middle.  I expect Piper Roe to step up to fill that role.  Again, we have a signed freshman from Appleton, WI named Emily Scott, but I expect this role to be Piper's unless something crazy happens.  Tess Clark will also be departing, and the current roster player that would most naturally slot into that spot is Megan Sloan, but we incoming freshman Aiko Jones out of Jamaica who looks absolutely dynamic, as well as a Wisconsinite, Claire Chaussee.  I can see both competing for the role as incoming freshmen.  Lastly we graduate Coline Coessens, who mostly helped out as a serving specialist, but did occasionally play full-rotation with all around skills.  Not being confined to one specific role, I expect her contributions will be replaced with a patchwork of players and adjustments in play over the overall team.

This was a great year for UofL Volleyball, it hasn't matched the most successful years of the squad over the years, but given the starting point, I don't believe there is any room for complaints here at all.  This was a huge step forward for the squad, and I expect more to come as this team gets molded more and more in Dani Busboom Kelly's image.

I look forward to spring play, and the start of play next fall.

"You and I" might be advancing, yes, but I love the future
of this team. 

Basketball In Action

Two basketball games today.  The men host Seton Hall at the KFC Yum! Center at 4 p.m, while the women are hoping to outrun the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State with a 3 p.m. tip.  While the men will be looking to get back to their winning ways, the women will be working to continue to remain undefeated and go to 8-0 to start the season (with wins over 3 Top 25 teams in there already, lest we forget).  If you can't make it downtown, the men will be shown on ESPN2, while the women's stream will only be available on the added-cost SDSU streaming service.  I'll give Nick and AJ the listen on 790 AM (probably streamed) instead, and perhaps pull up the #3 Notre Dame vs #1 UConn game starting at 4 p.m.

 Muffet McGraw vs Geno Auriemma is always an entertaining match-up of two very good teams, both of which we'll be playing later this season.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Looking for wins to talk about from yesterday?  The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour was a walk-off
Grand Slam home run of a broadcast.  It was particularly awesome if you ignore the dufus who couldn't even manage to stay on a phone call.

It was a bit of a different lineup from our usual, but man was it fantastic.  Julie JC "no periods" Sullivan, Paige "Wiener Dog Lover" Sherrard, and Daryl "#4" Faust joined Paulie in studio, and we couldn't ask for better analysis and discussion of Volleyball, Basketball, and Soccer than from this crew.  I did manage to maintain a phone connection for long enough to talk about the Volleyball loss some as I was driving across the hinterlands of Wisconsin, and then got to listen to the rest of it via the wonders of Internet streaming.

The replay is already up at

 https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20171202.

 If you didn't get to hear it live, definitely go check it out.

-- JMcA

Volleyball Falls in NCAA Tournament -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Magical Season Ends with Unceremonious Sweep by UNI

Louisville's head coach left the program at the end of last season after an extremely disappointing final stanza. No one faults Anne Kordes for doing what is best for herself and her family, at least I don't, but there was a lot of uncertainty about what was next for a program that had been building itself up to the status of "consistently decent". When Dani Busboom-Kelly was hired, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know much about her, and I didn't know enough about the volleyball program at the time to know if the issues on last season's team stemmed from talent or coaching. Coach DBK promptly came in and showed what she could do with all of the talent on this Louisville Volleyball squad. Many of them will be back next year, but what they did in the first year of a new coach's tenure is impressive. You may be able to say that the ACC was in a bit of a down year, but this team still won 11 straight matches to end the season as the ACC regular season champions. They beat every team in the ACC and showed a lot of promise for next season.

Their impressive first year under DBK came to a close last night with a 21-25, 15-25, 25-27 sweep loss to the University of Northern Iowa. Louisville got a rough draw in the NCAA tournament as it was, being shipped up to a host region of a powerhouse Big Ten team, but there was hope for them to at least advance. I believe I actually made the prediction that they could win an NCAA tournament game earlier in the year. Nonetheless, despite the rough outing yesterday, Louisville still did amazing things this season, and their seniors will be missed.

As for yesterday's match, there is not a lot to say. Louisville was close in the first set, actually pushing out to an 18-15 lead after bouncing back and forth with the Panthers. The Cards yielded a 6-0 run, though, which gave UNI a 21-18 lead from which Louisville was unable to recover. The wheels fell off in the second set, as Louisville hit -.025 with 9 errors and only 8 kills. Louisville actually had the set tied at 11 before UNI won 14 of the next 18 points to defeat the Cards 15-25. There was not a lot to build on in the second set during halftime. From a mentality standpoint, I think it would have been much better for Louisville to have had the very rough set in the first, and show some fight in the second, rather than what happened. 

The Cards did show a spark of life in the third set, though. They led most of the third set by 3-4 points and actually had two set points at 24-22 and 24-23. They were unable to finish on either of those opportunities, unfortunately, and UNI came back to finish the match with a 25-27 third set victory. Louisville's offensive bright spots were few, as only Jasmine Bennett hit above .300 for the team. Melanie McHenry and Tess Clark both had rough days, hitting .075 and .074 respectively. Amanda Green led the team with 9 kills and added 2 aces, but tacked on 4 errors of her own, contributing to Louisville's total of 19 through the match. Molly Sauer did what she could defensively with 15 digs, and was joined by Wilma Rivera with 9 and McHenry with 8. 

After a lot of uncertainty before this season, and an unfortunate looking start to the season, Louisville has hope for the future. The team never found the top-25, which I found to be foolish given what the team accomplished, but one can be sure that this is not the last time that Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly finds her team in the NCAA tournament. A lot of the talent for the team returns next season, and Coach DBK will be able to add her own stamp on the recruiting of the team, which will help her implement her chosen style of play even more. I am sure Jeff will have plenty more to add about the team when he returns from Minnesota. 

Volleyball was not the only team who saw their season come to a close last night. Louisville's men's soccer team fell to Akron on extra penalties at Lynn Stadium, ending their hunt for a national title. I would be okay with Ken Lolla's team never having to face Akron ever again. Both losses leave Louisville football as the only major fall team sport that can end their season with a victory. The bowls will be announced after the College Football Playoff is determined, which will come after conference championship weekend concludes. Louisville is hoping to avoid a bowl conflict with their midday tilt against UK in the hardwood version of the Battle of the Bluegrass.

Soccer highlights:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aazcFZOZBWo

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Daryl Foust

Paulie is your only regular host this morning, but that is absolutely no excuse to miss today's edition of the CCRH. In fact, it may be even more incentive to tune in! Paul is joined by Paige Sherrard, Daryl Foust, and Julie Sullivan. All three are wonderful to have in the studio alone as guests, and I'm sure they'll be a treat all together. The CCRH comes on at 11AM on 100.9 WCHQ FM. It is also available on wchq.com and the WCHQ app, both of which can be accessed from anywhere. Tune in for wonderful coverage about, with today's lineup, what I would expect a lot of women's basketball coverage. Daryl may need a shoulder to cry on after the soccer game last night as well.

Listen here:  THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 12/2/17

That's all from me. Since I didn't have an article in the last week of November, allow me to sincerely thank everyone that donated over the last month. Your support--mentally, through page views, and financially--is extremely appreciated. I am happy to be a part of the Cardinal Couple team.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Louisville women's basketball -- Paint perfection leads WBB to 72-59 win over I.U. -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

MYISHA HINES-ALLEN'S 25 POINTS, 12 REBOUNDS LEAD CARDS TO WIN AT I.U.

Teri talks about the game...

"She's a professional, no doubt about that. We didn't have an answer for her tonight." 

Indiana head women's basketball coach Teri Moren was effusive in her praise of Louisville WBB senior Myisha Hines-Allen during the post-game presser last night after Louisville's 72-59 win over the Hoosiers in Assembly Hall. And, she was quite right on the assessment. 

Hines-Allen went 12-17 from the floor in Louisville's win against the Big 10 foe and grabbed 12 rebounds. DOOO-BLAY got her double, all right, and left a crowd announced at 2853 speaking her praises as they filed out of the hall. A nice contingent of Cardinal fans were in attendance, stationed behind the Cardinal bench for the most part, and drew the praise of head Card Coach Jeff Walz: 

'Thank you to all our fans who made the trip to Bloomington tonight. We are so blessed to have the best fans in Women's basketball." 

Walz made his remarks via Twitter...he didn't appear at the post-game presser...IU women's sports information director Melanie Kramper offering an vague explanation of "he is doing his radio show". 

Nevertheless, the Cards came out strong to start...taking a 6-1 lead after three minutes. Indiana would regain their composure and tie the event at 6-6 and 9-9 before the Cards went on a 9-4 run to take a 18-13 lead on a Hines-Allen paint popper. 

The Hoosiers never led in the contest and trailed 22-18 after one, 37-28 at the half and 59-47 at the end of the third quarter. The Cards has blown out to a 51-36 lead with 5:40 left in the third after Hines-Allen gathered in a missed Arica Carter three and stuck in back in the cylinder. It was their largest lead of the contest...Indiana would fight back to a 65-57 deficit with 4:25 left when Amanda Cahill connected in the paint...but the Hoosiers would get no closer...Louisville ending the game on a 7-2 run. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING....

-- Louisville dominated the paint with 54 points and allowed IU just 30 inside. 

-- Louisville won the 2nd chance points battle 14-4. 

-- The Cards shot 48.4% for the game. Five Cards had eight points or better. After Hines-Allen's 25...Jazz Jones registered 12, both Sam Fuehring and Asia Durr contributed nine and Dana Evans finished with eight. 

-- The Louisville starters were responsible for 59 points. Evans, as mentioned came off the bench for eight and Kylee Shook was good for five to complete the reserves scoring.

She made sure that "this one belonged
to the Cards"!! 

So, the Cards travel to their second Big 10 opponent's venue and get out with a win. Turnovers were a serious problem for UofL in the first half with ten...but the Hoosier were even more inept with 13. The Cards settled down and committed just four in the final 20 minutes. 

Hines-Allen was spectacular and dominated both ends of the floor. She also held IU's Cahill to just nine points and five rebounds...breaking her consecutive streak of double-doubles. Physical, yes....that would be a good description of the Cards performance against an Indiana squad who played just seven players and got 191 minutes out of the five starters out of a possible 200. 

The Cards went into a loud road environment, took a few bumps and bruises, didn't play very well at times and still took home a 13 point win. Let's run Myisha Hines-Allen for Mayor and this one belongs to her...with a little help from her friends. 

DOOO-BLAY rocks. 

THE FRED REPORT

Another three? Lilly !!!"

F- Free Throws.  Louisville went 10-11 from the line. On the lone miss, it was the first of three for Asia Durr, who was fouled on a three-attempt, so the 'Three is better than two' Walzian Theorum did not come into play. WE PROUDLY AWARD A CAPITAL "F" FOR 90.9%

R - Rebounding. The Cards held a 38-27 advantage on the boards. 19 of the 38 were grabbed by Hines-Allen and Jazz. You control the boards, you control the game and Louisville did just that. Hines-Allen had eight of hers in the final half...being there when possessions were crucial. NO PROBLEM WITH A CAPTIAL "R" HERE. DOOO-BLAY! 

E - Effort/Execution. Louisville did not look especially sharp in the first twenty and some of that, I suppose, could have been because of the defense efforts of the Hoosier guards. There were several unforced turnovers that, at times, were almost comical. 30 baskets on 14 assists, is so-so. I'll go with a small case "e" here...better care-taking of the ball early would be something to work on. 

D - Defense. A mixed bag here. Granted the Cards held IU to under 60. They contained Cahill from getting a double-double. They also did a less the satisfactory job stopped the three and saw a nice lead late dwindle in the fourth. I'm going smallcase "d" argue it if you want. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-e-d

SOOOO...

Let's not forget the prime objective of CARDINAL COUPLE, though. It is to promote the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports and Cardinal Athletics. And, this was a positive win for the Cards. Myisha Hines-Allen brought a bucketful of joy and excitement to the Cardinal fans there...and me. Jazz Jones had a wonderful game. And how about Kylee Shook leading the way on two straight fast breaks and making the layups! 

What happened to Paulie...well, that was neither joyful or exciting...and I elaborate on that below. But, for UofL basketball, advance and conquer was carried out and a team effort spear-headed by Myisha gave Louisville a road win over a better-than-average Hoosier bunch. 


THE ADVENTURES OF PAULIE

I should have known shenanigans were destined to be with me Thursday when they closed a portion of Hwy 150 on my journey to Bloomington and I had to take a 29 mile detour to hook up with State Road 37. My cell phone voice navigator got me through it, though.  

Things went well, though, with check-in and the pre-game hotel time. When I arrived at the Hall around 6:15... arrived at the main entrance and they sent me around back to go in. When I presented my I.D. and took a loyalty oath at the "round back" media check-in that I would be a good boy, they informed me I didn't have credentials. I showed the booth lady my e-mail from IU. She looked again and !Voila! I had credentials. They were for PAUL SKYKES, not Paul Sykes. I told her I knew him. She issued me a hanging tag. 

They don't wand or inspect baggage at IU, so that part went smooth. Finding the media room and where I was sitting was quite the opposite. Mutt and Jeff at the check-in gate said take a right and left and go down the hallway. No media room. I asked a security-type and he was almost sarcastic before relenting to radio his boss. His boss shows and says I need to go back to whence I came from, take the escalator, climb 50 steps and go to Section J or K. 

The IU folks took me on a journey, all right...

So, I do. I get up there and it's vacant except for the IU student radio guys. I ask about a media room, maybe some stat sheets. They were generous (thank you Jack Grossman!) and showed me how to get to the media room, which was down on ground level and on the other side of the court. So, down 50 steps, to the escalator and off to Grandmother's house we go...I'm thinking there is no way I'm gonna make it back up to Mt. Everest South with my bum knee and vertigo....plus replaced hip. 

Fortunately, things took a turn for the better. I see friendly faces in the media room. Al Greener, of pep band directorship fame, lets me know that I'm actually sitting at half court, just down from the radio crew and five rows from the court. I coulda hugged him.

After a wonderfully delicious (insert snark here) meal of cold, breaded Chick-Fil nuggets and stale cookies (we got it good in Louisville with media food, y'all) I limp to my seat. It was a section packed tighter than a tin of sardines but I squeeze my way in my chair between a student newspaper guy and some sort of board operator. He didn't talk much. The student guy was obviously at his first WBB game. I was entertained beyond belief...

I'm beginning to wonder if road trips are worth it, anymore. I never saw the IU S.I.D. in charge of media stuff until the post-game and it was OUR guys who got me in the right direction. Maybe I need a guidance counselor at away game. I know this, it'll be my last trip to Bloomington to watch WBB. Take that to the window. 

PAULIE REPORT: 

P - Personality. They were cold fish up there, except for Jack Grossman and our folks. No letter here. No personality.
A - Accessability. OK once I got in the right place but my legs are screaming and knee throbbing as I write this up this morning after my wild goose chase. No letter here. 
U- Understanding. None. The security guys, their boss and gate folks have the combined arena knowledge of Donald Duck and a pet rock. No letter here
L - Learned. I learned a lot. Bloomington is 40 years behind the rest of the world in arena management and employees who know what they're doing and where stuff is. A capital "L" for what i learned. Positve, no. But knowledge, yes. 
I -  Idiots. They've gathered them all from the various villages and brought them to Assembly Hall and Bloomington. BIG CAPITAL "I" 
E - Experience. I've had better experiences having syringes injected in my knee. Which I'm going to need again soon. I made the trip. I represented. I regret it. No letter here.

PAULIE RECAP:  _-_-_-L-I-_


OTHER SPORTS STUFF

Best of luck to Louisville Volleyball and Men's Soccer as they go to battle in the NCAA today. Get 'er done Cards! LIC4. Well recap it here, tomorrow, in Case's article and on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM as Paige Sherrard, Daryl Foust and Julie Sullivan join me in studio.

GO CARDS! BEAT UNI and Arkon. Game times are 5:30 p.m. For Volleyball and 7 p.m. Soccer. See you at Lynn, if I can walk. 
paulie
xxxxx