Cards Travel to Virginia -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Basketball Visits Virginia

Louisville women's basketball is back in action tonight against Virginia. The Cards and Cavaliers have not played each other since the 2019-2020 season after Virginia forfeited last year. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET and will be aired on ACCNX. You can also tune into 93.9-FM to hear Nick Curran and Cortnee Walton call the game.

The Cards enter the game riding a two-game win streak including being fresh off a win against #11 North Carolina in the KFC Yum! Center. The recent hot streak has improved Louisville's conference record to 8-4 as they continue to battle for a double-bye in the ACC Tournament.

Virginia has struggled this season, holding a 14-10 overall record but a poor 3-10 mark in the ACC. Their wins gave come against Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and Boston College. Four of their conference losses have been by single-digits.

In terms of offense and defense, the Cavaliers sit near the middle. They average 70.3 points per game, ranking them ninth while they allow 62.0 points per game, sitting eighth. Rebounding has been a strong spot for them as they sit third in the conference with 43.1 rebounds per game. Mir McLean, whose season has ended due to injury,  leads the charge with 9.6 boards while four other Wahoos average at least four rebounds per game.

McLean, who transferred in from UCONN was also second in scoring on the team with 12.2 points per game. She is one of three players averaging scoring double figures alongside Camryn Taylor (13.6 ppg) and Sam Brunelle (11.0 ppg). Despite strong offensive efforts by the aforementioned trio, Virginia has been subpar from the free throw line at 72% and three-point shooting at 28%.. Brunelle, of course, played at Notre Dame before going into the portal. 

Virginia has had success in forcing opponents to turn the ball over. In fact, they've forced 426 turnovers this season. Meanwhile, Louisville has turned the ball over 397 times this year.

One of the questions going into tonight centers around the starting lineup and who will see more playing time. In the past two games, Nyla Harris, Mykasa Robinson, and Norika Konno were on the court for tip. Harris has posted back-to-back season bests in points and rebounds as she commands more minutes for the Cards. Robinson single-handedly sparked a momentum surge for Louisville in the third quarter against North Carolina thanks to her effort and defense.

Excluding the forfeit from last year, Louisville has dominated the series, winning 10 of the 12 meetings with one of the losses coming in 1985. Jeff Walz is 10-1 against the Wahoos including having won nine straight dating back to January 2016.

Currently projected as a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Louisville sits comfortably enough to not worry about being a bubble team at the moment. A win most likely won't move them up a slot but a loss would certainly drop them down. This is a must-win for the Cards and I expect Louisville to treat it as such and will come out firing out of the gate.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

CARDS WBB still close to conference lead after 12 ACC games -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

AT 8-4 IN ACC, CARDS MAYBE A BIT LOWER THAN EXPECTED AFTER 2/3RDS OF SCHEDULE, BUT STILL VIABLE

Yes, it has been a rather crazy 2022-23 ACC women's basketball schedule in terms of results so far this season.  If you figured it would be another battle between NC State and Louisville for the top spot, so far...our horses haven't fired in this conference race yet. Instead, Duke (10-2, 20-3) and Notre Dame (9-3, 18-4) are slugging it out for conference leader. I'll be honest, I though the Irish might be a bona-fide "top 4" team in the ACC this year, but I didn't see Duke atop the pyramid at this stage of the season. 

On Duke, a tip of the cap and round of applause to Kara Lawson for going out and getting a group of players she thought might work well together as a unit, and turning them into a very good squad. She started out with 16 players, and 11 of them were transfers-in to the program. These days, she plays around 10 of them regularly and three of her top four scorers didn't begin their careers at Duke. 

Notre Dame, on the other hand, did it a bit differently. The Irish had 13 players at the start of the year, with just four transfers being a part of the roster. The Irish lost a key transfer-in in Dara Mabrey to injury but head coach Niele Ivey has gone the more traditional route in building this Irish squad from "freshmen up" and they've proven to be a solid unit, Led by Olivia Miles and Sonja Citron (both are sophomores, by the way), Notre Dame is dangerous every time they hit the court, especially in South Bend. 

As for the Cards, they've built their 8-4 conference mark by pulling a surprise or two, losing a few that were unexpected...and, gone about it in a unexpected way. Transfers have helped, look at Jones, Carr, Williams (and Dixon from a few years back) as key components there, but the core base of Van Lith, Cochran, Robinson, Russell, Konno and Harris all began at Louisville. 

The Cards conference slate started well enough with an expected win over Pitt and hosting and beating Syracuse in their final game of 2022. The new year brought a bit of a disappointment, though, when surprising (at the time) Duke brought Walz's squad into Cameron Indoor Stadium and knocked them off on New Year's Day. 

The Cards hosted and beat Georgia Tech next, but it wasn't as easy of a win that many expected, and the Cards met Pitt in the rematch in Pennsylvania next...and just a seven-point win raised a few questions against the cellar dweller. Louisville was at 4-1 with close to 1/3rd of the conference schedule completed, and there weren't a whole lot of groans and complaints from the fan base about that. Van Lith and Carr were producing, Morgan Jones was showing signs of brilliance. Louisville was getting good bench play and Kasa Robinson was her usual "100%, all the time" self.  

It's said (a lot) that "the Cards go as Hailey goes"...and she's one of the premiere guards in DI WBB without a doubt, but one player does not a team make and that's why the Carr, Jones, Robinson, Cochran and Dixon contributions are so essential and important. Teams are finding out every Thursday and Sunday un the league that you can't take a night off. 

Parity. Maybe we use the term too often, but it's here in increasing numbers and here to stay.

A trip to Blacksburg brought a two-point loss to a very good Kenny Brooks Virginia Tech squad, maybe unexpected by a scant two points, but the defeat of FSU in Tallahassee by seven may have been just as equally unexpected. 5-2 was a little lower than I expected the Cards to be in-conference at this mark of the season but it was acceptable. The loss to Wake Forest was not expected, it was truly an all-American performance by Jewel Spear,. Beating B.C., yeah, most predicted that and losing to NC State just seems to be in the Cards whhelbase lately. They are a very good squad, but, lesser teams are beating them...why can't UofL? 

Winning at Syracuse was a step in the right direction to get the Cards to 7-4 and a surprising and satisfying win over visiting UNC last time out got Louisville to 8-4 in the ACC.

The 8-4 record is a traffic tie-up on the Watterson at 4 p.m. Beside the Cards,  UNC, Virginia Tech and Miami are stalled there...and Virginia Tech is a bumper ahead at 9-4 in the conference standings. 

There's still a six game stretch to go through, though, for a lot of the ACC teams before conference play begins. The Cards get a trip to 14th place Virginia on Thursday, followed by a visit SuperBowl Sunday from Clemson. Then, it gets very real. The Cards go to Notre Dame and then Boston College (who plays foes very well at home). Louisville is lucky to end the conference slate at home, entertaining Miami and ending with the rematch vs. Notre Dame. 

How will Louisville fare in their final six? I'll be happy with a 4-2 ,I can see a 3-3, though, as well as a possible 5-1. My thoughts are maybe getting a split decision, at best, with Notre Dame...but the Cards have the talent to win both, just maybe not the killer instinct yet. I'll count Clemson and Virginia as two close wins, Miami could go either way by my thinking, and, although we've beat Boston College once already, can we do it again up there? 

Where would a 12-6 ACC record land the Cards in ACC (and more importantly) NCAA play? I don't think 12-6 gets the Cards into the top four in the conference final standings, which means they're probably destined to play on Thursday in the ACC Tournament and not get the two game bye. The thing is, there is a ton of basketball to be played from here to now and, as we've seen, upsets are uncommon this year in the league. 

So, does the top four (come tournament time) consist of Duke, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and (fill in the blank? maybe FSU? or Miami?) The old saying is "wins get you in" so, let's hope for a good Louisville team that can go get the "W's"  needed and a squad that can become that fourth team siting until Friday.. Work ahead, for sure. 

It should be a fun one, this final 1/3 of the conference games. I can't wait. 

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON) 

paulie

Atlantic Chaos Conference and the Home Stretch -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Atlantic Chaos Conference and the Home Stretch of the Regular Season

As Paulie mentioned yesterday, a Louisville victory added to the already chaotic season for ACC women's basketball. The Cards were one of four teams sitting fourth in the conference at 8-4 after Sunday.

With their win over Notre Dame, Duke holds the top spot in the ACC with a 10-2 record. Notre Dame and Florida State sit right behind them at 9-3. Then things get jumbled real quick.

Virginia Tech improved to 9-4 with a win against NC State last night. Louisville, Miami, and North Carolina are all 8-4. The Cards are fresh off a win against the Tar Heels, but lost to the Hokies earlier this season. Louisville and Miami will play at the KFC Yum! Center on February 23.

NC State is 6-6 following their loss last night. Syracuse kicks off the teams below .500 in conference play at 6-7. Wake Forest is 5-8.

The "bottom dwellers" so to speak consist of Clemson and Boston College at 4-9, Georgia Tech at 3-9, Virginia at 3-10, and Pitt at 1-11.

With just six games remaining, many teams are close to locking in their ACC Tournament seed, or earning a first or second round bye at the very least.

Louisville travels to Virginia on Thursday. The Cavaliers have struggled this season, mirroring that of last season where they forfeited multiple games, including their match-up to Louisville last season.

Clemson then comes to town on Super Bowl Sunday, The game was originally scheduled for 6:00 p.m., but has since been moved up to 2:00 p.m. After a 9-3 non-conference slate, the Tigers have taken a turn for the worse since conference play began.

The Cards then travel up to South Bend to take on a Notre Dame team that has gone 2-2 since losing Dara Mabrey for the season. Still, with Olivia Miles captaining this team, the Irish continue to be dangerous.

Louisville remains on the road when they visit Boston College. The Cards needed a 16-8 run in the final five minutes of the game to beat the Eagles in their meeting back on January 19. Joanna Bernabei-McNamee is known for having her team ready to play tough and they proved it last month. I don't think Louisville will underestimate Boston College again.

Miami comes into the KFC Yum! Center next. The Hurricanes have been a team that's surprised some folks with North Carolina and Virginia Tech while also having close losses to Notre Dame and Wake Forest. It appears the Cavinder twins may have revitalized Katie Meier's team.

A rematch against Notre Dame just 10 days following the first meeting will conclude the regular season. Senior Day at the KFC Yum! Center in front of 10,000+ fans is a much different atmosphere than a game at the Purcell Pavilion.

For Louisville, who received votes in the AP Poll for the first time in weeks, winning is a must. Best case scenario, the Cards go 6-0 in their final six games and can potentially move up to top-two in the ACC and possibly work their way up to a 5-seed or 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Looking at the remaining schedule, a 4-2 mark seems more realistic. Winning at Notre Dame is a tall task, but I think they can pull off the win at home. Louisville still seems to have mental lapses in games, which is where I could see either Boston College or Miami pulling off the upset.

But... never underestimate Jeff Walz and Co. Louisville doesn't have four Final Fours and have arguably the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history (over Baylor in 2013) for nothing. This squad could ride their hot streak and finish the rest of the regular season with no more blemishes.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Guards Shoot Way to Win over UNC 62-55

 CARR, VAN LITH GO FOR 17 EACH IN WBB WIN.

We've seen a lot of good things.  this season,  out of the Cards guard contingent Hailey Van Lith, Chrislyn Carr and Mykasa Robinson . In Van Lith and Carr's case, it was a combined seven threes and  seven assists in leading the scoring punch. In Kasa's case, it was unyielding defensive pressure (add a black eye to her stats for today, too) and a team high four assists in the Cards win over a stubborn, un-willing to go away #11 UNC squad. 

This one had a lot of twists and turns, and, in the beginning...not much offense. Halfway through the opening quarter, it was a frigid 8-7 UNC lead, and then both squads decided to take a two minute hiatus from scoring. It was Nyla Harris leading the Louisville effort, with four points, but Louisville needed some additional boosts in the arm. 

Hello, Hailey Van Lith.

She'd changed from the prior-game, fan controversial blue shoes, she had the look in her eyes that said, "Let's Go!" and she went off on a two and one half minute, eight-point scoring run to take Louisville from a 10-7 deficit to a 15-10 lead as the end of the quarter drew near. It was vintage Hailey and the 10,000+ in attendance roared their approval. Louisville had a 15-12 end-of-quarter lead, and the Cards had avoided any stalls, sputtering or stop of offense so far. 

As in the first quarter, the second quarter didn't feature a lot of scoring early. Threes by Norika Konno and Carr helped the Cards to 21-14 lead with 5:46 until half, but the UofL scoring suddenly stopped..UofL would add just two points the rest of the half and UNC responded with a 10-0 run, led by Anya Poole and Paulina Paris' four points each. The Cards trailed 24-21 with 28 seconds left. Fortunately, Morgan Jones was there to put back a missed Van Lith shot to end the half. It wasn't an offensive clinic, but at least the Cards only trailed by one at 24-23. 

27% shooting by each squad for the half was less than inspiring. Louisville's 12 turnovers and 4-18 three-point efforts were less than encouraging.

The third quarter eventually took the Cards down the road to redemption. They scored two more points in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half. And. slowly but surely, Louisville caught up with UNC, took the lead and build upon it...after the Cards stumbled out of the gate.  

It was, as mentioned, a painful beginning to the second half, with UNC going on a 9-0 run that was aided by a phantom foul called on Norika Konno following a Deja Kelly three-point attempt. How can you call a foul on a defender for just standing there and getting crashed in to after the shot? It also drew a Walz technical for the protest, so UNC sank four of five free throws and scored a basket all in a 24 second stretch to go up by nine at 32-23. 

Louisville went to work, though. They had decreased the UNC lead to four just 30 seconds later after scores by Cochran, Carr and Robinson. It was a two-point game at 36-34 after a Carr three and tied with 4:27 to play in the quarter after a fast break layup.by Jones. Carr and Jones has Louisville's next six points and the Cards had assumed a 44-40 lead wit a little over two minutes to go in the quarter after a Van Lith free throw. Two Robinson free throws built the Louisville lead to 48-43 at the end of the third. 

How would the fourth go for Louisville was the question on a lot of Cardinals fans minds. 

UNC would make it an interesting one. A Paris three after a Cards turnover cut the Louisville lead to 51-50. Carr still had the hot hand, though, and her three made it 54-50 with half the quarter still to play. Free throw shooting was proving to be a dicey situation for Walz' squad, though and 1-2 efforts from Harris and Robinson had the Cards holding on to a 56-50 edge with 2:26 to play. UNC's Kelly would get the TarHeels within four with a jumper at 56-52, but, Merissah Russell sank two free throws in a row to push it back out to six.

And that's the way most of the quarter was played. The Cards were just 2 for 4 from the floor, but 9-12 from the stripe in the fourth. Carr's three at the 5:03 mark was UofL's last basket. The Cards went up 62-55 on two Van Lith free throws for the final scoring of the game.

A hard fought win that ended a eight-game UNC win streak, call it an upset of sorts if you want in this crazy Atlantic Crisis Conference, but the Cards took UNC's best shot several times and did not go down. 

(The question is, would Freddy Farm Bureau have considered it a huge win, given his stature?) 

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- 16-24 equals out to 66.7% which is a bit under our acceptable standards OF THE 70% MARK., We won't "name names" but one Cardinals' 1-5 performance indicates to us she needs a little time at the stripe. NO LETTER

REBOUNDING -- 46-35 in Louisville favor and the Cards got huge performances from Van Lith (12) and Robinson (8). Neither girl is over 5'7". The clear winner for the Cards, though, was Nyla Harris and her 12. and, she's just a freshman. She just doessn't give up on any ball or chance. CAPITAL "R" earned.

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Shooting was nothing to brag about at 33.9% nor was Louisville's lack of points in the paint (14). They also had a "head-held-in-the-palms-of hands" 22 turnovers. UNC had 11 steals, also. A strong bench scoring effort (28-11 edge) and second-chance points domination (18-8) make up for some of that, so we'll allow a small case "e".

DEFENSE -- The Cards did hold UNC to a lower shooting percentage than UofL and shutting down Paris, Todd-Williams and Kelly to 10 of 39 shooting is impressive. The defense was not dominating but it got the job done and that's worth a small case "d"

FINAL FRED TALLY _-R-e-d

The ACC WBB girls on the network made a big deal of the Card win, calling it an upset...but when you get this UofL team on their floor in front of 10,000 + , I guess I have a hard time calling this an "upset". After all, both teams are now 8-4 in conference and two of four teams that are at 8-4. With Duke knocking off Notre Dame, let's call second place in the ACC standings a wide open affair right now.  Seven teams are within two games of each other for the top conference spot. 

We're in for a heck of a ride, folks. Strap in, hold on tight and take nothing for granted..  

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

THEY SAID IT

Carr and Robinson post game presser:  KASA AND CC

Jeff Walz post game presser:  JEFF WALZ

paulie

. 

Basketball vs UNC - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Basketball vs North Carolina

After a "bye week" where they didn't play on Thursday, the Cards are back in action at the KFC Yum! Center at noon today with a tilt vs 11th ranked North Carolina.

UNC is currently riding an eight game winning streak, after losing their first three games straight in conference play.  Add on a non-conference slate ending loss to Michigan to make that a four game losing streak before finding their way in conference.  The only other loss they've taken this year is to Indiana who is proving to be quite a good team this year.  They've got non-conference wins over Oregon and Iowa State with the Cyclones currently ranked 12th, and the Ducks receiving votes.

The Tarheels did have a tough conference opening, with the three losses being against Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Miami, all top-half teams.  They started the conference winning against Notre Dame, and also picked up wins over NC State and Duke.

OK, so this is a pretty good team, let's see how they do it.  Mostly, they've got four players averaging over 10 points per game.  Deja Kelly with 16, Kennedy Todd-Williams with 14.1, Alyssa Ustby with 13.6, and Eva Hodgson with 10.2.

Kelly and Todd-Williams tend to get a lot of attention on this squad, but Ustby has the overall stat line that most impresses me.  She leads the team in steals with 44, more than anyone on UofL's squad.  She also, as a tall guard, leads the team in rebounding with 196, and 62 of those are on the offensive boards, again, outpacing anyone on Louisville's squad in both numbers.  About the only thing she's not much of a threat at is three point shooting.

So UNC is a very fine team, but this is the Atlantic Chaos Conference this year, so anything is possible.  We think Jeff Walz may stick with the new starting lineup, putting Kasa Robinson, Norika Konno, and Nyla Harris on the floor for the tip, which seemed to work well against Syracuse.

We also do expect to see Morgan Jones on the floor after her ankle sprain at Syracuse.  Despite looking scary at the time, it seems there was not serious damage done.  Certainly the bye week was timed well for her recovery.

Today is the annual "Pink Game/Play4Kay" game, to support research and work to help more people survive breast cancer.  The game honors those who have survived breast cancer, including a half-time recognition, but also honors Kay Yow, who was the long-time NC State head coach alongside Jim Valvano for whom the JimmyV Foundation is named.  The Kay Yow Fund is maintained by the JimmyV Foundation to specifically support breast cancer research in the overall cancer research mission of the organization.

The game is on ESPN2 today, with a noon tip-off, and of course, Nick and Cortnee have the radio call on 93.9FM.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

"Just" a trio on the CCRHP yesterday.  Case was recovering from travel, and Daryl was, hopefully, recovering from a water leak from an upstairs unit, leaving you with Jared, Paulie, and myself.

After our usual catchup and chat, Jared tackled the the schedule which includes the beginning of spring sports!  Mostly the discussion centered around basketball, and without a Thursday game, we gave a lot of attention to the Syracuse game, and discussion about today's upcoming game.

Check it out, as always, at anchor.fm or your favorite podcast directory:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/A-Basketball-break-and-Imminent-Spring-Sports-e1uf3j0

-- JMcA

Tennis at Vandy; T&F at Notre Dame; ACC Academic Awards -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Tennis Falls to #9 Vanderbilt

After a 2-0 opening weekend, Louisville split their second weekend to sit at 3-1. After a trip to Nashville on Friday, the best the Cards can hope for this weekend is a split as well. Vanderbilt is ranked ninth in the country, and three of their entries (two singles and a doubles pair) are ranked in the top-55. Louisville was unable to make much of a dent in the rest of the lineup as the Cards won two matches, a singles and a doubles, to fall 6-1. Louisville's pair of Jamilah Snells and Cici Xin grabbed a doubles win, and Tyra Richardson picked up Louisville's only singles win (scoring them their only point). The Cards were unable to push any matches to three sets, but they did make multiple sets go to seven games. 

Vandy is a strong team from top to bottom, hence their national ranking, but Louisville will have only a short time to regroup as they return home to take on James Madison tomorrow. Including that match, the Cards are at home for six straight events, including the first two conference matchups against Clemson and Georgia Tech. Things get underway at 11AM at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center and video is listed on the schedule, so be sure to check it out.

Track and Field in Meyo Invitational

Tennis wasn't the only team in action yesterday, as Track and Field took part in Day One of the Meyo Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame. The Cards didn't pick up any wins, but they will have plenty more chances tomorrow. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Synclair Savage not placing in the long jump. However, it is less of a surprise that she didn't perform well when you consider that she didn't perform at all. Louisville had two top-ten finishers in Alba Cuns Iglesias and Ariel Lawrence, but Savage sat this one out. Those weren't the only positive results for the Cards, though, as they ended the day with four top-five finishes. Lawrence came in fourth in the long jump, Claire Bushur finished fifth in the shot put, and Soledad Jean and Tiriah Kelley both finished second in the high jump and 200m, respectively. Kiyah Yeast finished 8th in the 200m and also qualified for the 60m, along with Olivia Jenkins, and they'll join Taylor Herbert in the semifinals for that event today. Jourdin Edwards also qualified for additional competition today, as she advanced in the 60m hurdles. 

The event gets back underway at 11AM today with the women's triple jump. The triple jump is one of just three field events for the women, along with the weight throw and pole vault. The rest of the day will be filled out with track until the event wraps up with the 4x400m relays at around 3:45.

Plumb is ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year

The ACC Academic Awards are trickling out for the fall and Aimee Plumb highlighted the success of the UofL field hockey program. Plumb was named the Field Hockey Scholar Athlete of the Year by the ACC as she joined 17 teammates on the All-ACC Academic Team. The requirements for that distinction are a 3.0 GPA in the previous semester, a 3.0 cumulative GPA, and participation in 50% of the teams' contests. The 18 awardees mark a program record (there are only 23 players on the roster), and Plumb's award is the second straight for UofL, after Alli Bitting took home the crown in 2021. 

Along with field hockey, the cross country results were announced, and Louisville had six runners on the women's team make the cut. In addition to six individual honorees, the women's track and field team had a cumulative 3.557 GPA.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The crew will be a bit light this week as Daryl and I will both be on the inactive list. Jared returns, though, so there will still be three on the call. The guys will discuss the WBB victory over Syracuse and look ahead to tomorrow's big matchup against UNC. The lack of a midweek game to recap means that they'll also have time to cover the ball mishap between Duke and FSU, so you can count on a WBB officiating rant from Jeff. 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!

Cas

Walz presser -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

 

Good morning readers!  Glad you took some time out of your day to check in with Cardinal Couple.   We appreciate your viewership and comments and continued support each day.  

The Groundhog saw its shadow so 6 more weeks of winter.  The temperatures have been pretty chill in the Ville but we should see some sunny skies over the weekend.   Women's Tennis and Basketball both host events at home on Sunday.  

Walz presser

Coach Walz had his press conference on Thursday and Paulie was able to hop on the call to ask Coach some questions about the squad.  

Status of Morgan Jones? She sprained ankle at the end of the game Sunday.  Took some limited reps today should be 100% by Sunday at noon.

Regarding the starting lineup:  Trying to switch things up.   Says the team is at a point now where they're willing to do whatever it takes to win games.  Will probably go with the same starting lineup from the Syracuse game. 

Looking ahead to UNC - North Carolina is talented top to bottom - they are defending well. The Cards have to limit multiple bad possessions in a row.  Have spurts of 6-7 possessions that result in turnovers and you go from up 12 to down 4.  They did the same thing in the 3Q vs Wake Forest.  UNC is on an 8 game winning streak. 

Final month of regular season - The Cards know that they have to come prepared every single night.  

Bye week - Coach thinks this break couldn't have come at a better time. Team was home by 5:30 on Sunday.  Took Monday off, Tuesday did some shooting, took Wednesday off and had a light Thursday.  Taking Friday & Saturday to ramp up before Sundays match up.

You can see and hear the preser at the link below: 

WALZ PRESSER 2/2/23

Around the ACC

Georgia Tech pulled out a win over the NC State Wolfpack while the rest of the league was chalk. 




Plumb Named ACC Field Hockey Scholar Athlete of the Year

from gocards.com - The University of Louisville's Aimee Plumb was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Scholar Athlete of the Year as announced by the league today.

The junior forward from Canterbury, Kent, England picked up her second-straight NFHCA All-America honor after leading Louisville in scoring with a career-best eight goals, seven assists and 23 points. Five of her eight goals stood as game winners, ranking third in the ACC in that category. Plumb is also a two-time NFHCA All-West Region and All-ACC selection. Plumb becomes the second straight Louisville student-athlete to earn the conference honor following Alli Bitting in 2021.

A three-time All-ACC Academic Team selection, Plumb has maintained a 4.0 career grade point average while majoring in Psychology and with minors in Art and Spanish. She is a five-time Dean's Scholar at Louisville, a two-time NFHCA Division I National Academic Squad Member and earned a place on the ACC Academic Honor Roll each of her first two seasons.

As Always 

Go Cards!

~Daryl 

National Girls and Women in Sports Day - Thursday Cardinal Couple

National Girls and Women in Sports Day

We've seen the day celebrated with multiple women's basketball teams in the past week or so, UofL WBB celebrated the day with a loss, alas, to NC State.  A week later, we visited Syracuse when they were celebrating the event, and then they lost.  But let's not get hung up on win-loss records associated with it.

NGWSD began as National Women in Sports day thanks to a joint resolution in Congress in 1986.  President Ronald Reagan proclaimed it the next year.  It was originally resolved and proclaimed to take place on February 4th and the first observance also served to recognize Flo Hyman, a volleyball player with the National Team that had died the previous year from Marfan's Syndrome.

(Duke got creative with their poster)

In 1989, the event was renamed to National Women and Girls in Sports Day, and over time, the order was reversed to be what we now call National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

Originally, the resolution and proclamation stated that it would be celebrated on February 4th, but again, along the way, it has now come to be the first Wednesday of February.

UofL Athletics social media put out various videos with players sharing what sports has meant to them, which you can find if you scroll down in the widget on the right side of the site.

I think I speak for all of us who are writers at Cardinal Couple in saying that we are proud to be at least a small part of supporting and highlighting girls and women in sports...as we say it, "Sharing the joys and excitement of UofL women's sports."

Volleyball International Trip

Hey, speaking of that WBB game vs NC State and celebrating NGWSD, as part of that celebration, UofL recognized the UofL Volleyball team's success during the game and they were in the lobby signing autographs before the game.  I took the opportunity to stop by and say hello to the squad and picked up a tidbit of news from Coach DBK.

The UofL Volleyball team will be taking an International trip in June to Brazil.  These types of trips are not uncommon for teams to take, they're allowed to do one of these every five years.  These trips typically include exhibition matches against various local teams.  In many of these trips, that can include the national team of the country being visited.  I don't know if the UofL squad will get to play against the Brazilian WNT, but that would be quite amazing if they do.  The Brazilian WNT in volleyball is traditionally at the top tiers of International Women's Volleyball.

We don't have many details at this point about the schedule and agenda.  It will be in June, and all five of the signed and incoming freshmen are going to be able to go on the trip as well.

The squad had been set to take an international trip a couple of years ago, but it fell victim to the Covid year.

If I understand correctly, this trip is in addition to the typical spring schedule that UofL plays in Volleyball, but we don't have any information about such a spring schedule yet, so no guarantees.

-- JMcA

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION FOR HAILEY -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

VAN LITH NAMED TO DRYSDALE TOP TEN LIST AND WOODEN AWARD LATE SEASON TOP 20 WATCH LIST

The honors continue to roll in for Louisville WBB guard Hailey Van Lith. 

She's been named as one of the top 20 for the first time in her career on the Wooden, and third time she's been listed on the Drysdale Top Ten list. 

We were unable to get in touch with her about these, but being listed on Beverly Hills banker Milburn Drysdale's list for three straight years is quite the honor and...what?...it's not that Drysdale...oops, never mind. We though Jed or Jethro might have arranged it. 

What it breaks down to.is this.. these recognitions on a national level for the junior guard out of Wenatchee, WA leads to her getting studied and evaluated a tad bit more than some of the other Cards by impending opponents. And, you know the adage if they study you harder, give 'em a ton more to study...or baffle them with the bizarre and the b.s.

And, when you have a successful career such as Hailey's, it makes you a focal point when Cardinals WBB fans convene and converse  . Just reviewing some of the stuff I saw about her at various media sites after the UofL win over Syracuse went like:

"Hailey gets too many minutes a game."

"Hailey isn't getting enough minutes a game."

"Hailey needs to shoot more!"

"Hailey needs to shoot less!"

"Why does Hailey take so many threes?'

"Why isn't Hailey shooting more threes?"

"She needs to get rid of the blue shoes she wears.'

"She needs to wear her hair differently. Maybe with a bluish tint to go with her shoes."

"Hailey needs to listen to the media"

"The best thing she can do is ignore the media."

Maybe Hailey needs to hire a spokesman and defer any and all questions to the spokesman. I'd choose Liz Dixon. Seriously, are you going to argue with Liz? Not this guy

You see where we are going here? I would expect that it's hard enough to take a full class load, study, practice, have some semblance of a social life, travel for games and watch your NIL proceedings without having to be the bobblehead that is expected to cheerfully answer any media dog that's just barking to hear their own voice. 

And, the questions are not always Einstein-like in brilliance.

(I recognized early on that Cortnee Walton just might be a fairly good radio personality. Do you recognize who we are talking to?) 

(My favorite from years ago was the "Myisha" look after a particular obtuse or idiotic query. MHA would look at you for a split second in her indomitable way and you usually wished you could sink through the floor boards....then, she'd slowly go into an answer that rivaled those of any kindergarten teacher explaining to a four year old that nap time is important, here to stay and will be observed daily). 

I suppose Hailey's chalking up the experiences here for later situations in life. After all, you supposedly go to college to learn, right? . 

So, I guess I'LL PUT HER UP for an award as well. Everyone else on the block is. 

Hailey, welcome to the "Dealing with stuff most people never have to deal with" watch list. Just to make it fair, let's add a few others to the list and we'll decide on a winner down the road. If not down the road, then off on a side street somewhere or perhaps on a busy interstate. 

Your other nominees are:

a) Paulie (for keeping all of the puppies in the box over here and still dealing with a life crisis).

b) Jeff Brohm (who would much rather, I bet) coach football and leave the philosophy to others,

c)  the operators at the "ask UofL" hotline. I can imagine some of the calls there... 

d) and Hailey. 

Keep collecting the awards, Hailey. It'll be something to share with the grandkids someday.. A peaceful Wednesday to you. We could all use one. 

paulie