Burke shoots for great success in 2010-11

IN TODAY'S CARDINAL COUPLE REPORT:

BECKY BURKE CALLS THE SHOTS

ANGEL FLIES HIGH AGAINST THE MYSTICS

THE PROSECUTION RESTS

Becky Burke in a great photo here with Monique Reid. Credit and props to UofL Card Game's Charlie Springer for the great candid photo of the top two returning scorers for Jeff Walz's Lady Cards basketball team. We're hoping she can still be smiling like this at the end of the 2010-11 season.

For Becky Burke, it starts and ends with the shot. She was the main three point threat for Louisville last year and managed to go 22 for 63 last year from beyond the arc...good for 35.8%.
Burke was the only Cardinal to start in all 32 games for Louisville and logged 35 minutes a game for Jeff Walz..tops on the team. Burke averaged 13.8 points per game for Louisville and was the Cards second most accurate free throw shooter from the line...with a 80.4% from the charity stripe. Something to rest her laurels on? Not hardly.

Burke was a part of the Final Four team as a freshman and was troubled with UofL's slump to a 14-18 record in 2009-10. The junior knows that she'll be counted on to provide a leadership role in 2010-11 and will have seven new teammates joining her on the KFC YUM hardwood this winter.

She'll also face some challenging competition at her "2" guard spot. The Cards have nine guards listed on the roster...a far cry from the three Jeff Walz had available for most of the previous season. Although Burke is probably the best returning deep range specialist of the bunch, there are still questions about her defensive capabilities and a nagging thigh injury from last year that had her at less than 100% at times. Word is that Burke has been working hard in the off season on her conditioning, shot and strength. She'll need a top effort in all three categories to help the Cards rebound from a disappointing 2009-10 season.

PROGNOSIS: Burke will most likely be the front runner to retain the starting nod at "2" guard. Practices promise to be tough and whether she'll be able to hold on to the starting role will depend on how well she's drilling the deep ball and playing defense. Her experience and leadership will key a key factor in the success or failure of these young Cards. We're thinking she'll come thru with flying colors.

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The Atlanta Dream got a rude awakening last night at home in the fourth quarter...losing to the Washington Mystics 86-78. The loss dropped Atlanta (18-10) to just one game ahead of Indiana and Washington in the tightly contested Eastern Conference of the WNBA.

Angel led the way for the Dream with 30 points, two short of her season high. Atlanta led by six points with less than six minutes to go, but saw Washington go on a 12-0 run and build an insurmountable lead late in the game.

Former Rutgers star Matee Ajavon did the majority of the damage for Washington in the final frame...tossing in 10 of her 14 point in the final 10 minutes. Atlanta trailed most of the first three quarters but led 57-56 going in to the fourth.

McCoughtry returns to Louisville today for her TEAM ANGEL camp at the Basketball Academy. The Dream returns to play Friday.

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The prosecution has rested in the U.S. vs. Sypher trial. They brought 20 witnesses to the stand in an attempt to show that Karen Sypher was guilty of attempted extortion, lying to federal officials and being a horrible dresser. Now the defensive steps up to the plate. "Mumsie" Cunagin, possibly one of Karen's sons and jockey Fabio Arguello are expected to take the podium for the defense. (Just kidding about Fabio...but isn't that a great name?)

The question here is whether "Sharin' Karen" will take the bible in her hand in her own defense.
Throughout the proceedings, Sypher has remarked that she's never felt stronger and will have her chance down the road in this trial. It's now or never...but why risk the chance of perjury and tacking on to the sentence by putting the contradictory Cunagin-Sypher in the chair?

Although it would appear that the prosecution has done enough to prove Sypher has been untruthful in several aspects of the alleged incident and subsequent events following it, the jury must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she is guilty. You can expect defense attorney Earhart to try and cloud and clog the jury member's though process by disputing everything but the color of her nail polish and whether she likes foreplay or not.

Should be an interesting three days ahead. Let's hope the courtroom has plenty of Puffs on hand, because there will probably be quite a few tear-jerking moments in the next 72 hours. And, none of them will have to do with the Louisville Football team being picked to finish eighth out of eight teams in the preseason conference poll.

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A new federal law has made it impossible to ship cigarettes to soldiers in Afghanistan unless they are sent by Express Mail. Afghanistan doesn't have Express Mail. A far cry from the days when Sarge and the boys would hunker down in the field and the phrase "smoke 'em if you got 'em" would resonate in the air. Yeah, you can die for your country, but heaven forbid you have a drink or smoke at the end of a hard day. Nice work, Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis., sponsor of the bill. Maybe you'd like to take away cupcakes and Kool-Aid at Cub Scout meetings next ?