Ord hires Devan Newman as assistant coach

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SATURDAY : THE CARDINAL COUPLE REPORT

-BethAnn Ord hires Cardinal special assistant Devan Newman as assistant at Weber State

-Rules changes approved for women's college basketball

Weber State Wildcats are beginning
to get quite a Louisville lineage.

-Mess with the Triple Crown? Two opinions

-UofL baseball beats Pitt 12-2

Weber State head women's basketball coach BethAnn Ord has hired special assistant to Jeff Walz Devan Newman as an assistant coach at Weber State. Newman held the special assistant to Walz position for two years and also served a year as a graduate assistant at UofL.

Ord was excited about the hire and commented:

"Devan is going to be a great addition to my staff. She is a young, up-and coming star that I have had the opportunity to work with at Louisville for the last three years. She is also a coach's daughter who grew up on the court."

Newman is no stranger to the northwest part of the United States, getting her bachelor's degree in business from Oregon in 2007.

We've really never noticed too much or understood what a special assistant to a head coach does...so we asked a friend who has been in basketball for many years. A special assistant wears a lot of hats. They assist with coordinating team road trips with the Director of Basketball Operations. They aide in recruiting, helping players with academics and can be helpful with individual instruction with players. Special assistants also carry out specific duties and requests that the head coach has. Special assistants are the head coach's "aide de camp"...taking care of the little but important details that a head coach must deal with...so the coach can concentrate on the major issues with a team.

WE here at CARDINAL COUPLE wish Devan the best of success at Weber State. Pretty soon, we're going to have to start calling the program up there "Louisville Northwest."

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Those enterprising young men of the NCAA rules committee have followed through on the rules changes we discussed a couple of weeks ago here at CARDINAL COUPLE.

10 second clock in women's hoops?
We're against it.  

-The women's three-point line will be moved back a foot to 20 feet, 9 inches...same as the men's line.

-An arc three feet from the basket has been added, inside which a defender cannot take a charge.

-Terminology changes on intentional fouls...which will now be known as "Flagrant 1" fouls...and flagrant fouls are now "Flagrant 2" fouls. Same as claasifications that are used in the NBA.

-A 10-second half court shot clock will be experimented with in exhibition games this upcoming season.

Here at CARDINAL COUPLE, we feel that the first three listed above are fine...no big deal and shouldn't affect play all that much,   The 10 second shot clock during exhibition games is a poor choice, though...in our opinion. Power conference teams usually schedule pretty weak opponents for exhibition games and usually rout them as a rule. With a 10 second shot clock, the stronger teams will have an even greater advantage now to capitalize on weaker opponents inferior guard play if they decide to full court press. 80-48 blowouts
may turn into 110-28 romps. If you're going to do this...maybe install a "mercy rule" also...where the clock runs continuously if a team takes a 40 or larger point lead and stop the game if a team falls behind by 50 or more. And, what good is doing this during exhibition games when it won't be used in the regular season? After all, the main purpose of exhibition games is to prepare teams for regular season play. How does
changing the nature of the game in exhibitions help for the regular season? We hope this proposed change does not go well and is dropped from consideration.

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We recently sat down with Alan Patterson, respected handicapper and race analyst and discussed the Triple Crown. The main point of discussion was centered around the issue of lengthening the days in between the races. Currently there is a two week period between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Then, three weeks between the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. For those who participate in all three...it's three races in a six week timespan. As Patterson points out:

Does the Triple Crown need changing?

"Most of these will never run three races in six weeks again for the rest of their lives...plus you're asking a young horse to go further distances than they've ever gone in their racing careers and less time to rest in between them. It's destroyed horses in the past. I know that "that's the way it has always been" but it needs to be changed. Remember, the way it used to be is that we all had to use pay phones if we needed to make a call away from home and now everyone has cell phones. Remember when women's basketball had a center jump after each basket? Remember when there was no three point line or designated hitter in baseball?

Things change. The Triple Crown format needs to change also."

Patterson is in favor of still running the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May and then moving the Preakness to Memorial Day Weekend...building in a little extra "rest time" for those who attempt both races. Then, he's in favor of moving the Belmont Stakes to the Fourth of July weekend.

Veteran handicapper Norm Stienberg disagrees...

"You can't go and change the nature of these races and the tradition involved...because it would mean very little if a record happened to be broken. What if a horse breaks the time record for the Belmont after having that extra five weeks off to rest? Do you put an asterisk by that? The only change I'd like to see is probably going to happen soon enough..and that is moving the second leg of the Triple Crown to somewhere else than Pimlico Race Track. that place is on the verge of going bankrupt...the racing is inferior up there all year and it's time to get this race moved to a better track...maybe out in California or Gulfstream in Florida.

WE can see both handicapper's points here...but disagree with certain aspects raised by each. We say, leave it alone except for moving the Preakness to the west coast. Maybe Del Mar or Santa Anita. West coast horses come east to participate in the Triple Crown, no reason that east coast horses can't go west. And, Pimilco is a crappy track. Period.
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Congrats to the UofL baseball team...12-2 winners over Pitt yesterday in the BIG EAST Tournament. They advance to play St. John's today at 10 a.m. Eat your Wheaties, fellas and come out with the big bats again today....Charlie Springer's UofL Card Game has a recap of the romp at http://www.uoflcardgame.com/
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