Cougars bring 6-4 record, challenging schedule into tonight's game

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Cougars face 10-2 Lady Cards in Pullman, WA.

-Recapping Sunday's BIG EAST action

-Sandy Walker discusses a "foul" subject

The Lady Cards conclude the west coast trip this evening with a 9 p.m. tipoff (E.S.T.) against the Washington State Cougars. WSU (6-4) comes into the game on a two game win streak and it is the final of four in a row at home for the Cougars. They've defeated UC-Riverside and San Diego St. in their last two.

Carly Noyes (right) is a 6'5"
junior center for the Cougars

WSU has faced a challenging non-conference schedule while building their 6-4 record. They've also defeated UNC WIlmington, Wisconsin, MARQUETTE (65-52), and Prairie View A&M this season. Losses have come to Penn State, South Dakota State, MIchigan (69-39) and a narrow 71-69 loss to Gonzaga. After Louisville, they'll conclude their non-conference slate with a trip to Ohio State.

Daughtery also had previous stints at
Boise State and Washington. She digs the
northwest...

The Cougars are coached by June Daughtery. She's in her fifth season at Pullman and has a record of 38-93 as the WSU head coach. They're 2-1 at home this year. Her husband Mike, is an assistant coach.

No Cougars are averaging in double figures.

Soph. guard Ireti Amojo ( a play-by-play announcer's dream name for a player) has nine points a game, junior center Carly Noyes checks in with 8.2, Tia Presley is good for 8.1 and Sage Romberg at 8.0. Jasmine Perkins leads WSU with 6.5 grabs a game.

Louisville and Washington State have never met before.

For the Lady Cards, it'll be a matter of another "home game" on the road, since it's Native American Appreciation Night and Schimmel fans will flock to see the girls in their last Northwestern U.S. appearance of the regular season. Louisville will look to continue the impressive defensive performance that they threw down on the Portland Pilots on Saturday...when the kept the Coogs from scoring a basket for nearly 13 minutes in the first half. They could have their hands full with the 6'5" Noyes on the boards and road fatigue could be a possible issue for the jet-lagged Cards...who are off for nine days after tonight's contest.

WKRD 790 will have the call in the Louisville area, WSU's official sports website offers a pay-per-view of the match and Gametracker will be a step slow and a half hour behind in giving reports on the action. 

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Cats lost their claws when A'dia
fouled out.

 BIG EAST women's basketball went 4-1 yesterday...with UCONN falling to the Baylor Bears 66-61. Winners were Notre Dame over Kentucky 92-83, St John, with a 64-60 triumph over Memphis, Rutgers easily handled Iona 62-29 and Syracuse (not Georgetown, like we reported yesterday) squared off against Xavier and took the win 70-67.

Would these "Young Guns" fared any better than UCONN
did against Baylor?

The UConn-Baylor contest was an exciting one...the Huskies looked like they were in control with a 10 point second half lead but the Bears, led by Odyssey Sims and Brittany Griner came roaring back, buoyed by their home crowd support, and took the win. WE actually had turned it off for a few minutes (Paul and his love for the Emilio Estevez "Young Guns" movies) and were shocked to find Baylor back in it. Is there a better center in WBB College than Griner? 

UK lost A'dia Mathies to fouls in the second half and watched Notre Dame go on a 10-0 run to pull away from a stubborn, overachieving UK squad in South Bend. WE had talked about how we thought the UofL inside game was superior to UK's a few weeks back. We were wrong and we admit it. Drake, and now Samari Walker, will punish SEC competition. As for Notre Dame, we called it right...Novosel applied the novocaine to the Kats. 23 points, one of five Irish in double figures.

ON TAP TONIGHT:

--SYRACUSE vs. Oklahoma ("Q" gets his Sooner on...)
--PROVIDENCE hosts Delaware (The big girl..Elena Delle Donne..has the Blue Hens at 8-0)
--CINCINNATI at home against Indianapolis (no, in WBB...not NFL)
--DEPAUL travels to Illinois State. (But, they're from Illinois, the state.)
--MARQUETTE invites SDSU to Milwaukee. (That's the South Dakota State Jack-Rabbits)

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(Sandy Walker is a contributing writer for CARDINAL COUPLE. She looks at foul strategy today.)

FOUL STRATEGY

Is benching a player after two first half fouls
for the rest of the half the right thing to do?

Last night I watched a college game where, once again, players were benched after picking up their second foul of the first half. What had been a multiple lead-changing game changed into a half-time six point deficit after two starters were sat down for committing two fouls each. I'm guessing that a lot of the CARDINAL COUPLE readers are younger than me, so you can be forgiven for not remembering far back enough into basketball history when after two fouls, you might sit a player long enough to calm them down and think it over a bit...but that player would re-enter and play in the first half until they picked up a third foul.

(Please share your comments and any education you have on this subject with me, either in the comments section or by e-mail to Cardinal Couple.) 

NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who was calling the game, said:

"Smart players have to be able to learn to play with fouls."

How does this happen while sitting on the bench? When did this "shifting of strategy" occur and  why is a player sitting on the bench in the first half with two fouls contributing more to their team than the same player sitting on the bench with five fouls in the second half?

(PAUL)
I'll take a crack at addressing this one with my own opinion. Never been a fan of sitting a player with two first half fouls. Maybe because I was a fouling machine when I played. But, if you are a good player and are important to your team...picking up a costly third foul in the first half can have dramatic effects on your, and your team's game. The opposition will try to get you to commit that fourth foul as early as possible in the second half. Then, to the bench you go, again.

In my case, it was usually "just let him stay out there and bang on the opposing center until he fouls out or injures him..."

(I played basketball just like I did football.)

You can weigh in, also. Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail us with your take at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

WE'LL HAVE A FULL GAME RECAP AFTER THE ACTION TONIGHT. SEE YOU THEN !!
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