Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Moore, please!

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- WATCH THIS VIDEO

-RISK VS REWARD: High stakes

We have talked the last couple of days about the verbal commitment of Mariya Moore to the University of Louisville women's basketball team. Please take a look at the video above and you'll see why Jenny, Jeff and I are so excited about the arrival of the Richmond, CA guard next year on the UofL campus. Passing, shooting, driving to the hoop....Ms. Moore looks like she can do it all...and do it quite easily.

And, after watching the clip...it'll be obvious to you, as well, that she's excited about her decision to become a Cardinal! Also, using Phil Collins music in a vid will always get a big "thumbs up" from
Paulie.

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So, your a coach...there's a talented ballplayer out there at another college or university and they've decided to leave. This player has an interest in YOUR school to transfer to. Do you make that plunge...using up a scholarship that might be used on a promising high school senior?

LOUISVILLE FOOTBALL HEAD COACH Charlie Strong recently made that call, bringing in talented running back Michael Dyer. Looking at Louisville women's basketball in the same vein, let's recall a few of the decisions made at Louisville over the past few years.

CANDYCE BINGHAM

She was a bona fide hoopster at Louisville Manual High School but ended up at Xavier University instead of UofL. Two seasons there and then the decision to leave. Would her hometown university have any interest in the forward...who had been a marginal player for the Musketeers? Tom Collen said yes. She was a junior, coming off a redshirt year...when Jeff Walz took over the program.

WE all know how that one turned out. MOM ( and the Crazy Aunt ) led Louisville to 60 wins in two years, two appearances in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and the NCAA Championship game in the 2008-08 season. The decision to agree to the proposed transfer paid off in gold.

TONI SLAUGHTER

Nita Slaughter's big sister was a All-State performer at Shelby County High School. But it was Cincinnati that got her verbal and talents. She was another that Tom Collen brought on board. Although she wasn't a regular starter for the Cards, her off-the-bench performances spark plugged the Lady Cards to 46 wins in her two years and paved the way for "little sis" to create an interest in the Ville and verbal when she was a freshman in high school.

Once again, the gamble returned a profit. If Toni had stayed at UC, would Nita be there now? Hard to say...but I'm sure that Jamelle Elliott wouldn't have minded having a unconscious three point expert bombing them in at the "Shoe"

CIERRA WARREN

Warren was a highly sought after and talented post from California that started her journey at North


Carolina. Mired deep in the rotation and not getting much playing time, she wanted out. Jeff Walz needed height and numbers in the paint. Warren looked legit. The transfer was completed and she sat out a year before donning the red and black.

(Photos and collage by Charlie Springer)

 

Initially, it looked like a good call. 18 points in 12 minutes in her debut against Missouri State. 12 points against Texas A&M and Kelsey Bone. Walz looked like a genius. Double figures in the next three games against EKU, Xavier and Austin Peay. She looked solidly entrenched in the paint when the Cards got ready to go into BIG EAST conference play.

Then, the time and the point production waned. Louisville took a 86-61 drubbing against DePaul in Chicago. Warren came in for mop-up duty and scored 14 points late.

She never played for the Cards again.

Rumors of a heated, players-only meeting surfaced. Allegations that her work ethic did not meet the level of the rest of the team's. Several days after the loss to DePaul, Warren went to Walz's office and informed him she did not want to play for Louisville and more and sought a transfer. It was granted.


She ended up at San Diego State. She'll be eligible to play this season. Closer to home for her and arriving at a school that recruited her heavily when she was in high school.

We wish her the best.

Risk vs. reward. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Some players who have transferred out of the UofL program have gone on and performed well at other schools. Some have fallen off the radar.

In the words of Nicky the Fingers:

"You rolls the dice and ya takes yer chances."

Transfers into the program this year are Monny Niamke, Starr Breedlove and Janelle Cannon. WE hope those "rolls" come up 7 or 11 each time and provide huge payoffs.

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CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO this morning in just a few hours. Going over my pre-show notes, as I usually do on Saturday morning, I'm reading that we've got three coaches' clips, basketball recruiting, volleyball, lacrosse, ex-Cardinals in new gigs, a quiz for Jeff, Jenny and our listeners, BUD GOODE, DON PAULIE, Believe It Or Don't and....holy cow! How will we ever get it all in?

In olden days, sometimes my brother and I would put a 33 1/3 album on the turntable of the stereo and play it at 45 RPM. WE may have to resort to that today to get everything in. Join us at 11 on Crescent Hill Radio.Link below.

DANCING MADLY BACKWARD ON A SPORTS PLATFORM

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Join us, wont you?



-Paulie

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