Sunday, January 4, 2015

Women's basketball team looks to extend woe to the city of Pittsburgh -- Sunday Cardinal Couple



"Same day Arrival" Cards to face Panthers at 2 p.m.



Traditionally...a Jeff Walz team will arrive the day before in the venue they are supposed to play in and spend the night in a hotel before the game the next day. The plans have been shifted around a bit for the Pitt v. Louisville women's basketball game today. Louisville will fly up today and get off the plane ready to play a few hours later in their first ACC road trip. 

A source close to the program told us last night that the Cards had originally intended to arrive in Pitt on Saturday but weather issues and then the pilots running out of flight time necessitated the cancellation of the Saturday charter.

Will it be an adversity? Will it affect how the Cards play against the Panthers?


We think not. I don't know for sure about the girls on the team...but I'm guessing they're like me and enjoy sleeping in their own beds instead of a hotel bed. Secondly, this is a tough bunch of Cardinals. You could air-drop them in from a Cessna...dressed in their uniforms...onto the banks of the Allegheny River commando-style under cover of darkness and Emmonnie and Sara would lead the charge up Pitt Hill to the Petersen Event Center...picking up any stragglers still at Heinz Field in shock after the Ravens eliminated the Steelers from the NFL Playoffs last night.

Add Michonne, Daryl and Rick and they could probably capture the whole city...


Pitt is having their best season in quite some time. They stand at 10-3 and beat Delaware State 93-58 on Dec. 30th.
The Panthers went 50% from the field and hit 21-23 from the line. 

That doesn't impress you? Consider that they knocked off powerhouse Ohio St. earlier in the season.

Brianna Kiesel is the leader of this bunch of Pennsylvania felines and she does it well...with 17.8 ppg. If she's not open, look out for Stasha Carey...who averages close to a double-double with 10.4 ppg and 9.2 rebounds a night. The Panthers also average eight made threes per game.


( A special "thank you" to all you e-mailers who wanted me to know just how special Kiesel is. She seems to be the Shelby Harper of Pitt Hoops in terms of fan adoration.)

This one will be on ESPN3 and CARDSTV at 2 p.m. EST. Jeff Hathhorn and Jen Tuscano (Pittsburgh's version of Gary Fogle and Sara White we guess) will boldly handle the mispronunciation of the player's names and botched stats and play sequences.



(And another special thanks to our e-mailers who also wonder where Louisville or ESPN dug these two up from and can they be returned for a refund?).




I didn't hear their call of the Georgia Tech game...so I can't comment on how well the duo did...but can tell you that Fogel is now a communications teacher at Bellarmine University and was a sports reporter for WAVE TV and WHAS TV Sports for years...going back to 1987. White was a former UofL WBB head coach (in the dark days before Collen) was married to former Cardinal coach Martin Clapp and has bounced around to several schools before returning to Southern Indiana to train real estate agents. 

Don't shoot me...I'm only the messenger...We see journalists and commentators of all types and temperaments in our coverage of UofL women's sports.


The comments I've heard on White is that she seems a little haughty and aloof so far...maybe it's because we don't really know her too well and she's new to the job. Fogle is probably best known for being popular morning show host Rachel Platt's husband. They'll do, we surmise...Paulie prefers Matt and A.J. when it comes to following games he can't be in attendance for. He also liked Tonya Harding instead of Nancy Kerrigan. Go figure...we're sure both Fogle and White are very capable handling television duties for ESPN3, Raycom Sports, UofL or whoever is signing the paycheck and sticking them in half-court seats.

Today will serve to be a good road test for the 13-1 Cards, who look to extend the series advantage to 9-2 against Pitt.

We'll be back later today for the recap. 

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paulie

6 comments:

  1. Nice background. It looks like they're getting on one of those little turboprop commuter type planes. I hate those things. Had to travel on those for ball back in the day and later in business and they always felt like they were right on the edge of flying or not.

    I agree that showing up the same day as the tip off shouldn't be a problem for this club. Good Luck Ladies!

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  2. Truth here...that picture is from a couple of months ago when Sara Hammond flew down to Greensboro with Walz for the ACC WBB Media days in Greensboro. Not sure if they use the same type of plane for games.

    Paulie

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    1. Sandy you are too funny! I think Sara makes you nuts like Bria does me

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    1. I wouldn't be too harsh on Sara. I have heard Walz say that the reason there are more missed shots underneath in the women's game as compared to the men's game is because the women's can't just go up and dunk back a rebound or feed underneath.

      As a former player who played in the paint. it isn't always easy to go up and put one back in when you sometimes have two defenders trying to deny that shot. Sometimes your approach and aim gets altered. I am sure Sara knows all about the importance of the backboard.

      Katie

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