Thursday, February 19, 2015

WBB Cards look to avoid wreck at Virginia Tech -- Thursday Cardinal Couple



#8 Louisville faces Hokies tonight at @ 7 

The 22-3, 10-2 Louisville Cardinals hope to stay within reach of ACC Conference leader Notre Dame tonight with a win over Dennis Wolff's Virginia Tech Hokies. The contest will be shown on ESPN3...pitting the Cards, who have won their last three, against a VT squad that has lost their last six games. 

 On paper, Louisville looks to be an easy double-digit winner tonight against a Va. Tech squad that is 1-12 in ACC competition. As we all know...they don't play these on paper. 

 Va. Tech led dangerous Syracuse in their last outing with less than three minutes to go...eventually falling to the Orange 59-51.

Fueled by the chance to defeat a top 10, the Hokies will make Cassell Coliseum a tough place for the visiting Cards to win tonight. Louisville is 5-10 there in the 32 game series between the two former Metro Conference members. It's been twenty years since the two last met...the Cards taking a 68-60 loss on Feb. 26th. 1995.

 Granted...most of the current Cards were either in diapers or not born that night...but Louisville will need to keep an eye out for several of the current Gobblers this evening. 
Guard Vanessa Panousis leads VT with 13.2 ppg, three pointers (59) and also in assists with 83.  A hot night from her could spell danger for the Cards. Rachel Camp averages 12.6 ppg and 6.2 rebounds. Taijah Campbell goes for 7.8 and 7.1 a night.

Head coach Wolff has a youth movement present on the 2014-15 squad with no seniors and just three juniors on the roster. Panousis -- from Sydney, Australia -- is one of five international players on the squad. 

 The Cards will need to do the usual things on Coach Walz's priority list to secure the victory. Avoiding a slow start, hitting from the free throw line, establishing a presence on the boards on both ends of the court and engineering a fast break, transition game. 

 Mariya Moore leads the Cards in scoring with 14.1 ppg and
also in assists (98) and threes (41). Myisha Hines-Allen is contributing 12.3 ppg and Sara Hammond is also a double-figure producer at 11.2 per night. 

 We hope to see all three crest the double-digit mark tonight and have several other Cards greet them there. We'll look for big games off the bench from "E" and Shawnta' and see just how far Bria Smith has made it out of the Walz doghouse. Steady, dependable Jude Schimmel will need to be accurate in her ball-handling and hopefully on mark from the deep. We'd like to see Ariana Freeman get quality minutes tonight as well.
Should be a fun one to view (and listen to on 790 Cards Radio) on a night where record temperature lows are predicted for the Louisville area.

 Let's hope the travelling Cards don't reach any lows tonight offensively and create a few season lows for VT.

 We'll recap the action in Friday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. 

 paulie
at

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous2/19/2015 7:11 AM

    Look at you Paulie with tweets two days in a row. The only way UofL loses tonight to VA TECH is if the Cards men's team decides to play in place of the women.

    Blue Lou

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    1. Cardinal Couple2/19/2015 7:16 AM

      Whoa....easy there Blue Lou...tough loss for the guys last night, sure...but no Chris Jones was a factor.

      Yes, I am now the undisputed, heavyweight king of Twitter. The Twitter Monster. I hope to eventually have 200 followers. 100 of them from either Hartford or Lexington. LOL. I'm going out on a limb here and boldly predicting I will tweet again on Friday. The boy is out of control...

      Paulie

      Delete
  2. Anonymous2/19/2015 9:48 AM

    Rumors are that this will be Wolfie last year at VT. A signature win over a top ten porbably won't save him. Shame, he's a good coach who cares about the kids. So was Agnus of Pittsburgh. Wins matter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mike D2/19/2015 10:25 AM

    I listened to Walz's radio show Tuesday night and he said Bria will not start any longer, except possibly on Senior Night. He said her parents were in town for the UNC game. Cards need her in order to beat the good teams.

    On a brighter note, Asia Durr went for 52 last night in the first round of the Georgia state playoffs - her #2 seeded team beat the #3 seed in a close game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cardinal Couple2/19/2015 10:56 AM

      I'm going to agree that UofL could benefit from an "all in" Bria. As far as starting goes...Walz has indicated in the past that some players are not comfortable in a starting role. Like Dyer. Or MHA. Maybe Bria is one of those. IF Louisville can get 20 quality minutes from her in games...then the guard rotation should be OK...if you add Moore into the mix there instead of at wing.

      AD is awesome! Saw a post somewhere about asking if she could be loaned to the men's team the rest of the year at small forward....LOL

      Paulie

      Delete
  4. Mike D2/19/2015 12:47 PM

    Paulie, you and I both know that Bria's removal from the starting lineup has nothing to do with her being uncomfortable in a starting role. Walz has made it pretty clear several times that there are issues of some sort.

    I agree that team needs 20+ minutes from her...maybe not tonight, but next Monday against ND and further down the road in ACC and NCAA tourneys. As I said after Sunday's game, Cards don't beat UNC without her - 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals in 15 solid minutes.

    I saw that post about loaning Durr to the men's team. I've watched all of her videos and she is flat-out amazing. And as a bonus, she can make FTs - 18 for 21 last night!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cardinal Couple2/19/2015 1:57 PM

      We have never received and have no desire to request what is going on with her. We understand that it's a private team matter and we respect that. Would we like to know? Maybe...depends on what it is. We are very aware that it's none of our business unless it becomes general knowledge.

      So, as an independent...we accept what the waiter brings to the table...because we know we're in no way responsible and under no obligation for paying the bill

      Paulie

      Delete

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