Odds and Ends...WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

MAYBE MYISHA? ACC DOUBLE BYE GONE? 

We'll skate all over the rink today and catch up on a few things. With no particular agenda or theme...let's just call today's column "catch-up". Or ketchup. You name it, I'll write it. 

From hoops to tennis, softball to radio...we ramble all over the Cardinal Athletic landscape today (with no Field Pass and one step ahead of Ray Bronger...) 



DINNER WITH COACH


HINES-ALLEN BETTER? (FROM THE WALZ RADIO SHOW)


We have a reader (and probably more than one) who religiously attends the Coach Walz Radio Show each week. The show took place last night at the Bardstown Road Chili's. I try to listen on radio (93.9 FM) when I can but had a prior commitment last night and missed it. I've never attended one...but here's the "live, on the spot" report I got from our pal in attendance: 

-- Myisha Hines-Allen did practice Tuesday (and practiced well, according to Coach Walz) and should be in Blacksburg for the game against Virginia Tech. No word on B.J. except that it takes a lot of pain involved if she has to sit and that was the case in South Bend on Monday. 

-- Walzisms. 

"You can be consistently inconsistent." 

(On players in his dog-house) "I don't have a dog-house. I don't have a dog."

(On whether his daughter Lola would be a forward or guard for him) "I won't be coaching by then. I'll just sit way up in the arena and be a fan. A proud parent."

(On social media) '"These kids get way too caught up on social media. They read what people tweet them and you'd be amazed at what some of the fans say. I tell them to ignore social media" 

(On fan education) "People get way too caught up on scoring. On stat lines. A player can have 18 points and still play badly but they'll hear 'Oh, you had a great game! 18 points'. There are no defensive stat lines. We look at the whole picture." 

-- Finishing well

Coach Walz sincerely believes that the Cards best basketball is ahead of them. He wants the team to start peaking in March. (What that means for the five games left in February...we're not exactly sure.) Coach feels that they'll probably be a five seed in the ACC Tournament....the top four right now being Notre Dame, FSU, Duke and NC State. 

Let's take a look at that. I can optimistically see Louisville (7-4) beating their final five in the conference schedule...at VT, hosting BC, UNC and Virginia and ending at Wake Forest...and finishing the regular conference slate at 12-4. The Cards aren't going to catch either Notre Dame or Florida State, let's be realistic here.

Duke holds the tie-breaker over Louisville and is currently 8-3 in conference. They finish with Pitt, Syracuse, at Wake Forest, Miami and at North Carolina. I can see one or two losses at the most potentially...that would leave them at either 12-4 or 11-5. If they win out or go 4-1, the Cards cannot catch them. 


NC State (7-3) has six games remaining. They also hold the tie-breaker over Louisville. They go to Georgia Tech, host Virginia Tech, visit Boston College, host Wake Forest and UNC and finish at Virginia. Two losses here put them at 11-5. If they finish 5-1...they secure a double-bye seed. The thing is...it's hard to find two teams in this bunch that can potentially beat them. 

I don't see Syracuse getting there. With Duke and Notre Dame left it just seems unlikely.  

Difficult for the Cards to get the double bye, but not impossible. All they can do at this point is just win and hope for a few upsets. If you are headed to Conway, SC for the ACC Tournament...you may want to arrive for Thursday games. One game at a time, one win at a time. Remember, it's the ACC. Anything Can Culminate. 



(Thanks to our intrepid reporter for the Walz show details)


CORTNEE ON LOUISVILLE FIRST

If you missed redshirt-senior Cortnee Walton's appearance on the critically acclained LOUISVILLE FIRST morning radio show on WKRD 790...you missed a great segement. Cortnee absolutely owned it! 

She covered a wide range of subjects with Howie and Matt...including career at Louisville, intern at WAVE TV, women's basketball, other Cardinal sports and her friendship with Asia Taylor. 

A great hour listening to Cortnee. Be sure to catch the podcast rebroadcast which is at this link: 

CORTNEE WALTON ON LOUISVILLE FIRST


Good job, Mom!  She starts around the 40 minute mark. 

Paulie was on with the guys Tuesday...here's the link:

Paulie on Louisville First 

I join them around the 35 minute mark. 



ANYONE FOR TENNIS? 

Don't look now...but Louisville women's tennis has started the 2017 season 6-0.


  

Wins against UT-Martin, Murray State, Detroit, WKU, E. Michigan and Liberty...all at the Cards facility The Bass-Rudd Center. Despite an injury to Elle Stokes that has her sidelined for a couple of weeks, the Cards contingent of Aleksandra Mally, Jessie Paul, Sena Suswan, Olivia Boesing, Tiffany Huber, Abby Pahz, Ariana Rodriguez and Mariana Humberg are getting it done for the Serve and Volley Cards. Just two seniors in those nine...which bodes well for future Cardinal racquet and baseline success. 

Head coach Mark Beckham is impressed: 

"We're not the same team we were last year. We are improving. The biggest thing is that we look like we're beating them handily but it's because we are playing so well and making opponents look not as good as they truly are. That is a positive thing." 

The Cards face Georgia State Friday. 



SOFTBALL ON DECK

Cardinal Softball is 48 hours away! 

Sandy Pearsall's sluggers start the season in Vegas on Friday at the UNLV Sportco Kickoff Classic. The Cards will play two on opening day....Southern Utah at 6:45 pm and CSU Bakersfield at 9:00 pm. All times are, as Worldwide likes to say, estimates. 

A ton of starters back, the two top pitchers and very impressive freshman class on hand for Pearsall. Touch 'em all and field your position! We'll look for possible Internet viewing and update ya. 


paulie
xxxxx