CARDS SUFFER WORST DEFEAT OF THE SEASON
It was rough to watch this second half, quite frankly. And, that was after a first half where Louisville fell behind 25-9 after the first quarter and could get no closer than 10 point in the first twenty minutes. The Cards were the gang that couldn't shoot straight and couldn't guard the impressive array of talent on the Bears roster.
That first quarter saw Louisville struggling offensively...with 25% shooting and no made threes. Baylor, on the other hand, shot 58.8% in that time frame and was punishing Louisville inside, mid-range and out. Down by 18, the Cards did put together a brief rally to climb within 10 near the end of the second quarter...and Baylor took a 43-31 lead into the locker room. A feeling of despair began to set in...could Louisville find a way to get the game under their control and stop Nina Davis, Kalani Brown, Kristy Wallace and Alexis Prince?
The Cards needed to come out with intensity in the second half, sink some shots and find away to slow down the Bears offensive fireworks. Sadly, none of that ever emerged. Baylor dominated the third quarter 29-14...shooting 62% in those ten minutes and the Cards went 5-19 for a less that desirable 26.3%. At the end of thirty minutes, the Bears held a 72-45 advantage and showed no signs of slowing down. Baylor maintained in the final session and went deep into their bench as the clock ticked toward zero. Walz began to pull the starters...realizing that it just wasn't the Cards night and, outscoring the Cards 25-18 in the fourth, the Bears won...quite convincingly...97-63.
I could probably fill up a few more pages on what Louisville failed to do Friday night...but we'll just leave it at this. Poor shooting, ineffective defense and getting dominated on the glass isn't going to give you a "W" this time of year.Asia Durr finally broke out of her early shooting slump (0-10 at one point) to finish with 21 points in 35 minutes to lead the Cards. Myisha Hines-Allen fought very hard for her 12 points and nine grabs. Mariya Moore rounded out the Cards double-figure scores with 10. Between the three, they got up 48 shots and sank 14 of them. 29%. We'll leave it there.
HOW DID FRED DO?
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| "They scored again? Lily! Where's the remote? |
Rebounding -- Not one of the Cards better nights. Hines-Allen lead Louisville with nine and Jazmine Jones came off the bench to haul in seven in 18 minutes of play. Baylor had two players in double-figure rebounding and won the board battle 52-36. No letter here.
Effort/Execution -- Once again, it wasn't a great night in this category either. The Cards came out slow, looked a bit confused and unsure at times and never could seem to get into a consistently good flow in the game. 12 turnover aren't so bad...but Baylor scored 21 points off them. The Cards forced ten Baylor turnovers and could only get 5 points from them. Points in the paints is the telling tale here. 46-16 inside advantage for the Bears. No letter awarded here either.
Defense. 97 points allowed. 50% opponent shooting. THe choice is pretty easy here. No letter.
FRED COUNT: F-_-_-_
WHAT WE LIKED
-- Free Throws. Over 70%. They certainly weren't a factor...but a building point for next season
NOT SO LIKABLE
-- The Domination. Louisville got a first hand look at what they need to improve on to be considered a top five team. Both teams have excellent athletes...but Baylor's played up to their potential and more....the Cards were not at their best by any means.
-- Really? Lauren Cox getting chippy at the end and throwing what appeared to be a punch at Sam Fuehring. Maybe one of the weakest punch attempts I've seen but...still...why? Boos to the refs for not tossing her.
-- Technical. Walz is a dramatic and flamboyant coach and he was correct on the blown call by the refs but he took it too far. Four free throws to the Bears at a point of the game when it looked it might still be remotely possible for the Cards to come back.
SO...
The Cards's season ends with a thud. A good season overall, yes. This loss will give the players, coaches and fans a lot to think about in the off-season. Louisville is a talented team but needs to develop some strengths...especially inside and at the point. Help is on the way and the freshmen will get better...but to be a top five squad, they should just put this game video on a endless loop and play it non-stop so that what happened last night never happens again to the Cards. Domination is never pretty when it's happening to you and the objective now is to become the dominator in big games and not the dominated. Motivation. Execution. Following the game plan. Defense. All areas that the Cards should strive to excel in for 2017-18.
THEY SAID IT
link: WALZ AND CARDS DISCUSS BAYLOR LOSS
PAULIE
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This team had an overall good season but never got the signature win that would have moved them forward. Deficiencies in the paint were a problem all season and were of course evident last night. And, when the team collectively has a terrible shooting night....
ReplyDeleteI continue to love the effort and enthusiasm. I'm expecting major improvement at PG next season with Carter and Evans. But for this team to compete at the highest level the bigs will need to get better.
Excellent points
DeleteAbsolutely, Mike. Gotta have bigs who can score, defend and rebound.
DeletePaulie
Good morning cards fans
ReplyDeleteThe cards had a good season despite the lack of a true point guard,freshman will be freshman.
Cards need maker hopefully Duvall & Evans will be makers .
Go Card's
First step next year win the ACC TOURNAMENT!
MLW
As usual, you hit the nail on the head Paulie. Very good analasys. They ate our lunch. I love the Cards. They're fun to watch. Great atmosphere at the Yum. I haven't missed a home game in years. BUT, I have serious doubts we can ever be a U-Conn, N.D., Maryland, etc.��
ReplyDeleteSTILL, I can't wait for next year!
Yeah...to reach that elite level. A hard climb. I think we are a top-ten program in WBB. Whether we can get to a top five status...that's the question.
DeletePaulie
Never thought I'd see it in the NCAAs with ULWBB. Outworked, Outshot, Outcoached and Outhustled. Hate to admit it but with all of the good basketball being played yesterday I quit watching this one mid-second quarter so I could watch something that was at least competitive.
ReplyDeleteI was worried when our kids acted like they won the national championship when they squeaked by Tennessee to get in. Thought it was a bit strange given our track record success in the tourney.
Given our talent not a great year. I'm all for letting Durr crank when she's open but forcing bad shots when there is little or no dynamic offensive movement is a head scratcher. I think the real disappointment is the M & M girls not really providing the upperclassman leadership foundation this club needed if they were going to go deep into the postseason. We didn't win one game this year against someone rated higher than us. That's pretty telling.
Hopefully they'll take the right message away from this beating. Getting hammered by UConn in the national championship game is one thing...getting schooled by Baylor like this is something else.
IMHO You need outside shooting to beat Baylor, the fact the Cardinals had no production from starting point guard & inexperienced post players don't help the situation.
DeleteDang Burn you nailed it. That should have been a signal to us all seeing the wild celebration beating mediocre Tenn. When we beat Tenn in the 2014 tournament that was special.
DeleteHitch hiking on Burn's point about not beating a team ranked higher than us we squeaked by Kentucky at home going into the season thinking KY had no chance of staying in the same gym as us. Yes a win is better than losing but boy did Kentucky overachieve. Hat tip to the Guv!
DeleteBaylor looked like they could have a very good shot at beating UConn, and we're not at that level, yet. Still, already anxiously waiting for next year, especially if our ladies put in serious off season work. Actually not seeing any transfers other than maybe Dunham, and that's only if she would rather not put in the work.
ReplyDeleteTransfers will be very interesting. Have no clue what will happen. Last year I predicted 4 and 4 took place if you count Syd who I hope is doing spectacular. Miss that girl.
DeleteSyd had an excellent season for the University of Indianapolis. (NAIA school). Transfers? You just never know. I'm hearing everything from none to four. What do I think? I see one for sure, maybe two. Names withheld to protect the innocent. LOL
DeletePaulie
IMHO Scoring was problem last night Cards need more shooters.
ReplyDeleteThree point bombs, that's how they beat Baylor last time.
You have to out score them.
MLW
Coach Walz should schedule Baylor next season and more top 10 schools.
DeleteThis year he played Notre Dame twice (ACC of course), Maryland and South Carolina. That's four games against Top Ten teams, plus Kentucky and a number of other Top 25 ACC teams. Nothing wrong with the schedule.
DeleteMan that's a good point. I miss the obvious. Too much pressure on Durr to take forced shots by Walz because we have no other shooters. Hines-Allen is good but I wish she could play with her back to the basket and that would open up the outside. She doesn't help us as much with her face up game as good as it is.
DeleteI Can't understand what happened to BJ's game the whole season. She didn't attempt one shot in the game against Baylor.
ReplyDeleteI think that was a good way to sum it up Paulie. "We need to develop some strengths both inside and out" I didnt think the team was fun to watch the past few years. I miss Tia and Nita and Shoni. I like rooting for the Cards but I don't like our current players. I'm sure they are ALL great people. Nothing personal just no real identity or substance. The one player I may have a liking for is Sydney. I like her spunk and grit.
ReplyDeleteShook could be fun to root for too if she gets tougher
DeleteShook, Jaz Jones have so much upside going into their sophomore year. Ciera needs to really put the work in this summer. Syd is a role player. So is Jessica. Not sure what the Cards will get out of Bionca next year. The wild card of the freshmen bunch.
DeletePaulie