Julie Sullivan -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It's official! Cardinal Women are #3

Week 6 Associated Press rankings were released Monday and Louisville has moved up one spot to #3. This ties the Cardinals best ever ranking AP ranking and best since March of 2014. At 11-0, the women sit just behind Notre Dame (9-1), with ND's only loss to #1 UConn. If these rankings hold, Louisville will have an opportunity to take the #2 spot in a head to head match up with ND in KFC Yum Center on Jan 11, 2018. Notre Dame doesn't face a ranked team until then, while Louisville will face a currently ranked #14 Duke at home on January 4th.

In the spirit of Ugly Christmas Sweater night, here's a few in the photos today from last year.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves ...

Tonight the Cardinal Women face their 4th Tennessee based school in as many games when
Tennessee State comes to town. The Tigers are 1-5 with their only win a 98-48 win over Fisk (NAIA). Junior forward Tia Wooten (#22) leads the team with an average of 22 points and 8.5 rebounds while freshman guard Taylor Roberts (#0) pitches in 15.8 pts and 8.3 boards. This will be a good test for UofL in their ability to maintain focus and intensity in what will likely be a rout of an overmatched Tiger squad. The bench should see significant minutes and opportunity to refine their shooting and further cut down on unforced turnovers. The Cards can use this as a final tune up before traveling to Lexington on Sunday at 3 pm. And do you know what that means? Bad news for the Wildcats. If you are planning on attending the game at Memorial Coliseum and haven't bought your tickets yet, you best get on it. Less than a dozen lower level seats remain.

It's Ugly Sweater Night!

This is one of my favorite games of the year. In honor of the first night of Chanukah, I had originally planned to come as a human menorah, but Amazon and UPS foiled that plan with slow shipping. Instead, be on the look out for Santa in section 113. More importantly, WWSPW? What will Sam Purcell wear?

Put on your gaudiest sweater. Doll it up with a Santa hat or reindeer antlers, blinky lights or other Christmas (or Chanukah) accoutrements and get crazy. Whatever you wear, just get yourself to Yum Center for a 7 pm tip off to see what might be the best and most well balanced team in Louisville history. #ThisTeamIsSpecial

Men's Game Observations

Last night the men rolled to an easy victory, 102-59, over the Bryant Bulldogs as part of the Gotham Classic. Once again the Cards came out with a seeming lack of intensity except for Anas Mahmoud who had 17 points, all in the first half along with 9 boards. Quentin Snider hit 4 of 6 3 pointers and also finishing with 17 points. Deng Adel also chipped in 17 for the trifecta, including going 2 for 4 from the 3. Confidence and competence from behind the arc is going to be vital moving into a much tougher conference schedule, not to mention a meeting with those puddycats down the road in a few weeks.

Interesting first half stat, UofL committed only 2 turnovers and both were charging fouls. While seemingly lethargic, they certainly did take care of the ball. I hope Jeff Walz challenges the women to match that stat. Close the bakery!

The second half gave the freshman, including walk-ons Jacob Redding and Jo Griffin some quality minutes. Redding hit his 2nd free throw to hit the 100 mark. The arena was nearly empty by that point, but those of us diehards left gave him the largest cheer of the night.

UofL's attendance woes continue. I never heard the attendance announced and I am terrible at
estimating crowds, but the lower bowl was at best 2/3 full and less than half in the upper level. I counted 11 suites that looked completely empty and I did not have a full view of the suites. This week I received info from UofL on discount tickets and even group ticket pricing as low as $20. I have never heard of group pricing for men's games. While UofL is trying to woo fans with special pricing, the scandal fatigue and distrust of a board that many believe have suspect motives toward athletics are still weighing heavy. Hopefully, the university and athletics will begin to work together. While I think the hash tag abbreviation is unfortunate - We, The Future - is spot on. The university's success is dependent on building bridges between academia and athletics and finding a sense of community, a sense of WE.

Case in point of the disconnect. The pep band was missing most of its members last night because the university scheduled the final for the marching band class at the exact same time as the game. I am not suggesting a game is more important than a final exam, but the fact that there was no communication or consideration to this conflict serves as an anecdote for the schism that exists. Pep band director, Al Greener promised to be at full force for tonight's women's game.

Let's finish on a positive note.

I have decided that Darius Perry is the Jazmine Jones of the men's team. His intensity on the court is palpable, but it is his cheering and excitement for his teammates while on the bench that makes him even more endearing. If you don't know what I am talking about just watch Jaz or any of the women's while on the bench.

Everyone please make a effort to get out tonight to the UofL WBB game. They're going to be gone for quite a while after tonight...so come see them!

--
Julie, JC, JSully, The Bird Lady ... whatever we are calling me this week ;)