CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
We report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports here. Thanks for checking us out! Click the picture of Louie to hear the latest Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast!!

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Louisville women's Basketball vs. UT-Martin tonight! -- Lamar and Lacrosse -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE



WBB FACES SKYHAWKS TONIGHT IN THE KFC YUM! CENTER



"Yep, JC is giving herself an upgrade...." 
Fresh off eking out a 68-64 Sunday win over a tough South Dakota State team in Brookings, S.D., the Cards return to the friendly confines of the KFC YUM! Center to take on the UT Martin Skyhawks tonight at 7 p.m. 

I wasn't able to watch the close one in South Dakota because I was at the Louisville men's game against Seton Hall down by the Ohio River. A heartbreaking loss for David Padgett's team -- all things considered, I would have rather been in South Dakota. Trying to follow updates of a close game while watching another game is frustrating. The frustratingly erratic MBB squad had a chance to win this one and kept my head pounding and heart racing. 

The consolation was I was able to maneuver down to nice end zone seats . (Thanks to the students that didn't claim their tickets -- this old lady was able to sneak into their area in the lower bowl).

Having missed both women's away games and unable to watch replays had me feeling a bit disconnected. On the plus side, Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel...who I saw Thursday night...consoled my disconnect by throwing me an "L" and declaring "Go Cards!" Luckily, Paulie and Case shared great recaps here at Cardinal Couple and kept me in the loop. 

Now at 8-0, the #4 Louisville women's basketball squad have tied their second-best start ever and have a good shot at beating the 15-0 start that they got off to in the 2006-07 season. Tom Collen was Louisville's head coach back then and got the Angel McCoughtry led squad to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 


"All together now...3 is better than 2 !!" 
Jeff Walz leads Louisville WBB into the first of a four-game home-stand tonight. The Cards will play four schools from Tennessee in the next eight days (UT-Martin, Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee and Tennessee State). The Cards are used to quick turnarounds this year and these games should allow Walz to go deep in the player rotation and get the bench some significant experience. 

UT-Martin (3-4) is coming off a disappointing 87-82 overtime loss at Chattanooga Saturday. The Skyhawks shot a blistering 60.4 % from the floor. Their leading scorer is sophomore guard Kendall Spray, who averages 17.1 points per game. Three other starters, Emanye Robertson, Chelsey Perry and Janekia Mason are also averaging in double digit scoring. There are three Kentuckians on the Skyhawk roster, including sophomore guard Tamiah Stanford, who played her high-school ball at nearby North Hardin H.S. in Radcliff, KY. 

The Skyhawks seem over matched tonight. They are 0-32 against ranked team in program history and that dubious streak doesn't appear to be in jeopardy tonight. They do force 21 turnovers a contest, 35th. best in DI ball, so the Cards guards will need to be mindful of the orange orb. I expect Louisville's stifling defense to force a few "bakery items" as well.

                                      >>>>>> JC PREDICTIONS <<<<<<


-- Myisha Hines-Allen will not get her 34th career double-double tonight. Not because of lack of effort but because I expect the reserves will see the majority of minutes once the Cards jump out to a significant lead. Better be a baller early, DOOO-BLAY. 

-- Jessica Laemmle and Retta Kakala will see floor time and score. 

-- Bionca Dunham will take a step forward and have a strong game. She may get the double-double honors tonight. 

-- Jazmine Jones should put on a show, both on the court and on the Cardinal sidelines. Watch for dancing feet, flailing arms and twirling towels from the flamboyant sophomore out of Tallahassee. And that's just in the pre-game warm ups...

-- Coach Walz will praise the officiating. (OK, that one was just to see if you were paying attention.) 

Make plans to come downtown tonight and be in the KFC YUM! Center before 7 p.m. It should be a fun distraction for the students facing finals week. It's also Faculty/Staff Appreciation night. Catch up with that professor who kindly gave you a "B" for the "C" work you did in Quantum Physics and get "teach" some nachos!   


************************************************************ 


LACROSSE SIGNS 10

Recently hired UofL Lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter doesn't procrastinate. He's hit the ground running and garnered 10 commitments for the 2018 Lacrosse student-athlete roster. Teeter doing work to replenish a roster devastated by defections under the previous coaching staff. 

Welcome to the Ville Shay Clevenger, Kelly Coughlan, Courtney Deena, Madison McFadden, Kirsten Parker, Kristen Pezzullo, Mason Plymire, Paige Richbourg, Jen Scaff and hometown girl Elizabeth Janes from South Oldham high school. We now know where the team cookout will be held, right?  

Still no announcement on who Scott's staff and assistant coaches will be yet. The season begins Feb. 4th when Vermont comes to the L.L.S. 




************************************************************

LAMARVELOUS



Congratulations to Lamar Jackson for getting a finalist invite to the Heisman Trophy award ceremony Saturday night in New York. The consensus seems to be that, despite Jackson putting up better numbers, Baker Mayfield...QB from Oklahoma...is the clear front-runner to win the award. 

Here's hoping the voters choose the best player despite team records. Lamar has always represented himself and Louisville with class and style and that makes him a winner in my book. We get (at least) one more chance to watch his fantastic skills when UofL plays Mississippi State in the TaxSlayer Bowl on Dec. 30th. in Jacksonville. Noon kickoff. 

Jackson in Jacksonville. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?  


JC Sullivan

  





13 comments:

  1. Good stuff today. Cards by 33 tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hoping to see lots of playing time for everyone tonight.

    I'll be focusing on Jones and Dunham.

    Jones is hurting this team right now with flat-out dumb plays. She is a dynamic player and the team will need her against the better opponents, but some of her turnovers are killers. Hopefully she uses this stretch against weaker opposition to clean that up.

    Dunham seems to be gaining more and more confidence. She will be a contributor when ACC play begins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Jones just needs to calm down a bit and let the game come to her. She can be dynamic at times but then do something next play that makes you scratch your head. Court awareness is something that doesn't come easily, I think she's starting to get it but would like to see it tonight.

      Curtis "Ground the Skyhawks tonight" Franklin

      Delete
  3. Really good piece. Foster runs a great program at Chattanooga and UTM played them tough so we best be ready to go tonight.

    Impressed with Teeter's running start with LAX. Best of luck to him and the program.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Let's call this what it is. Walz doing a favor for one of his coaching buddies Kevin McMillian the head guy at UTM. Cards went down there and scored like the first 25 points. Another punchy visits the Yum. I wish they could have WKU or Memphis is this slot but it is what it is.

    Louisville will play them all and all of the girls will score tonight. The only question is whether they'll surpass the 115 they put up against Murray.

    Blue Lou

    ReplyDelete
  5. Don't know about "punchy" Blue Lou. Kendall Spray is a talented guard that was OVC Player of the Week last week and Ashton Feldhaus is still on the roster and she's a dangerous baller. I'll take a 20 -point win. We did embarrass them down there last year and I'm sure that's on their minds.

    It's cold. It's Tuesday. I hope 6000 show up.

    Paulie

    Paulie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So the Skyhawks have wins over Alabama-Huntsville, Western Carolina and North Carolina A&T and losses to Southern Illinois, Northwestern, Arkansas St. and Chattanooga.

      I have to agree with Blue Lou. A punchy comes in for a paycheck. I hope the reserves do see a lot of action. Louisville needs to come out early, guard the three and play defense. The rest will take care of itself.

      I'll be there.

      The Deb Factor

      Delete
  6. Praising the officiating... lol

    On a random note I grew up playing baseball with Jessica Laemmle’s boyfriend. Let’s get another W tonight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A big game from AC like to see her three ball drop a little more,going to need her shot in ACC play.
      Go Cards! PS best team spirit Jazzmine Jones.
      MLW

      Delete
  7. Hi.

    Skyhawks fan here. Found this website while looking for information on our game tonight against you. I am not able to make the trip but was at last year's game here in Martin.

    I'll be watching, though, thanks to the ACC Network Extra and think we may be a little better than you all are thinking. I'm not predicting an upset or anything but we will be competitive. I'm hoping for a exciting game. Last year was embarrassing for us. We had almost a full gym for your visit and they started leaving early.

    I'm a big fan of Lamar Jackson, by the way, and hope he can repeat as Heisman. I love to watch him motor!

    I like your website. I'll be back. I'm glad I found it. We sure don't have anything like it for SkyHawks women's sports.

    IF you all ever tire of Jeff Walz, we'd take him in a flat minute.

    Darrell
    Martin, TN.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by and commenting Darrell. I had a great time in Martin last year. It's a haul from here but was well worth it.

      Good luck tonight!

      Paulie

      Delete
    2. The Bird Lady12/05/2017 4:42 PM

      Welcome Darrell. Glad you found us. Paulie runs a great site. I think we will win big but because UofL will be on a mission to shut everything down after letting SDST control the beginning of the game this past Sat. Unfortunately, your team will pay the price.

      Jaz will be fine once she learns to use all the gears in her motor and not always be in 5th.

      Jared, glad to see at least you read my Walz officiating prediction lol. (I was inspired by his praise the Lord picture I snapped a few press conferences ago)

      Delete
  8. The time of the year where we now have a couple games under the belt and the schedule allows for us to be working on "us" as opposed to executing a game plan, per se.

    ReplyDelete

Please leave your comments here. We ask you be respectful of other posts, no matter how ridiculous they may seem to you. After all, it is CARDINAL COUPLE.

Any attempts to advertise a product or other website here in the comments section without the prior consent of CARDINAL COUPLE will result in a bill rendered for advertising services and possible legal action. We're serious. No more bots.

Now, have your take...