WBB wins at Miami...A Look Into Louisville Softball... FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

PAULIE REPORT: CARDS CONQUER CANES

Myisha joins in with the screaming.

The University of Louisville Women's Basketball team did what the guys couldn't do in Miami...beat the Hurricanes, in a game that had way too many whistles and a cadre of screaming grade school kids.

A little less than 2800 were in attendance for this one. I'm pretty sure 2700 of them were from the 22 schools represented and most of them hoarse this morning. 

The Cards got a big effort from senior Myisha Hines-Allen with 26 points on 11-13 shooting. She also climbed to second on the all-time Louisville rebounding list, her 1009 is only eclipsed by Angel McCoughtry's 1261. 

Louisville led this one for 39:28 of the 40 minutes but has some first half troubles...going through a five-minute scoreless stretch...and seeing a 26-19 lead shrink to 28-27 before DOOO-BLAY connected on back-to-back jumpers. The Cards held a 37-30 halftime advantage. 

With 67% shooting in the second half, UofL started to increase the lead as the game went on...despite UofM's Emese Hof putting up 20 points off the bench.  Sam Fuehring also performed well for Jeff Walz's squad with 17 points. The front line contingent of Sam, Myisha, Kylee and Bionca combined for 18-24 shooting (75%).

The whistles in this one were...well...ridiculous. 56 of them, resulting in three players fouling out and four players gathering four each. Asia's off-night was understandable...she was double-teamed all day and got off just seven shots in 31 minutes. Her lone make was a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half. 

Louisville returns home to face Wake Forest on Sunday.  A 1 p.m. start. 


FRED REPORT

The "fred" an indicator of our
economic data. 

F- Free Throws.  With 35 attempts from the line, it must have seemed like a foul-line drill at practice. The Cards made 25 of them, which falls at the 71% mark and does not earn a letter. 56 fouls in the contest. I think they were shooting them on the plane home..

R- Rebounding.  The Cards won the boards battle 37-25, mostly because of Hines-Allen's 11. Nine of hers were on the defensive glass. We'll give out the capital "R" here for out-grabbing the taller Canes. 

E- Effort/Execution.  18 turnovers and nine Miami steals aren't stats to brag about. At times, the Cards just didn't value the possession and make things happen. I did like the way Louisville finished the second half and increased the lead...but I can only award a small case "e" here...Miami won the second chance battle 13-9, a key hustle stat. 

D-Defense.  The Canes shot 40% and Louisville sent them to the line with an uncharacteristic 30 fouls. They had no answer for Hof inside or Davenport on the boards. It's tight between no letter here or a smallcase, but I'll go with a smallcase "d" because it was a win and won the second half 47-44. 

Fred Total:  _-R-e-d

   Paulie
xxxxx


JARED ANDERSON LOOKS AT SOFTBALL.

Happy Friday! You’ve just about survived another week. What’s next? You prepare for another exciting episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour tomorrow morning. All four of the regulars will be there.

I am not Worldwide- he had something come up- but I am filling in for him today.

For those who know me or follow any of us from Cardinal Couple on Twitter you know I am actively involved as a fan at softball games. With media day behind us and the regular season in sight I thought we could look at some softball today.

Key Returners

-Nicole Pufahl is a red-shirt senior on the team. Puf has spent her career with Louisville directing the outfield. The California native has shown speed in center field as well as proven to have the arm to gun down runners headed home. On the offensive end she is no stranger to the home run ball.

-Megan Hensley takes over the role as the ace. With Becker gone it’s up to Hensley to corral a fleet of young pitchers into having a top-notch bullpen. Her fastball blows right by batters but it’s what she will be able to do with off speed pitches this year is what we’re looking for. Despite having a slump part of last season Meg typically has a hot bat.

-Jenna Jordan steps into the catcher position for the second straight year after transferring in from Northern Colorado. Alison ‘Mike’ Sydlowski decided she prefers playing infield and will stay there this season leaving JJ with the catcher duties. Her knowledge of the game is impressive, and she will help captain a defense with many new faces.

-Sidney Melton returns after a season-ending injury early last season. She red-shirted last season which should make her a red-shirt junior this season, but the roster lists her as a normal senior. Another member of Team Sid/Syd, she moved in from the outfield to her original position at shortstop. Her quick hands and speed have also helped her on the base path, so we should see her as one of the runners we can get to scoring position.

Newbies

There are 11 new faces on the team this year. The current roster has 22 active players. It is extremely rare to see 50% of a team being brand new, but coach was determined this off-season to make some changes. Of those 11 new faces:

-Nine are true freshmen, two are junior transfers (Butler CC and Mississippi State)

-Two are from Kentucky (Ballard and Bullitt East), one is from California, one is from Texas, one is from North Carolina, one is from Louisiana, one is from Illinois, and four are from Indiana (a pair of twins from Borden and a pair of high school teammates from Osceola).

-Five are pitchers (three also play other positions)

The Schedule

"We got next!" 

Coach Pearsall knows how to find some tough competition out there. However, with so many games to play she is wise enough to find lesser teams as well. The season starts with a five-game tournament at Disney World, followed by a four game ACC/Big Ten challenge in Raleigh, and another five-game tournament in Orlando before the Cards ever return home.

The Cards will play 14 straight games at home. You might just want to get a tent and hang out at Ulmer for a few weeks with that one. The remainder of the season will trade off back and forth away and home with Senior Weekend being against Boston College, despite a single game against Marshall being the true final home game.

Louisville’s two toughest ACC opponents are Notre Dame and Florida State. The Irish visit Ulmer Stadium in mid-March. The Seminoles get to host UofL down in Tallahassee. I will be there for the first two games of that series. Rival Kentucky is on the road for their single meeting this year.

My Prediction

Louisville will be better than last year. The added talent and speed will help tremendously. With it being hard not to finish top four in the conference I will go out on a limb and say the Cards will finish second in the ACC.

Overall, I think the Cards will win between 35-38 of their 53 listed games. Weather has been known to affect scheduling in the past, so it wouldn’t be uncommon to see a handful of games rained out, affecting my prediction.

Louisville’s weaknesses last season included infield defense, knocking baserunners in, and a lack of depth in pitching. The pitching issue has been resolved from the looks of things and I don’t expect Coach Pearsall to allow the defensive problems to continue. My main concern is if the correction to scoring runs has been made.

As we venture closer to the start of the season I will dive into softball a little more.

Until then, enjoy your weekend and a Sunday afternoon game of WBB vs Wake Forest! Go Cards!

Jared