CARDINAL COUPLE

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Friday, January 5, 2018

Louisville women's basketball -- The Streak Goes On - Friday Cardinal Couple

Sonny and Cher famously sang, "The Beat Goes On", and now the UofL Women's Basketball team could be singing, "The Streak Goes On" as they reach 17-0, the longest win streak in program history, with the 66-60 win over the Duke Blue Devils.

Kelly Dickey, of Real Card Game, who may be one of the most amazing sports statistics gurus I've ever witnessed in action, dug up the best starts in overall Cardinals history.  My beloved Volleyball holds the current crown with a 20-0 start in 2005, 19-0 for Baseball last spring, and a 17-0 start for them in 1957.

Credit to Haley Gorecki for Duke, who had a career night with 25 points, 15 of them from beyond the arc, along with 6 assists for leading the Dookies to making this a close game after a strong start by the Cardinals.  Leaonna Odom also have 14 points in the contribution.  The Cards held Lexie Brown to single digits with 8.  Rebecca Greenwell was in sweats and didn't play.

On the Louisville side, Myisha Hines-Allen got a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, but despite the numbers, didn't have a particularly great outing.  Joining her in double figures were Sam Feuhring and, in a shock to no one, Asia Durr.  They had 12 and 22 respectively.

Beyond the above, nothing on the stat sheet was really all that sparkling.  This was a gritty win, that started off looking great for UofL, but then devolved a bit and allowed the Blue Devils back into a close game at the end.

The 8,101 in attendance did have a moment where they largely held their breath in unison when, approximately 2 minutes into the 2nd quarter, Asia Durr went down with what was a turned, or possibly sprained, ankle.  At the time, it looked bad (though at the time, I also thought it was her knee that she hurt...the perils of sitting in row CC), but she did return back out from the locker room and back into play before the end of the quarter.

Lamont Russell showing that his spider
strength comes naturally. Thanks to Sam
Purcell for the picture.
If Asia Durr dropping to the floor, clearly in pain, was the lowlight of the evening, the highlight may have been when Lamont Russell was called over from the bench by Coach Walz to, I thought, help her hobble off the floor.  In reality, Mr. Russell picked her up and carried her to the locker room with about the same ease that I pick up a piece of paper.  "Mr. Russell, sir" will likely be my form of address to him if I ever get the chance to meet him in person.  For fans who don't know who Russell is, he is the Video Coordinator for the coaching staff, and fulfills some graphic design duties as well.  I have no reason to think he performs those tasks with any less capability that he carried the 5'10" Asia Durr off the court.

Back to the game analysis, while the Cards have been on an extended road trip, including across the Christmas break, apparently they forgot that they wear white when they play at the KFC Yum! Center, as a number of passes went to players in blue.  Credit to Duke for jumping into the passing lanes, but a fair number of the passes were just ill-advised from the get-go.

F-R-E-D-S report


F - Free Throws - No score awarded here.  The Cards went 13-20 from the charity stripe.  A tip of the hat to Sam Fuehring, Arica Carter, and Dana Evans, who all went 2-2, but this is a team award, and an overall 65% doesn't get it done.

R - Rebounding - A lower case "r" gets awarded here.  35 tallys is better than Duke's 29, and is a decent rebounding total, but the margin is a little too close for comfort.  We can chalk a little bit of this up to shots being taken when there are no white shirts anywhere near the basket...perhaps a little more wisdom in shot selection is called for to help this one out.

E - Effort/Execution - One of the more subjective categories.  I'm going to award a lower case "e" on this one as well.  Errant passes being the main culprit prevent the upper case rating.

D - Defense - Holding Duke to 60 is good, forcing 15 turnovers compared to only 9 for the Cards is also good.  I believe that just gets the Cards over the hump to an upper case "D" for this category.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I will remain with the original FRED report in my post-game reports. And, a capital "D" here is just plain wrong, Worldwide. Report to the court for defensive practice. .  ...

We've tried, over the years, at Cardinal Couple to bring some attention to some of the unsung heroes of Cardinals Athletics.  Many of these folks labor out of sight and out of mind of most of the fanbase.  We don't always see their actions, but their impact is there.  In the effort to highlight some of their efforts, I've decided to start awarding an "S" in the F-R-E-D report from time to time, when some aspect of the "S"upport that the team gets warrants particular attention.  The team gets a solid "S" for last night thanks to the help from Mr. Russell,  and Keressa Ackles, the trainer for the Louisville squad, for their efforts in assisting Asia Durr and getting her back out onto the court before the quarter was out.

Final report, "-reDS".  It's always good to get the win, but there's certainly room to clean up the play.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour


We've back!  The CCRH gang will be back, live, on the airwaves tomorrow at our normal timeslot of 11am on WCHQ, broadcasting from the spiffy new studios on Mellwood Avenue.  We're excited to get back into the swing of things, and we hope you're excited to hear us again.  Check it out on 100.9 FM in the central Louisville area, or streaming via TuneIn anywhere in the world, or if you're inclined, install the WCHQ app and pick up the show that way.  We're not picky.

-- 
JMcA

14 comments:

  1. We are in Row BB and I was terribly afraid it was a non-contact ACL injury, because of the way she grabbed her knee on the way down. I've seen too many of those on both the basketball court and the football field.

    I'm usually generous on the F-R-E-D ratings, but I can't give an upper case "D" for defense. Duke got way too many uncontested shots, especially in the first half.

    Sam Fuehring saved the day. She played well at both ends of the court.

    Only nine turnovers but several of them were unforced errors that showed bad judgement. MHA's pass in the first minute or so that led to a Duke runout, and Durr's late pass into the middle when the game was slipping away come to mind.

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  2. The Bird Lady1/05/2018 11:06 AM

    Lamont is a great guy. Always welcoming. Walz not recruits great players, he brings in great support staff. The more I am around the more I understand how complex a D1 championship caliber program is. Nice to see support staff getting props. No matter what their title, they pitch in and get it done!

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  3. Did you know Duke's president's name is Vincent Price? I'll bet he enjoyed last night's "Thriiler" and produced an evil, sinister laugh when Duke cut it to three.

    Paulie

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  4. Another win, another scare. I thought Waltz was right on line when he talked about the Cards rough defensive evening but when you consider that the Cards held Duke to 11 points less than their season average, maybe it isn't as bad as feared. Good job Jeff on today's article.

    -- The Real Joe Hill --

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  5. If Arica Carter hit her open looks in last night game cards win by 13 points. Good AC get hot lol.

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    Replies
    1. But good "A.C." is supposed to cool you off, right? That's what she did to Lexie Brown, along with her teammates in red. 8 points. (Saluting her photo).

      Paulie

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    2. Easy on the puns, Paulie. HaHa.

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    3. Coach McCauley is a godd but not great coach. She probably reached her peak at Michigan State. She lost a good one when Azura Stevens transferred to UConn.

      Meanwhile, here at Clemson, we remain a football school. Our best teams in women's basketball here back in the mid 70's - early 80's when Barbara Kennedy, Donna Forrester and Drema Greer were on the court. We still have a hard time getting 1000 into Littlejohn Arena and Danielle Edwards and Kobi Thornton are our Asia Durr and Myisha Hines-Allen.

      Good luck the rest of the way!

      Your friend
      #1 Clemson fan
      Arthur
      Greer, SC

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  6. An incredible accomplishment by the Women's squad at UofL. I was able to watch the Duke game via ACC Network and have to say that I like the current broadcast crew of Sara and the new kid. Wasn't Sara also a coach at UofL? She looks familiar.

    Ol' Dave-O has been battling what the doctor says is the flu, so I've been quarantined by the rest of the family to the spare bedroom. It has not been pretty, friends. I fell asleep during part of the first half yesterday. Weak and tired. But, feeling better somewhat today. It's been about a week. This is nasty stuff.

    Myisha Hines-Allen is a flat out warrior. Gird her up in armor and put her on the front line. Sam, too. I missed the Asia ankle sprain. Will she be able to go against Va. Tech on Sunday?

    If the Cards can get through the Hokies and Notre Dame, then I think you can pencil them in at #2 in the nation. Go Cards GO!

    Dave-O
    David Watson

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for checking in David. Rest and feel better!

      Paulie

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  7. All in good fun, Charlie. Puns are the Bionca Dunham of humor. Not used a whole lot but subject to occasional brilliance.

    Paulie

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  8. MHA is a warrior to say the least and the true senior leader of this team! Her stats are awesome she fills EVERY collum most nights from scoring, rebounding,steals and Sometimes more assists then guards. Keep up the good work and play hard! JERSEY GIRLS ROCK!



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  9. Good Morning Cards Nation maybe Sydney Zambrotta get more time on the court tomorrow Afternoon. Go Cards!!!
    MLW

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