Sunday, February 4, 2018

Louisville women's basketball faces Syracuse today! Sunday Cardinal Couple

WBB vs Syracuse


The Women's Basketball Squad is in Syracuse today preparing for a matchup against the Orange, and one of the most colorful basketball coaches in the business.  We, here at Cardinal Couple, don't hide our admiration for the style and panache of Quentin Hillsman, but there is a basketball game to be played.  We've also made light of the cavernous Carrier Dome, where the women also play in Syracuse, being "packed" with an attendance of less than 200 people.  A quick perusal of a few of the box score sheets from this season didn't turn up any games with attendance of less than 1,000, and the Pitt game had over 8,000 in attendance.

So, while we do have some fun when we talk about "The Big Ol' Funky Q" (yes, that's an homage to a decades past promo from WQMF, the radio station here in Louisville), and the attendance woes at the Carrier Dome, let's give the program some credit.  They're starting to draw a bit of a crowd, and they've got a few decent wins in their results this year.  They're 17-6 overall, though they are only 5-5 in conference.  Some decent non-conference wins over good, but not powerhouse teams like Wisconsin, and Vandy, and in conference a 76-69 win over Florida State is worthy of praise.  They've taken some losses against some very good teams, mostly in the strong ACC conference slate, and they've got all the wins they should've against the also-ran teams that they've played.  All in all, I think it's time to start giving the Orange some props for putting together a solid, if not world-beating, program.

Louisville will be looking to continue the rebuilding of a win streak, getting back out to 4 wins with a victory today.  There's not enough games left in the season and post-season to get back to the 20-win streak that they had to start the season, so that record is not in real jeopardy, barring winning a National Championship and extending the win streak into next season.  If that happens, however, the focus will almost assuredly be on the Championship win, not the win streak, though perhaps we'll return to the topic in November.  Regardless, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Today's game could be a field day for our bigs as Syracuse doesn't have a great deal of experience with bigs in the paint.  While 5 players on the squad are taller than 6 feet, 4 of them are freshmen.  Q has apparently realized that he needs some height on the squad.  The Syracuse squad is also quite an international affair, with a pair of players from France, a Canadian, an Aussie, and a Latvian.

Let's hope the women's team today has a bit more success than we saw from the men yesterday. Regardless of the outcome, the "Q" show should be a Oscar winning performance and worth catching.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour


It was another good day in the studio for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour because Jared was at the bank...no wait, despite Jared being at the bank turning 20s into 10s and 5s..."despite" was what I meant to say there.

In Jared's place, Paulie, Case, and myself were joined against by Mike Gilpatrick from River City Cards.  A whirlwind hour discussing the big relevant topics in Cardinals athletics, including maneuverings and departures among the upper management of the Athletic Department.  If you missed it, well, shame on you, but you can check the rebroadcast and "jump around" on the Soundcloud at:

https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20180203.

--
JMcA
at

6 comments:

  1. The Bird Lady2/04/2018 10:40 AM

    I am at the Dome today and hope to learn to multitask by tweeting a bit at the game. Follow me @TheBirdLadyJC

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cardinal Couple2/04/2018 10:54 AM

    I will mention that Q has only one starter back from last year. (Cooper) The Day twins are gone, so is Slim, Peterson and Sykes. Last year, at the KFC YUM! Center, the Cards reigned supreme with a 91-76 dissection of the Orange...a game that Louisville trailed in 22-10 after the first period and 40-33 at the half.

    Asia Durr led a furious third quarter charge where the Cards outscored Syracuse 36-19 and finished with 36 points and seven "threes".

    Paulie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown2/04/2018 12:36 PM

    Anyone else noticed that ESPN refuses to list Louisville on the crawl BEFORE the game starts? Skips right past us when listing NCAAW games for the day. And we're not even on FOX today. Smh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2/04/2018 8:30 PM

      Your so right! no respect for the NO.4 team in country there 24-1 SMDH!
      MLW

      Delete
  4. Wade2/04/2018 8:50 PM

    Good knowledge Paulie. I didn’t realize Cuse had only one starter returning. Q doing a good job. NC State’s Moore also doing a great job with just one returning starter this year.
    Arica Carter had a very nice game . Though she fouled out and shot 1-6 she really played solid. She is starting to do more. She had some nice steals and the announcers called her a pest which is a complement. She’s getting stronger too. Had 5 rebounds and goes after the ball like Jude used to. I get frustrated with her because her game is too basic but you can see she is emerging out of that average player category. Much more growth is needed but it’s nice to see her game improving in a lot of areas

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous2/04/2018 9:22 PM

    Yes AC AC LTLAG she's getting it done.
    MLW

    ReplyDelete

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