Louisville WBB -- Know the Foe: Boise St...Softball crushes NIU, Lacrosse wins -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

BRONCOS FIRST FOR WBB IN NCAA

Another Thursday, another jam-packed results day and future events preview to get to. I do believe this is one of the busiest times of the year (March) for us at CARDINAL COUPLE, but we're ready for the challenge. Let's hit the gym, diamond, turf, brackets, etc. and do this! 

Will Coach bring out the yellow
gear to upstage what will surely
be another Sam Purcell clothing
statement? 

The WBB Cards got what they wanted in NCAA bracketing. Two in Louisville, which we all knew was guaranteed, two in Lexington...a little more speculation on whether that would happen or not, and Louisville MUST win the KFC YUM! Center games to travel to Lexington. Then...if all goes according to plan, the NCAA Final Four in Columbus. The Lexington region looks tough, thanks to Jared for dissecting that and more yesterday, today let us look at "first up" for Walz and crew.

Sam Purcell calls it three two-game tournaments. That's a very interesting way of viewing it.  

The Boise State Broncos gallop in from Potato-land to run by the river on Friday at noon. It's one of four NCAA opening day games at noon for the WBB side and certainly the one we'll be focusing on. Friday is a busy day at the YUM! with two games and the men continue their NIT pursuits on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. against MTSU. No game time has been announced yet for round two of the NCAA WBB Tournament on Sunday. My guess is around 1 p.m.? We'll see what happens and let you know. Maybe the women will play the first half against MTSU and let the guys finish the game. They could probably do better in the first half then the men did against NKU...

This "fake state" school (last time I checked...Boise hadn't seceded from Idaho and formed their own state) comes to the YUM! with a 23-9 record. They were 14-4 in the Mountain West Conference and won the regular season, plus conference titles...like Louisville. They took the  MWC Tourney with wins over Air Force (60-46), Colorado St. (76-51) and a thriller in the finals...62-60 over Nevada. It took a buzzer-beating shot from A'Shanti Coleman to get the Broncos their second consecutive MVC Tourney title. 

BSU is no stranger to the "dance"...having been four previous times and 2018 marks their third visit in the last four years. 

BSU is on a roll, winning their last 10 games and 15 out of their last 17. Their last loss was delivered to them by UNLV on Feb. 3rd in Las Vegas. They had a bit of trouble getting the horses out of the gate in the non-conference slate...with losses to CSU-Bakersfield, St. Mary's, Northern Arizona and San Diego....all non-NCAA Tournament bound schools. 

Similar opponents? We've seen they have faced the Air Force Academy, like the Cards. Three times, as a matter of fact, and won all three. 

They also played both San Diego and San Diego State this year. That's got to be confusing:

"Who ya got tonight?"

"San Diego."

"San Diego State?"

"San Diego isn't a state, they're a part of California." 

"No, the school. San Diego State."

"The school left the state and formed their own state?" 

Riley Lupfer leads the Broncos in scoring with 16.4 ppg and shoots 47.1% from the court. 

She's also the one who questioned whether the Cardinal players knew where Boise State was. 

Wouldn't it be great to see Asia or someone stop her in the post-game handshake line and say. "Idaho. Your school is in Idaho. Go back there, now. Your season is over." 

Martin Hermida, a Spanish import, is good for 10.8 points a night and leads the Broncs with 4.8 assists. Shalen Shaw, kinda of a neat name...I think, is the top board-grabber with seven a contest. 

We'll find out how Coach Walz plans to corral these Broncos later this morning...they have a 10:50 a.m. press conference scheduled at the Media Room in the KFC YUM! Center. Maybe we'll learn more. Pressers like this are sometimes are unfortunately plagued by some media moron who knows nothing about UofL WBB and uses it as a briefing. Read your facts sheet before you sit down in the room, first timers! 

These two have never met. The game will be shown on the "deuce"...ESPN 2. We got Beth Mowins and Nell Fortner on the call. That sounds like turn down the TV volume and listen to Nick and A.J. call it on 790 WKRD to me. Opinions may vary.

Interesting Sidebar:  The Broncos play their home games in Taco Bell Arena. From nacho fries to original recipe chicken for them, it looks like. I wonder what BSU gives away if the team scores 80+ points a night. Free tacos? A chalupa?  Can a guy get a couple of burritos and a beverage here? 

I see Louisville by 27. Whatcha think? 



Tournament time. It's the most wonderful time of the year. 



SOFTBALL SLUGS BY NIU 9-4

Hello, Megan Hensley! The junior slugged a grand slam homer in the bottom of the sixth inning and came to the circle in relief to pick up a win in Louisville Softball's five-run win yesterday at chilly Ulmer Stadium. 

Her blast broke a 4-4 tie game wide open as the Cards get their 20th win of the season against just five losses. She also pitched 4.2 innings of shutout softball against the Huskies after relieving Darrianne Hale, who relieved Kyra Snyder. (What a relief...) 

Funky Funke, Mike and Maddy Newman all had two hits in the win for the Cards. Hensley goes to 7-2 on the season. 

Louisville opens ACC play on Friday with a 4 p.m. game at Ulmer Stadium against Notre Dame. 


LACROSSE DOWNS MERCER 21-14

It was a slow start yesterday for Louisville Lacrosse at Mercer yesterday, trailing 7-1 after the first ten minutes.  It was time for a Teeter time-out and whatever the Louisville head coach said to the squad should be framed and kept for future reference. The Cards proceeded to score the final 11 goals of the half, two by Tessa Chad in less than a minute and go into the break up 12-7. 

"We didn't come out of the gate like we need to." Scott Teeter commented after the contest. "But they responded after we challenged them in the timeout. We went on a pretty good run there after that and scored some goals, but it shouldn't take that."

The LAX Cards also had the first three goals of the second half, blowing out to a 15-7 advantage and went on to take their sixth win of the season. Louisville is 4-1 on the road this year. 

Chad scored her team-high six goals all in the first half.  

"That was just Tessa leading by example, just taking the game over by herself," added Teeter. "I thought there were quite a few of the seniors that stepped up, as well. Their play, their ability to demand the ball really elevated our team during that stretch, which was great." 

"Sweet" Caroline Blalock and Ally Hall added four scores each for Louisville and Madison "Upright" Hoover got a hat-trick with three goals in the win. 

Louisville comes home to face Boston College, in a return to ACC action, with a Saturday noon start. 


GET YOUR PICKS IN

Do you have your NCAA WBB Tournament picks lined up? What double-digit seeded teams will make the Sweet Sixteen? Can anyone keep UConn out of Columbus? 

You are cordially invited to provide an entry to The Cardinal Couple "Pick 'Em" Challenge for the Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament. It doesn't cost a penny and you could win a $25 Panera Card if you are the best. We've also got a $15 Cracker Barrel card for second place. 

Check the comments section on Tuesday and Wednesday for examples and leave your selections in today's comments section. One point for a win, most points wins. Earliest entry breaks any ties. 

Our bracket czar Jared Anderson has his war-room set up with all entries laminated, posted in strategic locations and he has a variety of colored markers and trend analysis scenarios lined up for the judging and scoring. A report from the mothership indicates he has 15 entries as of midnight last night and will be prepared for the last second rush of contestants. Remember, Jared...USF and FSU are two different schools...I hope he isn't dyslexic.

You need to have your picks in by Friday noon. A highly trained chimp-infused bracket staff is in Bracket Central closely monitoring the comments section, mixing up blenders of Banana Smoothies and Daiquiris and hotly debating scenarios, strengths and which pizza place to call for delivery. Pineapple and ham seems to be the favorite of the crew and Bill the Goat has been banished to the "Back 40" to consume empty pizza boxes and brackets that the chimps feel have no chance whatsoever. 

Play ball! Men's Tournament starts today. Get ready with the Visine and remote control. Gonna be a crazy week. 

Paulie
xxxxx