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| UofL vs FSU. Jan. 21, 2018. |
Last season, the Seminoles came into the KFC Yum! Center to take on an undefeated and second-ranked Louisville squad. The Noles walked away with a 50-49 victory. It was the only time all season the Cards scored under 50 points and it was the sole loss at home.
This season Louisville looks to return the favor... sort of. Florida State is ranked 22nd in the AP Poll and boasts a 16-2 record. The Cards can't ruin a non-existent undefeated season and FSU isn't hovering in the shadow of the number one team in the country.
However, the Seminoles are a formidable opponent. Their two losses have come at home to LSU and Clemson. Something about tigers seems to have an effect on Florida State. They're half a game back in the ACC behind the Cards with a 4-1 conference mark.
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| UofL vs FSU. Jan. 21, 2018. |
Like Louisville, the Seminoles have a small bench. Nine players have recorded minutes and only six of those nine see more than 15 minutes per game. They shoot well from the floor with a .419 mark but struggle on the perimeter, shooting .280. They can hurt you from the free throw line with a strong .725 percentage.
Keep in mind that head FSU WBB coach Sue Semaru is doing this with five new starters.
Kiah Gillespie has been the go-to player this year. The junior forward has been averaging nearly a double-double this season with 18 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game. Gillespie is also a threat on the perimeter and leads the Noles by shooting .330 from deep. Valencia Myers has been productive this season, averaging 9.4 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. The freshman forward also leads the team in blocks with 28, but often finds herself in foul trouble. Nicki Ekhomu is another deep range threat, shooting .324. She is almost unstoppable at the free throw line, shooting 804. The junior guard's 14.3 points per game is second on the team.
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| Walz's Serena Williams impression |
Louisville's biggest issue will be in the post position. Can the likes of Sam Fuehring, Bionca Dunham, and Kylee Shook hold their ground? Florida State averages 3.5 more rebounds per game than the Cards and have crushed some opponents on the glass this season, a spot of weakness for Louisville this year.
You can catch this game on TV tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. It is listed as a regional sports network, meaning it'll probably make it's way to Fox Sports South or one of the news channels.
No truth to the alleged rumor that Coach Walz and Sue Semerau will have an exhibition tennis match or three-point shooting contest at halftime.
Maddy Newman and UofL Softball Take Over IG
In preparation for the new season NCAA Softball has been handing over their Instagram social media account to a different school each day the past few weeks. Louisville made their way onto the list and took over yesterday with Maddy Newman taking the lead on it.Newman, along with some assistance from Celene Funke, gave the 115K+ followers a tour of the facilities and a chance to meet the team and staff. As always, UofL has some of the nicest Olympic sports (non-football and basketball) facilities in the country. Some soccer friends (Emina Ekic and Gabby Kouzelos) made special appearances and the Louisville Athletics Talent Show was featured.
The season opener is just 16 days away!Note: Softball photos are all screenshots from the NCAA Softball (@ncaasoftball) Instagram account.
SPRING SPORTS MEDIA DAY
Track and Field, Swimming and Diving and Tennis were featured in the first of two UofL Spring Sports Media Days yesterday over at the "Korber" on Floyd Street. Each head coach was represented with several of their student-athletes in the hour plus presser.
Headlining the appearances was free-style swimmer and World Champion Mallory Comerford.
Paulie was there to capture the sound. Click on the links below to hear these Cardinals and coaches talk about their sports.
LINK: MEN'S TENNIS
LINK: WOMEN'S TENNIS
LINK: LOUISVILLE SWIMMING DIVERS
LINK: TRACK AND FIELD
LINK: MOLLY COMERFORD, ARTHUR ALBIERO, "BATMAN"
Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!
- Jared -
Nice to know that Spring Sports are approaching and it looks like Softball is having a bit of fun, too.
ReplyDeleteFSU does worry me. They are young but getting great play from two freshmen and a redshirt freshman, plus Gillespie. Sue "Semi-nole" is one of the best coaches around and she's earning that title this year.
Imagine the Cards this season without Durr, Carter, Fuehring, Jones and last year's other starters -- like Myisha. That's what Sue is dealing with down there. Much respect.
Curtis "Wears a Starter hoodie" Franklin
Expecting big things out of the ones we talked to yesterday. Especially swimming.
ReplyDeletePaulie
Hello Cardinal Couple!
ReplyDeleteArthur here!
It looks like both of my favorite WBB squads, Louisville and Clemson, continue their winning ways.
From what I saw of the Louisville game, it seemed to be a matter of jumping out early against Wake Forest, maintaining for a couple of quarters and then pulling away late. I didn't get to see all of it, my Clemson WBB squad was at Pitt and had some problems in the first half before putting together a big third quarter to go from trailing to the lead for good.
We got another big game from Collier off the bench and our starters Westbrook and Edwards had pretty decent second halves. Pitt has three very dangerous three-point shooters in Bradley, Walsh and Whitney who gave us fits. Five wins in a row now for the Tigers. If you had told me last year that we'd be doing this in 2018-19, I would have written you off as a crazy person or fool.
So you have FSU tomorrow night? We held them to less than 20% three-point shooting and took over the lead in the second quarter in a really competitive and low scoring game down there a couple of weeks ago. FSU is one of the teams we play twice, so I expect they'll come into Littlejohn in February looking for revenge.
I don't follow many of the spring sports -- an occasional softball game maybe, but, from the recordings I heard here at your site, it sounds like you have a great swimming squad and that tennis and track aren't too bad either.
My wife still plays a bit of tennis. She was pretty good at one time, played singles and doubles in high school years ago and got a few college inquiries. I couldn't get the ball over the net with a cannon. HA. HA.
As for our women's basketball, we go to take on the undefeated NC State Wolfpack up in Raleigh. Four hours is a bit more than I care to drive for the contest, so we'll watch it at home.
Good luck to both of us!
Your friend
#1 Clemson Fan
Arthur
Greer, SC
Impressed with your Tigers Arthur. They are hustlers and hungry with just enough talent to pull some upsets as they have proven. Pretty amazing year so far.
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