CARDS RANKED #2 IN AP POLL
The University of Louisville women's basketball team, fresh off a 73-51 win at Duke, has been voted #2 in the nation in the latest AP WBB poll, released Monday, Jan. 7th.
Here we go again.
The Cards and Irish will face Thursday, Jan 10th. in South Bend, IN on the Notre Dame campus in Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center at 7 p.m. A nationally televised game on ESPN. Last year, the Irish came into the KFC YUM! Center as the #2 team in the nation but left in shambles after the 33-point Louisville beat-down.
#1 vs #2.
The Cards (14-0) are one of three still undefeated teams left in DI WBB hoops, joining Ohio and NC State in that classification. That's Ohio (not Ohio State). the Bobcats are un-ranked (seriously?) and are 12-0 after a win Saturday at Buffalo, in overtime 74-71. The Athens, OH squad brings in the dangerous (ask Louisville) Central Michigan Chippewa squad on Wednesday night. Ohio has no "top 25" wins but did defeat Purdue earlier in their schedule and has knocked off Eastern Kentucky also. The Bobcats play in the MAC.
The Wolfpack, who checks in at #8 in the AP poll, comes to the KFC YUM! Center on Sunday, Feb. 24th for their only regular season meeting against the Cards. All told, the top 10 of the most recent top 25 has UConn at #3, Baylor #4, and Oregon at #5. They're followed by #6 Stanford, #7 Mississippi State and #8 NC State...with Maryland and Oregon State rounding out the top 10.
By conference, the top 25 has five teams from the ACC (Notre Dame, Louisville, NC State, #12 Syracuse and #22 Florida State). The Big 10 has five teams also in the top 25 with Maryland, #17 Iowa, #18 Minnesota, #23 Michigan State and #25 Indiana. Also with five schools representing is the PAC 12 who has Oregon, Stanford, Oregon State, #19 Arizona State and #24 California.
Four SEC schools are in the top 25. Mississippi State, #13 Tennessee, #16 Kentucky and #21 South Carolina. The Big 12 has three schools included in the top 25 with Baylor, #11 Texas and #20 Iowa State. (I can never remember which Iowa school -- Iowa or Iowa State -- is in which conference...Big 10 or Big 12.)
We'll have plenty of coverage of the #1 vs #2 showdown here at CARDINAL COUPLE. Be sure to check back for Jared's "first look" at the game tomorrow. Paulie will take the Thursday day-of-game look at Irish vs. Cards and Jared brings the recap Friday.
#2. With a bullet. A chance at #1 Thursday. The voters believe in the Cards, even if national moron Andy Katz doesn't. He doesn't see the Cards as a Final Four squad. We wonder if he can see clearly enough to read a top 25 ranking. We should expect this, I suppose. an ESPN analyst, he also does work for the NCAA, and we all know how they feel about Louisville.
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| This is a picture of a moron |
Louisville women's basketball can see the pinnacle. Thursday night they get the chance to reach it.
In closing...HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELVIS!
paulie
xxxxx
Missed this yesterday, but here's a CASE Report from the Duke game.
ReplyDeleteC - The Cards had 14 turnovers, which isn't great, but is way better than Duke's 24. Unfortunately, Duke is not great at forcing turnovers, doing so at only a 17.7 per game clip. I believe I relaxed my requirement for the comparison to season averages. Let's say I did. The Cards had 79% of the average, which is less than 80. Capital C.
A - The Cards had only 12 assists on 25 made baskets. That's fewer than 50%. It is also an ATO of less than 1. No letter.
S - Louisville managed 15 steals, which is double the benchmark. It's also more than Duke's 10, though I'd like to see the opponent number stay lower than that. Capital S.
E - Louisville was very good from 3 (12-24) but struggled from 2, shooting only 36%. They finished under 45% overall, and they shot 73.3% from the stripe. Lowercase e.
Overall a scoring of C-_-S-e, which is oddly low for the dominating final score. Increasing their two point efficiency would have likely made the turnovers go down, the assists go up, and the final tally may have been all caps. The Cards will need to be at the top of their game Thursday against the Irish.
"Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world..."
ReplyDeleteAn old Grateful Dead lyric and an appropriate moniker for the Cards and today's article plus Paulie's tweet from this morning.
I want me some Irish Coffee, Irish stew and a Louisville win.
Blue Lou
Louisville will go to South Bend and win. Walz has the formula to beat little Miss Muffett. Here, there, anywhere.
ReplyDeleteYay! Clemson! THey shut up Nick Saban and got one for the ACC. Did anyone else play both Clemson and Alabama this year beside Louisville?
Curtis "We WILL beat Notre Dame" Franklin
Texas A&M played both Clemson and Alabama. The Aggies lost 26-28 to Clemson and 23-45 to Bama. The Citadel played both, losing 61-3 to Clemson and 50-17 to Alabama.
DeletePaulie
Paulie
It is a difficult place to play. The crowd is large and close, they are loud and the cheerleaders/band/mascot go non-stop. Worldwide and I were there a couple of years ago on a cold, snowy January and I was impressed with the fan base. But, Go Cards, show them that you are the best one basket at a time.
DeleteMy last time in Purcell was the 2010-11 season. The Irish were, I think, 10th in the nation. The Cards were around 12-5 and got thumped by about 20. The next game was at UConn for Louisville. That was a loss also by about 20-25. We were at that one also.
DeleteThat was the year UofL went to Xavier in the NCAA Tournament and beat Vandy first and them the Muskies, before losing to Gonzaga in the regional at Spokane. Shoni, Mo, Becky, Nita, Keisha, A-Tayy, Sherrone and Tia were on that team.
I still remember the excitement in that Xavier arena when the Cards blew by the higher ranked, much taller #5 Xavier by ten or so and it seemed like Shoni was hitting threes from near half-court.
One of my favorite Louisville WBB squads of all-time, they were.
Paulie
That team also had Shelby Harper and Rachel Story. I loved that team also.
DeleteNick O.
Happy Birthday Elvis.
ReplyDelete