Louisville women's basketball -- Knocking Off Noles next mission -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NEW STARTERS BUT SAME RESULTS FOR FSU


The University of Louisville women's basketball squad is in Florida this morning. Tallahassee, to be more specific, to play their seventh game of their ACC slate and 19th game of the season. A top 25 matchup on tap, FSU at 16-2 and 4-1 in the ACC The Cards are #4 in the nation, the Seminoles #22. 

Why, the Noles are even handing out free hot dogs to entice fans to attend the contest! (If Joey Chestnut shows up, they could be in serious trouble). The "Tuck" holds 11,500 people. That's a lot of buns and wieners...but in reality, anything over 5,000 in house tonight would be a surprise, in my humble opinion.  

When one thinks of nemesis schools...those schools that seem to have the Cards WBB squads "number"...obviously Connecticut come to mind, with the 1-17 mark against the Huskies. Maybe you think of Notre Dame, they're 14-6 all time against Louisville. 

Add Florida State to that list. 

In series history, FSU is 16-13 against the Cards. In the Jeff Walz era, they hold a 4-3 edge over Red and Black. They have won three of the last four contest against Louisville...including the 50-49 win at the YUM! that broke up the Cards "perfect" season last year. Prior to the Walz era, the Noles had a 10-game win steak over Louisville, going back to 1988.  

When FSU lost Chatrice White, Shakayla Thomas, Ama Degebon, Imani Wright and A.J Alix to graduation at the end of last year...a season that ended ingloriously and surprisingly for Chief Osceola's bunch with a loss to #13 seed Buffalo in the second round in Tallahassee...the departure of these stalwarts seemed to bode well for the Cards in the 2018-19 season. Sure, the Noles had a few talented reserves coming back, but how seriously can you take a team that has lost all their starters? 

Sue placing an order for a dog or two?

Guess what? Sue "Sem-a-nole" Semrau is back with five new starters and FSU is wreaking havoc on the ACC and other foes again without missing a beat. "Say hello to our little friends" Kiah Gillespie, Nicki Ekhomu, Nausia Wollfolk, Valencia Myers and Kourtney Weber. They are a combination of freshmen, reserves from 2017-18 and transfers. 

Gillespie, the transfer from Maryland and now a red-shirt junior, is the apparent ring leader of this northern Florida mob.  18 points per game and the leading three-point shooter of the tribe.  Ekhomu (14.3 ppg) and Wollfork (11.8 ppg) are juniors who saw plenty of action last year...bookend 5'9" guards who are an integral part of a defense that allows just 57.2 points a night. Myers, a freshman is almost a double digit performer at 9.4 points a contest. Weber is the third guard on the roster and this freshman splits time with Savannah Wilkinson, a sophomore from London England that shot 43.3% from three-point range last year off the bench but hasn't zeroed from the deep yet in 2018-19 with just a 4-29 (14%) accuracy.

It is "homecoming" night for Cardinal junior Jazmine Jones, who played her high school ball in the shadow of the campus at FAMU DRS. Jones will have a contingent in the stands, with up to 60 friends and family, providing she can get tickets for them all. 

Jones chose the Cards over the Noles, Ohio State, Baylor and others and is excited to be playing, most likely for the final time, in front of her homemade cheering section. Let's hope "J.J. Airlines" is in full flight tonight. You would expect Asia Durr will have a contingent in the Donald F. Tucker Center tonight as well...with the drive from the Atlanta area to FSU around just four hours. 

I put up a nice read about the return of Jaz at the link below.

LINK: The Return of J.J.

Rebounding has been kind to FSU in 2018-19. They average 39.8 a night and have a + 7.4 edge in the stat over opponents. The Cards average 36.1 a game and actually hold a +0.8 edge over foes this year. In the ACC, Louisville is last in rebounding offense and ranked eighth in rebounding defense. Florida State checks in at second in rebounding defense and 10th in rebounding offense. 

what's the chances of sneaking
this onto court tonight? 

Maybe too much focus is being placed on rebounding. After all, at 17-1, rebounding hasn't plunged the Cards into the depths of the icy Ohio River yet. Coach Walz will tell you that he and the coaches have been working with the squad in terms of "going to get the basketball". Some of the things that the team will want to work on tonight is slowing down the defensive transition of the Noles, an area where they are very effective. Keeping FSU off the free throw line will be an objective -- they shoot 73% from the charity stripe.

The Cards need a better start for Asia and Sam than we saw against Wake Forest and if the "Ville" can keep the turnovers low and win the "second chance" stat, it'll increase UofL's chance of winning dramatically. These two school are very similar in players, FSU seems to be more comfortable with a lower scoring game but maybe not the kind the Cards are capable of producing, Louisville's last three opponents have failed to reach 50 points. Louisville held FSU to 50 last year but that was two points short of gaining the win. 

The contest is on the Raycom Sports Network, which means in our area Fox Sports South will most likely be showing the event. Cards Radio 790 WKRD is always a good choice for the game, with Nick and AJ, and you can avoid the probable home-team bias of the screen talking heads.

Will Coach Sam P. get a chance to practice his new
"get back" role tonight? 

It's rare that the Louisville men's team plays on the same night as WBB, but Chris Mack's guys are hosting the N.C. State Wolf Pack tonight down at the YUM! At least the start times are different (the men tipping off at 8 p.m.). For those attending, I hope the KFC YUM! Center provides some screens showing the contest between Noles and Cards. 

So, it's payback time for Walz and company tonight. FSU's two losses have come at home (Clemson and LSU) The 'Noles have played one top 25 team this season prior to tonight, defeating then #12 Iowa 71-67 about two months ago. 

Normally, this would be a chance for Louisville WBB to shine in the Sunshine State tonight. The weather refuses to cooperate, though, with a high of 55 expected today in Tallahassee and temps hovering around the mid-40's at game time. We're hoping the chilling climate extends to FSU shooting tonight and the Cards can thaw out to put the Seminoles in the deep freezer. Hey, the temps in Tallahassee are a heat wave for Cardinal players, compared to what they've been experiencing in the Derby City. 

We'll have the full recap here tomorrow. Jared Anderson will bring the goods. His g/f Katy is a student at FSU. Purported attempts to dress her in Red and Black for tonight contest have been a fail.

He can't even get her in Red and Black when she visits the 'Ville. 

I wish we had the budget to send our intrepid photographer down for the game, but, knowing Katie...she'd find a way to get him in Garnet and Gold for the ensuing battle. As Huey Lewis and the News sang..."The Power of Love is a curious thing. Make one man weep and another man sing." Remember that epic song? It's linked up below: 


LINK: HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS -- THE POWER OF LOVE

Have a terrific Thursday and let's hope the Cards get some "love" down at FSU tonight...

paulie
xxxxx