Wake Forest in Basketball
We frequently say you can't take a day off in the ACC in many sports, including WBB. If you were going to take a day off, today might be the one you would pick. The Demon Deacons are sitting at 0-4 in conference along with Pitt, VA Tech, and Duke. (I'm still reveling that Clemson is tied for 3rd with us, and Boston College is mid-pack. Definitely not the norm in ACC, but I'm here for it.) Overall they're at 9-8.
This isn't a great team, but it is the ACC, so let's hope the team doesn't take my suggestion above to take the day off.
Wake does have a few mediocre wins under their belt, against the likes of Towson, Mercer, Richmond, St. Johns, and Charlotte. None are a earth shattering wins, but there are some decent mid-majors in that list. Several of their losses also are reasonable, with out of conference drops against VCU, Xavier, East Carolina, and Indiana. Again, we're not talking world beater teams, here, but they're not totally embarrassing losses.
The 4 losses in conference so far are against Miami, the aforementioned Boston College, Notre Dame, and UNC. None of those losses are particularly embarrassing, but add all of this up, and you have to come to the conclusion that this is mostly an also-ran team.
Look for the offense to mostly come from Elisa Penna, Ivana Raca, and Ona Udoh. Watch out for Udoh in shot blocking, as well, with 30 blocks on the year, which is good enough to get her on the overall NCAA blocked shots stats leaderboard. (For comparison, Kylee Shook has the highest blocked shots tally for UofL, at 20).
Penna, Raca, and Gina Conti will also look to be jumping passing lanes with 22, 19, and 26 steals respectively. (Asia Durr has 27, Dana Evans has 30, and Jaz Jones has 24).
The takeaway is that UofL should be able to walk away from this one with a win without too much trouble. Stay in the game, remember to block out on rebounding (a recent emphasis given rebounding woes of past games), and play the game plan that you've been given.
As a side note, head WBB Demon Deacon coach Jen Hoover played at Wake and was a roommate and on the same squad as Cardinal ACCNE color analyst Sara White. Jen is still the school's leading scorer and rebounder.
This is a 1 p.m. start, and is available on the ACC Network Extra.
Track and Field
The Cards got a number of top finishes, including, and stop me if you've heard this name before, Dorcas Wasike setting a personal best in the mile run. Gabriela Leon won the pole vault event, setting a school record in the process at 4.31m
Also in Action Today
Women's Tennis has a double-header at the Bass-Rudd today, playing against Bowling Green at 11 a.m., and Miami at 5 p.m.. Their counterparts on the men's team are in Charlottesville playing against Virginia, also with an 11 a.m. start.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour
Daryl Foust now has official walk-up music for the CCRH, which was debuted on yesterday's show.
She selected Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet", a jam that always gets the "This one goes to 11." treatment in my car.
She selected Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet", a jam that always gets the "This one goes to 11." treatment in my car.
She was also gifted with a bottle of Black Velvet Whiskey (yes, the caramel flavored variety), which makes me think I should maybe change my walk-up music to George Thorogood's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer".
A good time was had, and we did get a chance to talk about some UofL women's sports, mostly basketball.
You can check out the replay, at:
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JMcA
As a occasional imbiber of "the spirits" I need to put Black Velvet on my to-do list, I guess. I never would have figured her for the Black Velvet walk up music, though.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, the Cards shake the early game blues and start strong and finish that way. Maybe a good chance for the Fantastic Four -- Lindsey, Seygan, Jess and Kasa to gain some valuable on the road playing experience.
Curtis "Not going outside today" Franklin