Scott Teeter Interview -- Holly Aprile Interview -- WBB v VA tonight -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LOUISVILLE WBB PLAYS VIRGINIA, INTERVIEWS WITH SCOTT TEETER AND HOLLY APRILE

A busy Wednesday for Paulie, with interviews on the Belknap campus with Lacrosse head coach Scott Teeter and softball coach Holly Aprile. The home opener for LouLax is Saturday, a noon start against Mercer and softball travels to Knoxville for five games over three days in the Tennessee Classic. 


SCOTT TEETER

I began my day on campus in the Lacrosse offices talking with Scott Teeter. 

His office, on the second floor in the southwest corner of the Planet Fitness Kueber Center affords a beautiful view of the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. After meeting with Lacrosse S.I.D. Nick Evans on the first floor, we proceeded to the office on the second floor. We "cut through" the women's basketball lobby/greeting area en route to Lacrosse and after greeting Kate Tucker, the WBB Director of Operations, we entered the offices to talk with Scott. 

Teeter was just ending a meeting with assistant Lacrosse Coach Kay Morissette and welcomed us into the office. Scott conducts his interviews at a table next to the south-view window and we chatted about the Denver game and the wild, snowy conditions during the first half of that contest. Scott showed me and Nick parts of the video feed from it before we sat down to talk Lacrosse and it was truly amazing to watch how the conditions rapidly deteriorated during the first half and just as quickly disappeared by the end of the match.

It's always fun to talk with Teeter about Lacrosse and a few other things we have in common and we present you the interview in it's entirety below: 

LINK: SCOTT TEETER INTERVIEW 2-20-19

After our chat, I headed back to my car to head northbound and meet with Holly Aprile in her office at the SAC Building across from Ulmer Stadium. I could hear Sam Purcell in the offices somewhere as I left and as I looked out the windows to my left, I could see several UofL WBB players warming up for their Wednesday practice. I stopped by for a quick chat with Nick on the first floor S.I.D. room to assure him all went well, tell few "war stories" and wish him and the team luck on Thursday against Virginia. 

Nick is a busy guy these days with his dual responsibility of being the S.I.D. for lacrosse and women's hoops. During our interview, he opted to go check out the Louisville Lacrosse press box to make sure all was well for the opener. We appreciate him arranging the "meet" and thanks to Coach T for taking time out of his busy day to talk a little Lacrosse with us! 

HOLLY APRILE 

It's a short drive northward on Floyd Street from the Lacrosse office to the SAC building where Softball and several other sports have their coaches' offices. Normally, I'd use the parking garage that is just south of the SAC, but I opted for the "pay/meter" parking spots located where you drive into the SAC/Starbucks area. A few quarters later, I was in the SAC, up the escalator and headed to the second floor offices. 

As I got off the escalator, I saw Softball SID Lori Korte emerge from the small room where students and staffers can hang out adjacent to the offices. We walked into the offices together, said "Hi" to program assistant Elaine Jones at the front desk and walked down the hall to Softball. 

Coach Aprile was there, prepared and ready to talk some softball. Like Teeter, she usually doesn't have a set of notes in front of her, we just "free form" the interviews in a question and answer format. I try not to make the questions too difficult nor controversial, after all, we are discussing the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. Lori likes to "sit in" on the interviews, which is always welcome, so I playfully admonished her to "be a good little girl and sit quietly at the table". I've known Lori a long time, since the start of Cardinal Couple, and she's always been quite accommodating and friendly when I request interviews with her sports Field Hockey and Softball. 

Holly and I do our interviews at the oblong table near the door. Her window isn't as scenic type of view as Scott's...it offers a eastern view of a roof of the first floor of the SAC but you can see the top of Ulmer Stadium in the distance.

Coach and I discussed the road trips to California, Chapel Hill and the team. We had just learned that, due to expected wet weather, the Tennessee Classic would  be postponed to start on Saturday instead of Friday. Here's our interview link: 

LINK: HOLLY APRILE INTERVIEW 2-20-19

In my interviews with Coach Holly since she arrived on campus, I've found her comments are a bit of personal philosophy and a bit of strategy, which is refreshing and truly embodies our quest to bring you something else beside the stats, numbers and records. We try to go "beyond the numbers" and Holly is quite good at it. 

With my "chats" finished, I said my "goodbyes" to coach, Lori and Elaine and hustled back to the car, wondering if the meter had run out. I was good, and, as I prepared to leave...I saw Athletic Director Vince Tyra leaving the SAC and headed to the Floyd Street sidewalk. He was on his cell phone, so I didn't shout out a greeting. After making a quick call to Sonya to discuss lunch plans and I was back out on the streets and headed home. 


WBB GOES TO CHARLOTTESVILLE

Tonight the Cards WBB squad attempts to start a new win streak. The quest starts on the UVA campus against a Virginia team that Louisville demolished five weeks ago 91-43 in the YUM! Center. The Cavs have gone 3-4 since the drowning "by the river" and now basically is in a battle to avoid playing on the first day of the ACC Tournament (Wednesday) as a #10 seed or worse. They are currently alone in tenth place. 

The Cards go into the 7 p.m. start with a 8-2 lifetime record against the Cavs and last loss to them in the 2014-14 season, the Cards' first year in the ACC.

The "Hoos" have switched to more of a four guard format since the Louisville loss and 6'9" center Felicia Ayeotan hasn't stepped on the court (injury) since that 48-point defeat. First year coach Tina Thompson relies on Jocelyn Willoughby, Mone Jones and Dominique Toussaint for the majority of the offense and Willoughby had a double-double in the Cavs last outing, a 70-53 loss at UNC.

"It's a new day, find a new way" is the word around the Cardinal WBB program these days and reports are that practices on Tuesday and Wednesday were spirited and went well as the Cards prepared for the UVA squad. 

Following the game plan, execution and limiting the mistakes would be the things I'd put on the whiteboard in the Cards facility and bouncing back from the loss to Miami the prime objective.  

It's the ACC, and nothing is guaranteed, but it's hard to see any other type of outcome than a Cardinal crunching over the Cavaliers. The ACCNE has the internet feed, Nick and A.J. provide the 790 Cards Radio WKRD call and a "better than average" crew of Joe Vaszily, Maj Forsberg and Marc Merritt will carry the whistles up and down John Paul Jones Arena's floor. 

Have a terrific Thursday and GO CARDS! 


paulie
xxxxx