Cardinal Couple Sunday - Championship Day for WBB

Basketball

The ACC Women's Basketball comes down to today.  The competitors are not a significant surprise, just as most of the tournament did not have much in the way of surprising results, with just a couple of games resulting in upsets.

UofL and Notre Dame will face off at noon for the ACC Tournament Championship.  The only other meeting for the two teams this year was January 10th, and Notre Dame won that one 82-68 in South Bend.  I probably don't need to remind regular readers of the site about that one.

Needless to say, the Cards will be looking for some revenge in this one.

The Cards will need to be on top of their game to handle the Irish, who are the top seed in the tournament.  They earned the top seed on the strength of the previous matchup.  With the teams ending the regular season with a tied conference schedule, the head-to-head result between the two was the tie-breaking factor for the seeding.  Nationally, the Cards rank just slightly ahead of Notre Dame, except in the RPI, where the Irish hold the top spot and Louisville is in third.

What's at stake in this one?  Well, other than the previously discussed ACC Tournament Championship, many analysts think this game will determine which team gets the 1 seed in the Chicago Regional of the NCAA tournament.  Both teams would prefer Chicago, given the geographical proximity of The Windy City, Louisville, and South Bend.  Beyond that, this has become a WBB rivalry of top caliber, with just enough tension between the schools and fanbases (and even maybe just a bit between the head coaches) to make it particularly compelling.

What will the Cards need to do to prevail?  The AAD trio, Asia, Arica, and Dana, will need to be on shooting and passing form.  All 3 are very capable of draining shots from long rang, and that will be needed to extend the defense to give themselves, and the post players extra room to move.  Jess Shepard is a force to be reckoned with in the paint, meaning Sam Fuerhing, Bionca Dunham, and Kylee Shook will all need to use their strength and physical play to contain her.  Bionca and Sam are both very emotional players, though, and they must stay in control of their emotions and not play out of control, to avoid getting in quick foul trouble.

There are some pretty solid reports that Sam Fuerhing got her nose broken when she took the elbow to the face in yesterday's game.  You know that elbow that was totally a basketball move and not worthy of anything more than a common foul, even on review.  It's expected that she will be playing with a facemask.  Let's hope it doesn't interfere with her vision and comfort too much.

Overall, I would be shocked if this one turned into anything other than a figurative knock down, drag out battle, and let's hope that stays figurative.

Start time is noon, but figure on it being a few minutes after to get all the TV festivities in at before the start, as it's available on ESPN2.  Paulie is in Greensboro, as he has been most of the week, so look for an update from him later in the day.

On-Campus Events

There were two on-campus sporting events scheduled for yesterday, Lacrosse at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium, and Baseball hosting Boston College in the 2nd game of their weekend series.

Both games started around midday, Baseball a bit before, and both were suspended due to lighting and heavy rains in the area.  Both games will be resumed today.  Baseball will get back underway in the bottom of the 6th at 10:30am with the Cards leading 10-0.  The third and final game of the series will follow.  Lacrosse will restart with the score tied 1-1 with 26:42 on the clock in the first half as they had barely gotten started when the monsoons opened up.

Softball

Softball played two yesterday, starting with a 6-0 win over Radford, and then losing, 2-6, to hosting Auburn in the War Eagle Challenge.  (Side note: Women's Basketball Assistant Coach Samantha Williams is an Auburn alumna, matriculating to Toomer's Corner after finishing her high school career at Manual High School, here in Louisville)

Sidney Melton lead the Cards in the victory over Radford, going 2-4 at the plate, with a triple and a double, with 3 RBIs.  Taylor Roby and Kyra Snyder teamed up in the circle, with Roby getting the win stat.  The Cards continue to show speed and smarts on the basepaths, scoring several on small ball play and taking advantage of errors.

The second game of the day saw sophomore Danielle Watson take the loss pitching the full 6 innings.  Caitlin Ferguson lead UofL offensively with 2-3 hitting and 2 RBIs.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Thanks to station manager Kathy for showing me the ropes so we could get Paulie on air with us from Greensboro for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour...I only hung up on him once before getting him tied in and on the air.

Another good show, with only a few awkward moments as Case, Jared, Daryl, and I exchanged glances figuring out who would take the lead in the discussion.

You can check out the replay on Facebook Live, at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/1486650174800878/

You can check out my fumbling with a piece of vintage telephone gear about 10 minutes in.  It does the job that it needs to do, though.

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JMcA