Down to Sixteen -- Louisville Softball today -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NCAA WBB TOURNAMENT DOWN TO SIXTEEN TEAMS

The Madness continues. 

After last night's second round NCAA WBB games, we now know the Sweet Sixteen. Surprises? Yes, maybe a few. All four #1 seeds are still alive, though, as well as all #2 seeds. Out of the #3 seeds, Syracuse has left the dance, upended by #6 South Dakota St.#3 Iowa State had their season ended at the hands of #11 seed Missouri St. and #3 Maryland won't go to Albany, a victim of #6 UCLA. 

For those of you playing at home, the final dancers are: 




GREENSBORO REGION

#1 Baylor vs. #4 South Carolina
#3 NC State vs. #2 Iowa

PORTLAND REGION

#1 Mississippi State vs #5 Arizona At.
#2 Oregon vs. #6 South Dakota St. 

CHICAGO REGION

#1 Notre Dame vs. #Texas A&M
#2 Stanford vs. #7 BYU

ALBANY REGION

#1 LOUISVILLE vs. #4 Oregon State
#2 Connecticut vs. #5 UCLA 


The PAC 12 has had a good showing in the 2019 NCAA WBB Tournament so far with five teams in the Sweet Sixteen. After that, the ACC and SEC have three representatives. With one school each we have the AAC, Big 10, Big 12, Missouri Valley and the Mountain West. 

If you're scratching your head over your bracket picks, don't feel like you are the only one. Here at the Cardinal Couple Pick 'Em, no one had Missouri State and South Dakota St. wasn't a very popular pick either.

Syracuse, DePaul and Kentucky were popular picks that failed to advance. We have no "perfect" brackets, by any means, and the best score so far, as reported to me by our Bracket Chairman Jared Anderson, is 39 out of 48 possible correct picks. A couple of contestant have that 39 number, but it is still quite the close race with 15 games to go.

How does it play out for Louisville? Headed to Albany for 3rd round action against Oregon St., the Cards will play at either 7 PM or 9:30 p.m. on Friday, March 29th. An official confirmation of which slot Louisville gets hasn't been released yet...but I'll bet you that the NCAA and ESPN give their darlings UCONN the early slot and put the Cards at 9:30.

God forbid the Huskies have to play past Geno's bedtime...or be denied the prime time slot of the two games. 

It would be the latest start time of the season for Louisville. For Oregon. St...body wise...it'll feel like it's 6:30 p.m. their time (PDT). The Albany Times-Union Center can hold 15,500 for a sporting event. That most likely means 14,000 Huskies fans, about 500 Louisville fans and two west coast teams in UCLA and Oregon St. plus media and such making up the rest. 

Purists will tell you that it only makes sense that the lower of the top two seeds should play first. I'll look with interest when the times of the other seven games are listed. Conspiracy theorist, here's your bologna sandwich...chew on that awhile. 


I will not be making the trip to Albany. I'm saving up for a hopeful run to Tampa. I did look at the drive (over 800 miles  one way) and the cheapest round-trip airfare (slightly over $600) to Albany and had to make a financial decision. Add in lodging for three or four days and the numbers just didn't come out in Paulie's favor.

Maybe someone will leave a bag of money on the front porch of the Sykes estate. 

Until that money tree I've got planted in the back yard starts shedding $20's and $50's...I have to play it pretty close to vest. Cardinal Couple is doing OK financially but the ACC Tournament took a big bite out of the budget and there is something appealing about three or four days in sunny Tampa in early April. 

Louisville is 2-0 lifetime against the Beavers. The Cards rolled past them last year in Lexington 76-43 in the NCAA Lexington regional final to advance to Columbus. We'll have more on the breakdown and comparative analysis later in the week. 

Out of the sixteen teams, Louisville has played four of them this season (NC State, Arizona St., Notre Dame and UConn) and is 4-2 against them. The probable path for the Cards in the three potential games after OSU is UConn, Notre Dame and Baylor....unless the Madness continues. That's a tough task for anyone. 

Louisville has shown that they can play defense as well as anyone in the nation, though, and when you have Asia, Arica, Sam, B, Jaz, Kylee, Dana. Kasa, Lindsey, Seygan and the Attack Yorkie Jess...all things are possible.



Two down, four to go.


GO VOTE FOR ASIA! 

You can cast your fan vote for Asia Durr as the Naismith WBB Player of the Year at the link below.

LINK: VOTE FOR ASIA DURR

There are a few other things to vote on as well once you get there. I voted for "Ja" from Murray State as the men's player of the year, Wes Moore for women's coach of the year and Rick Barnes for men's coach of the year. 

If you don't vote, then don't complain about the results, OK? You can vote each day, by the way.

What are you doing still reading this? GO VOTE!  



SOFTBALL STEPS OUT OF CONFERENCE TO HOST INDIANA TODAY


At 20-10 and 3-3 in the ACC, Louisville Softball steps out of conference play to face the Indiana Hoosiers at 5 p.m. today at Ulmer. 

IU is 25-9 and ranked #20 or #22 in D1 College softball. They cross the Ohio River after an opening Big 10 weekend against Ohio State and got swept in three games by the Buckeyes in Columbus. 

The Cards hold a 17-3 all-time record advantage over the Hoosiers and traveled to Bloomington last year for a 11-7 win. Louisville took an early lead against IU and benefited from a seven run seventh inning back on April 18, 2018 for the "W". 

"Maybe Louisville will stop by Mouseville on their way to Tampa."

A clear, mid 50's temperature day should greet the two squads when they line up on the base paths for the National Anthem. Come on out after work, leave early or arrive a bit late if you have to...catch exciting UofL Softball action today. Several of the Cardinal Couple crew and associates will be haunting the press box, give us a prom wave or throw a foul ball at us if you wish. 

If you can't make the affair, it'll be shown on the ACCNE with our buddy Don Russell and Suzanne Bush handling the microphone duties. 



A tremendous Tuesday to you! 


paulie
xxxxx