Fall successes and A Bucket Catching Water -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Empty Calendar

No, we haven't time traveled back to July.  We just have a short-term lull in UofL Sports calendar entries.  Fall sports are all now officially done with the crowning of an NCAA volleyball Champion last night (Stanford beat Wisconsin in a sweep, if you're interested).  Of course Christmas is this week, and Chanukah has begun its eight day run.  Students are home on the winter break between the fall and spring semesters, and the focus at this time of year turns away from the sports world a little bit.

This is only a short term lull, however, as the women's basketball team will be back next week with the beginning of their conference play and also the first home game in approximately a month.

I always find transitions like this are a great time to take a step back and take stock of where things stand a little bit, and using that to prepare for the future.

First off, let's celebrate the UofL women's fall sports teams' success this year as a whole.  We had All-
Americans named in all three, Field Hockey, Soccer, and Volleyball.  Each of the three had good post-season runs with a program best Elite Eight appearance for Volleyball.  All three finished the year with impressive records.

Basketball has finished their non-conference slate of games with a pretty impressive win-loss record, 11-1, and they weren't all over cupcakes.  Yes, we've had some clunkers of wins, but they still go in the win column, and they serve as an opportunity to learn and improve.  Other wins were very impressive indeed, including, of course, a victory over then top-ranked Oregon, and a fourth straight win over a Top-15 ranked UK team in a tightly contested battle down to the final seconds.

Now the basketball Cards get ready to embark on their conference schedule.  We get home and home match-ups with several teams, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Boston College, and Pitt.  The rest, Clemson, Duke, Miami, Wake Forest, UNC, Virginia, Florida State, NC State, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech, we will only see once in the regular season.

Add in the exhibition game against the US National Team on February, and we have a recipe for 3+ months of fun basketball ahead of us.

Here's a scheduling note that might take you by surprise.  We're only about a month and a half away from Softball season.  Now, of course, our Softball squad almost always schedules almost a month of road games to open the season...and almost always to the south to take advantage of warmer weather.  I can't say that I blame them.  In any case, even the home opener is only about two and a half months away.

Softball is coming off of a good season last year, with a win over a Top-25 UK team, as well as a program first series win over Florida State, so they'll be looking to better that.

What an exciting time of year, both in the sports world, and outside of it.  I hope, whatever roles you may play in life, that the next week will give you an opportunity to step back, rest, and rejuvenate a little bit to close out this year strong and head into the new year on a good footing.

It is a chance to reflect on how well the UofL women's sports programs did this fall, are doing this winter and what will the spring bring? We'll make a New Year's resolution right now that we'll do the best we can do here at Cardinal Couple to keep you informed, enlightened and entertained.. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is winding down its time on WCHQ FM, our home since the start of the show, but that doesn't mean the shows are getting any less interesting.

We had a full house yesterday, with the full compliment of five in studio, Paulie, myself, Jared, Daryl and Case "The bucket that catches water".  What does that mean?  Check out the replay on Facebook to find out, or listen and still be completely mystified like the rest of us:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2644999785559824/

In any case, we had fun wrapping up the Volleyball season, and discussing the head-scratching that is
currently part of being a UofL women's basketball fan, given the recent games.

Al Davis, of Oakland Raiders fame, used the phrase: "just Win, Baby!" WBB has taken that to heart, it's just the margin of wins and way they are getting them that has many of us considering blood pressure medication and experiencing brief panic attacks. 

Next week will be our final broadcast from WCHQ 100.9.
It has been a unique opportunity to be a talk show, about women's sports, on a station that has emphasized local music. 

Enjoy the holidays!

-- 

JMcA