Cards over Ducks - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Paradise It Is

It was a place with palm trees, which is always a win in my book, and the Cards won the actual game, too.  The Cards were victorious over the top ranked Oregon Ducks, 72-62, in the Paradise Jam on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

Do you call this the biggest upset in UofL Women's Basketball history?  I think there's an argument to be made for it.  Of course, the 2013 win over Baylor gets an argument, and frankly you could probably come up with others.  The Baylor win, and now this Oregon win are the only wins UofL WBB has over top ranked teams.  Against Baylor, the Cards were the 5th seed in the NCAA tournament, while the Cards are currently ranked 8th, so based on the rankings/seedings, this one is the bigger win.

The argument on the other side of that coin comes from having watched Baylor in 2012-2013 and the fact that it was in the post-season, rather than this early season win.  Which do you think is the biggest win in UofL WBB history?  Let's hear it.

On to the deets, though.

Much like the Baylor game, where Shoni Schimmel and Nita Slaughter shone brightest...you remember The Shot, punctuated by Rebecca Lobo's "Come on, now!" but you might also remember Nita Slaughter's 7 of 9 shooting from beyond the arc...Kylee Shook and Dana Evans will get the spotlight in this one.  Kylee finished with 18 points, including one from beyond the arc along with a pair of blocks and 15 rebounds, for the double-double and the all tournament team berth.  Dana tallied 17 points and 6 assists on her way to the tournament MVP award.

Also like the Baylor game, there was lots of supporting cast.  The rebound and outlet pass that led to The Shot?  5'6" Jude Schimmel getting the rebound over two much larger Baylor players, also getting 6 points and 3 assists, also Bria Smith with 13 points and 3 assists.  In this game, Elizabeth Balogun had 11 points, a pair of blocks of her own and four rebounds.  Jaz Jones had 10 points, 3 assists, and 3 rebounds despite some significant foul trouble.  Bionca Dunham and Norika Konno got 6 points and a pair of rebounds each. Konno played brilliantly while Jones was saddled with foul trouble and on the bench.

And this is the picture Sports Illustrated runs in their
recap of Louisville's win? Uh, Ducks didn't cut down the
nets, SI. Cards=Red. Oregon=Green. Nice proof-read. 

The Ducks had this one in control in the first quarter, leading 24-13 by the end of the first frame, but the Cards would win it all back in the 2nd quarter, winning the 10 minutes by 24-8, for a halftime score of 37-32.  The 3rd and 4th quarters would be more competitive, with the Cards adding 4 to the margin in the 3rd (14-10), and only adding a single point in the 4th quarter score-fest (21-20).

I only got to listen to the Nick and AJ call on this one, but Coach Walz give credit to Video Coordinator Lamont Russell with the Mad Scientist idea of putting Kylee Shook up at the top of the key on defense to disrupt the offensive set for the Ducks. Even Oregon head WBB Coach Kelly Graves said it :"Louisville wanted this one more than we did."

So what happens with rankings tomorrow.  The men's side of the league has been topsy turvey, (Hi Evansville, and Stephen F Austin!) meaning the UofL men will probably find themselves in the top spot, what happens with the women?

Well, it's unlikely that they'll jump from 8th to top ranked, although the upwards mobility could be
significant.  In addition to Oregon dropping, expect Baylor to relinquish the number 2 position after losing to 5th ranked South Carolina in the other half of the Paradise Jam.  3rd ranked Stanford struggled, but won over 10th ranked Mississippi State while 4th ranked UConn easily handled Dayton in their only outing this week.

So, I think that leaves Stanford in the top spot, UConn 2nd, and South Carolina 3rd.  Is there a chance for Louisville to climb to 4th?  I think it's possible.  Where do Oregon and Baylor land?  5th and 6th are possible.  That means Texas A&M and Oregon State end up dropping a couple spots, which does seem vaguely unfair to those teams, but I think that's the reality of the situation as it unfolds.

We'll find out tomorrow afternoon when the updated rankings come out.

Volleyball Selection Tonight

The Volleyball selection show is at 8:30 tonight on ESPNU.  The Cards should easily have a berth, and hosting is essentially out of the question, so what's left is to find out to which location the Cards will go.

Volleyball tends to stick fairly closely to the RPI for the 16 seeds that get to host, of course, we don't have the latest RPI standings until after the bracket is revealed.

What teams are in the region that are likely to host?  Pitt, is basically assured a hosting berth, and may even get to host the regionals depending on how far Wisconsin falls after their loss this week.  The committee does try avoid setting up in-conference matchups in the first two rounds, however, so that's unlikely for us.

Other possible locations include Kentucky (currently 7th in RPI), Marquette (currently 12th in RPI, though likely to drop after getting knocked off my St. Johns in the Big East final), and WKU (currently 15th in the RPI).

But, the GPS says there is a Volleyball
game here? 

Of those candidates, where would you like to see Louisville go?  I think I prefer Diddle Arena in Bowling Green over heading into UK territory.  It's a bit longer of a drive, but still easily reachable for fans, without having to go in to play on a rival's home court.  Also, frankly, I think we stand a better chance of getting past the sub-regional with WKU as the seeded team as we've already knocked them off once in the season and the team has grown and improved since then.

I'm probably going if it's within 10 or so hours. We'll find out tonight

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Paulie and I held down the fort for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour yesterday. Sonya was in studio auditing the broadcast. 

It's 11:02, when is this song over" 

Volleyball and Basketball were the topics du jour.  We recapped the volleyball loss to Pitt and the basketball wins for the week, including over UTA (or UTC in Paulie-speak), and Oklahoma State.

There's a good chance that we will not be on the air next week due to scheduling issues.  Paulie will be out of town following the WBB squad to Columbus, and depending on what happens with Volleyball selection, I may on the road to cheer them on.  Availability of Case, Jared, and Daryl are still to be determined.  Stay tuned, we'll let you know.

In the meantime, check out this week's show at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/1395334880646526/

-- 

JMcA