INTERVIEW WITH LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL'S HOLLY APRILE
A series with Boston College was scheduled to start on Friday, March 13th at Ulmer Stadium. It wold have been the Cards and Eagles first foray into ACC play, but the Eagles -- like all the other ACC teams -- got grounded and never left Chestnut Hill to travel to Louisville.
I hope you enjoy this interview with Coach Aprile. We cover many things and appreciate the work of Louisville softball S.I.D. Lori Korte Harmon with arranging the opportunity to "holler with Holly" and share it with you:
LINK: Holly Aprile Interview
We promise to keep the coaches interviews rolling over the weeks ahead.I can tell you that we have already confirmed that Louisville WBB associate head coach Sam Purcell will be our next interview -- we'll have that for you on Monday morning Cardinal Couple.
Over the years, I've been fortunate to have some very fun and informative chats with "Sam P" and it should be interesting to discuss this "social distancing" aspect of life these days with him.
DANA DOES IT !
News came out Thursday that junior point guard Dana Evans of the University of Louisville women's basketball team has been selected as AP All-American Second team selection. She is the fourth Cardinal in history to receive either first or second team honors. Can you name the other three? Answer at the bottom of today's column.
Evans was the ACC Player of the Year and was influential in leading Louisville to the ACC regular season title.
Evans has a season that was remarkable. She led the ACC with 90 made threes for the season. Other accomplishments:
-- Led ACC in free throw percentage at 89%
-- Had 10 - 20+ points per game efforts
-- Was in double figures in 29 of the 30 regular season games.
The First Team All-American Selections:
Rhyne Howard -- Kentucky
Lauren Cox -- Baylor
Ruthy Hebard -- Oregon
Megan Walker -- UConn
Just a personal observation here, but the west coast-Oregon bias here is pretty evident. Louisville, of course, defeated the Oregon squad in the Virgin Island and, do they really deserve TWO players on the first team? Boston or Dana deserved that Hebard spot, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION. South Carolina was the best team in NCAA WBB this here and to get just one selection (on the second team, while Oregon got three is ridiculous.
Joining Evans on the second Team:
Allyah Boston -- South Carolina
Chennedy Carter -- Texas A&M
Satou Sabally -- Oregon
Aari Mc Donald -- Arizona
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| (Don't be selfish, Americans. Resume normal shopping habits) |
(Answer to the question we asked at the start of today's article: the First and Second Team All-American WBB players from Louisville.)
-- Angel McCoughtry three times, first team once -- second team twice)
-- Asia Durr two times on the first team
-- Shoni Schimmel -- second team once.
paulie
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Great honor for Dana and the Oregon bias is interesting.
ReplyDeleteNick O.
I am looking forward to seeing what Holly can do with this team next year. Her dedication and caring is fantastic and it comes through when you hear her speak.
ReplyDeleteI know I appreciate the interviews you are doing and can't wait to hear Purcell.
Stay well, listen to our leaders and we'll all get through this together.
The Real Joe Hill
Huge accomplishment for Dana.
ReplyDeleteWhat should be no surprise to anyone is the transfer portal is already picking up steam. Three of five starters from Auburn (11-18) just entered the portal. Looks like teams that aren't near the top of the league are going to have an awful time keeping players. Pretty predictable. Could see this coming a mile away.
Between Softball and WBB, Auburn can't hang onto anyone it seems.
ReplyDeletePaulie
Paulie, you know that I am a big feminist - they are women not girls, they are Cards not Lady Cards. I support your site being about women's sports. However, your interviews have just been great and once you get through the women's coaches and some of the players, I think it would be okay to talk to some of the men's coaches...maybe the lesser known ones as basketball and football will get lots of time to talk to the media so tennis? track? etc. Just a thought since the summer doldrums are the spring/summer doldrums this year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting Viv. Hopefully you and yours are safe. It is our objective to interview as many coaches that are willing to do so. We are working closely with the Sports information Directors of each sport to arrange these. We DO have a great interview with UofL associate basketball coach Sam Purcell lined up for the Monday Cardinal Couple column.
DeleteJust to give readers an overview of our current column schedule and availability, I (Paulie) currently write three articles a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Jared Anderson writes Tuesday and Thursday. The weekend belongs to Case Hoskins (Saturday) and Jeff McAdams (Sunday).
I'd love to see the writers here do interviews with the sports their "strong suits" are in. Jeff could do some great Volleyball articles and interviews. Same with Case and women's soccer. Jared has a vast array of student-athletes and former student-athletes he has access to and his photography work is, I fell, unparalleled.
The question is, can they incorporate it into their set sc schedules? It's a process I hope we'll work on. I've always been in favor of letting the columnists here cover, within our guidelines, the areas they choose in term of women's sports at Louisville. That won't change.
These writing schedules are set up by writer agreement, their request and availability. I am retired and can handle the three days a week. Jared still works 9-5 and does his columns the night before his scheduled writing day. Case works as well and handles Saturday (his day off) and Jeff also works and does Sunday. These schedules are by writer request....again.
If we run out of candidates on the women's side to interview, we'll certainly consider starting to cover the men's side of UofL Athletics. I'm would think that Arthur Albiero, Dale Cowper and others would be open to that, but it all starts with an inquiry to each sport's information director, their contact with the coach and then proceeding at a set time and schedule.
An old Coach Walz axiom is: "Stay with your strengths" That's what we strive to do, here at the Couple.
Players are something I'll have to delve into a bit more. I will check with the sports information directors and see if this can be done within NCAA guidelines and rules.
We have an unlimited source there. Several players I have chatted with on social media would welcome the chance to speak so, that's a start.
As far as being a feminist, I am full in line with that, my wife Sonya is, as well. I have always tried to coach and urge our readers to use the proper referrals in addressing the subject. I use the term "student-athlete" a lot and programs that have "women's" in front of them are used in that fashion.
Getting others to do so is a matter of others adhering to the philosophy, obviously. I urge it, but cannot mandate it. It irks us here, as well, to read phrases like "that girl can shoot" or "those Lady Cards were...".
Stay well and check Cardinal Couple daily for what we have to offer. Covering the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports". It is our mission statement. It's what we do. We welcome all to come along for the ride.
paulie
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