The WBB Hiatus Continues -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards' Game vs Duke Canceled

College athletics saw their first power program bow out yesterday when Duke women's basketball announced the cancelation of the remainder of their season. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that we made it through football season without a team doing this, and I kind of thought that since we had, no basketball programs would make this decision independently. That this would come from Duke, whose men's coach has also questioned the concept of a basketball season in a pandemic, is an interesting note. Kara Lawson, the new head coach of the Blue Devils, had previously expressed concern about having a season at this time.

Officially, the decision was made by the players, according to the statement from Duke's communications officer. Effectively, each player made the choice to opt out, as some other players did for football earlier this year, and the program had no more players to put on the court. I'm certain there were many team meetings and a consensus reached before they pulled the trigger on this. Duke has announced that no other teams within the program are impacted by the decision and all other competitions will remain as scheduled. 

With the fallout from this cancelation, Louisville's second matchup against Duke scheduled for Thursday is now off. Due to Louisville's own Covid issues, the Cards haven't competed since December 9th, and they will now have to wait until January 3rd to get back on the court when they travel to Virginia. That said, Louisville has already had three games postponed, and they now have an open conference date to try and rectify that. A team that stands out as a contender to fill the opening is Florida State. Louisville's game against the Seminoles was postponed from the 17th. Florida State last played on the 20th and is not scheduled to play again until the 3rd. They were scheduled to play Duke on the 7th. The Seminoles are the only team that Louisville has postponed a game against to have Thursday open. 

While this would have Louisville play FSU twice in two weeks -- they're scheduled to play again on the 10th -- it isn't much different than Louisville traveling to Duke for games on the 9th and 31st. As Coach Walz said earlier this season, most teams are going to be scrambling to find 13 games. With the two teams already scheduled to play twice, I'm not really sure what the difference in having an extra week between the matchups is. I would hope the ACC is working hard to redefine their schedules given the struggles that teams have already had and the openings that the Duke cancelations now present. I'm sure we'll see more news come out soon, and we'll be sure to keep you updated about any scheduling revisions here.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Skype room will be a little less full today, as Daryl and I both sit this week out for birthdays, but Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will still bring you the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. Gee, I wonder what they'll talk about. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the replay anytime after the show ends. As always, you can add the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast to your subscription list and have the show sent directly to your device when it's posted.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-