WBB opens ACC tournament with Wake Forest, another VB cancellation & more; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good Friday morning, Louisville fans!  It's another gorgeous spring-like day in the 'Ville but let me get the bad news out of the way... We've got another cancellation in the spring volleyball schedule.  It's the third weekend in a row for the squad fall victim to the COVID protocol.  Yet again, the opponent producing the positive test, Virginia Tech announced Thursday afternoon.. just 48 hours after the men's basketball programs cancelled their midweek matchup. 

The weekend volleyball series with Wake Forest is still on schedule for now. The Cards and Deacs will meet Saturday 2 p.m. and also on Sunday. 

And on that note, let's call it what it is and I dub thee:

#WakeForestHateWeekend

ACC Women's Basketball tournament update 

The ACC WBB Tournament began Wednesday, as you all probably know. Just one game on Wednesday:

3/3 Boston College 67 vs Pitt 56

Thursday game results...

Wake Forest 82 vs UNC 71  -- The Deacs' starters put together a solid 40 minutes of play, accounting for all but three of the team's total 82 points.  WF freshman guard Jewel Spear went 10-15 on the day, 7-10 from 3-pt land and had four of the team's five triples in the first quarter.  Ivana Raca went 6-12 for 21 pts, 12 rebounds and went 8-8 at the FT line.  Gina Conte was 4-5 for 13 pts, 12 assists and 3 steals.  The Tarheels were able to come back from down 15 to get a 2 point lead with 5 min left in the 3Q but their lead lasted all of 3:15 minutes before Wake took the lead back and didn't let go. 

Syracuse 67 vs Boston College 61 -- BC was 6-27 on 3-pt attempts making 5 of them in the fourth quarter.  Syracuse outrebounded the Eagles 43-36 on the day, Emily Engstler with 15 for the Orange. As a team 'Cuse shot 42.8% from the field and went 9-13 from the FT line. "Q" bunch gets FSU today. 

Virginia Tech 72 vs Miami 64 -- The Hokies lead 24-12 after one quarter shooting better than 55% from the field and 44% from 3-pt land.  VT had four players scoring in double digits with D'asia Gregg coming off the bench for 13 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman and sophomore duo Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley had 16 pts each in 40 minutes on the floor. The Hokies lost senior guard and the teams leading scorer, Aisha Sheppard 12 minutes into the game to an ankle injury.  She did not return to the game and her availability for Friday's game against NC State looks very doubtful.. which is very unfortunate for the talented Hokies.

Clemson 68 vs Notre Dame 63 -- The Irish out-shot the Tigers 49% to 34.9% from the field but ND made only four 3-pointers, committed 21 turnovers and attempted just 9-11 FTs.  The Tigers won the offensive rebounding battle 18-6 and outscored ND 18-9 in the fourth quarter to upset the Irish. The most exciting game of the ACC Tournament so far.  Clemson goes on to face Georgia Tech today

On tap for today, four games...the first includes the Cards  

Louisville vs Wake Forest - 12PM

PREVIEW 

Louisville (21-2, 14-2) is the 1-seed in the ACC Tournament for the second consecutive season and for the third time in four years. The Cardinals won the 2018 ACC Tournament title as the 1-seed in 2018. They are 10-5 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 6-0 in the ACC Quarterfinals. Wake Forest (12-11, 8-10) entered the ACC Tournament on a three-game losing streak, but ended that skid with yesterday's victory.  The Deacons have several scoring attacks the Cards will have to stifle to secure the victory because this Wake Forest team will want revenge from the regular season matchup.  Ivana Raca leads the team averaging 17 pts and 9 rebounds per game. 

    UofL vs WF  

    (season averages)

    80.5          67.3  PPG 

      35.4          32.9  3-pt%

    39.9          35.2  RPG

    12.2          13.3 TO/G

The last time the two teams met...

UofL 65-63 WF

Cards won the first and fourth quarter to beat the Deacs in the final eight seconds of the game.  Both teams shot 39% from the field, WF was 1-11 from 3-pt land in Winston-Salem.  Dana Evans hit the go ahead shot on a drive to the basket and a Gina Conte foul put Dana at the line and into the Player of the Year conversation.

The Cards were grossly outrebounded 43-32 with WF senior forward Ivana Raca leading the battle of the boards with 13,  Olivia Cochran led Louisville with 11. Evans scored 25 points for Louisville who trailed by nine midway through the fourth quarter before going on a 14-2 run to push back in front for good.

For today, your viewing and listening options: 

TV: RSN (Fox Sports South) (Jenn Hildreth, play-by-play; LaChina Robinson, analyst)

Radio: 790-AM WKRD (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst)

Other games today:  

2:30 pm -- Florida State vs Syracuse 

6 pm --  NC State vs Virginia Tech 

8:30 pm -- Georgia Tech vs Clemson

 

OTHER SPRING SPORTS SCHEDULING

The University of Louisville field hockey team will open the 2021 spring season this weekend with a pair of road contests. The Cardinals, who compiled an 8-2 record in the fall, will face ACC foe North Carolina on Friday at 1 p.m. followed by a non-conference matchup at Ball State on Sunday at 1 p.m.

No. 25 University of Louisville women's lacrosse (2-1) opens its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule on the road against No. 8 Virginia (3-0) on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET.

University of Louisville women's soccer begins their spring season on the road against Dayton on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The match will not be broadcast, but live stats will be available.

The University of Louisville softball team will play host to Bradley, DePaul and Miami (Ohio) in the Cardinal Classic this weekend. The Cards will open play at Ulmer Stadium after playing their first nine games on the road in a three week span facing Bradley in a double header Friday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m.

CARDINAL COUPLE PICK 'EM Bracket update via text from Bracket Czar Jared:

After two days of the contest, here's how the 22 participants stack up: 

One at 5-0
Five at 4-1
Seven at 3-2
Seven at 2-3
Two at 1-4
Zero at 0-5

Six brackets already have an incorrect game going into Friday games. One bracket already has an incorrect game for Saturday. All chosen champions (UofL, NC State, Georgia Tech, FSU, Clemson) remain alive

Clemson Cuz is 5-0, and does have the Clemson Tigers falling to UofL in the final. Arthur is one of the participants with a  4-1 record but has Clemson beating the Cards in the final. Louavulfan is 4-1 but had Notre Dame beating GT. Our own Jeff McAdams is one of the 4-1 teams. The rest of the Cardinal Couple crew is as follows: 

Case, Sonya & Jared 3-2
Daryl & Paulie 2-3

The full standings: 

5-0 -- Clemson Cuz

4-1 -- David Watson, Blue Lou, Arthur, LouavulFan35

3-2 -- KStarks, Vivian, Kenny S., Sonya, Jared, Doug Anderson, Case

2-3 -- Paulie, Ramblin Eric, CC Chimps, Phil, Daryl, Nole Knowledge, Curtis 

1-4 -- Nick O, Joe Hill. 

Questions?  Disputes?  Shoot the Bracket Czar Jared an e-mail at: eupherjared@gmail.com or just go camp out on his condo front porch and confront him directly.  

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST:  

Time change alert: 

We've backed the show up an hour to 10 a.m. to accommodate the spring scheduling.  I will be heading into the ACC Network building, I think Paulie, Jeff and Jared all plan on going out to campus to catch some matches/games!! Looks like we've got some sporadic cloudy/clear skies out there so wear your sunscreen! 

Go Cards!! Let's get some W's today!

~Daryl