Canada to Play in Third Place Game -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As the summer rolls on, we continue to seek out news of Cardinals outside of their normal UofL capacity. When the Louisville baseball team failed to make the NCAA tournament, the athletic calendar officially turned over to the 2021-22 season. As such, we've got quite awhile before anything official gets underway down on Floyd Street. Teams are currently hosting skills camps or doing individual workouts, but most practices aren't even full team yet. At the same time, plenty of individual athletes are doing their own things for individual honors or for national teams. Tori Dilfer and Anna Stevenson just wrapped up their training stint with the USA Collegiate Volleyball team and the Wave II Olympic Trials continue in Omaha. There is one other Cardinal currently in action, though...

Merissah Russell in FIBA AmeriCup with Canada

The FIBA AmeriCup finals will be today as the weeklong tournament wraps up. The USA team will play for the championship after a victory over Brazil in yesterday's semifinals. No Cardinals are on the USA team, but Rhyne Howard from down the road started in yesterday's game and tied for the team high of 12 points in the victory. A combined four players on both teams scored 12 points and just one player scored more with 14.

The victory sent Brazil to the third place game where they will meet Canada, after our friends to the north dropped their semifinal matchup against Puerto Rico. Russell did not play in Friday's game, her second "DNP - Coach's Decision" of the tournament. Russell has played in four of the six games for Canada, putting in a total of 47 minutes. She has taken just two two-point attempts in that time, making one, but has shot 5/12 from beyond the arc for a total of 17 points scored. She has also pulled down six rebound and grabbed three steals. Her total plus/minus for the tournament is +52, but she was -2 in the quarterfinal game against the Dominican Republic. 

The third place game will take place tonight at 6:10PM and will be followed by the championship game at 9:10. Both games will be available on ESPN+ for US customers. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Could it really be happening? A full house? We'll come to you live at 11AM this week, as nearly every week, with the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour and, as best as I know, we'll have all five contributors on the show. It's been a relatively slow week for Louisville News and Notes so join us as we figure out what the first half of the show looks like. Fortunately, with four guessers, the quiz will take us quite some time. Check out the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show, and subscribe to the channel to have the show pushed to your YouTube inbox, as well as any other videos we post to the channel. You can also subscribe to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour podcast on any podcast platform or app to have the show sent directly to your device after it's posted.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-