Cards Travel to Clemson
First, I want to thank Daryl for covering for me on Tuesday. We were in the process of switching internet/cable providers and the technician was here until around 6:30 p.m., and I had a church thing starting shortly after. Our upgrade in internet has been nice so far and we brought back cable thanks to a sweet deal. The trick is figuring out if we get the regional sports network that Louisville games are sometimes on. You'll also gte me doing a recap of tonight's game in the Friday Cardinal Couple -- if we still have power and internet accessibility, of course.
Teams: #4 Louisville vs Clemson
Records: Louisville (19-2, 9-1 ACC). Clemson (7-14, 1-9 ACC)
Where: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, S.C.
When: 6:00 p.m. ET
TV: Bally Sports South
Radio: 790-AM WKRD
Head-to-Head Record: Louisville leads 9-3
Coaches: Jeff Walz, 15th season as Louisville head coach
Amanda Butler, fourth season as Clemson head coach
Key Players: Louisville: Hailey Van Lith (12.2 ppg), Emily Engstler (11.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg), Kianna Smith (11.8 ppg), Olivia Cochran (9.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg)
Clemson: Delicia Washington (15.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.75 assists pg), Amari Robinson (10.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg), Gabby Elliott (9.4 ppg), Kiara Lewis (9.2 ppg)
 |
| (Ah, the days of Fuehring and Diop...) |
Clemson has gradually gone downhill the last few years since Amanda Butler arrived. The Tigers went 20-13 first her season and haven't finished above .500 since.
Graduate student Delicia Washington is the do-it-all player for Clemson, leading the team in scoring, rebounding, and assists. She has had a lot of help from Amari Robinson, who is averaging double figures in scoring.
Louisville is coming off a rough game at Miami (Fla.), where they needed a 19-7 run over the final six minutes to win 69-66. The Cards were averaging roughly 52 points per game going into the match-up, but had a rough night leaving Miami's shooters open. This was the seventh straight game an opposing player scored 16 or more points against the Cards.
Realistically, this should be a game Louisville wins by 20. The Cards continue to be a Top 10 while Clemson sits second-to-last in the ACC and is just having a downright bad season.
Louisville is in the middle of a four game stretch over eight days. To continue keeping fresh legs through the buSy stretch, I expect to see a healthy nine-player rotation with no one seeing more than 35 minutes unless it's a tight game.
The status of Norika Konno remains unknown. We appreciate all the texts, e-mails and calls we've received about her, but we know nothing. Is it COVID-19 related issues, or are the whispers of it not being related to COVID-19 at all true?. Her Twitter does still have "University of Louisville women's basketball team" in her bio so it doesn't appear that it is transfer portal related. We understand the HIPPA factor here and respect her privacy. In short, we'll probably know when either she or UofL makes an official announcement.
More frustrating, this game is only on Bally Sports South. If you're hoping to get lucky and catch this online on ACC Network Extra, think again. It will be blacked out because of the regional sports network and if you aren't paying for that channel (most people aren't) then you're S.O.L. Nick and A.J. are one of the best radio play-by-play and commentary crews in women's college basketball --Paulie likes to listen to them instead of watching the game many times.
We will recap the game right here tomorrow morning... Mother Nature willing.
Winter Weather
 |
| (Jared takes his pet groundhog for a drive.) |
The ground hog saw its shadow so we have six more weeks of winter and it's coming quick. Much of the region is under a heavy winter weather advisory with the potential of a few inches of snow and ice. Oh, and it's been raining for several hours beforehand, which will freeze and add to the ice.
Make sure you have plenty of supplies at home as you may be stranded through the middle of the weekend. Thankfully, our Cardinal squads are on the road right now and in places that won't be affected as severely.
For myself, we have a pretty big primetime concert scheduled for lunchtime today and Mother Nature is determined to ruin that for us, so fingers crossed things work out for us.
Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared
Everyone stay safe today, My job requires a lot of driving and the 9 a.m. weather report is "all's well" on the roads (I stopped for coffee, Lol )
ReplyDeleteClemson is a few years away from establishing anything on WBB and Butler probably isn't the answer. The players love her, but when you don't win games, fans stop coming and intetest declines.
What's your take, Arthur? I know you've been a big fan and still show up?
Nick O
Clemson has Washington and Robinson and not much else. I see no threat.
ReplyDeleteI get why UofL isn't talking about Konno, HIPPA privacy regulations and all. Walz will update when it's time. You gotta be careful these days.
Curtis "Be Kind" Franklin
Cards aren't going to have any weather problems in Clemson. Highs in the 50's through Friday.
ReplyDeleteGetting home? We'll see, could be an issue.
paulie
Money.
ReplyDeleteEvidently Bally sports has lots of it.
That channel used to be Fox Sports south.
Thankfully I do get it👍
Hello Friends !
ReplyDeleteArthur Here !
First off, hope y'all stay safe and survive that nasty weather headed your way.
We are in line to get anything bad down here, so Bea and I will be headed to campus in a bit from here at home to go eat at our favorite restaurant and then hit the game.
Nick O, to answer your question, I can't speak for our athletic department, but I see what happens game to game and I can tell you the fan base is pretty much a non-factor in showing up for games anymore.
I would hope we get a big turnout tonight, we do have #4 coming in with the Cards, I guess I'll see when we get there. We're pending the night in Clemson and driving back Friday morning. Amanda is popular with the players and hasn't done anything controversial, I can't see the administration or AD making any move on her anytime soon.
But, what do I know. I don't see any high name coaches lining up for the job. We are pretty much a football school that had a 10-3 season last year that had our fans grumbling. Go figure. We sure got lucky against you guys up there, though. Losing to Georgia no disgrace but to NC State in overtime was unfortunate. Pitt was pretty good, too, and it was probably our worse football loss up there of the season.
I don't give us much of a chance tonight, but since I'm a huge UofL WBB fan, it'll be exciting for me to see the Cards playing live!
Yes, we got Washington and Robinson. After that, it's anyone's guess.
Kendall Spray can get hot from three point range at times and Gabby Elliott is a proven scorer but we have maybe only one quality win this season -- against Penn State.
If the Cards come out slow in the first quarter and have a bad fourth quarter, maybe we keep it close.
Anyway, I'll have a good time, my second favorite WBB team is in town !
Your Friend
#1 Clemson Fan
Arthur
Greer, SC
Have to wonder why Elliot and Lewis left the Clemson squad.
ReplyDelete