Walz named Court Coach for USA National Team -- Softball Today -- PICK EM -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 JEFF WALZ NAMED AS COURT COACH FOR USA NATIONAL TEAM 

Jeff Walz is in a unique dilemma, He is, of course, getting his team ready for the 2022 NCAA WBB Tournament. He's also been named as one of the Court Coaches for the 2022 USA National Team. The dates for the training camp are March 29 - April 2 in Minneapolis. The "Great Eight" will be pared down to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament March 27-28 and Walz hopes to be in the mix for advancement...winning in Wichita and advancing to Minneapolis, playing in a Final Four game on April 1st. 

No April Fools Day joke here  

Walz obviously would love to be still alive in the NCAA Tournament from March 29th - April 2, but he's thankful to receive the USA nod as well, even if he can't serve. He was the head coach of the 2018 U 18 team and the 2019 U19 team and has served as an assistant coach for USA basketball twice. 

The other Court Coaches named are Adia Barnes (Arizona), Kara Lawson (Duke) and Joni Taylor (Georgia). Barnes and Taylor might still be alive in the NCAA Tournament and Lawson just might be in the Women's NIT with Duke.

Albany, the Cards first NCAA opponent, is probably hoping Walz is stressed out about the dual potential duties. If Jeff Walz is anything, he's cool under pressure and the Great Danes just might find themselves on a leash and tied to a tree against Louisville. 

SOFTBALL FACES WESTERN ILLINOIS WEDNESDAY 

Louisville Softball brings in W. Illinois for a softball game Wednesday at Ulmer Stadium . First pitch is 5 p.m. and the weather looks beautiful for ths contest. 

The Cards (15-8) are on a eight-game win streak after going 4-0 in the Bluegrass Challenge last weekend.  Western Illinois comes in with a 4-15 record, after losing 4-2 to NKU yesterday. 

Holly's Cards have been offensive-minded juggernauts and are hitting .306 as a team. Six UofL players are batting over .300 and Taylor Roby has eight home runs on the season. 

Admission is free.at Ulmer and you're welcome to bring your dog(s) to hang out with you on the outfield berm. 

CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA WBB PICK EM

The entries are rolling in for the 2022 NCAA WBB Bracket Challenge here at Cardinal Couple. It's free to play, you know and you would win a gift card if you come in first or second. Get those entries in by 11 a.m. Friday and don't forget the tie-breaker final score guess. 

Bracket Czar Jared Anderson has asked me to point out that if you have one of the "play in' teams advancing, he'd like to know which one (like a DePaul) instead of a hyphenated entry (like DePaul/Dayton).  , 

With the play-in games starting today, if you've previously submitted your bracket, don't worry about it. If you submitted a (DePaul/Dayton) entry, we'll work around that. Or any other play-in game double entry. 

Leave your picks in the comments section or e-mail them to Jared at eupherjared@gmail.com or Paulie at cardinalcouple@twc.com

And now, THE PAULIE PICKS !!

South Carolina, Miami, UNC, Ariz, DePaul, Iowa St, Colorado, Iowa, LOUISVILLE, Nebraska, Oregon, Tenn, BYU, Mich, S.Dakota, Baylor.

Stanford, G Tech, V Tech, Maryland, FSU, LSU, Utah, Texas, NC State, Wash state, Notre Dame, IUPUI, KY, IU, UCF, UConn  

South Carolina, Ariz, DePaul, Iowa, LOUISVILLE, Tenn, Mich, Baylor, G Tech, V Tech, LSU, Texas, NC State, Notre Dame, IU, UConn

South Carolina, Iowa, LOUISVILLE, Baylor, G Tech, LSU, NC State, UConn

South Carolina, LOUISVILLE, LSU, NC State

South Carolina, LSU

South Carolina

POINTS  122

Good luck !!

paulie 

. 

.