Basketball and Volleyball Selection - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Basketball at the Betty Chancellor Classic

The Walz bunch got the win at the Betty Chancellor Classic yesterday, but it wasn't without some drama, with the Cards getting out to the lead at the end, when it really matters, 72-63.

It was a very up and down affair getting there, however.  Liberty won the first quarter 17-10, but Louisville returned the favor 22-15 in the second quarter to take the 32-32 tie into the locker rooms at halftime.  Liberty came back with the greater energy, however, taking the third quarter 20-14, but the Cards would finally get their game in gear in the 4th, taking it 26-11.

Your scribe for the day doesn't have an ESPN+ subscription, so I couldn't put any sort of eye test on this one, but the above feels like a team that still really hasn't figured out its full identity, and how to stick to it.  That is, of course, the sort of early season craziness we expected, and was predicted by Coach Walz.  Every game sees the team sort that out a bit more, and certainly we've seen the talent is available for a high quality functional team at the end of the season.  It's just going to be a bit zany getting there.

How about a FRED report?

(today's Fred is Fred McMuray of My Three Sons. Walz could do a "My Three Games sitcom!)

F - 80.6% at the line is definitely good enough for the capital "F".

R - The Cards outrebounded the Flames 34-24 with about an even split offensive and defensive (16-18), giving the Cards, effectively, 16 extra possessions.  Nothing not to like there.  Capital "R" gladly awarded.

E - Nine assists to 12 turnovers is a touch wobbly, but not egregious.  10 steals vs six for Liberty is another four extra possessions for the Cards.  And holding fouls mostly in check with only 15 compared to Liberty's 22 is nice to see.  Combine the above with disastrous 1st and 3rd quarters, but gutsy bouncebacks in the 2nd and 4th, and I think we can award a lowercase "e" for effort and execution.

D - Those 10 steals are a plus in this category, but almost 48% shooting for Liberty doesn't say too much for our defense, particularly when the percentage from three range was 47%...not great.  There's a small bright spot with the 4th quarter three point percentage for Liberty dropping to a mere 14%, but after quarts of 75%, 60%, and 100% (admittedly only a single shot) shooting from three, I just don't think the letter is warranted.

That gives us a F-R-e-_, which...isn't terrible, but certainly reflects that this team has room to improve.

(Van Chencellor)

The Cards will wrap up the Van and Betty Chancellor Classic with a 1:45pm tip against Gonzaga...yes, that's a bit of an oddball time.  Again, video is only available on ESPN+, but radio coverage from Nick and Courtnee continues to be stellar.

Gonzaga enters the day 6-1, with the one loss being to #24 Washington State, but otherwise not exactly a super powerful strength of schedule.  Obviously, being part of the same round-robin tournament in Texas, they do have wins over Alabama (68-58), and Liberty (102-59).  Otherwise it hasn't been terrible competition, but not spectacular either, Montana, Wyoming, Toledo, and North Florida.

Based on the common opponents from the past couple of days, we could really have our work cut out for us.

Volleyball Selection

The Selection Show for the Division I NCAA Volleyball tournament is tonight at 6pm on ESPN.

Louisville is still hopeful for a four or better seed in the tournament, and there is some support for that idea.  The selection committee uses RPI heavily and, while the official RPI results haven't been updated for the end of regular season and conference tournament play, (the committee will have up-to-date data available to them), unofficial RPI trackers have Louisville ranked 3rd in RPI.

You can probably go ahead and pencil in Nebraska as the number one seed, and Stanford as the number two, but beyond that, who ends up where is going to depend just exactly how much the committee depends on various data sets.  Louisville has a good resume, with a strong overall strength of schedule, and only one loss that's not great in NC State, and even that one isn't terrible, with NC State ending the season in 39th in the RPI.

Louisville hosting the 1st and 2nd rounds is pretty much a given, and those matches will be at the KFC Yum! Center, and unless something really bizarre happens, will be Thursday and Friday.  Cross your fingers, but don't hold your breath, for evening matches.  3rd and 4th rounds, presuming we get a 3rd or 4th seed, or otherwise end up the top seed in the remaining teams after the first two rounds, and of course, advance ourselves, will also be at the KFC Yum! Center.

Check out the show tonight, to see what the committee does, and cross your fingers that we do get that 3rd or 4th seed.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Paulie and Jeff held down the fort for the podcast, with the others having various commitments.  Obviously the topics du jour were Basketball and Volleyball, with good discussions on both.

Despite only having the two of us on the call, the hour flew by and I think some pretty good discussion happened.  Check it out!

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-Prepares-for-Selection--WBB-Drops-a-Tight-One-e2cd65k

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JMcA