Cards in the Pros - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Cards in the Pros

WNBA Basketball

It's been a little while since we've caught up with some Cards in the Pros, so let's do that today.

The WNBA has benefited from a huge surge of awareness and popularity, and I think it's fair to say it's largely driven by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.  Ultimately, I don't much care what the genesis of the attention is, I just like to see it happening.

Unfortunately for UofL rooting interests, former Cards, well they're doing fine, and we'll look at some quick season-so-far stats for that in a moment, but the teams they're on?  Eh, we're looking at mid-pack at best.

Dana Evans

Dana Evans is continuing to impress in Chicago despite her diminutive height.  The team overall?  They're in 8th (out of 12 teams), so not spectacular, despite the presence of the aforementioned Angel Reese.

Evans has played in all 23 games of the season so far, and started 12.  She averages 20 minutes per game, and in that time is managing to put down almost eight points on average.  Evans is never going to be an incredible rebounder at merely 5'6", but she does manage to get about one defensive board a game.  She gets about three assists and a steal per game and she'll hit about 36% of her field shots, frneom wherever she takes them.  Overall she's at 37%, and 35.9% from beyond the arc.  At the charity stripe, however, she's Ms dependable, scoring a whopping 97.1% of her free throws.

Myisha Hines-Allen

Myisha Hines-Allen has had a solid career with the Washington Mystics, and she continue to contribute solidly.  Unfortunately, the Mystics are in 11th place in the league (only Dallas is keeping them out of last place).

Hines-Allen has also played in all 23 games of the season thus far, starting in eight of them.  Playing just under 19 minutes a game, she's scoring eight points in that period, typically pulling down an offensive rebound and about four defensive in the process.  2.5 assists per game on average is fine, but I'd like to see a few more steals and blocks from here as I think she's capable of more than the .5 steals per game, and .1 blocks per game that she's currently averaging.  She is solid on offense, however, with 50% shooting from the field overall, and over 42% from beyond the arc.  OK, she's not a super prolific three point shooter, but she has dropped 14 of them in the hoop on the season, not bad given her playing style here at UofL.  Over 80% from the free throw line is quite acceptable.

Emily Engstler

Also with the Mystics, and seeming to carve out at least a niche for herself this season, Engstler is also mostly an offensive threat.  She's played in 16 games thus far, with no starts yet, but averaging a touch over 12 minutes per game.  3.5 rebounds per game is a nice stat, though the numbers do fall off compared, again, to what we all believe she's capable of, with .6 steals per game, and .3 blocks per game.  OK, she may be a bit undersized to be much of a blocking threat at 6'1", but she was always great at getting into passing lanes and disrupting the other teams offense.  I'd love to see more of that.  She shooting a solid 43.5% from the field, 40% beyond the arc, and again a completely acceptable 85.7% at the charity stripe.

Pro Volleyball Signings - PVF and LOVB (and AU)

None of the pro volleyball leagues are in action this time of year, but I believe all of the first year PVF contracts were considered one year contracts that expired on June 30th.  With basically the whole league being free agents, and LOVB just getting going with signing players to their teams, the end of June and early July had rapid-fire signing announcements.

So, a quick rundown of where our VolleyCards in the pros are going to be playing this year.

First, Erin Fairs continues her significant involvement with Athletes Unlimited and their quirky structure and scoring system.  AU will play their 2024 season in Mesa Arizona in October and November.  Their season lasts five weeks, and you might remember that they re-draft their four teams every week.

The only other "re-signing" for pro Cards is Tori Stringer (nee Dilfer).  Midway through last season she was traded from the Atlanta Vibe to the Columbus Fury.  She'll continue her tenure there.  That trade did reunite her with head coach Ángel Pérez, who also was Stringer's head coach in the time that she played in Puerto Rico before the PVF started.  She very much likes playing for Pérez, so it's a good connection.

Speaking of Columbus, Pérez and Puerto Rico, however,  Wilma Rivera, from Puerto Rico, will be switching from the Orlando Valkyries to play for the Columbus Fury as well.  Yes, Stringer and Rivera, both UofL alumnae, are both setters, and they are (at least so far) the only setters on the 2025 Fury roster, so it looks like a UofL alumnae will be setting in Columbus one way or the other.  Which one?  Good question, my guess is that Rivera will get the starting spot, but I don't think that's a given.  It could be quite a position battle.

Aiko Jones, our favorite Jamaican, now with a US Green Card, can be gainfully employed in the US now.  (She was very restricted previously because she was on a student visa.)  I thought there was a good chance that she would be signed by Columbus, which would have been a great life situation for her as her wife is a veterinary student at OSU, but that didn't come to pass.  She did find her way onto a PVF roster, however, signing with the Atlanta Vibe.

Over to LOVB now, a new professional league starting early 2025.  They, too, have been announcing players and two are former Cards.

The first to sign with LOVB Madison was Anna "Stevie" Hall (nee Stevenson).  Stevie was getting a bit tired of playing on the international scene and was excited to come back to US soil and get to play professionally.  She has also been making appearances with the US WNT in Volleyball, and was picked as a non-traveling alternate for the Olympics.

After the June 30th expiration of all of the PVF contracts, Claire Chaussee announced that she would be getting her cheesehead back on, also joining LOVB Madison, alongside Stevie.  Another wonderful life situation, Chaussee has always been listed as hailing from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and I don't know if you've ever looked on a map, but Sun Prairie is basically a suburb of Madison.  So that makes a nice homecoming for her.

So there you go, a rundown of Cards in the Pros for you.  Did I miss any?  Probably, feel free to get in the comments with updates on any that I miss if you know of any.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We had fun on the CCRHP yesterday.  We had a wonderful discussion of monorails and other light rail systems.  OK, maybe a bit off topic, but it was a lot of fun.  We heard a report from Daryl about her chat with new Basketball assistant coach Amanda Butler, we covered some Olympics appearances to come, and just had a great, widely roaming discussion centered around UofL women's sports (yes, even the monorail/light rail had some bit of tie-in).

Check it out:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/A-Cardinal-Couple-Quiz-e2lf2lh

 

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JMcA