Jeff and Jared Visit Pro VolleyCards in Indy -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Visiting the Pro VolleyCards in Indy

Fishers Event Center

Jeff and I ventured outside of Louisville following the Cards’ loss to Notre Dame on Sunday in women’s basketball. Our destination was the Fishers Event Center in Indiana to catch some professional volleyball as fans. Cardinal Couple has been denied media credentials multiple times this season for the Ignite since we are not local media and do not actively cover their team. Four former Cardinals were on the combined rosters for the match. Wilma Rivera and Tori Dilfer Stringer dressed for the Columbus Fury while Elena Scott and Anna DeBeer were on the other side with the Indy Ignite.

The host Ignite took the 3-0 sweep in front of approximately 5,000 fans. Members of the crowd included the DeBeer family, the Scott family, and the Rush (Ceci is a Louisville volleyball alum) family. The current Purdue head coach was sitting court side along the baseline to watch a couple former Boilermakers play.

Tori Dilfer Stringer

We had a chance to talk to Stringer, DeBeer, and Scott after the match. Rivera had some family in town visiting from presumably Puerto Rico and did not get to swing over to chit chat. Stringer showed some sign of frustration as she felt her team had an off night. DeBeer was not dressed in uniform, but was still on the bench with the rest of the team. Scott had an unfamiliar look as she did not wear the libero jersey for the first time since high school. Kylie Murr, who is in her second pro season, is the current libero on the team and has given Scott some competition.

While we did not conduct an official interview with the players, nor did we do any video, our former Cards were happy to talk with us and answer a few questions.

All of them seemed to be excited for both Dani Busboom Kelly on taking the Nebraska job and for Dan Meske being promoted to the Louisville job. Anna mentioned how she predicted this was going to happen this season while many of us thought this personnel change was still a few years away. We did learn that both the Louisville and Nebraska players were informed at the exact same time and found out less than an hour before the official announcement. This was to help limit the chances of information being leaked in advance.

Anna DeBeer

Tori, who has a few professional years under her belt now, has been adjusting to her new team and new roster. She and Wilma Rivera have split time at setter and both of them are playing more of a veteran and leadership role. She did mention the fun she had with helping run some of the volleyball podcasts and videos for Floyd Street Media and is hopeful to do so again next fall.

Anna is not quite healthy yet but assured us that things are trending in the right direction for her. A timeline of returning wasn’t given but she indicated that she plans to actively participate in the matches by the end of the season. We did not ask the extent of her injuries but Jeff and I both were under the impression that it was a bit worse than we thought back during the Final Four. Either way, she has a bright career ahead of her.

Elena Scott

Anna and Elena are currently roommates in an apartment not far from the arena. That’s not too bad seeing as both practice and workout together on the same team and have each other to lean on. Both players are Louisville natives and are playing outside of their hometown for the first time ever, albeit being just a couple hours away.

It was certainly good to catch up with some of our former Cards and to hear that each one is doing well. We hope to head back north for another match later this season.

Back in Louisville, Dan Meske was officially introduced as the next Louisville volleyball head coach. Jeff and I both hit this promotion over the last few days, but you can find his introductory presser below.

Dan Meske Introductory Press Conference

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards WBB falls to Notre Dame 89-71 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Irish's strong second half sinks Cards. 

For 20 minutes Sunday afternoon, the Louisville women's basketball squad looked perfectly capable of defeating Notre Dame. Even though the Irish's Hannah Hildago was doing everything but driving the Irish team bus to Dizzy Whiz to go get burgers and a shake, Louisville was only one point behind the Irish at 39-38 at the half...and UofL had led for three minutes in the second quarter. 

Then, they played the second half.

Whatever ND head coach Ivey said to her squad during the halftime break needs to be bottled and sold to college basketball. The Irish outscored the Cards by ten in the third quarter and led by 23 with 3:40 left in the game before settling for the 18-point win.

It was 45-44 UND with four minutes gone in the third quarter. Notre Dame then proceeded to go on a 15-6 run over the next five minutes...take 60-50 lead... and the nearly 12,000 in the YUM (except for the Irish fans) had gotten deathly silent. Hidalgo had 12 points in the quarter and the Cards were on the short end of a 65-54 score. 

the Irish would continue the out-scoring of the Cards, despite 10 second half turnovers, and coast to a 50-33 second half edge and 89-71 win. 

70 points scored usually is good enough for the Cards to win a game, especially in the KFC YUM! Center..but the #3 Irish weren't seeing it. Thank goodness the visitors were only 6-20 from three point range...they could have stuck triple digits on the Cards. 

Hildago was the story, with her 34 points...I now believe all the hype about her being the best player in college basketball right now...she and her teammates shot 55% against the Cards.

 The Louisville defense chose a bad time to take an afternoon off. 

 

So, the Cards go to 15-7 on the season and 9-3 in the ACC. Notre Dame improves to 19-2 and is undefeated in ACC played at 10-0. What had promise at the start of the game turned into a disappointing drubbing by a team that just may be your impending National Champions...only UCLA and South Carolina are ranked higher...and nether have faced Notre dame yet.  

Taj Roberts finished with 17 for the Cards...she's outplaying the experienced players on the Louisville roster right now.

Freddy Fazbear 

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- The Cards went 16-21 from the line, Jayda Curry going 8-10, and the 76.2% is good enough to get them a CAPITAL "F".  

REBOUNDS -- The Cards got their "you know what" handed to them on the boards losing 44-29 to the the taller Irish. Mackenly Randolph had 10 for UofL, in just 23 minutes. NO LETTER

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 17 turnovers for the Cards, they shot 35.9% fort he game and got another huge effort from Taj Roberts, but Harris and Cochran combined for only 21 points on a night where they needed to double that total. A 46-30 drubbing in the paint scoring told the story, NO LETTER. 

DEFENSE -- 89 points is the highest point total UofL has surrendered this year, and 55% Irish shooting and losing the second half 50-33 to Notre Dame indicate the defensive woes the Cards had . NO LETTER.

FINAL FRED TALLY: F-_-_-_.

The Cards remain home for their next one...California visits for a 8 p,m, tipoff Thursday the 5th. 

Today's photos by Jared Anderson

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

POST GAME NOTRE DAME

paulie

 

Notre Dame Visits - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Gameday vs Notre Dame

Kick off your sports day today with Notre Dame coming to the KFC Yum! Center to visit the Cards at noon.

Usually a marquee matchup, these two teams have a long history of high caliber competition, and consequently, the TV coverage for this one has been elevated to ESPN2.  Consequently, we get the high power commentary crew with Ryan Ruocco for play by play, Rebecca Lobo as Analyst, and Holly Rowe for roving reporter.

The Irish come to Louisville sporting a ranking of number three in the nation based on an 18-2 record, undefeated, 9-0, in conference.  The losses came to TCU (with Ms. Van Lith), and Utah.

Signature wins on Notre Dame's resume (not that they really need them) include an overtime win over Texas, an 11 point margin over UConn, 10 points over UNC, and 15 over Georgia Tech.

Many of you, our dear readers, are likely already familiar with the big names at ND.  Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, Liatu King, and Maddy Westbeld.

There are no obvious weaknesses in this ND team.  Niele Ivey has them firing on all cylinders, and besting their opponents in every statistical category on the stat sheet.

The Cards will have their work cut out for them.  This is the crucible that will help discover how this Cards team is made of.  In the past the team has crumpled under pressure, particularly in 4th quarters, even if they were able to ride out the damage and still get a victory at the end of the game sometimes.

That won't be an option today.  Louisville will need to come out the tunnel ready and raring to go and not make any mistakes in order to be able to handle this Irish team.  We'll need inspired play from multiple players to be able to stand up to the Miles and Hidalgo attack.

As mentioned, noon, on ESPN2, or come out to the KFC Yum! Center to catch the action.

Volleyball Commentary

It was mentioned earlier in the week that I would contribute my commentary about the volleyball coaching changes announced this week, and honestly, what is there say other than it was a great hire.  Erin Fairs, UofL alumna, will make a great assistant coach at Rice.

Oh, not that coaching change?

Of course, the really big news of the week,  and not just for the individual programs involved, is the retirement of John Cook at Nebraska, the subsequent announcement that Dani Busboom Kelly would be taking the reins as their new head coach, the complementary announcement that she was stepping down as Louisville's Head Coach, and then the promotion of Dan Meske to the helm here at Louisville.

Those came out as four individual announcements, obviously related, but each individually posted.  But the time lapse from the first to the last was a whopping 32 minutes.  Clearly this was well coordinated between the Nebraska and Louisville programs, and kudos to both as this minimizes the disruption, angst, and worry of both fan communities, as well as the players on each team.

Maybe the only surprising part of this whole change was the timing of John Cook's retirement, as most in the volleyball community expected him to coach for another year or two before hanging up the clipboard, but even that surprise was minimal.  Nebraska tabbing DBK as the next Head Coach was not surprising in the least, with Nebraska' Athletic Director suggesting that he would have been run out of town by fans if he had picked anyone else.

It's also not in the slightest bit surprising that DBK took the offer.  Nebraska is her home, she grew up nearby, in Cortland, NE, her husband Lane grew up Lincoln, and both of their families still live in the area.  DBK negotiated in her recently renewed contract that there would be no buyout if she left to coach Nebraska (the buyout would have been $300,000 otherwise), and it was clear to any that interacted with her that her heart was still in Lincoln.

DBK has been, unquestionably, a huge asset for Louisville and we should be forever grateful for her work here and wish her the best in the Big10.

But don't weep for Louisville volleyball.  The only other point of even slight uncertainty of how this would all go down when Cook decided to retire, was whether Louisville would put on a national coaching search, or just promote from within.  My preference and general expectation, was to promote from within as they did, and I think it's a fantastic decision.

Dan Meske is a great next Head Coach for the Cards.  He has been a huge part of the growth and development of this team over the eight years that he worked with DBK, and is one of the architects of the great culture that exists within the program.  He is a super well respected coach and apparently turned down several offers over the past few years to helm other programs with a preference to stay in Louisville.

And that's one of the things that I want to emphasize.  More than Xs and Os, more than recruiting, and even more than his hand in the incredible culture...Meske wants to be in Louisville.  I've heard him comment about really thinking about Louisville as home at this point, noting that Louisville is the only home is three sons have ever known.

For the better part of eight years we've all but known for sure that DBK would someday be leaving for Lincoln, with the only real uncertainty being "When does John Cook retire."  To be clear, I don't blame her, I've even said that if she didn't take that position when it opened up I would be marching into her office asking, "What on earth are you doing?!"  But its good to have a coach that at least feels like he's in it for the long haul.  I wouldn't be surprised if he borrows the idea from Jeff Walz, "I'll either retire here, or be fired here."

So great things are ahead for Louisville volleyball with Meske at the helm.  I don't expect this program to miss a beat.  Nearly all of the current players, and many recruits, have expressed their excitement for years to come and expectation of continuing in their current or future enrollment plans.  Oh, and this is the case for both Louisville and Nebraska from the sounds of things.

I don't think I have ever seen such a smooth coaching transition, particularly considering the coordination needed between two difference schools on the announcements, and that speaks to the care, thought, and investment from both schools in the programs involved.

I can't wait for spring play, and the season to start in late August.

 

Oh, and for what it's worth, the comment about Rice hiring Erin Fairs as an assistant coach is true!  And I do expect she will make a great assistant coach for them as she embarks on her coaching career.  Well wishes to the Cardinal alumna.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP wasn't live on Youtube yesterday as I was battling with some audio issues with my headset after upgrading the OS version on my computer during the week.  I did join a few minutes after the start of the recording, and had a great discussion with Case, Daryl, and Paul about the new coaching changes in volleyball as well as some recap and preview for basketball.

Check it out:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Change-in-the-Air-for-Volleyball-e2u9c0p

-- 

JMcA

An Interview with Scott Teeter -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Opens Season Next Week

With Louisville lacrosse set to start their season on February 7th at home against Denver, what better time than now to check in with head coach Scott Teeter? Yesterday, Paulie and Jared did just that, heading down to the Planet Fitness Kueber Center for a preseason chat. The guys got Teeter going and turned their conversation into a 20-minute experience. I encourage you to listen to the full interview at the link below, but here are some of my key takeaways.

Here is the listening link:  2025 Season Preview with Scott Teeter

On the Season Opener

Teeter opened with how excited the team is to get going. According to him, they've reached the point in the offseason where they just need to play another team. They're excited to play and practicing hard, but there's only so much you can do when every practice is running offensive sets that the defense already knows are coming. 

Denver graduated a lot of players, much like Louisville. Denver's pride is defense and they lost a number of All-American defenders. 

Denver does well with one year transfers and a number of players will step up, including some Canadians they know quite well. 

With the changes, Louisville still knows they will be quite defensive focused. The scout is very different with a number of new players and a new offensive coordinator from Ohio State.

On This Year's Team

Louisville graduated a ton of minutes from last season, including, per Teeter, over 50% of their scoring offense. They'll look for experienced players to step up and fill the roles left open by Nicole Perroni, Kokoro Nakazawa, Allegra Catalano, and Kylie Dobson, but it will largely be by committee. 

Players he expects to be a big part in stepping up include Lauren Figas, Rian Adkins, Negai Nakazawa, Izzy Seikel, and Maggie McMahon. 

When asked for players that would be names that would grow in Louisville fans' consciousnesses, Teeter went back to the same well: McMahon, Nakazawa, Seikel, Figas, and Adkins.

The freshmen to watch include Ella Berg, who Teeter thinks is a top-ten freshman in the country. Berg scored the most goals for Louisville in fall ball. He also mentioned new attackers in Issy Leech and Kate Daniels. 

Defensively, names that came up as standing out were Ashley Osborne (a 6th year player returning after losing her senior year in 2023 to injury. Osborne was a 4-time team MVP for Ballard and was Miss KY Lacrosse) and senior Ava Coyle. Young defenders may not start but will contribute significant minutes. 

On the Weather

It's been unfortunate to not have the practices outside, with that making them unable to use one of the only dedicated women's lacrosse facilities in the country, but the UofL facilities made it easy to move indoors without missing much of a beat. Teeter chose to take the positives from the experience, noting it helps them with the difference in playing surfaces and should give some of the girls more of an opportunity to get inside playing experience before they go play at Marquette. 

On the ACC

Excited about the new look ACC and playing Stanford and Cal for the first time, with Cal on the road to open the ACC conference season. Working on what the logistics of playing all the way in California will look like. 

The ACC schedule will be difficult with UNC and BC among the top favorites to win the national championship. He also name checked Virginia, Syracuse, and Notre Dame, and believes the ACC is the top conference in the country. 

Happy to see the expansion of lacrosse as more programs like FSU add a team and is looking forward to the return of lacrosse to the Olympics in 2028. 

On Rule Changes

This is largely a non-change year as the rules are on a two-year cycle. One change to note is that midfield charges will now just be a common foul with change of possession rather than a green card penalty. 

It was a three-pronged approach to adjustment last season. Coaches had to change their systematic approach, players had to change the way they play, and officials adjusted the way they called the game.

A Surprise for Paulie

As we look ahead to the new season, Paulie was curious about how Negai is adjusting to life in the US and on the team without Kokoro. Always happy to get one over on Paulie, Teeter was glad to say that they haven't needed to address that as Kokoro hasn't gone anywhere: she's the student assistant for UofL this season. 

Kokoro has largely served as a personal coach for Negai, but is also focused on helping the other attackers. Negai is playing very confidently after the gold medal for Japan and Teeter expects her to fill the role largely left by Kokoro.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on board this week, and gee, I wonder what we'll talk about. We're in the thick of the conference season for basketball, volleyball had major news, and we're less than a week away from the spring sports season. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB vs SMU -- Goodbye DBK -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Hello readers, welcome to the end of the month.

Photo: Jared Anderson

Before we get into any basketball recaps, I have to mention the departing DBK from the Louisville Volleyball program. 

First, I was actually wearing a volleyball shirt all day on Wednesday. The news broke in the evening and I gasped when the Cardinal Couple chat shared the news. I was not ready for this inevitability to come to fruition so soon, but is anyone ever ready for a good coach to move on?

I just wish she could have brought one home for the Cardinals first. The Cards got to the big game twice but did not take all the marbles. I fully believe the Cards could’ve made it happen on their home court had Anna DeBeer been playing in the match. It’s one of those things that’ll sting for a while and now this news… we will see how the look of the program changes over the next few months.

I also will say I'm not surprised DBK said "yes" to the Huskers. It was an opportunity for DBK to return to her alma mater and I imagine she will be there for the long haul. The Husker program usually finds itself in the national conversation. I appreciate DBK for leaving the program better than she found it. It’s been a lot of fun to watch. But I hope the Cards kick their arse!!!!



WBB

Photo: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals (9-1, 16-5) pulled out another close one out on the road against the SMU last night...corralling the Mustangs 80-75 to move to 15-6 on the season and 8-2 in the ACC.  Tajianna Roberts lead for UofL with 22 points shooting...going 9-14 from the field.  

End of 1Q 21-15 Cards
FG %
9-17 52.9% Cards
7-14 50% SMU
Reb. 9-6 SMU
3-pt %
3-7 42.9% Cards
1-2 50% SMU


Jayda Curry hit a 3 to start the game for the Cards. With a sprinkle of scoring from Nyla Harris, Olivia Cochran and Taj Roberts, the Cardinals went on a 9-0 run to push it to a 12-2 lead. It was a 2:30 min scoring drought for SMU. But not to be discouraged, SMU went on a 6-0 run before a Harris layup puts the Cards up 14-8. Jessica Peterson scored 8 of the Mustangs first 10 points. SMU battled back to make it 14-13 before Harris put it up and in for a perfect 3-3 start on the juniors' night.




End of 2Q  20-17 Cardinals 


FG %
7-15 46.7% Cards
5-12 41.7%  SMU
Reb.  9-7 Cards 
3-pt %
2-4 50% Cards
2-5 40%  SMU



The Cardinals committed 2 turnovers in the first 2:30 minutes. SMU took its first lead at 23-21.  SMU goes on an 8-0 run to open the 2nd quarter in the first 4 minutes.  A Roberts steal and open layup missed off the bounce but she got her own rebound and put back to secure the lead back for Louisville.  Roberts followed it up with a 3 pointer to make it 28-23.

As the two squads battled,  the Cards cranked up the pressure with a minute and half left in the half with 4 freshman on the floor and took a 38-32 lead.  Arenas hit the 3 pointer with 20 seconds to make it a 41-32 lead. UofL went on a 7-0 run in final minute and 40 seconds... holding SMU scoreless for the final 2:20 in the half.

Roberts had 12 points for UofL on 4-7 shooting, 2-3 from 3 point land 3 assists and 2 rebounds in the half. 



HALF   41-32




End of 3Q

FG %
8-15 53.3% Cards
5-12 41.7%  SMU
Reb.   11-4 SMU
3-pt %
2-4 50% Cards
2-5 40%  SMU 


Curry re-entered the game after sitting out most of the second quarter and hit the jumper to give the Cards their largest lead at 11. She played just 12 minutes of the first half due to some early fouls. Olivia Cochran got some questionable whistles as well.  

The Cards built a 50-39 lead with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. SMU committed 4 turnovers over a two-ish minute period.  Cards had 26 points off 17 SMU turnovers.  Merissah Russell's intentional foul to stop the clock when Curry comes up limping and grabbing her hamstring after making the steal but is unable to put the ball through the hoop.   

Berry hits the jumper in the last 10 seconds and the Cards retake a 10 point lead.



End of 4Q

FG %
6-10 60% Cards
6-11 54.5%  SMU
Reb.  6-3 Cards
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
2-4 50%  SMU

Over a minute and a half to start the fourth... Nya Robertson went on a 9-0 run cutting the Cards lead to 65-60 with 7:30 to go.

Jayda Curry hit a 3 with 6:45 left in the game to put Cards back up 8 but SMU hit the 3 to respond and SMU's Robertson hits her 25th point of the game before she comes up huge again on an acrobatic shot and the and 1 to send her to the line.   

Robertson had 13 points at half, 0 in the third and 19 in 4th quarter

She tied it up 68 all with 5:15 to go...four minutes earlier the Cards lead by 14 with 9:15 left in the game.  

Russell air balls a 3 before SMU takes the lead with 3:45 to go, 72-70. 

Curry with the acrobatic drive to the basket and the lucky roll to tie it all up again.

A ridiculous loose ball foul called on Cochran, her fifth, sends her to the bench and sends the Mustangs to the line where they went 1-2.

Taj Roberts with a huge bucket off the glass puts the Cards ahead 76-75 with under a minute to play.  SMU fouls with 20 seconds to go.  SMU fouls Curry with about 17 seconds left where Curry went 2-2 to and put the Cards up 78-75. The Cards add two more free throws fpr the final 80-75 margin

UP NEXT

Louisville vs  Notre Dame

Sunday at 12p.m.

ESPN2 

FRED REPORT


Fred Chopin (1810-1849) wrote 21 noctures. 

FREE THROWS --  Louisville went 12-13 with Nyla Harris leading the way with 6-6.  The Mustangs had about twice as many free throw opportunities but the Cards were at least productive when given the opportunity to secure the game at the end.  Capital F

REBOUNDING --  UofL got outrebounded 30-25 in the game.  Olivia Cochran led the rebounding efforts with just 5 due to her foul trouble.  The Cardinals had been establishing a reputation for securing a lot of second chance opportunities but only managed 8 offensive rebounds in the game.  no letter

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  The Cardinals were up by 14 at the start of the 4th quarter before they saw the lead disintegrate when SMU took the lead with just under 4 minutes left in the game.   Kudos to the squad for coming back after letting go of the lead late into the game but ....gollllleeee..... I'm with our site founder Paulie when he says, "let's ditch the 4th quarter of basketball games moving forward."   lower case e

DEFENSE --  The Cards held the Mustangs scoreless for the final 2:30 of the first half and final 2:44 of the game to seal the victory.   SMU was 2-7 in the ACC heading into the game.  Walz and the Cards knew it would be no easy task but they really did give the UofL a huge scare heading into February and a huge Sunday matchup.  lower case d

FINAL FRED TALLY: F-_- e-d

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

As always
Go Cards!


~Daryl

DBK Resigns, Meske Takes Over -- WBB to Face SMU -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Dani Busboom Kelly Leaves Louisville, Dan Meske Takes Over

While I was hoping for a calm and peaceful Wednesday night where I could scout SMU women's basketball some, life decided to make it a chaotic middle of the week. We got some pretty big breaking news last night as Dani Busboom Kelly stepped down as head coach of Louisville volleyball to take the head coach position at Nebraska following John Cook's sudden retirement.

The announcement happened quite suddenly about 6:00pm last night and I haven't had time to sit and process this yet so we'll see how sporadic and 'pinballish' my thoughts will be here.

John Cook spent the last 25 years leading Nebraska and led the Huskers to four national championships. While Cook had recently extended his contract through 2029, he decided it was time to ride off into the sunset.

With the head coach vacancy at Nebraska, there was no doubt that the top choice would be Dani Busboom Kelly. DBK won national championships as both a player and a coach under Cook during her time at Nebraska. 

Dani Busboom Kelly came to Louisville in 2017 and coached the Cards for eight seasons. During her tenure, she posted a 203-44 record that included four ACC Championships, eight NCAA Tournament appearances, three Final Fours, and two National Runner-Up finishes. Prior to the arrival of DBK, Louisville had never advanced beyond the Sweet Sixteen.

Under the leadership of DBK, several Louisville players earned All-American honors including Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, Charitie Luper, Anna Stevenson, Tori Dilfer, Aiko Jones, Raquel Lazaro, Amaya Tillman, and Claire Chaussee.

With Busboom Kelly headed back home to Nebraska, Louisville plans to elevate Dan Meske to head coach at Louisville. Meske joined DBK's staff from day one at Louisville as an associate head coach after previous stints as an assistant coach at Nebraska and a head coach at Augustana.

We will let our Volleyball guru Jeff McAdams provide a much more thorough breakdown of what this means for Louisville in a few days. He will also provide any updates that we may have on Dan Meske's staff (Todd Chamberlain is expected to stay but unconfirmed) and any possible player transfers.

We do wish Dani Busboom Kelly the best at Nebraska.

Women's Basketball Visits SMU

Onto our regularly scheduled happenings, we have Louisville women's basketball set to face off against SMU tonight. The Cards and Mustangs will tip off at 8:00pm ET (7:00pm SMU time) and will air on ACC Network.

Louisville enters the game 14-6 on the year with a 7-2 ACC record. Most recently, the Cards survived a scare at Virginia to earn a road win after falling at Virginia Tech before that. The Cards sit at fourth in the conference, currently.

SMU is 10-11 this season and boasts a 2-7 conference mark. The Mustangs have lost five straight with their most recent loss coming at Miami. Their losing streak began on the road to Pitt in a game that will go down in the NCAA history books. That game saw SMU up by a large a margin before surrendering a 31-0 run including a 28-0 third quarter. Pitt went on a 54-10 extended run to win. The Mustangs' non-conference schedule isn't great and they went 1-3 against 'Power Five' opponents. 

SMU averages 65.8 points per game while surrendering 67.4 ppg. They shoot a solid .375 from the field but have been poor from three-point range, shooting .284. The Mustangs have been outrebounding opponents by two rebounds per game.

Nya Robertson (19.0 ppg) is a dangerous scorer and has had plenty of offensive support from Chantae Embry (11.7 ppg) and Jessica Peterson (9.6 ppg). Peterson has been nearly unstoppable in the paint and brings in 12.3 rebounds per game. The senior center also has 25 blocks on the year.

SMU's team and individual stats are better than their record shows but they have struggled against the competition.

Louisville is 2-1 all-time against SMU. The Mustangs won the inaugural meeting back in 1996 but the Cards took the win in the other two meetings during the 2013-2014 AAC season. 

Walz

Coach Jeff Walz had his pre-contest presser Wednesday before the Cards WBB squad travels to Dallas to face SMU tonite. Hear it below:

WALZ PRESSER 1/29/24

*All photos by Jared*

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

SMU next stop on Cards road trip. -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VISIT MUSTANGS IN DALLAS. 

Don't let the SMU 2-7 conference record fool you, SMU women's basketball won't be a one- sided romp for Louisville on Thursday. 

True, the Mustangs have been beat up and bullied by Duke, FSU, NC State and Notre Dame this season..,but they are coming off a close loss at Miami and are 10-11 on the season and 7-4 at home in Moody Coliseum...an arena that eerily looks like Memorial Coliseum in Lexington. 

"See that big city? It's Dallas. our team will play softball there someday"

We all remember what happened to Louisville in Lexington. 

SMU is the squad playing without any pressure. They know they are a longshot to make the NCAA Tournament, but a win against Louisville would go a long way with the selection committee if they were on the bubble. 

And they do have some weapons...

Nya will blow right by ya, if you don't guard her

Nya Robertson joined the Mustangs this season after two years at George Washington,  where she led them in scoring. She now leads the Mustangs in scoring with 19.0 ppg.

Chante Embry is a 6'1" forward who averages 11 points a game and scored 22 against FSU. 

The duo could make things difficult for the Cards. Head coach Toyell Wilson is an experienced coach that is 45-44 at SMU and led the Mustangs through the tough conference battles in the ACC and, as an assistant at Michigan...had success  Remember Naz Hillmon? She was a Wilson disciple and seems to be doing quite well with the Atlanta Dream. 

And, a good guard and forward combo almost wreaked havoc on UofL when they went to Charlottesville and ACC opponents are lined up to defeat a name school like Louisville and get national attention and a great boost to their resume. These Cards may not be Tier One this year yet, but they are a team that is coming together more each time they hit the floor. 

The Cards are nearing a three game stretch that looks pretty scary. Notre Dame, Cal and Stanford...all in the KFC YUM! Center. but, ask Jeff Walz, and he'll tell you he doesn't look past the next game on the schedule...and that's a wise thing to do with the youth on the Cards roster. 

Can Cards corral the Mustangs? 

One game at a time. One win at a time. It's corral the mustangs first, then meet the Irish. And, nine games remain on the regular schedule before the ACC WBB Tournament. Hard to believe, right? Frentic Feburary awaits..are Louisville ready to ride the lightning...or dissolve into a fading front?

Jared will break the Mustangs down in more detail tomorrow. 

paulie

  

And they do have some weapon

Softball Season Swiftly Approaching -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Travel to Florida Next Week

Louisville softball is swiftly approaching the 2025 regular season. Similar to past seasons, the Cards will spend a majority of February in warmer weather, this time playing 16 games in three and a half weeks in Florida. Only six of those opponents made the NCAA Tournament last year and none of them advanced beyond the NCAA Regionals. For a fairly young team, playing lighter competition early can be beneficial, especially due to the caliber the ACC will bring.

Notable returners and upper classmen include junior pitcher Alyssa Zabala, senior infielder Ally Alexander, senior infielder Maddi Grant, and junior outfielder Chelsea Mack. Zabala is in line to be the ace again this season and will have plenty of help from other pitchers such as Sam Booe and Brooke Gray. Alexander suffered a hand injury for part of last season, but has been the utility player for many infield positions over the years. Grant has been an on-off player in terms of starting or playing a reserve role, but her bat picked up quite a bit during the back half of last season. Mack, who transferred in from Kentucky a couple years ago, is expected to take control of center field again and will be a speedy base runner on offense.

Last year’s Louisville team had some offensive woes, scoring three or fewer runs in 22 out of 52 games played. Softball is often a high-scoring game so you want to aim for higher than 0.5 runs per inning each game. The Cards gave up six or more runs (double the three runs previously mentioned) 16 times last season. Some pitching and infielder woes helped contribute to allowing high scores, both things we hope to see cleaned up this season.

In close games where the score differential was two runs or less or went to extra innings, the Cards went 10-14. While they were able to find a way to win in 42% of those games, you want to see that number far higher. It is good to be competing in those games, especially against tough teams such as Duke, Clemson, and Florida State, but the best teams find a way to pull a win out. If the Cards found a way to turn half of those close game losses into wins and went 17-7, their overall record would have been 34-18, a good enough mark to make the NCAA Tournament. Sadly, 27-25 kept the Cards on the outside looking in.

The hype has been pretty high so far this season so we will see what Holly Aprile and her crew are able to do to help propel Louisville back into the postseason.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Hang On At Virginia 68-65 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS WBB BENDS BUT DOESN'T BREAK AGAINST HOOS

It was a fourth quarter that Cards fans would just soon as forget, but UofL went to Charlottesville Sunday afternoon and left with a three-point win. 

Louisville led the Cavaliers 62-45 after 30 minutes of play and were getting great production from Jayda Curry (with five threes), Nyla Harris and had a massive rebounding edge, but then UVA got a rally going that saw them outscore UofL 20-6 in the final quarter and draw within three at 68-65 with 3:30 to play. 

The Cards took control early in the game, and jumped out to a nine-point lead.  But, at the end.., the scoring ended. For both teams. Louisville missed seven shots in those final three minutes and UVA was equally as woeful and missed a three attempt at the buzzer, to preserve the win for UofL..

.A "W" for the Cards that was their eight in the last nine games and improved their overall record to 14-6 and conference record to 7-2. 

In the beginning, a 13-4 UofL lead with 3:35 gone in the first quarter. Louisville led 25-10 with 39 seconds left in the quarter after two Curry free throws. They took a 25-12 lead to the end of the quarter. 

UVA was not giving up the battle, though and cut the Cards advantage to 29-23 with 6:43 until  halftime. It stopped there, though, as Louisville countered with 13-4 run to go up 42-27 with 1:01 until half after a Taj Roberts layup. The squads went to the halftime locker rooms with the Cards comfortably ahead 44-29. 

Both squads were pretty evenly match in the third quarter, UofL winning the 10 minutes 18-16 and getting six straight points from Nyla Harris to go up 60-45.  A layup at the buzzer from Curry was whistled "good" and UofL led 62-45. 

Then, the fourth. The Cards did not score in the first three minutes and saw the lead shrink to 64-55 with 6:25 to play. Two UVA free throws cut it even further making the score 66-63 with 4:21 left in the contest. The Cards final two points came from Ja'Leah Williams free throws with 3:27 to go...and UVA would just score once from then on. 

Road wins are worth their weight in goal in the ACC and the Cards did enough to win the road contest today, although they didn't finish particularly well... they missed nine of their final ten shots. Jeff Walz had plenty of material today to lament about his squad's penchant for allowing the "dribble drive".

Curry had a Louisville career high with her 19 points. Louisville shot a dismal 38.6% from the floor but still left John Paul Jones Arena with a win

(Fred Gwynne aka Herman Munster fits the scary Cards finish today. It was a "W", though)

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 8-10 from the line, a marked improvement for the Cards that surpasses our 70% mandate and earns them a capital "F". 

REBOUNDS -- 43-31 in favor of the Cards...Cochran had 11 and Roberts nine. A double-double for "O" today and we see a capital "R". 

EFFORT /EXECUTION -- The 38.6% shooting isn't particularly pretty, and the six fourth quarter points were flat ugly, but the Cards looked pretty sharp before that and 15 turnovers is down from previous games..so we'll award a lower case "e" here. 

DEFENSE -- Louisville had nine steals, but allowed 52 of the Virginia points in the paint and 50.9% shooting for UVA. Still, despite the fade at the end, they held UVA to under 70 points and the defense allowed less points than the Cavaliers did. It's a win, let's go lower case "d" 

FINAL FRED TOTAL:  F-R-e-d

Louisville goes to SMU next for a Thursday 1/30/25 contest in Dallas.

POST GAME JEFF WALZ 1/26/25

paulie

Basketball On The Road - Sunday Cardinal Couple

WBB vs Virginia

A week ago today, the Cards were in Blacksburg, VA, today they're 145 miles away in Charlottesville.  It seems a little crazy that these trips couldn't be combined in to a single weekend, but here we are, subject to the whimsy of ACC scheduling.

Charlottesville, is of course, the home to the University of Virginia who will be the Cards' opponent today at 2pm.  Louisville will be looking to get back into the win column and continue to add to their NCAA tournament resume'.  We still have a lot of season to play, but the team is currently 41st in the NET rankings which doesn't necessarily put them "On The Bubble", but it is uncomfortably close.

Virginia is down around the bottom third of the ACC standings, with a conference record of 3-5 and 11-9 overall.  The only real notable win on their schedule so far was against their neighbors Virginia Tech (73-65).  Losses to Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Duke, are certainly understandable.  Georgia Tech, Boston College, and NC State are a bit tougher to take for the Hoos, but the losses to Wyoming and Washington State would be concerning for fans of the blue and orange.

Only two players score in double digits for UVA, Kymora Johnson and Latisha Latimore, 18.3, and 13.3 points per game respectively, while Olivia McGhee, and Breona Hurd fall just short of the mark at 9.6 and 9.5.  From range, Johnson is the biggest threat, not being afraid of hoisting the 3-ball, and hitting about 41% of them.  McGhee hits about 36%, so she shouldn't be left open on the outside either.

Many of the team stats are close compared to their opponents, though UVA does fall short of their opponents, just slightly, in assists, steals, and turnovers.  On the other hand, they do outblock their opponents, and by a margin of almost 2-1, so careful shot selection will be the order of the day.

Let's give some credit to the UVA fanbase however, for a team that maybe doesn't inspire a huge amount of awe, they average over 4,000 in attendance, which is a nice turnout.  I always think watching a game is more enjoyable when you can hear a crowd getting into it, even if they're cheering for the opposing team.

A 2pm start suggests and TV scheduled game, and that is indeed the case here.  An unusual outlet for it, though with The CW being the network carrying this one.  That is a linear channel, and in the Louisville area it is broadcast channel 58 in some areas and on channel 7on Insight. .  It should be available on all TV providers such as Spectrum, DirecTV, YoutubeTV, and others.

Tennis and Swimming

Tennis bounced back from their "short-handed" loss against Middle Tennessee and were able to win, 5-2 against Tennessee Chattanooga.  The Cards were still missing two player to illness meaning that The Mocs got a point on singles court 6 by default.  Despite defaulting on the 3rd doubles court, Louisville won in tie-breakers on the other two courts to get the doubles point.  Regardless, four wins on singles courts would have been enough to secure the overall victory, but the doubles point gave a bit of insurance.

Swimming had a dual meet against Kentucky, and won both the men's and women's side of the event with solid margins.  The women, ranked 10th, out-paddled the Cats to a 206-94 meet win.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl, Jared, Paulie, and I carried on without a illness-striken Case in the CCRHP and had a good discussion about Basketball, as is the norm this time of year.  We did spend a few moments towards the end of the show looking at the newly released Softball schedule and examining the plethora of pitching options on the squad.

Check it out at:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Basketball-Looks-to-Get-Back-to-Winning-e2u0gpa

-- 

JMcA