Sunday Cardinal Couple - St. Louis Plus 10 Years

St. Louis 2009 Final Four Celebration

OK, it hasn't been 10 years of calendar time yet, but it is the 10 season of UofL Women's Basketball since that improbable 2009 run to the Championship game.

Most of the team and support staff were in town and were honored at halftime of the UofL vs NKU game yesterday.  Some of the team couldn't be there, Mo Reid for example, due to still being active in the pro basketball world.  I believe Coach Walz said that Mo was playing in Israel, "and still not guarding anyone."

Many of the Cardinal Couple favorites were there, including Double-B herself, Becky Burke; the all-star of the team, Angel McCoughtry; pressed-into-point-guard-role, Dez Byrd; Laura Terry; and more.

I thought it was a nice touch to honor everyone that was involved with team, including managers, and even radio play-by-player extraordinaire Jim Kelch who was in town doing ACCNE play-by-play and radio for The Norse.

The game, frankly, was largely an afterthought.  NKU came in and played well, including out-rebounding the Cards 39-33 (No "r" in the Fred report today.), and with defensive aggression.  Ultimately, however, they were no match for the Cards, falling in the final tally 92-59.

The Cards were lead by Dana Evans, who poured in 21, mostly by just flat out running past the defender assigned to her and getting lay-ups.  She also dished it out a bit, with a team leading 6 assists.  Sam Fuehring and Kylee Shook shared the spotlight in the paint, with 15 each.  It should be noted that Shook and Evans, despite my description of their primary activity, both also dropped a three.  Asia Durr had a relatively quiet night, with only 11 points

The Cards have a quiet stretch ahead of them. They travel to Mount Pleasant, MI to match up with Central Michigan on the 20th to wrap up the non-conference slate, with one very notable exception. Then they're off until January 3rd, when they start conference play against UNC here at the KFC Yum! Center.

A great late morning and early afternoon of hoops, remembrances and, perhaps,  a moist eye or two in the almost 8,000 in the KFC YUM! Center. 11-0 and in the top 3/4 in the nation.

(PAULIE NOTE: I CAUGHT UP WITH ONE OF THE 2009 PLAYERS AND ASKED HER THOUGHTS ON THE "CURRENT SQUAD". SHE SMILED AND REPLIED THAT IT WOULD BE FUN TO SEE ASIA GO UP AGAINST ANGEL. GIVE IT TIME, IT WILL HAPPEN, GIVE IT TIME. TODAY'S PHOTOS FROM JARED ANDERSON AND A FEW OTHER SOURCES.)


They Said It: 

POST GAME NKU -- JEFF WALZ. (Walz issues an order but is countermanded by Nick E.) 

POST GAME NKU -- KYLEE SHOOK AND DANA EVANS (Kylee wants a new body for XMAS).




The Fred Report

Mr Rogers would have said "It was a
beautiful day in the "Cardinal"-hood. 

Free throws -- 16-21 is 76.2%. In Paulie parlance, that's good for a capital "F". It is Worldwide's article today, though, and he sees it small-case "f"'since it isn't 80%. Small case 'f' it is.

Rebounds -- The Cards were out-rebounded 39-33. This won't get any letter. Walz specifically mentioned that this was something to work on.

Effort/execution -- Hustle stats were all in favor of the Cards. They did win by 33 points. We'll celebrate the 2009 squad, who always came out with excellent effort and execution, and go with the capital "E". 

Defense -- 21 opponent turnovers, 10 steals and 41.7% NKU shooting is good, mind you, but the third quarter standing around and watching warrant a small-case "d".

FINAL FRED TALLY: f-_E-d .


Caption this Picture

Coach Walz either forgot something, is wondering where he is on Saturday afternoon or is debating about needing a shave?  

Caption this picture in our comments section, if you'd like. No prize or nothing  For what Paulie thinks is the best, you'll get nothing...and like it!!

Sonya saw the picture and started laughing...commenting "He's probably trying to make sense out of the last question you asked him." 

Just Keep Swimming

The UofL swimming team, or in the past few days, to put it more accurately, members of the team @UofLswim_dive account.
current and past, continue to do great things. Several current and past members of the team have spent the week in Hangzhou China continuously setting American and World records...at least you'd think that was the case based on the

As a side note, how about a little respect also for the folks manning that twitter account, keeping up with the rapid fire successes, particularly when combined with the wicked timezone difference that means most of the action happens at...let's say inconvenient...times of the day for those of us here in EST-land.

Kelsi Dahlia nee Worrell and Malory Comerford have been representing, as they so often do, the Cardinals well on the women's side of the events. I've long ago lost track of all of the American records they have set this week, and throw in a few World records and it's all a whirlwind of results.

On the guys side of things, Carlos Claverie (Venezuela), Zach Harting (US), Marcelo Acosta (El Salvador), and Grigory Tarasevich (Russia) are competing for their respective countries.

Cardinal Couple Clip Show

The bulk of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour crew was down at the KFC Yum! Center yesterday to watch the Cards beat up on the Norse in the unusual 11:30 a.m. start time and to celebrate the 2009 crew, so we weren't on the air live yesterday. Paulie did put together a "Best of 2018" show (which I haven't yet had the opportunity to check out).

Because it wasn't a live show, it's not on Facebook Live, but you can catch the audio at:



https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20181215-best-clips-of-2018

It is also at our station website at

www.wchqfm.com

We should be back on the air next week with our usual shenanigans.

--
JMcA

CC Special Report

Volleyball and Cardinal Arena

In the past few days, news came out that Volleyball would be switching all of their matches back to being played at Cardinal Arena.  There was also news that the Athletic Department is looking to spend approximate $600,000 for renovations at the arena, with $425,000 just to replace the seating.

Additionally, we were hearing reports that Volleyball and Women's Basketball will be swapping office space.  I had not seen official confirmation of this part of the changes until I reached out to new Volleyball Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly for comment.  The Volleyball program currently occupies part of the Yum! Center on Floyd Street (sometimes affectionately referred to as, "Little Yum"), while Women's Basketball occupies offices on the third floor of the Student Activity Center (SAC), also on Floyd Street.  Cardinal Arena is in the SAC, and would result in the Volleyball program having their offices and practice facility be in the same location that they play.  Coach Busboom Kelly confirmed that the two programs will be swapping office, saying:

"The move to Cardinal Arena allows us to have a volleyball only, volleyball specific facility. We can tailor the arena to exactly what we need and we can make it an amazing experience for our fans. The biggest motivation for the move was to create a fun, loud, energetic home court advantage. With our fans being close to the court, it makes it an intimate experience and they can see and appreciate the power and athleticism of our players. We are currently working through which changes will be made to the arena, but we are expecting it to look completely different.

"We will also be switching office space with women’s basketball. We will be able to practice and play in Cardinal Arena without having to swap floors or worry about scheduling conflicts.

Scheduling has been a challenge in Cardinal Arena, with Women's Basketball Player looking to come to Cardinal Arena, their practice facility, to put up some extra shots and finding that it's set up for a Volleyball event.  Women's Basketball has, at times, used the "Little Yum" facility for practices, as well.

The Worldwide Take

I applaud this move, although I do have one concern (more on that in a moment).  I always thought, ever since "Little Yum" was built, that it was odd that Women's Basketball used Cardinal Arena for a practice facility and played at the KFC Yum! Center downtown, with Volleyball practicing at "Little Yum!" and playing (at least some of) their matches at Cardinal Arena.  The obvious resulting scheduling conflicts seemed eminently avoidable.  This move solves that problem.

For atmosphere, Cardinal Arena can't be beaten,  the seating is very close to the playing floor, no matter where your seats are in the arena.  Cardinal Arena is not a large arena, the current stated seating capacity is 840.  Volleyball draws crowds that will largely, or completely fill the arena.  I've been there when Cardinal Arena was full for a volleyball match multiple times (including a match against UK with a stat sheet attendance of 1207, in a facility that officially seats 840), and it gets loud for the home team.  It creates a great home court advantage, and is a great move for that reason.

The one concern that I have (alluded to above) is that 840 person (or so) capacity of Cardinal Arena won't be enough to accommodate the Volleyball crowds.  The average attendance of UofL Volleyball last year, during a year with not a great deal of success, was over 1,900.  OK, those number may be a bit generous, but if everyone that attends volleyball games regularly at the KFC Yum! Center went to the games at Cardinal Arena, it would be a crowded facility indeed.  I'm especially hopeful that attendance will pick up, with a new coach and hopefully new success for the team, and that could quickly pose a problem.  The flipside of that is that approximately 2,000, in the KFC Yum! Center just get lost in that facility, mitigating the benefit of being on the home court.

Ultimately, it is my firm belief that UofL needs to step up with some sort of intermediately sized
facility to host the program.  Cardinal Arena will, I believe, ultimately prove to be too small, while the KFC Yum! Center is too large.  We really need a Goldilocks facility, one that is neither too big, nor too small, but "just right."  I believe that such a facility would seat somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000.  That would be small enough that the home court advantage still exists, but big enough to accommodate all of the fans that might want to come to matches, with room for future growth.  Such a facility would, obviously, be a discussion for the future, so for the time being, I'll be happy to lead to the C-A-R-D-S cheer when opponents call timeouts at Cardinal Arena.

JMcA

Louisville Women's Basketball pulls off the improbable...85-78 win over MSU

ASIA DURR'S 20 HELPS CARDS DOWN MSU

The Louisville women's basketball team survived and surprised in East Lansing, Michigan Thursday night against #19 Michigan State and looked like the preseason predicted top ten team for most of the contest in a 85-78 topsy-turvy win over Spartie.

Early on, the Cards looked unstoppable. Roaring out to an early double digit lead...Louisville was canning threes and looking like the team we expected to see this season.

Asia Durr...the subject of much speculation concerning a summer groin injury that limited her playing time this season and had her potentially on a redshirt...knocked down two first half three and Louisville led 45-32 at halftime....leading by as much as 15 in the first twenty.

It was thrilling, exciting and almost unbelievable...after watching this squad's first five games of the season. 

Spartie came back. Led by Aerial Powers, they chipped away at the Cards lead and cut the lead to one in the 4th period. I looked at Sonja and told her it was a brave effort but another case of being unable to finish.

I proudly report I was wrong. 

Maybe the tide has turned here. Maybe Walz has everyone on-board the train and the season starts now. All I'll say is that congratulations are in order for a big win on the road against a top 20 team and kudos on not folding when it looked like MSU was about to take over. And two incredible efforts from two girls...one with a knee injury and the other that wasn't expected to play. I'll never believe a injury report out of this program again...

Continue the improvement, Cards. You made the first "Get on the train" stop a successful one. Keep rolling down the tracks.

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VOLLEYBALL STARTS NCAA TOURNAMENT


Action on campus tonight as Louisville Volleyball starts the NCAA Tournament against Belmont in Cardinal Arena. 

The NCAA First and Second Round Volleyball matches hosted by the University of Louisville will all be televised on ESPN3.  The University of Illinois will face Southern Illinois at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 and the No. 15 seeded University of Lousiville will face Belmont University at 7 p.m. or 30 minutes after the first match has been completed.  

The Louisville/Belmont match can be viewed here: http://es.pn/1TiZk2w
The Illinois/Southern Illinois match can be viewed here: http://es.pn/1jxi7ej

We'll have a recap here at the site and on our radio show Saturday. 

paulie
xxxxx

Louisville women's basketball...Who was the best? -- Friday Cardinal Couple

NEWS U CAN USE:

Be advised that all the USA women's U 19 and all the other U19 games will be streamed live on:

youtube.com/FIBA

In addition USA semifinal and finals games will be shown on ESPN3 

This is great news! 


USA BASKETBALL SCHEDULE AT FIBA U-19 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 
Game 1 - vs. Spain (July 18 at 1:15 p.m. ET)
Game 2 - vs. China (July 19 at 1:15 p.m. ET)
Game 3 - vs. Egypt (July 21 at 1:15 p.m. ET)
Round of 16 - July 22
Quarterfinals - July 24
Semifinals - July 25
Finals - July 26

Be sure to catch all the USA U19 action in Chekhov

2012-13 vs. 2008-09. Who was better?

I offered my 'steamed' colleague WorldWide this question at the end of Saturday's radio and gave him a week to think about it. Which Jeff Walz's team was the best? 

Both squads made the NCAA WBB Championship game. Both played in the Big East. Both had Monique Reid as an integral player. The 08-09 squad downed the Cats 75-59 in Freedom Hall. 12-13 lost to UK 48-47 in the KFC YUM! Center after leading by five at halftime.

The 12-13 squad was led in scoring by Shoni Schimmel (14.2) ppg. Sara Hammond finished the season with 10.8 and Nita Slaughter rounded out the double figure scorers with 10.1 a game. Monique Reid averaged 9.2 that year. 
Their final record was 29-9. 

This Louisville squad outscored their opponents 71.7 to 58.6. This was also the year of "The Shot"...when Shoni did the dipsy-doo against Brit Griner.

For the 08-09 team, Angel McCoughtry had 23.1 ppg. Candyce Bingham was the only other double figure scorer with 12.3 a game. Dez Byrd, Keisha Hines, Becky Burke and Monique Reid (5.9 ppg) were the other influentials. 

This group knocked off #4 Oklahoma in the NCAA semifinals 63-59....a game that Courtney Paris said she'd refund her scholarship money to the school if the Sooners lost. (I still wonder if they ever got that check?) 

Louisville has had several more very good teams in the Walz era. Let's not forget about the 13-14 team that went 33-5 in Shoni's final season and narrowly missed out on a chance to reach the Final Four with a loss to Maryland in the YUM! 

JULIE WAS STILL AROUND IN 08-09. 

So...who ya got? We've put up a poll on the Right Side Of The Site so you can vote. We're giving you three choices...08-09, 12-13 and 'other'. (Someone will probably grouse that Sara Nord's teams were better...)

We'd love your comments, too in our comments section. Or you can e-mail us at cardinalcouple@twc.com to weigh in.

It'll be interesting to see which way WorldWide goes in tomorrow's radio show. If Sam the Dry Weather Intern shows up, I'll put his feet to the fire also. We've had him out on special assignment trying to steal the new Adidas/UofL Football helmets and shoes and donating them to a third world country that has a football team. Last we heard, he was on a camel in the Sahara Desert. Wearing a helmet.

"Angel! No, Shoni !!! Angel!  Schimmel!!" 

I'll be prepared to argue against WorldWide on either team he picks. A good debate always makes for exciting radio. Maybe we'll let Sam moderate. Only if he assures me he was successful in his mission. And if he shows up...

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

WTG KELSI !!!!

Sometimes, a picture is worth 1000 words.

Congrats, Kelsi in getting the gold! 


paulie
xxxxx