WBB Season Recap -- ACC Network Takeover July 8 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Rolling into July

Sadly, the joy from a long weekend has come to a close and it's back to work. I'm bad at taking days off from work as I am now roughly five and a half months into the new job and have not taken a vacation day nor have I scheduled any for the near future. But these holidays remind me how nice it is to have that extra day or two off here and there so perhaps it's time to look at some vacation days.

To answer Paulie's question from yesterday, it was a rather good Fourth of July. It started off running the tech equipment at church. Now, I'm not at tech expert like Worldwide and Case, but I know enough to keep the screens at church, the Zoom feed, the video recording, and the sound board running. Katy and I went out to EP Tom Sawyer State Park for a walk with friends. She was too scared to go check out the abandoned Sauerkraut Cave (if you locals know what that is), and then we dug out some old fireworks stashed in the closet from a few years back and set those off on a concrete surface at Joe Creason Park. Of course we were smart by staying far back, dousing everything with water, and then cleaning up our mess. So it was a rather relaxing day for me.

Women's Basketball Season Recap

We'll transition on into the reason you clicked on today's article. With plenty of other news in recent weeks our sports recaps got put on a brief hold, but we return with our final recap- women's basketball.

Louisville finished the season 26-4 with a 14-2 mark in conference play. The .875 win percentage in the ACC was enough to claim the regular season title, barely beating out NC State. This was Louisville's fourth-straight regular season title.

Some of the overall highlights for the year included another Elite Eight appearance, the program's first ever #1 ranking in any poll, and Dana Evans being named ACC Player of the Year for the second straight year. UofL has had a player hold the ACC POTY title for four straight seasons.

COVID-19 made the season quite challenging as the Cards played in what felt like a near-empty arena instead of the normal boisterous crowd of 10,000. Fortunately, Paulie and I both found ourselves inside the temporarily-reformed KFC Yum! Center. I'm sure he agrees with me that the overall experience was not as enjoyable as years past with an empty press room, no meal, and no in-person postgame.

The season was still young when the program went on a pause before Christmas with contact tracing. The Cards held a 5-0 record at that point and had garnered national attention following a 116-75 destruction of a ranked DePaul team. Besides the expected breakout performance by Dana Evans, both Hailey Van Lith and Olivia Cochran had risen to the spotlight as freshmen.

Jeff Walz worked his magic and pulled teams out of his sleeves left and right as the Cards made a last minute schedule on New Year's Day. January proved to be a busy month with 11 games played. February and March each had seven games.

Louisville found themselves facing some in-state opponents in Eastern Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, and Bellarmine, but Kentucky and Western Kentucky were nowhere to be seen due to various reasons.

Midway through the month of January, we saw the Cards cruise by Florida State in an uncharacteristic fashion, which then helped propel Louisville into their first ever #1 ranking. The Cards held that spot for a couple weeks, pushing their record to 16-0 before welcoming #2 NC State to the KFC Yum! Center. The Wolfpack welcomed back Elisa Cunane for that game, who had been out for an extended period.

The NC State game was primarily defensive in the first half and was a close game headed into the final quarter before the Wolfpack began pulling away almost immediately at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Cards answered by winning four straight including thumping Boston College and Pitt. It wasn't until a trip to Tallahassee in late February that the second blemish appeared on the record. The Cards and Noles were tied with 6:29 left in the game before FSU went on a 21-12 run to close the game.

However, a win in South Bend to close the regular season sealed the deal for the ACC title and a #1-seed in the ACC Tournament. Louisville had some difficulty against Wake Forest before handling Syracuse with a little more ease. Then, came the rematch against NC State. Louisville held a one-point lead with 1:59 remaining before Cunane hit a free throw to tie the score and Raina Perez knocked in a prayer with two seconds left to take the win.

A 23-3 mark earned the Cards a #2-seed in the NCAA Tournament. NC State joined the ranked of Stanford, UConn, and South Carolina for the other #1-seeds. The Wolfpack fell to Indiana in the Sweet Sixteen and were the only #1-seed to not make the Final Four.

Louisville found themselves matched up with Marist in the opening round. Fans were stunned when the Red Foxes held a 15-12 lead after the first quarter. It's safe to say Coach Walz lit a fire under his team's belt as they won the next two quarters 17-9 and 26-9 on the way to a 31-point win.

The second round was a match-up with #7-seed Northwestern. This one was even more terrifying as the Wildcats raced out to a 25-10 first quarter lead and a 32-20 halftime lead. Where was Louisville's offense and defense? It showed up in the second half as the Cards won those quarters 20-8 and 22-13 for a nine-point win.

#6-seed Oregon was next up for the Cards. The Ducks were considered a potential dark horse for the tournament and underrated by many due to the size and talent of Sedona Prince. Prince was one of the first players to break the horrible conditions the women's players dealt with as opposed to the luxuries the men's players had for the NCAA Tournament. For that, we do thank Prince. But the brilliance of the UofL coaching staff paid off as they would go onto 29-14 halftime lead and win by 18. Oregon's offense was tough and UofL held them to three single-digit scoring quarters.

Then we get to the Elite Eight match-up against Stanford. The Cardinal (no "S") were the favorite to win the title with a near-unstoppable offense and defense. Louisville opened the game strong with a 21-13 lead in the first quarter and a 12-point halftime lead. Stanford fired back in the third quarter but a late quarter jumper gave Louisville a two-point lead. We then come to the dreaded fourth quarter. Stanford was known for having one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country and they came alive in the fourth quarter. The Cardinal knocked down five three's en route to a 30-13 quarter and sent Louisville home.

Stanford went on to beat South Carolina by one the next round amidst controversy over the officiating. They then defeated #3-seed Arizona by one in the final with more officiating controversy.

Still, it's hard to argue that it wasn't a good season. The fact that a season happened at all makes the year successful. But winning another conference title against some tough teams in the ACC, earning a #1 ranking, and advancing to another Elite Eight is pretty darn good.

Unfortunately, we did see the last of Dana Evans in a Louisville uniform, the only player to graduate. She did go on and get drafted in the second round of the WNBA Draft. The other players to depart were Elizabeth Balogun, Nyah Green, and Malea Williams, all who transferred out.

From a scoring standpoint, this was Evans' team, as her 602 points flirted with doubling up the next closest scorer in HVL (335). Kianna Smith also broke the 300-point mark on the season with 319. Louisville averaged 76.8 points per game on the year with an average margin of victory of 16. The Cards also shot .788 from the charity stripe, which is high enough for a capital "F" in the F-R-E-D Report.

The Cards outrebounded opponents by an average of 3.5 rebounds per game with much thanks to Cochran, Elizabeth Dixon, HVL, and Mykasa Robinson for getting scrappy. Louisville also destroyed opponents in blocks 144-77. Four Cards were in the double-digits with blocks this year.

A lot of credit was given to Robinson, who many have considered the "blue-collar" on the team. Although Kasa wasn't the big scorer she was the do-it-all player and wasn't afraid to get down on the floor for a loose ball. 

HVL showcased her talent by being able to score from anywhere on the floor. Her Kobe imitation was rather on-point with a .388 three-point percentage. She also dished out 63 assists.

Kianna Smith also proved to be reliable on offense once she was healthy from injury. Her 11.4 points per game ranked second on the team and showed no nerves when being able to score in a tight situation.

Dixon (7.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and Cochran (9.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg) were quite the dynamic duo down low. They went up against plenty of larger opponents and held their own. They combined for 58 blocks and 24 steals will limiting their turnovers to a combined 77.

Louisville had some trouble with being able to build a lead and run with it as many games came down to the fourth quarter before relying on Evans to help pull away down the stretch or be the buzzer-beater scorer for the win. But the stingy defense is what helped Louisville steal a few wins.

There is plenty to look forward to next season with a talented roster returning. Louisville has a couple young star freshmen joining the squad in Payton Verhulst and Sydni Schetnan. A pair of solid transfers also join the Cards this year in Emily Engstler (senior, Syracuse) and Chelsie Hall (grad student, Vanderbilt). The two experienced players are expected to play just one year with the Cards, but will have an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 year.

Louisville Takes Over ACC Network July 8

If I waited until Thursday to tell you about the Cards taking over the ACC Network you'd have already missed a few events so here's your early notice to get your DVR ready for Thursday, July 8. It's ALL LOUISVILLE ALL DAY.

I looked into the TV schedule for the ACC Network that day and here is what they currently have listed:

July 8

6:00 AM- Baseball vs Florida State (year not listed)

9:00 AM- Lacrosse vs Colorado (2021 season)

11:00 AM- Women's Basketball vs Florida State (year not listed- I think the 2020-2021 season)

1:00 PM- Field Hockey vs Virginia (2020 season, ACC semifinal)

2:30 PM- Volleyball vs Pittsburgh (2020 season)

4:30 PM- Men's Basketball vs Kent State (NCAA Basketball Classic)

6:30 PM- Women's Soccer vs Syracuse (2020 season)

8:30 PM- Lacrosse vs Colorado (2021 season)

10:30 PM- Wake Forest vs Louisville (NCAA Football Classics- I think the 2019 season)

July 9

1:30 AM- Field Hockey vs Virginia (2020 season, ACC semifinal)

3:00 AM- Baseball vs Florida State (year not listed)

This schedule is subject to change. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the duplicates switch over to men's soccer or softball.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Learfield IMG Director's Cup -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Louisville Breaks Top 25 in Learfield IMG Director's Cup

Louisville came in sitting at #23 in the latest release of the Learfield IMG Director's Cup. The Cardinals have accumulated 429 points from the fall and winter seasons. A total of 250 colleges and universities are listed and receive ratings based on performances from their different sports.

The Cards earned 73 points from women's basketball, fifth best. The Cards advanced to the Elite Eight and had the ACC Player of the Year in Dana Evans, who was then drafted 13th overall in the WNBA Draft. 

Men's swimming and diving received 75 points, fifth best. Nick Albiero was named the ACC Men's Swimmer of the Year and won the National Championship in the 200 butterfly. The team of Mitchell Whyte, Evgenii Somov, Nick Albiero, and Haridi Sameh Kamel won the National Championship in the 200 medley relay.

 

Women's swimming and diving received 63 points, 13th best. Although the Cards did not win any national championships on the women's side, the Cards performed well in the ACC Championships and NCAA Championships.

Women's indoor track and field earned 52.5 points, ranked 20th. Makenli Forrest won the NCAA Championship for the indoor weight throw.

Men's indoor track and field received 18.5 points for 53rd best.

In the fall sports, field hockey received 83 points. The Cards advanced to their first ever Final Four. Three Cards were named to the All-ACC team in Alli Bitting, Charlie van Oirschot and Pastor is a candidate for the NFHCA National Player of the Year.

Volleyball received 64 points. The Cards advanced to the Sweet Sixteen and had three All-Americans in Tori Dilfer, Anna Stevenson, and Anna DeBeer. Dani Busboom Kelly was named ACC Coach of the Year.

Women's soccer, men's soccer, men's basketball, men's cross country, women's cross country, and football did not earn points.

Louisville does not carry bowling, fencing, gymnastics, ice hockey, rifle, skiing, wrestling, or water polo so they did not receive any points for those sports.

The spring sports have not been added, but Louisville is not expected to earn points in softball, lacrosse, rowing, or baseball. Both women's tennis and men's tennis should earn some type of points for appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Women's golf and men's golf both qualified for NCAA Regionals and Lauren Hartladge competed in the NCAA Championships so both teams should earn points. It is uncertain if Louisville will receive points for the outdoor portions of women's and men's track and field.

Louisville does not carry water polo, beach volleyball, or men's volleyball so they will not receive points for those.

I would not be surprised to see the Cards drop from where they currently sit once spring sports are added due to the absence of many teams from the postseason. Having other teams such as men's basketball and football, who normally score for the Cards in the fall and winter, not score anything also hurt.

The top 25 teams are listed as follows:

1- Stanford

2- Michigan

3- North Carolina

4- Ohio State

5- Kentucky (national championships in volleyball and rifle contributed to 1/3 of their score)

6- BYU

7- Alabama

8- Minnesota

9- Arkansas

10- Florida

11- Texas

12- NC State

13- Iowa

14- Indiana

15- Notre Dame

16- Georgia

17- USC

18- Texas A&M

19- Wisconsin

20- Oklahoma State

21- Nebraska

22- Penn State

23- Louisville

24- Virginia Tech

25- Ole Miss

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards vs. Wolfpack Tonight -- MONDAY CARINAL COUPLE

 TOP 5 SHOWDOWN TONIGHT IN KFC YUM! CENTER

A photo of a previous battle

The Louisville women's basketball squad takes part in Big Monday tonight with a game against visiting NC State.  This has been ballyhooed as a #1 vs. #2 showdown for weeks now...then NC State flipped the switch and lost to Va.Tech in overtime their last time out. 

So, let's call it a top five showdown, because I doubt the WolfPack fall out of the poll's top five when they are released later today. That is one sub plot. 

The other is the status of NC State center Elissa Cunane. She sat out the Va.Tech games because of COVID protocol. That's right, I said games, because the Hokies and WolfPack actually met back-to-back last week -- NC State narrowly winning the Jan 24th. contest at Reynolds Coliseum -- home of the WolfPack --  89-87. The contest at Blacksburg, on the 28th went the Hokies way, in overtime, 83-71. It took a last second three from Wolfpack sophomore Camiile Hobby to create the overtime. 

Now that I've caught you up on WolfPack history for the last several days, let us reflect on, just briefly, whether Cunane will be cleared to run Denny Crum Court Monday night. or not.  Coach Walz is preparing the Cards as if she will. Wes Moore is probably fervently praying she's available. I expect we'll know for sure when the WolfPack come out to warm-up tonight and when the starting lineups are release, usually about 10-15 minutes prior to tip-off. 

Without Cunane, the WolfPack have tried two different starting lineups. The first time around against the Hokies, Moore sent Jakie Brown-Turner, a 6'0" wing, Kai Crutchfield a 5'9" guard, Jada Boyd, a 6'2" forward, Raina Perez, a 5'4: guard and Jada Rice, a 6'1" forward out to greet the VT squad, with Kayla Jones, a 6'`" forward and Camille Hobby, a 6'1 forward, seeing the substitution minutes. Four days later, Moore switched out Boyd and Rice as starters and plugged in Hobby and Jones...Boyd coming in as a sub and the only sub seeing any significant minutes. Ah, the musical chairs in Raleigh are alive and well, dancing to the COVID tune, it seems. 

On the season, NC State (11-1) has faced a #1 before, and did well, knocking off South Carolina back on December 3rd, 54-46. They are tops in the ACC in defensive rebounds (32.7), field-goal percentage (.486) scoring margin (+18.7) and scoring offense (81.8). Four WolfPack average in double figures, Cunane the leader at 16.2 ppg, followed by Turner (14.6), Jones (13.2 and Boyd (10.8). 

Will "Big Smile" be grinning in 
Louisvville tonight? 

So, how does Coach Walz and the Cards get ready for the Pack with the Cunane question looming? 

I see it this way. You just go out and play Louisville basketball. You have Dana Evans, Hailey Van Lith, two formidable centers in Cochran and Dixon, a rapidly improving Elizabeth Balogun and a strong bench that includes two "some-time" starters in Robinson and Kianna Smith, plus Norika Konno.. You force the issue when you can offensively, pushing the pace and trying to create the fast break points and remember that points-in-the-paint could be very promising if Cunane sits. Jeff Walz is an expert at situational, "coaching-on-the-fly" tactics (unless he's up by 32, then the brain goes into pause, it seems). NC State does not go very "deep" in their rotation,...they play 7-8 players an night 

Without Cunane, just one starter for NC State is over 6'1" (Boyd at 6'2") .  You have to hit the boards hard against NCST, the guards MUST rebound and let's hope the threes are falling for UofL. How do the Cards decide a starting lineup? That might well depend on whether Cunane starts or not. At 6'5", she poses obvious threats and is the WolfPack's leading scorer, rebounder, shooter and shot blocker. 

Remember these two Cards ? 

NC State has held five of their opponents to under 30% shooting this 2020-21 season and nine of 12 to under 40%. Cunane has been a big part of that, without her, Va.Tech went 48.5% in the first meeting between the two and 38.8% in the second-time around. When you have Elizabeth Kitley and Aisha Sheppard, though, you going to get a lot of buckets. 

A chess-match awaits, then, at 7 p.m. tonight on Denny Crum Court. ESPN 2 has the coverage, Nick and A.J. bringing it to you also on Cards Radio 790-AM WKRD. If you're "doing" this one at home, you might also try to catch the pre-game preview with Allison Cook and Jazmine Jones that starts at 6:30, and will be available on Twitter (@uoflwbb), Facebook and youtube.com/GoCards.  

My girlfriend, Ms Wuf, won't be making the trip and that saddens me, and we DON'T get Deb Antonelli (dammit) for this one either...Rebecca "UConn" Lobo, that Ryan guy and Holly Rowe will bring it to you on the four-letter network squared. 

So many scenarios, possible plot-twists and variables tonight...it's almost a "Clue Board game" -type situation, so, I'll go with...."Dana Evans, with a jumper, on Denny Crum Court" as my suggestion on "who does it" tonight...

We'd like to hear your thoughts on tonight, drop a comment in our comments section! Anonymous remarks are fine if you're the shy and bashful type...

Have a marvelous Monday!  

paulie

Dana. Dixon Deliver -- Cards 79- Miami 76 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 EVANS, DIXON COMBINE FOR 41 IN CARDS WIN

"Katie, I bet I can get Norika to yell in today's game."

It was a case of Liz Dixon early and Dana Evans late in Louisville women's basketball's 79-76 win Tuesday over a Miami team that refused to go away. The 6'5" Cards post from Memphis, TN delivered 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half for UofL to help lead them to a 44-36 lead. Miami staged a rally in the fourth quarter to trim Louisville's team to four with 1:47 remaining in the contest, but four late free throws by the Gary, IN senior prevented the Canes late comeback attempt from being successful.

Evans scored the Cards last 12 points of the contest and had all but two of the 14 total points Louisville registered in the final quarter. Her 20 points were second high for UofL, Dixon contributed 21 in just 26 minutes. 

"Hands up if you want to hear Norika yell !" 

Tuesday's contest was one where the Cards would build substantial leads at various times but Miami would manage to come back and stay in contention. Witness the Cards 62-46 lead with 4:03 left in the third quarter after a pair of Kianna Smith free throws. That had shrunk to 65-56 by the end of the quarter and the Canes outscored Louisville 20-14 in the final ten minutes to make it interesting.

Katie Meier ws proud of her squad, despite the loss:

"We played tough and it was a heck on an environment. I could tell before the game that the team was really dialed in. I thought we were very focused for 40 minutes." 

"Well, we're all waiting..."

Meyer was looking for her 300th. win in a coaching career that has seen her at Miami for 16 years now. 

Louisville also got nice production from  Elizabeth Balogun (14 pts) and Kianna Smith (8 pts) in getting their 15th win of the season. Dana Evans summed up the victory this way:  

"You just do what you gotta do to win the game. Obviously that's what I do. Whether it get to the free throw line, because, obviously my jump shot was off again tonight --  do what I have to do to help this team win." 

 Evans was 5-15 from the floor in 37 minutes and 2-9 from three-point range but went a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line, logging six of those in the crucial fourth quarter. 

"SUCCESS !!" 

The Cards launched 30 threes in the contest and saw ten of them go in. Kudos to Balogun, she was 4-5 on her long-range attempts and handled the rock well with no turnovers in 28 minutes. 

Jeff Walz spoke at length about the mental strain of three games in five days...plus the return to classes for the student-athletes for the spring semester. It doesn't slack up for the Cards as they'll host UNC Thursday night. Early in the season, the Cards were struggling to find games and juggling the schedule, now it's a "cup running over" of contests and opponents. Despite the obvious physical strain, the players will tell you that they'd rather be on the court instead of sitting around wondering if they'll play. 

THE FRED REPORT

"Fred" from  SNL (when he's not being
Ian Rubbish) 

FREE THROWS -- Another fine performance from the charity stripe for Louisville. 21-27 is 77.8% and that will get the Cards a CAPITAL "F" by our standards. What was kinda weird was how they developed. Louisville received just four opportunities in the first half and 23 in the final 20 minutes. I can only attribute that to either the refs reeiving new whistles at halftime and being eager to try them out, or Miami deciding that fouling Liz, and Dana was the only way to get back in the game -- the two had 20 of the UofL attempts and made 17 of them. 

REBOUNDS -- Whatever the Cards worked on in practice Monday in terms of getting grabs sunk in. Louisville out-rebounded Miami 34-32. It's interesting to note that Dana may have had a career high with six and Liz barely missed her double-double with nine. The Carrds guard combined for 24, which had to bring a smile to Coach's Walz and the staff's faces. I award the CAPITAL "R" for grabbing the missed shots. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  There was still too much standing around, excessive dribbling and offensive stagnancy for Louisville Tuesday, the Cards could get out on the transition game (just two fast break points and 15 assists on 24 made baskets, but the 46.2% from the floor could have, should have been better if you toss out the dismal 25% (3-12) shooting in the fourth quarter. Nothing spectacular here in points-in-the paint either, where Louisville lost the battle 30-26 or second chance points, where Miami had a 20-13 edge. No letter here. 

DEFENSE -- It started well for the Cards on defense, holding the Canes to 38% shooting, but Miami went 8-18 from three-point range (44.4%) and Kelsey Marshall, the ACC's best long-range bomber had four of them. Louisville lost the steals stat six to four, and forced 14 turnovers, compared to Miami forcing 13. Miami's 76 points were 10 over their average and those 76 points were the most the Cards have surrendered this season (DePaul scored 75 early in the season). It was a win, though, so we'll offer a lower-case "d". 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-_-d

"Another three for me !" 

 

Maybe a bit of concern that the Cards aren't blowing opponents out of the KFC YUM! Center or on the road as of late but you have to figure that it's a whole new ball gane now, when your foe is looking to kncok off #1 in the nation. I expect a scenario that could be the same on Thursday night, when Janelle Bailey, who I consider the best center in the ACC, brings her TarHeels in to test Liz and Olivia. 

Wins are wins, though, whether they're by two or 22 and Louisville keeps amassing them. Let's hope it continues. 15-0 and (who knows how many more?) to go...

"I get down low when I'm ready to go." 

(A special THANKS to Jared Anderson for the photos. They can move you around, gripe and whine...but your photos always turn out fine...)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

paulie

 -- 

Cards Escape at Wake 65-63 -- Monday Cardinal Couple

 DANA DELIVERS AS CARDS DODGE DEMON DEACONS 85-63

Dana delivered. 

It was a narrow escape for a 13-0 #1 in the country Louisville women's basketball squad yesterday against Wake Forest and it was Dana Evans who drove the get-away vehicle to keep the Cards unbeaten. 

The scenario was like one of those old time, noir moves from the 40's. The heroes were in trouble. Wake Forest was playing the role of the villains, giving the protagonists (the Cards) trouble at every turn. Things looked bleak, as the plot thickened and darkened -- a nine point home squad lead for Jen Hoover's Deacs and just 7:15 left in the scenario.  Would our heroines survive? Could they manage to escape the clutches of the crew conspiring to send them off the deep end? Cue the screeching violins and trumpet blasts. These birds from up north were grounded and the hunter was approaching.

Dana delivered. 

Evans delivered 10 of her team-leading 25 points in the final seven-minute stretch and, when it came down to crunch time, with the Cards trailing 63-62, she drove to the basket -- maneuvered around the taller Wake defenders -- and sank an improbable, off-balance and falling down jumper over out-stretched hands. And drew a foul from defender Gina Conti.

 Basket good, Cards leading 64-62 now,,,and the "cool as a January morning" Evans, after a few celebratory bumps with teammates, strode to the charity stripe and knocked down the free one for the 65-63 lead. Wake Forest had a final chance but the Deacs Ivana Raca went for the win instead of the tie and her three at the buzzer was wide left.  The Cards had survived 

This was Louisville's worst game of the season and I don't think you'll find many who would disagree.

We learned that a four-guard line up against a two-center opposition formation wasn't going to work. Wake out-rebounded the Cards 43-32 and had 38 points-in-the-paint, compared to the Cards 32.

What was supposed to be a  UofL romp over a squad that had just gotten shellacked by Georgia Tech by 29 a few days prior turned into a frantic, nail-biting -- but successful -- scramble for the win.  

The Cards couldn't hit shots...the 39.7% from the floor won't go into the annals of "best game ever" discussions. The threes were even worse, at 33%. Fortunately, Wake went 1-11 from beyond the arc and shot the face-palm, what-are-we-doing 12-24 from the free throw line. The Homer Simpson "DOH!" exclamation audio comes to mind when analyzing Wake's three-and-free shooting.  If you are a Wake apologist and need to point to two things that cost you the upset Sunday afternoon, here's your signs. 

Evans received a ton of help from her sidekick at guard Elizabeth Balogun. "E" was masterful with 12 points, six grabs, three steals and three blocks. One can't say enough about the clutch minutes Liz Dixon contributed or the double-double Olivia Cochran generated (10 points, 11 rebounds). 

The Cards got a huge boost off the bench from Norika Konno's five-point run in the second quarter that kept the Cards in a some-what comfortable lead. It wasn't Kianna Smith night, we'll just leave that comment right there and not amplify it. The "bakery" was open for Hailey Van Lith early, her five turnovers were by far the highest on the Cards squad, but, let's give her credit for the huge bucket she delivered when the Cards were mustering a comeback in the 4th. quarter. 

In the end, though...it was the best guard in the ACC, arguably the best guard in NCAA women's college basketball who refused to lose when the chips were down, brought the sunshine on a cloudy day and put the Cards back on the flight to Louisville with the win. Dana doesn't like to lose. She didn't and Louisville loves her for it. 

THE FRED REPORT

WE drag Freddy Krueger out, for the 
"Nightmare on I-40" Cardinal win 

FREE THROWS -- The Cards were perfect from the charity stripe -- 13 for 13 -- and 11 of them came from two players, Evans and Cochran. NO QUESTION ABOUT THE CAPITAL "F" EARNED HERE. 

REBOUNDS -- Olivia Cochran was doing all she could in the grabs category but Wake Forest out-rebound Louisville 43-32. The discrepancy was most noticeable on the offensive boards, where Wake owned them -- 24-13. No letter here. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards shot well to begin and end the game but the middle two quarters were less-than-exemplary. Too much dribbling and not enough passing against the Wake defense. Only 11 assists on 23 made baskets. Yes, the fourth-quarter comeback was state-of-the-art, so I'll settle for a lower-case "e" here and more than a few may argue whether even that was warranted. 

DEFENSE -- If there was a free throw defense stat/formula...never mind....Louisville held Wake to the same exact shooting percentage (39.7) that the Cards managed. Wake was beating the Cards up pretty badly in the paint, though. The Cards did win the steals (8-6) and blocks (4-1) stats, and allowed just 63 points...and they did win the game, so, I'll award a lower-case "d" , despite the Cards losing the second-chance stat 19-13. Their defense was two-points more effective than Wake's in the end

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-e-d

Jeff Walz was asked how the Cards designed the winning shot and he glibly responded "Pray". It was a "W" ...t though, and they count the same in the standings whether they're by 2 or 22. That sounds good for a close-to-article sentence here,  but I'd toss this game video in the toilet and never view it again, if I were the Cardinal coaching staff. Louisville exorcized the Demons on a Sunday, but, the win was in doubt until...

Dana delivered. 

NEXT UP:

Bassy's brood flies north for a bird battle Tuesday.

Louisville entertains "the U" next, when Miami comes to town for a Tuesday, 4 p.m. matinee at the KFC YUM Center. The Canes come in at 7-5 (4-5 in ACC play) and were off Sunday. They probably needed the rest, since their last game was a furious , come-from-behind win over Pittsburgh 72-68. This one looked to be all Panthers early on, they held a 31-10 first-quarter advantage, but couldn't maintain it. 

Have a puddle-dodging Monday!

paulie

Schedule Adjustments and Spring Concerns -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Virginia Cancelation Causes ACC Shuffling

Louisville WBB announced the beginning of the fallout from Virginia opting out of the remainder of the season, plus the recovery of some previously postponed games, yesterday when the University provided schedule updates on three upcoming games. I'm sure Jeff Walz is happy to play as many games as possible, but with the Cards having moved to 11-0, I believe he's only focused on finding two more games to get to tournament eligibility. 

With the schedule updates, Louisville should get to that 13-game mark this week. In addition to tomorrow's game against FSU (which we'll talk about on the podcast and Jeff will have more about in the Sunday column), a game against Syracuse was added to the calendar for Thursday, January 21st at 9PM. It's a dreadfully late start for a pair of Eastern Time Zone teams, but it's being carried by ESPN2, so at least we won't have to deal with any shenanigans to watch it. 

The Cards will play another game on ESPN2 to open February, as the House of Mouse decided that they still want to see Louisville vs NC State in prime time on their network. The Cards will host the Wolfpack on February 1st at 7PM. The matchup has been among the most anticipated conference matchups of the season, and many were disappointed when it was canceled from tomorrow's original scheduled date. It's been interesting over the last few years, as it seems the "most anticipated" ACC games always feature Louisville, regardless of the rotating cast of characters around the league. A good position to be in, I'd say.

The third game adjusted is the rematch against FSU. Louisville will now travel to Tallahassee on February 21st, making it the second to last game on the regular season calendar. The game has not had a time set yet, which has also prevented the announcement of a network carrying the matchup. It will, ideally, be the Seminoles looking for revenge in that game, but we'll have to see after tomorrow.

Spring Sports on the Horizon

While basketball seemingly limps to the finish line on all levels (the NBA is seeing that playing outside of a bubble is not so simple), spring sports are right around the corner, with the likes of swimming, track and field, and tennis already underway. The fall sports that have spring calendars should also be releasing those schedules soon, so the spring should be busy. Already, though, we have seen that the spring schedules will not be immune to impact by Covid-19. Louisville has not had any direct issues, but we can't ignore some larger trends. 

In December, the Big West Conference announced that it would not play spring volleyball as previously planned. Wednesday, the University of Dayton announced that they would not participate in the Pioneer League's planned spring season, instead returning to a traditional football offseason, missing the entirety of the 2020-21 season. And the first hit to softball came yesterday. Texas softball returned to practice yesterday, and Miranda Elish didn't join them. Elish, Softball America's 2020 Player of the Year and their second rated player in the 2021 preview, announced that she would be opting out of this season's competition due to concerns surrounding Covid-19.

I know I have been rather negative regarding playing during this pandemic (which is probably another story completely), but I don't bring these things up to say that spring sports are likely to be canceled. I just want to keep everyone prepared for the possibility that spring sports won't look so different from fall and winter sports when it comes to opt-outs, quarantine shutdowns, and schedule shuffling. We'll do our best through it all to keep bringing you the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics, and hope that the Cards are successful throughout this winter and spring, whatever this time may bring.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're back with a full house today, as Jared returns to the booth from his banking duties. We've got a pair of wins to cover, plus the aforementioned FSU and Syracuse games to preview. Also, there was pretty big soccer news for the city and UofL this week. All that and more as we bring you the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. Tune into the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for today's live show, or check out the replay on the channel at any time. As always, subscribe to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast to have episodes pushed directly to your device every week.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

The WBB Hiatus Continues -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards' Game vs Duke Canceled

College athletics saw their first power program bow out yesterday when Duke women's basketball announced the cancelation of the remainder of their season. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that we made it through football season without a team doing this, and I kind of thought that since we had, no basketball programs would make this decision independently. That this would come from Duke, whose men's coach has also questioned the concept of a basketball season in a pandemic, is an interesting note. Kara Lawson, the new head coach of the Blue Devils, had previously expressed concern about having a season at this time.

Officially, the decision was made by the players, according to the statement from Duke's communications officer. Effectively, each player made the choice to opt out, as some other players did for football earlier this year, and the program had no more players to put on the court. I'm certain there were many team meetings and a consensus reached before they pulled the trigger on this. Duke has announced that no other teams within the program are impacted by the decision and all other competitions will remain as scheduled. 

With the fallout from this cancelation, Louisville's second matchup against Duke scheduled for Thursday is now off. Due to Louisville's own Covid issues, the Cards haven't competed since December 9th, and they will now have to wait until January 3rd to get back on the court when they travel to Virginia. That said, Louisville has already had three games postponed, and they now have an open conference date to try and rectify that. A team that stands out as a contender to fill the opening is Florida State. Louisville's game against the Seminoles was postponed from the 17th. Florida State last played on the 20th and is not scheduled to play again until the 3rd. They were scheduled to play Duke on the 7th. The Seminoles are the only team that Louisville has postponed a game against to have Thursday open. 

While this would have Louisville play FSU twice in two weeks -- they're scheduled to play again on the 10th -- it isn't much different than Louisville traveling to Duke for games on the 9th and 31st. As Coach Walz said earlier this season, most teams are going to be scrambling to find 13 games. With the two teams already scheduled to play twice, I'm not really sure what the difference in having an extra week between the matchups is. I would hope the ACC is working hard to redefine their schedules given the struggles that teams have already had and the openings that the Duke cancelations now present. I'm sure we'll see more news come out soon, and we'll be sure to keep you updated about any scheduling revisions here.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Skype room will be a little less full today, as Daryl and I both sit this week out for birthdays, but Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will still bring you the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. Gee, I wonder what they'll talk about. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the replay anytime after the show ends. As always, you can add the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast to your subscription list and have the show sent directly to your device when it's posted.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

A WBB Comparison -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Taking a Look at This Year vs Last

As the Louisville' women's basketball hiatus continues through at least Christmas, and maybe even the New Year, I felt it was a good time to look at how this team compares to last year's at this stage. Many people thought last year's team was good enough to contend for a national title. Many more people think this year's team has the chops. Let's take a look at how the two teams stack up against each other to this point. In an effort to maintain consistency, I'll be cherry picking the games from last year's schedule to try to get a representative sample that is comparable to this year. I can't just pick the first four games and call it a day because of the ease of the opening schedule. Similarly, I can't just pick the four games leading up to the conference season because then last year's team will have a month's worth of games as a head start. (Note from future Case: To be clear, I didn't look at any stats and barely at scores before selecting these games. They are selected based on comparison to schedule state and game-to-game comparability as noted below.)

The games I've selected from the 2019-2020 season for this comparison are Western Kentucky, Murray State, Oregon, UT Martin, and Syracuse. The first two are the opening two games on the schedule. Unfortunately, we didn't have a comparable early road game, so a home game against Western will have to do as the comparison to SEMO. Last year's Oregon team was quite a bit better than this DePaul team, but Louisville didn't play another ranked neutral site game last season, and the closest ranked team would be Kentucky. A rivalry game is comparable only to rivalry. UT Martin was a non-conference game following a ranked game (DePaul this year and Kentucky last), and Syracuse was the first conference game. The home/away split for UT Martin and the conference game are reversed for the years so I'd say they cancel out.

Both teams through our segment are 5-0 (2019-2020 team was 12-1 at this point with a loss at Ohio State following the big Oregon win), but the victories are very different. Louisville's average margin of victory this season is 15 points larger than last year's selected segment. Primarily, that is coming from Louisville's scoring, which is up nearly 20 points per game (89.8 in 20-21 vs 71.2 in 19-20). Of course, Louisville is shooting the ball a lot better this year across the board. The Cards are shooting 4% better in every category when compared to our sample from last year. 

Interestingly, Louisville's assist-to-turnover ratio is nearly identical year over year. The 2019-20 sample had an ATO of 1.18 with two negative games in the sample and this year's team has an ATO of 1.19 with two negative games so far. Even more interestingly, Louisville's assist numbers have risen by a couple of assists per game, while turnovers have been flat. This is likely best explained by an outlier ATO game against EKU (1.77) and an outlier turnover game against DePaul (22), but it is still interesting. 

The improvements do not stop at the offensive end, though. Louisville's rebounding margin has gone up by about 7 rebounds per game, as the Cards have really gotten after it on the boards this year. Their worst performance so far is an even rebounding game against Duke. The worst from last year's sample is also the first conference game, when Louisville was out-rebounded by 6 against Syracuse. Perhaps the biggest (and most telling) change (other than the scoring margin) from year to year is Louisville's comparative defensive performance. I didn't chart opposing field goal percentage (though I can add that in the future), but I did look at blocks + steals for Louisville and their opponents. In last year's sample, Louisville's margin in blocks + steals per game was just 0.2. They were negative against Oregon and even against both UT Martin and Syracuse. So far this year, that average is at 9.6. Louisville's worst performances in this metric have been a pair of +5 games against UT Martin and Duke. For a team that is nearly flat in turnovers per game, this means that Louisville's defense has stepped up significantly to protect the rim and force steals. 

In all, the jump in performance by this year's team appears to match statistically to what we've seen in the eye test. I'll be interested to see how this develops as the season goes on, and, in an effort to get a better representation of last year's team, I'll work in more of last season's non-conference games once this season's team gets more than five games under their belt. Seeing how Louisville performs when they come out of an extremely long break will be telling, but they look very good right now. From where I'm sitting, there seems to be plenty of reasons to be optimistic about a potential run in San Antonio.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Last week, we added Daryl to the mix for the first time since we left the radio station. This week, the Skype call will be even more full (and my audio normalization will be even more tested) as we bring Jared back in as well. With the team still on hiatus, we won't have as much basketball to cover, but we'll still do our best to bring you the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. Plus, it's Christmas Week! We'll talk about some of our Christmas favorites as the holiday draws near. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel at 11AM EST for the live show, or check out the recording after we wrap up around noon. You can also check out the podcast here, where you can listen via anchor in your browser or find the link to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to have the show pushed directly to your device when it posts.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Sunday Cardinal Couple - More Postponements

 Basketball Pause Announcements

More fallout from the UofL WBB pause in activities was announced yesterday.  When the pause was first announced on Friday, it included the postponement of the UNC game originally scheduled for 4pm today. The ACC, finding out that Duke had also gone into COVID protocol, arranged some schedule scrambling. UNC now goes to Miami for a 2 p.m. game Monday.  FSU will travel to Clemson to play on Thursday.  

During the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, the crew discussed the expectation that the Florida State game, scheduled for 8pm Thursday, would also need to be postponed.  The announcement came later in the day confirming the delay.

The 1 p.m. game next Sunday against Miami might also be in jeopardy.  We believe that the pause timeline would, if UofL is cleared by their testing, run its course just in time to resume activities for the Miami game, though it would likely mean that Louisville would play the game without any practices for preparation for the team.

After Miami, UofL isn't scheduled to play again until 3pm New Year's Eve, again against Duke, so without considerable further spread of Covid-19 through the program that game will almost certainly proceed as planned.

Apparently Jeff Walz had proposed to the ACC to allow Duke and UofL to play their two games in the schedule back to back to ease scheduling and travel, if the Miami game also gets postponed, that would, in a sense, happen, though without the scheduling and travel benefits.

As Nick pointed out in the comments yesterday, there is some space towards the end of the season for games to be inserted, though not much.  The last currently scheduled game is on February 28th, and with the ACC tournament starting March 3rd, I imagine teams would be hesitant to try to insert a game in that gap.  There is a week between the Clemson game on February 21st and Notre Dame on the 28th, so there would be room to insert a game there.  But to find another week gap to insert another game with the typical three or four days between games we have to back up to the January 17th to the 24th gap between NC State and Wake Forest.

Obviously, the main concern is the student-athletes, coaches and staff. We hope they come though all this OK. 

Winter Graduation

UofL held their 2020 winter graduation yesterday, and like most large events in 2020, this one was virtual.

Winter graduations are typically smaller affairs compared to the traditional spring affairs, but there are always several athletes participating and we always try to highlight them as we find out about them.

From the current Volleyball squad, Piper Roe graduated, with former volleyballers Melanie McHenry, Natalie Palastro, and Akela Yuhl also getting their degrees.

In soccer, Emina Ekic and Amari Hopkins were in the ranks of the newly degreed.

Congratulations to these folks, and if you hear of any that we missed, let's celebrate them in the comments.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl Foust joined the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast yesterday.  Daryl made a number of appearances on the show during the WCHQ years, and we gladly welcome her voice back on the show.

There was plenty of material to cover on this one, with the basketball activities pause and recaps of the UT Martin and Duke games before the pause among the subjects covered.

Check it out below.

JMcA

Cards Open ACC with Win -- Jill Morton -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Cards Claim Conference Win at Cameron

Louisville women's basketball opened ACC conference play when they visited Duke for a rare Wednesday game. Yes, today is only Thursday so don't get in that weekend mindset quite yet.

The Cards left Cameron Indoor Stadium with a 73-49 victory to put that first tally in the ACC wins column.

Overall shooting was rather poor in the first quarter, but the 5-for-5 shooting from three-point range helped the Cards to a 21-12 advantage. Duke held a small 4-3 lead early in the game, but Louisville had a stretch of three straight three-pointers that saw the Cards pull ahead 9-6.

Louisville went into halftime holding a 35-22 lead. Evans led all scorers at the time with 13 points. The second quarter was quiet for Louisville, who won the quarter 14-10. The Cards struggled with shooting, including a fair number of missed layups. The only three-point attempt was a miss, but a 6-0 Dana Evans run helped ignite some offense.

Duke cut the Cards lead to six points midway through the third quarter before Louisville stepped it up a notch defensively. Louisville would hit a 15-point lead, but allowed a late score to end the quarter with a 49-36 lead. Evans had a quiet quarter with two points. Smith saw a small spark and pushed her point total up to 13 at the buzzer. Louisville went 0-4 from three-point range in the third quarter.

A little splash from three-point range from Evans off a nifty assist from Mykasa Robinson just before the break in the fourth quarter put the Cards up 20, triggering a Duke timeout. Depending who you were rooting for, it either got progressively better or worse form there. HVL contributed five of the next seven points, igniting a Duke timeout as the lead grew to 27. The Cards would win by 24.

Duke, who usually relies on amplified crowd noise from the small Cameron Indoor Stadium, played in front of an empty arena. The Blue Devils announced they will not allow fans for men's and women's basketball games this  season.

Louisville finished with a 44.4% shooting from the field with a solid 43.8% from three-point range. They also had an impressive showing from the free throw line, going 10-11.

Evans led all scorers with 24 points. Kianna Smith had 15, HVL had 14, and Olivia Cochran had 11. Cochran also had 12 rebounds to complete her double-double.

Surprisingly, Ahlana Smith and Norika Konna both saw few minutes, seeing seven minutes and six minutes, respectively. Robinson saw a fair amount of minutes and even though her scoring issues continued she was effective with six rebounds and one assist to go along with no turnovers.

Layups, which has been a weird issue in recent years, seemed to be Louisville's Achilles heel for much of the night. Whether it was a fast break or a contested shot in the paint Louisville was frustrated by the point blank range shot all night.

The Cards limited their turnovers to 12, quite an improvement from their mark fo 22 against DePaul. The 23-4 points off turnovers advantage proved to be the difference maker in the game. Duke actually won the fast break battle, 10-9. The Blue Devils also had the advantage in second chance points 15-11.

It was a relatively quiet night with fouls and whistle interruptions. The two teams combined for 22 fouls. Allowing the game to go on without constant interruptions will award the officials an A for the game.

F-R-E-D Report

(Fred Mertz stunned by the realization Louisville held Duke to under 50). 

Free Throws- 10-11 for 90.9% certainly earns a Capital "F".

Rebounds- Louisville and Duke tied with 38 rebounds a piece. The Cards are averaging nearly 50 rebounds per game. Duke had been out-rebounding foes by 24 a game. We cannot award a letter here for an averaage showing on the boards. 

Effort/Efficiency- The 44% shooting from the floor and nearly 44% from three-point range is always a good mark to hit. 23 points off turnovers is also a big number, especially when you when by 24, showing to be a big difference maker. On top of that Louisville, limited its turnovers and made smarter shots. There is certainly enough evidence to award a Capital "E".

Defense- The Cards held Duke to less than 50 points. They also forced Duke into 1-16 shooting from three-point range and forced 18 turnovers. The only area of concern would be allowing 36 points in the paint, including a couple open looks after giving up offensive rebounds. Still, there's a strong case for a Capital "D".

So we have a F-_-E-D after last night on the Fred Report. .

Louisville is now 5-0 on the year with a 1-0 mark in conference play. They host North Carolina on Sunday at 4:00 p.m., on ACC Network. Georgia Tech is the only other team with a conference victory after defeating Boston College. We'll see four more conference games tonight.

Jill Morton Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame

Jill Morton will be joining the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame as a 2021 recipient. Morton played for Louisville from 1996-2000. To give you an idea when that was, Morton was starting her freshman year the same time I was turning two. Paulie was celebrating his 80th birthday back then... or close to it, right?

Morton is Louisville's 12th leading scorer all-time. She finished her career with 1402 points. She also holds a career 44.5% three-point shooting mark, which still ranks first in program history. Her 201 three-pointers is seventh all-time at Louisville.

Morton is also Louisville women's basketball's first ever All-American. She is also the Cards' first ever WNBA draft pick, going 34th to the Charlotte Sting in 2014.

                                                                   *************

Radio Daze

We are back on air/internet/podcast for our Cardinal Couple podcast this Saturday and hope to have Daryl joining us. As for myself, I'm back to banking this Saturday and will be out. Abbott and Costello are taking some time away from learning baseball rosters to teach me how to convert a 5 into two 10s.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared