Not In the Cards -- Duke wins ACC Tournament 70-65 in overtime -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS RELINQUISH LEAD IN FOURTH QUARTER AND FALL TO DUKE

 Another ACC WBB Tournament...another Cards failure to take home the championship trophy. The #2 seed Cards vs. the #1 seed Blue devils and a 1 p.m. ESPN showcase slot on Sunday. 

Louisville fought the good fight for three and half quarters and found themselves leading #1 seed Duke 55-51 with 4:26 to play in the fourth quarter after a Mac Randolph jumper. The squads had just come out of a timeout and ten seconds later the Walz designed play worked to perfection.

That lead got cut in half but three minutes later...two Randolph free throws re-established the four-point lead at 57-53. It was too early, it turned out, to give this one to the Cards but it certainly was looking good for Walz's squad. 

Someone forget to relay the plot line to the Blue Devils. They regained the lead at 58-57 on a Nelson three and the Cards found their backs to the wall. But another drawn up play worked to perfection and Randolph continued her hot hands to make it 59-58 Cards with 23 seconds to play. It looked even better when Imari Berry went to the line for free throws with 14 seconds to go. Berry made one of two to set the tally at 60-58. All the Cards needed was a stop and they would be the tournament champs. 

It didn't happen. Duke inserted Delaney Thomas and Ashlon Jackson found her on a pass for a shot attempt with four second to play and Thomas tied the contest at 60-60. Louisville had four seconds for another possible game winner but Taj Roberts attempt was blocked. 

Hello overtime. 

The Cards had one lead in the extra five minutes, when a Ziegler three put them up 63-62 with 3:52 to go. Louisville did get back within two when Randolph got a putback to go to make it 67-65 Duke with 51 seconds to go, but could not score again. A Duke three by Nelson Riley with six seconds to go was the final score of the game Duke added the conference championship to their regular season championship with the 70-65 win.  

The Cards ended with four in double figures...Berry totaling 18, Randolph 17, Roberts 12 and Ziegler 10. Duke got four in double digits as well, with 19 each from Mair and Thomas leading the way. 

(Even though Fred was in red...not a beautiful day in the neighboood for Cards)

THE FRED REPORT 

FREE THROWS --  The Cards shot nine (incredible, right?) and made six. That's 66.7%and not good enough for a letter. Duke had twenty something attempts. No discrepancy here, right?

REBOUNDS -- Louisville was outrebounded 42-34 by  Duke. Randolph had 11 for UofL. No letter here,either. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards shot 43% for the game and made 7 out of 21 threes. They had 16 turnovers and had 26 points in the paint. A good effort until the end, but not a winning one. Rebounding is so important. The Cards were lacking. We'll award a small case "e" .

DEFENSE -- The Cards held Duke to 39% shooting, but gave away four point leads twice and it ultimarely cost them. Giving up five points in overtime in the last 2:25 isn't horrible, but it was a Louisville loss and I can't award a letter on that

FINAL FRED REPORT -_-_e_-

POST GAME JEFF WALZ AND MACKENLY RANDOLPH

 pauiie

Cards WBB headed to ACC Tournment Final -- Sunday Cardinal Couple -

 65-57 CARDS WIN OVER UNC LED BY BERRY. 

Write it down. Louisville WBB is headed to the 2026 ACC Tournament final to face Duke. The Cards got a huge lift from Clarksville, TN's pride and joy Imari Berry and got a courageous effort out of Elif Istanbulluoglu who returned to the game after seemingly spraining her ankle earlier in the contest. 

How do you feel about the transfer now, Nyla Harris? she only totaled six points against her former UofL teammates. 

The Cards got two threes from Berry to end the first quarter and they gave UofL a 16-10 lead. .UNC wasn't ready to start up the bus and go back to Chapel Hill though. They saw the Cards get to an eight-point lead but battled back and made it 26-24 with a little over two mnutes to play. Nyla Brooks was doing all she could to keep UNC in it, she got a tip in to make it 28-27 with 29 seconds until half and that's how the teams went to the midway break.  

The Cards and Heels played ping-pong with the lead to start the second half. There were seven lead changes in the first four minutes of the second half. Berry got the Cards up by four at 42-38 with 1:17 left in the quarter but Brooks cut it to two with a couple free throws. A Laura Ziegler three pushed the Cards to a 45-40 lead after three. 

If you thought the first three quarters were a rollicking roller coasted, in the words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive "You ain't seen nothing yet." 

BTO sings "You Ain't Seen Northin' Yet

The Cards jumped put to a 10-point lead in the first monute of the final quarter but UNC cut it back to six halfway thru the quarter. Just before that, Cardinals fans took a deep collective breath when Elif fell awkwardly on her ankle and crumpled to the floor. She had to be helped off the floor and was taken to the locker room. But, somehow... she returned to the game with 3:42 to go. 

Berry stepped up, though...and said "I'm not ready to go home" and hit two straight baskets to keep the Cards ahead 56-46 with 2:51 to play. UNC got a three from Nyla Brooks with 21 seconds to play to cut the Cards lead to five at 62-57 UNC had no option except to foul and Reyna Scott hit two free throws with 17 seconds let in the game and one charity toss from Ziegler with eight seconds to go set the 65-57 final score. 

So. Duke for the final on Sunday at 1 p.m.. It should be a classic, and ESPN will have the broadcast.  

(Photosmfrom Internet) 

POST GAME WALZ, E AND BERRY

First round of ACC WBB Tournament today -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ACC WBB TOURNAMENT STARTS TODAY -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

The first round of the Ally 2026 ACC WBB Tournament starts today. Or, the "roundhouse at the Gas House"...as I have also heard it referred to. Although I will not be in attendance this year, a myraid of health, political and trite confluences have me on the sidelines here in the Ville...I'll still be covering and watching it here at home via good ol' cable TV.  

TEN THINGS TO CONSIDER

1) The Cards dont play until Friday. They could face Georgia Tech, FSU or Virginia Tech.

2) The Cards are a #2 seed. Their chance to be a #1 disapered when Notre Dame beat them. 

3) It's the first year of the ACC Tournament in the Gas House Arena, formerly Gwinnet Arena, a comfy 13,000 seat arena in the Atlanta suburbs that I have visited once before, Purely my own opinion here, but they are crazy for leaving Greensboro. Tradition takes another kick in the shins. 

4) The #3 and #4 seed are UNC and NC State. Both are very capable of winnng the tourney,

5) ESPN 2 and the ACC Network are sharing the coverage. You're gonna see a lot of Deb Antonelli and Pam Ward. Fine with me. Both know the game like the back of their hand. 

6) If you can't watch, Nick Curran will handle the radio duties. 93.9 WLCL (Cards Radio )- FM and 970 WGTK - AM are the stations. 

7) Four different teams have won the tournament over the last four years. Ain't no UConn's in this league. 

8) Taj Roberts leads UofL WBB in scoring at 11.5 ppg. One of the super sophomores on the team.

9) Hannah Hildago should be named the ACC Most Outstanding Player of the year. She earned it.

10) Jeff Walz deserves Conference Coach of the Year, for the job he did with this squad. 

Enjoy the Tournament ! We'll have first round recaps and Thursday previews in the Thursday Cardinal Couple.  

paulie

Stage Set for ACC WBB Tourney -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Holds Second Seed

Despite the Cards suffering a third loss on Sunday, Louisville remained in second in the ACC WBB standings, and will carry the second seed into the 2026 Ally ACC Women's Basketball Tournament. The Cards had an opportunity to take the top spot, with Duke also dropping another game, but Notre Dame bested Louisville despite a furious comeback. The Irish themselves were trying to snag a second bye on Sunday, but they would have needed a bit of a miracle to finish ahead of NC State, who were playing Pitt. Pitt had already been eliminated from tournament contention. 

Joining the Panthers on the outside looking in are Boston College and SMU. BC finished a woeful 5-26 overall to go along with their 1-17 conference record. Pitt was also 1-17 but went 7-6 in non-conference play. SMU managed to win one more conference game and finished the overall season 9-21. It's tough to say anyone will miss those teams in Gas South Arena in "Atlanta" (Duluth), Georgia. The arena was originally called the Gwinnett Civic Center Arena

The event will get underway at 11 AM on Wednesday with #12 Miami vs #13 Stanford. There's not really a lunch break built in on Wednesday, as the games will go 11, 1:30, and 4. The 10-seed, California, will get the last team in, Wake Forest, though Wake was in before the final day of the regular season. The Demon Deacons finished 4-13, and Cal was the lowest team to finish .500 or better (9-9). The last game of the day is Florida State vs GT. FSU has taken a bit of a fall and finished the year just 5-13 (10-20). GT managed to finish 11th in conference thanks to some quirky tiebreakers. Despite just a 13-17 overall record, they finished above the two teams tied with them at 8-10, despite Miami finishing the regular season 16-13 and Stanford coming in at 19-12. 

We'll see who comes out of day one of the fray, as Thursday introduces three teams that received a bye, and two teams that got an extra day of rest. Game one on Thursday is #8 Virginia vs #9 Clemson, and the winner of that game will face top-seeded Duke on Friday. Both teams had a chance to improve their seed on the final day, but when they finished tied at 11-7, it wouldn't have mattered who was actually ahead since they were destined to play anyway. Notre Dame's fifth seed earned them the 1:30 slot on Wednesday, and they'll face the winner of Miami and Stanford. The Irish finished in another three-way tie, this one at 12-6. ND beat out Virginia Tech and Syracuse, despite both teams taking two more overall wins. Nevertheless, Syracuse came out and the back of the pack with the 7-seed and will face the winner of Cal and Wake. VT closes the evening at 7:30 against either GT or FSU. 

As I already mentioned, Duke will play the first game on Friday and has a better bead on their opponent than any other double-bye team. Arguably, though, they have the worse deal, as both of their potential opponents have the same amount of rest and have just two potential opponents to plan for. While those setbacks are true, chalk holding would mean Duke faced the lowest remaining seed in the tournament. NC State finished fourth and will play ND, Miami, or Stanford. Following the mid-afternoon break, Louisville will return to ESPN 2 (Duke will play the first game off of ACCN) at 5PM on Friday, where they'll face Syracuse, Cal, or Wake. UNC finished third and will close the evening against VT, GT, or FSU. 

The ACC will crown a champion on Sunday, with tipoff at 1PM. We'll see just who is playing in that game in due course. The Cards have shown plenty of capability to win against any team in the league, but they've also shown a surprising propensity for losing. It would be nice to be rolling into tournament play with a long win streak, but perhaps some late adversity will renew a bit of hunger in the Cards. Only time will tell. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case