Welcome to the ACC, Stanford -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Stanford University Cardinal

The final school joining the ACC for the upcoming school year is Stanford University. The Cardinal (singular, a tree, not a bird) sponsor 36 Division I sports- 16 men's teams and 20 women's teams. Between its old age from being founded in the late 1800s and carrying so many sports, Stanford has the most claimed national titles of any single school with 154 team titles.

Note: The total number of team titles for each school leaves room for debate due to many schools claiming championships before the NCAA was founded or before each respective sport was recognized by the NCAA.

Women's Sports and their 2023-2024 results:

Artistic Swimming: National Runner-Up

Basketball: 30-6, 15-3 Pac-12, Sweet Sixteen

Beach Volleyball: 32-6, 7-1 Pac-12, Elite Eight

Cross Country: 12th in the NCAA Championships

Fencing: 11th in the NCAA Championships

Field Hockey: 4-11, 1-7 Pac-12

Golf: National Champions

Gymnastics: 3-12, 1-6 Pac-12, Elite Eight

Lacrosse: 13-5, 7-0 Pac-12, first round in NCAA Tournament

Rowing: National Runner-Up

Rowing Lightweight: National Runner-Up

Sailing: National Champions in Women's Team Nationals; National Champions in Women's Fleet Nationals; 7th in Open Fleet Nationals

Soccer: 20-1-4, 8-0-3 Pac-12, National Runner-Up

Softball: 50-17, 17-7 Pac-12, College World Series Final Four

Squash: 9-5, 5th at CSA National Championships

Swimming and Diving: 3rd in the Pac-12 Championships, 5th in the NCAA Championships

Tennis: 25-3, 8-1 Pac-12, NCAA Quarterfinal

Track and Field: 15th in NCAA Indoor Championships

Volleyball: 29-4, 19-1 Pac-12, Elite Eight

Water Polo: 19-7, 4-2 Pac-12, Final Four

Men's Sports

Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Rowing, Sailing, Soccer, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Track and Field, Volleyball, Water Polo, Wrestling

We will see more of Stanford this fall as they compete against Louisville in various sports.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Here comes Anaya, Lousville WBB fans -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 6'4" ANAYA HARDY WILL GIVE CARDS WBB HOPS

We all love the dunk in basketbll, right? But to see it in the women's game is a surprise...a pleasant one, mind you, but not seen it very often. 

Well...look at this: 

Anaya Hardy dunk

She is 6'4" Anaya Hardy and will be e freshman this season for Jeff Walz and the Louissville Cards WBB squad. She hails out of Renaissance High School in Detroit. She was A.P. first team All-State in Michgan her senior year and scored 28 poinys and had 12 rebounds in Renaissance's Detriot Public School's Championship game. 

She joins the #6 ranked recruiting class ni 2024.She'll be a scorer, but that class has some pretty prolific high school scorers already in Imari Berry, Mackeniy Randolph, and Taj-Avant Roberts. 

She picked UofL over Michigan and Syracuse. 

She'll battle for front line playing time with Cards returnees Olivia Cochran, Nyla Harris Elif Istanbulloglu, fellow freshman Isla Juffermans and redshirt Eseosa Imfifidon. 

It should be a fun team to watch and Anaya will hopefully escape Jeff Walz's penchant for rarely playing freshmen.

Louisville is ranked #12 in ESPN' "Way-Too Early" poll for the 2024 season.

paulie

Conference changes and realignment --it's anyone's guess. --MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING FOR LOUISVILLE?

As we look forward to the fall sports and the new challenges for our Louisville women's sports squads, we also wonder how conference changes will affect how our teams do ...and if there are more conference realignments and changes ahead? 

I wonder how long the "Pac 2" will exist and who will eventually take the two remaining members  (Washington State and Oregon State). Will the Mountain West team up with them? What would you call such an alignment? Would they attract others? 

Will certain members of the ACC continue to rattle their swords and speak of leaving to join "so and so" or "those guys" and what will the newest members of the ACC bring and have success at in their initial season? It would sound weird to say Caiifornia dominated the Atlantic Coast...wouldn't it?

I read a interesting rant in one of the comments sections of a site I read occasionally...about how the nation should divide into seven regions for DI sports and create seven "super conferences". The Northeast, East, Southeast, Central, Midwest, Southwest and West. The idea is an intriguing one...there are 363 DI schools, so, obviously, there just might need to have subconferences with the conferences. And, how would independents Notre Dame, UConn and UMass react to this in football?  

Imagine the conferences haggling over border lines for placement. Imagine UofL and UK in the same division but IU and Purdue in different ones? I know, too much thought requests for a Monday morning, right? 

Schools used to take pride in their number of conference title wins and domination over other conference foes. All that might be erased, down the road. Imagine Virginia Tech and Virginia in two seperate conferences...imagine Maryland and West Virginia being matched up again with the regional rivals they used to have. 

I guess all we can do is cheer for our favorite team and hope that they do well in whatever conference they might end up in down the road. For Louisville, who began years ago in the MVC and made strides thru various conferences until they reached the ACC, the thought maybe isn't as weird as Kentucky fans getting used to being in something other than the SEC. 

Interesting times ahead.,,,stay tuned and let's review it five years from now...shall we? Or maybe five months...

paulie

Welcome to the ACC, Cal -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

California (Cal) Golden Bears

Another school we get to welcome to the ACC this season is the University of California, Berkeley. Another common name is UC Berkeley, but most people refer to them as California or Cal. The Golden Bears have departed the Pac-12, which continues to hang around with just two schools remaining.

Cal recognizes a long list of varsity sports- 27 total, 14 women's teams and 13 men's teams. The sports that Cal offers that you cannot find at Louisville are women's gymnastic, women's beach volleyball, men's gymnastics, men's water polo, men's rugby, and men's rowing.

Women's Sports Offered

-Basketball: Cal went 19-15 last season and struggled in the Pac-12. They had an early exit from the WNIT.

-Beach Volleyball: Cal went 22-14 last season and earned the 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament, falling to eventual runner-up UCLA. Florida State and Stanford are the other schools in the ACC.

-Cross Country: The Golden Bears finished eighth in the Pac-12 and earned a bid to the NCAA postseason, but did not make it out of the NCAA Regional.

-Field Hockey: Last season, Cal went 12-8. They took down Albany/UAlbany in the America East Championship to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. They fell in the opening round to Maryland.

-Golf: Cal finished 9th in the Pac-12 and earned a postseason bid. They did not make it out of the NCAA Regional round.

-Gymnastics: A 20-3 season and a 4th place finish at the NCAA Championship helped highlight one of Cal's strongest programs. They will join the newly-founded ACC Gymnastics alongside NC State, North Carolina, Pitt, Stanford, and Clemson.

-Lacrosse: The Golden Bears struggled last season and finished 5-10.

-Rowing: Not much is known about the Golden Bears in rowing other than they were an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

-Soccer: Last season, the Golden Bears finished 7-6-6 overall and 4-3-4 (fifth place) in the Pac-12. The Pac-12 did not play a conference tournament.

-Softball: Cal finished the season 37-19 and 9-13 in the Pac-12. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament but bowed out in the NCAA Regional.

-Swimming and Diving: The Golden Bears claimed the Pac-12 title and finished 4th in the NCAA Championships.

-Tennis: Cal posted strong results last season with a runner-up finish in the Pac-12. As a team, the Bears fell in the NCAA Super Regional. Three individuals fell in the opening round of the singles tournament.

-Track and Field: Cal struggled in conference play and finished 9th. A few individuals received invites to the NCAA Regional but none advanced further.

-Volleyball: The Bears posted a 16-15 finish last year with a 5-15 mark in conference play. The Pac-12 did not play a conference tournament and Cal did not make it into the NCAA Tournament.

-Water Polo: Cal went 19-7 last season, one of the best marks in the country. They earned the #3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and fell in the championship to #1 UCLA. The only other school in the ACC to carry women's water polo is Stanford.

Men's Sports Offered

-Baseball

-Basketball

-Cross Country

-Football

-Golf

-Gymnastics

-Rowing

-Rugby

-Soccer

-Swimming and Diving

-Tennis

-Track and Field

-Water Polo

Cal brings strong programs across several sports. For sports such as field hockey, lacrosse, and gymnastics, they help add depth to a small, but growing conference. Cal seems to have played second fiddle to Stanford in a majority of their sports during their Pac-12 tenure and hope they can flip that around as both schools join the ACC.

We will cover Stanford and the sports they bring with them within a couple weeks.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Welcome to the ACC, SMU -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As we approach the 2024-2025 sports season, we will see three new schools regularly appearing on the other side of the field/pitch/court from UofL. The addition of Southern Methodist (SMU), California (Cal), and Stanford took effect recently. We will go through the sports that each school offers over the next few weeks.

Southern Methodist University (SMU)

SMU currently fields 16 varsity sports, noticeably less than the 21 Louisville has. 10 of those teams are women's programs while the remaining six are men's programs. The only sport they carry that Louisville doesn't is Equestrian. There are currently 21 Division I schools that field Equestrian. 

Women's Sports offered:

-Basketball: Last season, the Mustangs went 14-16 and fell in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

-Cross Country: Unlike many schools, SMU does not have both men's and women's cross country. Their women's team had a fairly successful run last fall, tying for fifth in the NCAA Regional round.

-Equestrian: SMU is the reigning back-to-back national champions, narrowly beating out top-ranked TCU for the title back in April. 

-Golf: The Mustangs have a strong women's program. They advanced to the national championship and finished 24th overall last year.

-Rowing: The Mustangs won a tight one in the AAC Championship.

-Soccer: At 11-6-1 and falling in the AAC title game, SMU was one of the first schools out to miss the NCAA Tournament.

-Swimming and Diving: The Mustangs finished second in the AAC Championships. They did not send a team to the NCAA Championships but did have a couple individual divers compete.

-Tennis: A 14-12 overall record would not have gotten SMU into the postseason, but they won the AAC title to earn their way in, where they advanced to the second round after upsetting #33 Alabama.

-Track and Field: This is another sport where you typically see men's and women's programs together. SMU only carries a women's team. With just three points recorded, the Mustangs placed 50th overall in the NCAA Championships.

-Volleyball: SMU went 26-7 overall and 18-1 in the AAC en route to a conference championship. They fell to Texas in the second round.

Although we won't see them in on the lacrosse or field hockey fields, since they don't field sports in those two areas, it still appears that SMU is pretty strong in the women's events they do offer. Granted, the step from the AAC to the ACC is a pretty huge one. but the WBB home court...Moody Coliseum, as been described as a being a very tough place for opponent to come in and win. The legend of "Moody Magic" for SMU against incoming opponents is an interesting local tradition. . 

Men's Sports offered:

We found it interesting that a school of almost 12,000 enrollment only offerss (6) men's sports. We don't cover men's sports in our Cardinal Couple columns, but a cursory glance indicates that the men's sports they do carry at SMU did pretty daggone good in the AAC last year. 

-Basketball: 20-13 last season

-Football: 11-3 last season with AAC Championship

-Golf: 2nd in AAC, 26th at NCAAs

-Soccer: 14-3-2 last season

-Swimming and Diving: Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Champions, 18th at NCAAs

-Tennis: 17-11 last season

We will break down the sports Cal and Stanford bring to the table in the future.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

ACC Expansion Almost Here -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SMU, Cal, and Stanford Set to Join this Summer

While we have known about the addition of three teams to the ACC for several months now, the time is nearly here for this to take effect. SMU will be joining the ACC after departing the American Athletic Conference (AAC) effective July 1, 2024. California and Stanford will be departing the Pac-12 and joining the ACC effective August 2, 2024.

Note: Due to the by-laws of the Pac-12, Cal and Stanford are not able to join until August 2, 2024.

Southern Methodist University (SMU) is located in Dallas, Texas. The private Methodist school was founded in 1911 and has an enrollment of about 12,000. Their nickname is the Mustangs and their school colors are red and blue.

The University of California, Berkeley (Cal) is located in Berkeley, California. The public schoolwas founded in 1868 and has an enrollment of about 45,000. Their nickname is the Golden Bears and their school colors are blue and gold, specifically Berkeley blue and California gold.

Stanford University is located in Stanford, California. The private non-sectarian school was founded in 1891 and has an enrollment of about 17,000. Their nickname is the Cardinal (a tree) and their school colors are cardinal and white.

We will dive deeper into the addition of these three teams this summer. We will look into the different sports each school will bring with them.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Louisville Fined, Reprimanded by ACC -- Softball run rules FIU -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WALZ'S REMARKS DRAW ACC FINE, REPRIMAND

The ACC has fined the University of Louisville $20,000 in an institutional fine and also issued a public reprimand for Jeff Walz's remarks following the Sunday loss to Syracuse at Syracuse. 

Walz was critical of the intentional foul called on Olivia Cochran as time ran out in the contest and Louisville held a one-point lead. The foul gave Syracuse's Dyaisha Fair two free throws, which she made, to give Syracuse the lead and win over the Cardinals WBB squad. The referee crew that made the game changing call did something you usually don't see in close games late in the action. Instead of just giving the 'Cuse the ball out of bounds again, they really overjudged the infraction and changed the course of the outcome. 

I have been asked why did Louisville foul there with the lead, and, although the decision has been upheld in a lot of circles, I have to ask..."why put the outcome in the hands of an officiting call? Especially when you have the lead?"  I choose maybe the lesser of two options there, in my mindset and thinking...why foul when you have the lead and don't need the ball back. 

In any event,.. Walz commented, the ACC didn't like what he had to say and slapped the Cards twice. They fell back on the rules interpretation of the Sportsmanship Policy that says:

"Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best of intercolligiate athletics. Individuals associaated with the athletics program, therefore, are prohibited from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating of the than directly to the Conference office."

After all the chatter and debate over the game changing call, the fact still remains that the winning outcome goes to a team that had appeared to lose, but got a second chance from a crew that made a call you don't usually see in a situation like this. It speaks volumes about the inconsistancy and subpar efforts of referees in the ACC this year. Will the call affect the annual ACC Conference seedings, or who will win the regular season ACC WBB Titile?  No, probably not...but if Louisville comes in second in the league by a game, it will surely be bantied about again. Currently, Louisville (9-3) is a game and a half behind Virginia Tech (11-2) in the conference standings and a half game behind Syracuse. Teams play 18 league games this season before the tournament. If Syracuse wns the league, look back to this incident. 

That $20,000 could have bought a lot of lacrosse gear. 

What can be done to improve the officiting in women's college basketball. Some will tell you it isn't broken and doesn't need fixing. Many will look at this gaffe by a crew in a game between two "top 3" teams in the conference and shake their heads in disbelief...expectng better. Others may point to Louisville losing a nine-point lead in the quarter as a key in the Cards loss. The point is, it's a shame and disgrace for a highly-charged, competitive game like this one was to have the possible decision altered by a call you rarely see in this situation and by a substandard officiating crew.. 

Finally, I have been asked if Walz should have made remarks that drew the fine and reprimand. My take? Hell, yes. Sure, Olivia fouled. But, Fair was nowhere naar the basket and Cochran's foul wasn't a brutal, intentional knock-down, just an arm hold. The girl wasn't even shooting. Got to let that one, go... officials, not toss an intentional at her.  If those refs had heard me after the call, they would have probably banned me for life from ACC WBB games. 

I guess the bottom line is still..."those who score more, win". How the points end up that way will be the argung point here for quite a while, is my guess, in this situation. Yes, the free throws still had to be made.Should they have ever been awarded? I say no.

The big problen here is how do you come up with officiating in WBB that isn't drawing so many complaints and criticisms? The game needs officials, no doubt. But, the travel is long and maybe not the best paying gig for those who are entrusted with the whistles. Other ACC coaches have had complaints about the refs recently, too, but the ACC officials chose not to go after them . Olivia is the victim here. She was just doing whaat her coach told her to do, and 99% of the time, a regular foul is called and Syracuse is given the ball out of boundss to try again. But...this WAS in Syracuse. I'll leave it there. . . 

We welcome your siggestions on how to get good WBB officials in the ACC, or in all of collegiate women's basketball. Leave a comment,

SOFTBALL SLAMS FIU 11-2

Zabala!

Louisville Softball's win streak goes to six games to start the season and mastery in Florida remains unblemshed as well. 

On Tuesday, the Softball Cards popped out to a 4-0 first inning led over FRIU and added six more runs in the fourth nning to gett the rule-run "W" in Miami. 

A Bailee Richardsn first inning double scored Chelsea Mack and a three RBI home run from first baseman Riley Frizell gave UofL a 4-0 lead that they never relinquished. 

(Lovely Daisy...)

The Cards added six runs in the fourth inning on  four FIU erors and were aided by a huge double from catcher Kiley Goff. The scoring was completed when shortstop Daisy Hess doubled home Ally Alexander in the top of the fifth. 

Alyssa Zabala (3-0) gets the win in the circle, allowing two runs on three hits in four innings. Sam Booe pitched a scoreless inning to close out the win. 

The Cardinals will continue their road stretch on Thursday at 6 p.m. when they take on host FAU in the opening game of the Joan Joyce Classic 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Have a great Valentines Day readers, if you have that someone special that may surprise you or you are surprisng and/or honoring them. And, Cupid is out there...be careful, you unattached or unclaimed.....

paulie

ACC Trivia -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As Case mentioned yesterday, Louisville women's basketball had the weekend off from regulation play. Outside of WBB, there's not much happening in the realm of Louisville women's athletics.

In the ACC world, lawsuits between the conference and Florida State regarding football-related activities continue. The ACC looks to add Stanford, California, and Southern Methodist (SMU) effective next season, but it appears a few schools are hoping to depart elsewhere in the coming months or years pending litigation and contract buyouts.

So, while we have our 15-team conference for now, let's have some ACC trivia! For this trivia, we do recognize Notre Dame as the 15th member of the conference.

1. How many total states are represented in the ACC?

A. 8

B. 9

C. 10

D. 11

2. Three states have multiple ACC schools. What are those three states?

A. Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina

B. North Carolina, Georgia, New York

C. Florida, Indiana, Massachussetts

D. Florida, Virginia, North Carolina

3. Six ACC schools have the state they reside in in their name. What are those six schools? For example, the Big Ten would have schools such as Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan as some for their conference.

4. Four ACC schools have the city they reside in located in their name. What are those five schools? For example, Stanford University is located in Stanford, California. Note: While the University of North Carolina is sometimes referred to as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we are not including that in the questionnaire.

5. Which ACC school has both male and female mascots?

A. Boston College

B. NC State

C. Miami

D. Duke

6. Only one ACC school has a mascot that the person dressed as the mascot shows their face. The rest have hoods or masks on. Which school has the mascot that you can see the person? Note: Florida State does not have a mascot for non-football sanctioned events so the Seminole mascot is not included in this question.

A. Notre Dame

B. Syracuse

C. Wake Forest

D. Virginia Tech

7. Which ACC school has the smallest enrollment?

A. Louisville

B. Florida State

C. Georgia Tech

D. Wake Forest

8. Which ACC school has the largest enrollment?

A. Notre Dame

B. Boston College

C. Miami

D. Georgia Tech

9. How many ACC schools have orange as one of their primary or secondary colors?

A. 8

B. 5

C. 2

D. 1

10. Three ACC schools have mascots that do not end in the letter "S". What are those three schools?

A. Louisville, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech

B. Boston College, Clemson, Wake Forest

C. Notre Dame, NC State, Syracuse

D. Florida State, Miami, North Carolina

11. Which ACC school is the oldest?

A. Pittsburgh

B. North Carolina

C. Clemson

D. Louisville

12. Which ACC school is the youngest?

A. Virginia

B. Clemson

C. Notre Dame

D. Miami

13. Which school is the most recent to join the ACC?

A. Clemson

B. Duke

C. Louisville

D. NC State

14. Seven schools founded the original ACC on May 8, 1953. Which of these schools is not a founding member?

A. North Carolina

B. NC State

C. Duke

D. Georgia Tech

15. Which two founding members have since left the ACC?

A. Cincinnati and West Virginia

B. South Carolina and Maryland

C. Florida and LSU

D. Coastal Carolina and Maine

Feeling pretty confident with your answers? Let's see how you did!

Question 1 - C. 10. The current states represented in the ACC include Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachussetts.

Question 2 - D. Florida, Virginia, North Carolina. Florida has Florida State and Miami. Virginia has Virginia and Virginia Tech. North Carolina has North Carolina, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest.

Question 3 - University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Florida State University, North Carolina State University (NC State), and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

Question 4 - University of Louisville (Louisville, KY), Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina), Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York), and University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). This one is tricky because the University of Miami is actually located in Coral Gables, Florida which is about 15 minutes from Miami, Florida.

Question 5 - B. NC State. The NC State Wolfpack have Mr. Wuf and Ms. Wuf. Paulie and Ms. Wuf are good friends and are often seen taking pictures together down at the ACC Tournament.

Question 6 - A. Notre Dame. While mascots such as Louie require someone to be fully inside a costume, the leprechaun only requires a green and gold suit and a beard.

Question 7 - D. Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons currently have an enrollment of 8,789.

Question 8 - D. Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets currently have an enrollment of 47,961.

Question 9 - B. 5. Syracuse, Clemson, Miami, Virginia, and Virginia Tech all consider orange as one of their primary or secondary colors.

Question 10 - C. Notre Dame, NC State, Syracuse. Notre Dame is the Fighting Irish, NC State is the Wolfpack, and Syracuse is the Orange. Fun fact: Syracuse moved away from the name Orangemen and Orangewomen in 2004 after Nike advised them to do so.

Question 11 - Pittsburgh. The University of Pittsburgh was founded in 1787. North Carolina is the second oldest school, being founded in 1789. Louisville is the only other school to be founded in the 1700s, opening its doors in 1798.

Question 12 - D. Miami. The University of Miami was founded in 1925. The Hurricanes will celebrate their centennial on April 8, 2025.

Question 13 - C. Louisville. The University of Louisville officially joined the ACC on July 1, 2014. The year prior, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Notre Dame joined the ACC.

Question 14 - D. Georgia Tech. While Virginia was the first non-founding member to join the ACC just seven months after the ACC was formed, Georgia Tech did not join the conference until 1979. There are some who still argue that Virginia is a founding member because they joined in 1953, the original founding year.

Question 15 - B. South Carolina and Maryland. South Carolina left the ACC in 1971 and is currently a part of the SEC. Maryland left the ACC in 2014 and is currently a part of the Big Ten.

How did you do? Is your ACC knowledge still up-to-date? ACC membership will extend to 18 schools effective the 2024-2025 season.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

A change in the wind? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 POTENTIAL DEFECTIONS OF FSU AND CLEMSON COULD SHAKE UP THE ACC...

As fall sports are set to begin in the ACC in less than two weeks, maybe just as big a story are the rumors flying around about ACC defections.  You'll remember...back in 2014 it was a defection (Maryland) that opened the door for Louisville to join the conference. Now, after a decade in the conference...the Cards and a dozen or so other ACC members are looking at re-alignment possibilities and defection possibilities again. 

Clemson and FSU see the dollar signs beckon and there is a lot of chatter out there that they'll chase them. Football seems to be the driving force here, and there is already speculation that if the Noles and Tigers hit the trail...California and Stanford from the dying PAC 12 might be knocking on the door, dressed in their Sunday best, seeing an invite to the ACC. Somehow, two west coast Pacific Athletic Conference schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference seems a bit odd to me...but I guess a decade ago...ACC purists thought that a city on the Ohio River being in the Atlantic Coast conference was weird, too. 

Why all this jumping around? It is all about revenue. Repeat and rinse. It's about moolah, greenbacks, benjamins, bank, folding stuff and loot. 

Maybe we shouldn't cast too much of a disapproving eye. After all, it was Louisville who went from MVC to Metro to C-USA to Big East to AAC to ACC...and the motivation wasn't centered around neat places to eat and colorful mascots. 

It was all about the dollars. As much as I am still confused to this day why West Virginia left the ACC to go to the Big 12,...I snap myself back  to the real world and remember why. Money. 

Joel Grey had it right in Cabaret when he and Liza Minellli sang about money. Scarface and the BrotherMob nailed it, too, when they rapped about money makes the world go around. Ig... f you listen carefully enough on a calm summer evening, you can hear Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding shouting "Show me the money" in the distance. 

Athletics bring in a considerable amount of money to colleges and universities. Clemson and FSU, who have no qualms squawking about the "unfair" ACC dollar split, see more money potential elsewhere and...repeat it with me....money makes the world go around.

(Hi, Daddy. Classes are great but the coaches still don't know what conference we are in)

And, yes, football is the conductor of this money train. 

I was at a lunch recently with some UofL fans and friends of mine and we were talking about the travel snafus California and Stanford would run into...if they joined the ACC and had, for example...a three game conference road-trip to...let's say... Boston College, Miami and then Virginia Tech. Then, think about it for the Field Hockey or Lacrosse programs at these schools...instead of football or men's basketball.  

Of course, Hawaii does a bit of flying each athletic season for their 20 SPORTS PROGRAMS. Who knows...maybe they'll come out next week and proudly announce they,are joining the SEC.

Deion Sanders, head football coach at  University of Colorado gets it:

"All this is about money, you know that. It's about a bag. Everybody is chasing a bag. Then, you get mad at players when they chase it. How's that? How do the grown-ups get mad at the players when they're chasing it when the colleges are chasing it?"

Greed, it seems, should be a new elective for incoming freshmen in course-scheduling. Maybe Gordon Gekko can guest lecture.

Money is the most important thing on campus. And that's sad. But, it's real. College athletes, on the main stage, is all about greed, for the major programs within a college's athletic department. 

I  hope to be here, and not breathing dry air, five years from now. I can't even imagine what conference alignments will look like then.

 

I guess it's time to finally get rid of those old Big East Louisville sweatshirts I have. The ones that Sonja is always nagging me about ( "you never wear this anymore...I'm taking it to Goodwill...you need closet space")  and re-gear.  I used to get nice polo shirts from a certain source at a certain university. That cowboy has saddled up and rode off into the sunset, though. 

I just hope we don't change our logo. Last time I checked, we were the only Cardinals in the ACC. But, saay...is that Stanford coming down the road? Great...the old Cardinal vs Cardinals nickname conspiracy just might be ramping up again several notches...At least they have a crazy looking tree on their sidelines at times. All we got is some screaming intern with a microphone trying to get the crowd to clap their hands. 

Stay tuned...this soap opera could get real interesting...

Paulip

ACC Headquarters Moving From Greensboro to Charlotte -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ACC HEADQUARTERS MOVING IN 2023 TO CHARLOTTE

The ACC announced Tuesday that it's official: they're moving their headquarters to Charlotte. 

It's an interesting decision. Charlotte is about 90 minutes or so southwest of Greensboro, if you drive it on I-85. . It means the four ACC schools in North Carolina (UNC, NCST, Duke and Wake Forest) might not have the Greensboro Coliseum practically in their backyard anymore for the ACC women's basketball tournament. Make no mistake about it, if one of those four schools wasn't playing in a particular session (Weds, Thurs or Fri)...the arena was a ghost town, unless Louisville was playing. And, even when the Cards were on the court, it was about half Cardinals fans and the other half from all the other schools in the ACC to boo the Cards.

And, the, there was the "school-kids game" usually on Weds or Thurs and typically held when the #8 and #9 seeds met. It was loud and the kids screamed equally for each team, whether it was Wake or FSU. Boston College or UNC. Cotton candy and spilled soft drinks were the winner in that time-slot. 

The actual headquarters move won't mean a whole lot to the northern members of the ACC (Boston College, Syracuse...or even Louisville) except that the Charlotte airport is considerably larger than the ones in Greensboro and Winston Salem.  The Greensboro airport isn't too bad, they have Delta, American Airlines, United, Frontier and Allegiant, but it was tricky sometimes in getting a flight to Louisville out of there...and you usually had to go through Charlotte to get the connecting flight to Greensboro or Winston Salem. I can only imagine what you had to go through if you were flying in from Boston or Tallahassee. 

The ushers and support staff were always nice in Greensboro, though and the food and beverage folks put out three nice meals most days. 

Drive-wise, out of Louisville it's about an eight-hour drive to get to either. The big difference is not taking I-64 and the West Virginia Turnpike and I-40 to get to Charlotte, it's I-75 and I-40. Having driven the West Virginia Turnpike in sub zero conditions and ice-covered roads, I seriously wondered if I'd be found by spring if I slid off the road. Plus, it's a toll road. But, you avoid Nashville, which can get jammed up for hours in traffic at times. 

They do have the Spectrum Center in Charlotte for hoops, it holds about 20,000 and the Hornets make their home there. (No, not the flying pest...the Charlotte Hornets NBA team). If WBB in the ACC is going to continue to just use one facility each year, year-after-year, Spectrum's a pretty good one. 

 

The "Big Four" around Greensboro (UNC, NCST, Wake and Duke) will probably lament that they have to travel more than a half-hour to play in the ACC women's tournament. Life is tough, isn't it?  I've heard that the ACC WBB Tournament may move around eventually. The five schools left from the original seven conference members won't like that, except for Clemson probably...they haven't been good in WBB in a long time.

And the rest of the women's sports get spread around a lot already, anyway. Rowing, Field Hockey, Soccer, Softball and the rest aren't always based in one particulaar city and certainly not in Greensboro. 

It came down to moving to Charlotte, or Orlando or staying in Greensboro. The ACC stayed in North Carolina because the league can now obtain $15 million in funds from the state, which were earmarked in the latest budget for a "college sports employer" for building a new faciity in the state. 

Money talks. . 

Coastal Carolina bleachers and "the Panther of Pitt".

And then, there was the one year (2017) at Coastal Carolina in Conway, SC for the ACC WBB Tournament. Something about bathroom laws in North Carolina caused the one year move. Honestly, I hated it in Conway. The motel I stayed in, in Conway, had me scared every night with the drug traffic and prostitutes in the parking lot. I probably should have opted to stay in Myrtle Beach like the teams mostly did. And, the drive was longer than Greensboro by about three hours. 

But, it's a move by the ACC that may not mean a thing five or ten years from now. Who knows if there will be an ACC or any conference alignments like we currently know them in five to ten years? 

The pep bands are always fun at the ACC WBB Tournament

You roll with the changes and take your chances. I've seen Louisville in the Missouri Valley Conference, Big East, AAC, Metro, C-USA and probably a few I've forgotten since I've been a Louisville fan. Next? 

Nothing surprises me, anymore. And, one thing is for sure. Louisville was never in the running for the new ACC headquarters home. 

I haven't decided whether I'll head to Greensboro one last time in the spring for  the 2023 ACC Tournament. We'll see how I'm feeling at the time and what seed the Cards are. 

paulie

How solid is the ACC? -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 IS THE CONFERENCE STRONG AS THE SHUFFLING GOES ON? 

(Case is out sick today, so you get a Paulie article today, you lucky kids...) 

Fall 2022 in "life in the ACC" should be some interesting times. As other conferences knock and "huff and puff" at the conference's door, wooing Clemson, Notre Dame and other ACC powers, where people wonder if the ACC should fire a pre-emptive strike and bring in a powerhouse school or two, and the Big12 reacts to being raided...how does the conference we joined in 2014 look?

First off, we are the newest member of the 15-team ACC conference, the "junior" in the family, but arguably the most successful athletic program in the ACC since we've joined. I can remember playing in the Missouri Valley Conference...where only Drake and Bradley remain as members when we were in there...and Cincinnati, Memphis and St, Louis were our big rivals. 

Our "bouncing around" to the Metro, C-USA, Big East and AAC hasn't seemed to affect our excellence in athletics too much. The real question is: Has Louisville reached the pinnacle of conferences to be involved in? Is it an SEC world and we're all just living in it, or can a revamped Big12, Big 10, Pac 12, and ACC square off toe-to-toe with the SEC. 

In women's sports, which is what we cover, but, sadly -- pretty much a non-factor in conference-realignment figuring -- I think the Louisville women's sports programs could hold their own and rise to the top in any conference out there. WBB, Field Hockey and Volleyball obviously leading the way -- with swimming right behind them and soccer, softball and lacrosse showing huge growth potential. 

Sadly, it is not women's sports that determines a conference change-over or re-alignment. We all know the SEC didn't include Oklahoma because of women's soccer or Texas because of softball. The women's sports become "passengers, not drivers" in schools jumping to new conferences. Was Maryland Field pleased when the Terps joined the Big 10 in 2014? Probably not, in terms of quality of in-conference competition originally...but the Big 10 schools knew they had to get stronger in Field Hockey to compete with the Terps and they did. Six Big 10 schools were atop the DI Field Hockey RPI's in late November. 1-6 they were, with Liberty 7th and Louisville 8th. 

The SEC would undoubtedly love to raid Clemson, Notre Dame and maybe even FSU to add strength to their football contingents. South Carolina and Florida would probably howl at this move (just like Kentucky would growl if the SEC courted Louisville) . When (and where) does iy end , though?  Does it all eventually become five conferences, with subdivisions, for the 350 DI schools? And, would we join the SEC if asked? After all, they DON'T play Field Hockey or Lacrosse. OK, they're not huge money makers, but they have a strong and loyal fan base here....plus two quality and highly regarded coaches.  

And, what kind of role will the NCAA play in future shuffling and changes?  Could there be a "power of 64" schools that pull away from the NCAA, form their own jurisdiction and governing body and create their own schedules, opponents and conference alignments? Yes, dear reader, the almighty dollar xould be the main underlying factor here.  

 It makes sense, this super-alignment of powerful schools' athletic programs. Surely Louisville (and Kentucky) would be a part of it, maybe WKU as well. 

Remember when?

But, I think the ACC is safe and solid (for now). I'd like to see an expansion to 16 teams (invite WVU and they'd come running) and create a solidarity where "invading conferences" would have to pay humongous amounts of money to raid the ACC and leaving schools pay a bunch, too, to leave. 

STAY TUNED, though. This is a horse race where five contenders are all within a length of each other as they turn for the stretch. Throw in the big factor (money) and simmer slightly until you're ready to serve.  

What are your thoughts on the ACC? Sound off in our comments section, if you've got a "take". 

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

Looks like there will be three of us on the podcast today, with Case out sick and Daryl busy at work. And, Jared is still recovering from "the COVID" so we'll see how effective he is. I'm OK and I'm guessing Jeff is (as of 10:30 a.m.) 

Join us at 11 a.m. today. Go to THIS LINK to listen.

paulie