Splish Splash -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Arena Deal Drama

Well now, the KFC Yum! Center arena deal negotiations certainly got a lot more dramatic in the past day, didn't they?

In case you missed all of the...let's say "entertainment", even though it wasn't all that pleasant to watch...yesterday, three different organizations met yesterday to put their stamp of approval on UofL's new lease for playing at the KFC Yum! Center downtown.  The deed was done, but not without some conflict.

The University of Louisville Athletic Association met first, in the morning, and while there were some pointed questions, most notably about Tom Jurich's opinion on the deal (answer: a seemingly unenthusiastic acceptance), the measure passed easily.  In the afternoon, concurrently, the University of Louisville Board of Trustee's and the Louisville Arena Authority Board met.  Both approved the deal, the Arena Authority in a rather perfunctory manner, while the UofL Board of Trustees meeting was contentious.

I don't think there's a great need to go into the details of how the meeting went down as Insider Louisville, Business First,  the CJ, and others have detailed and fair recaps of the events as they happened from reporters that were in attendance and taking copious notes.  The results from the Board of Trustees vote?  Of the 13 members, 4 abstained, 2 didn't vote, and 7 voted yes.

So, UofL will pay the Arena Authority 2.4 million more dollars than they were previously; and will give up their rights to their October dates at the Arena, although they will still work with the Arena to schedule the Men's Basketball Red and Black scrimmage in October.  UofL did gain the ability to add a surcharge to ticket prices, to help offset the hit of the extra payment, so ultimately, it's going to be the fans that pay for this.

Swimming in Budapest

The Cardinals contingent has arrived in Budapest for the World Championships.  While the overall
aquatics championships have been going on for about a week, the swimming events don't start until Sunday morning (about 3:30am Eastern time, if I remember my timezone conversion for Budapest correctly).  Swimming and Diving Head Coach Arthur Albiero is on the coaching staff for Team USA in Budapest.  Two UofL swimmers are in the competition, graduate Kelsi Worrell, and rising Junior Mallory Comerford.

Look for results as these two compete throughout next week.

Faye Brust Joins Lacrosse Coaching Staff

UofL Lacrosse offensive standout Faye Brust has returned to Louisville to join the UofL coaching staff under head coach Kellie Young.

Brust was an offensive powerhouse during her four years at UofL with her name appearing in another of different places in the record book.  Until this past year, she held the record for most free position goals, she is 2nd in goals, and 3rd in points, in the season record books.  She had 143 career goals, in a career cut short by an ACL tear midway through her senior campaign.

With that resume, just from her time playing at UofL, it's unsurprising that she will be joining the Cardinals staff as Offensive Coordinator.  Prior to return to Louisville, Brust was Offensive Coordinator at Furman University, and has experience in club coaching as well.

Brust is, as are many standout Lacrosse players, from Maryland, with her hometown being Bel Air.  (We hope she got a chance to say "hi" to the Fresh Prince during his stint there...wait, what?  Wrong Bel Air?  Well, there goes that joke.)

Welcome back to the Ville, Faye!

-- JMcA

ARENA THOUGHTS and Jared Anderson's women's fall sports predictions... -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ARENA HOLDS OUT HAND

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jared Anderson may be back later today with some thoughts on the arena situation. Check the comments section. I'll drop a few of my own in here in the interim. The Arena Authority has their hand out and they're not asking for assistance to walk across 2nd street to the Troll Pub. $2.42 mil is the number for this shakedown cruise and UofL seemingly has approved that the Athletic Department pony up. 

Ridiculousness.  

Here's the deal...UofL is getting handed the s#!tty end of the stick and there's no hand sanitizer or towel in the room. 


Don't piss off Tom Jurich. He was right in the beginning to want the facility on campus, he's done a helluva job in rebuilding and re-branding Cardinal Athletics since he's been here and now you want to curtail his involvement, impact and authority? What is this...a Saturday Night Live parody on how to run an academic/athletic program? Why now? What next? A mandatory visit to at least one arena area club/restaurant before or after each game to ensure their vitality and allow you to purchase season tickets? And, then this from Uofl: 

"We didn't have to negotiate a new deal. We did it to be good tenants." 

I'm hoping my rentors call me with the same philosophy...

We try to be the joy and excitement voice for Cardinal athletics froma fan's view. Today, it's hard to be that. 

This situation come could at no worse of a time. With NCAA investigations, board shakeups, women's basketball season ticket changes in certain sections and no fall sports yet to fall back on...the negative publicity is something that UofL definitely could do without right now. However this thing shakes out, I hope the the UofL administration will remember this one vital thing:  

Don't piss off Tom Jurich. 

paulie
xxxxx


OPPORTUNITIES AND IMPROVEMENT

Recently Case posted an article about what success is and how each of the University of Louisville's women's teams can be successful in their upcoming seasons. With the start of many fall sports seasons only a few weeks away, I thought I would post some of my predictions. 

WOMEN'S SOCCER


This is the team that kicks off (no pun intended) the 2017-18 year for UofL athletics. August 4th is the magic date when the Cards visit Ohio State for an exhibition match. A 20 game season ahead -- which features some fantastic opponents in UNC, Virginia, Duke, Clemson, FSU, Kentucky and more. The ACC portion of the schedule will be as tough as last season where Louisville finished 2-5-3. 

With much of the starting lineup returning the team has the experience that last year's squad could have used. If the Cards can find ways to score, the defense looks solid enough to hold up just fine. I expect to see a 10-7-3 season with a conference record of 4-4-2. it's not great but it's a step up from last year. Be sure to catch Paulie's interview with Coach Karen Ferguson Dayes that we'll play on the Saturday morning CARDINAL COUPLE Radio Hour and is now available on Soundcloud for listening. 

FIELD HOCKEY

The 2016 squad finished 15-6 and 3-3 in ACC play. The ACC dominates college field hockey. There are some solid teams on the landscape that live and breath field hockey. Teams like UNC, Syracuse and Duke are ones thaat you'd expect to find in the "Great Eight" of the NCAA Tournament and guess who has to play them all? With studs in Ayeshia McFerran and "Minnie" Mink this squad has some pillars to construct another top flight team around. Coach has recruited well, also and (according to Paulie) assistant coach Lucas Piccoli is excited about the season ahead. The ACC Championships and NCAA Final Four will be played in Louisville this year. Thaat should be motivation enough to increase the regular season mark to 16-3 and 4-2 in conference. The Cards will make a strong effort to be participants in the post-season affairs on the Trager pitch. 

VOLLEYBALL

There were many worries and woes last season. The Cards had a somewhat embarrassing year. The starting lineup constantly changed in hopes of finding "the right six" but it never seemed to happen. 7-13 in ACC play and 12-18 overall was a sad way to end the Anne Kordes era. Upsetting Notre Dame at home may have been the biggest highlight. Morgan Miller transferring at the end of the year was a major blow. Dani Busboom Kelly takes over, moves the squad to Cardinal Arena and we expect that we'll see plenty of other changes, too. 

Junior libero Molly Sauer will be a major impact on this team as a captain and the Cards try to turn the season around. The current roster has eight players listed at six feet or taller and that should help with the competitiveness . With a schedule jam packed full of teams that found themselves dancing in the tournament last year -- a rebuild season could be setback. This team will hopefully be sitting a 20-10 and 13-7 in ACC play following conclusion of the regular season. That would definitively be a step in the right direction. 

Granted, I could be highly inaccurate on my predictions and every team could fall short of them this year. But every team could also find a high level of success as well. Injuries, stress from school, personal lives, weather (for the outdoor sports) and many more factors can play a crucial part into any individual player or team's performance on any given day and ultimately change the outcome of a contest. 

Let's hope these predictions are close to being accurate. We hope to see ACC and NCAA tournament for all three. Have a great day and stay cool out there. Heat exhaustion is nothing to fool around with..



Jared Anderson