Friday Cardinal Couple --Slaughter, Schimmel, Softball, Golf and more today!

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Shoni, Nita gain BIG EAST awards

-Softball hosts Red and Black Classic

-Wiley BIG EAST golfer of the week

-BIG EAST WBB Tournament starts today!

-Walz ready for BIG EAST Tournament


Boy, oh boy have we got a lotta stuff for you today in the Friday edition of Cardinal Couple! Grab a seat, hold on and fasten your seat belts....off we go!

Shoni 1st team BIG EAST, Nita second team

Louisville WBB's Shoni Schimmel and Nita Slaughter have been honored for their excellent play this season...Shoni named to the First Team All-BIG EAST squad and Nita Slaughter to the Second Team. Shoni was first team also last year and Nita is on the second squad for the first time.

Shoni leads the Cards in scoring (13.7 ppg) and in assists (3.7). She's also second in free throw percentage (80%). The shifty Schimmel was BIG EAST Player of the Week for her performance against South Florida earlier this season, scoring a career-high 38 points. She was on the pre-season All-BIG EAST first team and also is on the Wade Watch mid-season list.

Nita is third in scoring for the Lady Cards (10.2 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.1 rpg). She's also the leading three-point percentage shooter for Louisville (36.2%). Nita was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Jan. 28th. and has scored in double figures 16 out of her 18 games.

The BIG EAST Tournament begins today at 4 p.m. and Louisville has their first game at noon Sunday.

(Thanks to Louisville women's basketball assistant S.I.D. Kim Pemberton for the information)

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Softball swings into action today with the Red and Black Classic at Ulmer Stadium. Sandy Pearsall's squad gets four games in three days...Michigan today at 4 p.m., Miami of Ohio Saturday at 2:30 p.m.,Austin Peay Saturday at 5 p.m. and Illinois State Sunday at 3 p.m.

The #13 Cards are offering a few promos, too...to game attendees. Free softball shirts for the first 150 fans Friday, Trading Card #1 giveaway for the first 150 fans Saturday and team autographs after Sunday's contest.

Full schedule of the Red and Black Classic below:

FRIDAY MARCH 8

11 a.m.      Miami (OH) vs Austin Peay
1:30 p.m.   Miami (OH) vs Michigan
4 p.m.        LOUISVILLE vs Michigan

SATURDAY MARCH 9

9:30 a.m.   Illinois State vs Michigan
12 p.m.      Illinois State vs, Austin Peay
2:30 p.m.   LOUISVILLE vs. Miami (OH)
5 p.m.        LOUISVILLE vs. Austin Peay

SUNDAY  MARCH 10

10 a.m.      Miami (OH) vs Austin Peay
12:30 p.m. Miami (OH) vs Illinois State
3 p.m.        LOUISVILLE vs. Illinois State.


Nice of the Classic planners to schedule the Sunday game after the UofL WBB game. Plenty of time to hop in the ol' jalopy and catch softball after the Cards win in the quarterfinals in the BIG EAST Tournament.

Louisville (16-3) also plays WKU on Tuesday, March 12th. at Ulmer.

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CandIce Wiley, a senior starter for UofL women's golf has been named BIG EAST Golfer of the Week! She finished tied for 12th in the Sir Pizza Terrapin Challenge last week. It was her first Top 20 finish of the season.

UofL ended up sixth in the tournament, Wiley leading the way for the Cards with a 223 score. A season low 71 for her in Round 1 with back-to-back 76's in rounds 2 and 3.

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Finally, the BIG EAST Tournament gets underway today at 4 p.m. First game is #13 seed Cincinnati against #12 seed Seton Hall. Pitt and Marquette follow at 6 p.m. and Providence and Georgetown play in the nightcap at 8 p.m.

All are available at no cost on BIGEAST.tv online.

Coach Walz spoke to members of the media Thursday at Cardinal Arena and has a healthy respect for any of the three opponents the Cards might face on Sunday. Walz is happy that the Cards are hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and urges you to buy your NCAA Tickets to see Louisville play in the KFC YUM! Center.

He also says that Louisville will have to play perfect to defeat Notre Dame if the two match up in the semi-finals. Monique Reid will be available for action and the Cards are leaving out early this morning to fly to Hartford, stopping off in Baltimore to pick up a few fans...(his sly way of telling us that they're on Southwest and not a charter flight.)

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You have until noon to get your picks in for the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em Contest. As promised, another staff member's picks. Our basketball guru Jenny O'Bryan sees it this way:

Friday:
Seton Hall, Marquette and Georgetown win
Saturday:
St John's, USF, DePaul and Villanova advance
Sunday:
Louisville, Notre Dame, UCONN and Syracuse triumph
Monday:
Notre Dame and UCONN continue
Tuesday:
UCONN takes the Tournament Title.

You can enter at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com or by leaving your picks in the comments section. Make sure and leave your name and a way to reach you if you win. I got one anonymous pick already....fortunately, it has Syracuse winning it all and that, folks...just isn't going to happen.

$25 Chili's Gift Card to the winner!

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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Women Golf finishes 5th

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Women's Golf finishes 5th in Ram Classic

- Spend it if you've got it

- Fashion do's and don't

Cards finish 5th in Ram Classic

The University of Louisville women's golf team finished tied for fifth in the Colonel Wollenberg's Ptarmigan Ram Classic on Tuesday afternoon in Fort Collins, Colorado. ( For the rest of the article, we will refer to the event as the Ram Classic). The Cardinals shot a 307 in the final round to finish with a total score of 896. Texas Tech won the event with a score of 860. 

Sophomore Emily Haas finished tied at 10th with a 54 hole score of 220. She fired a 76 on the final day. 

Sophomores Katie Petrino, Sara Karlsson, junior Tara Lyons and senior Candace Wiley also participated in the Ram Classic. Their 54 hole scores:

Petrino     226     tied for 24th
Lyons      226      "   "   "   "  "
Karlsson  227      tied for 30th
Wiley      223       tied for 56th

Louisville returns home to host the Cardinal Cup at the Cardinal Club in Simpsonville beginning Monday, Sept., 17th.  

Funding not always a sure thing

The University of Louisville funds over 25 different athletic teams and squads each year. Whether it's sending the football team to Pittsburgh or the golf team to Colorado, players must be transported, lodged, fed and cared for. Louisville is one of the lucky NCAA Division I schools in terms of a healthy CAF Fund, donation systems and financial sponsorship and backing. We're thankful for that...we wouldn't want to see Shoni and the Lady Cards hitch-hiking on I-65 trying to get to South Bend for a game.

Economic times are tough, though...and not all universities share in the Cardinals' good fortunes. We provide the link below about Tennessee cutting 5 million dollars from their athletic budget. Not as a slap at U.T, but merely an example of how these tough economic times are affecting everyone and how fortunate Louisville is to have solid and stable funding. 

Ecomonic hardship forces cutbacks


Fashion Do's and Don't

Finally, Timmy the Intern has come across some style and fashion tips for those of us over 55. He also submitted photos, but we're going to let you come up with your own visual images of these. He suggests you avoid these fashion "fails":

- Nose ring and bifocals
- Spiked hair and bald spots
- Pierced tongue and dentures
- Miniskirts and support hose
- Ankle bracelets and corn pads
- Speedos and cellulite
- Unbuttoned floral shirts and heart monitor
- Midriff shirts and midriff bulge
- Pierced nipples that hang below the waist
- Bikinis and liver spots
- Belly button ring and gall bladder surgery scar
- Short shorts and varicose veins
- In line skates and a walker
- Thongs and Depends

Have a great Wednesday and we're currently taking bids on cutting the CARDINAL COUPLE lawns...Bill the Goat has gone on strike and the corporate lawnmower has stopped working after the S.E.P. School of Mechanical Dynamics students disassembled and rebuilt it last week. 
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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE...Golf, Tennis, Softball and Mercedes

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Women's golf finishes 16th in North Carolina


-Women's tennis falls to Tulsa


-Softball in the BIG EAST


-Mercedes narrows list


-Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic needs a overhaul


-"Rally around Bobby" planned


The Louisville women's golf team finished their three-day meet in Browns Summit, NC with a 16th place finish in the Bryan National Collegiate tournament. They posted a team score of 941 for the 54 hole event. Tennessee won with a score of 882, defeating Duke in a playoff. 

Emily Haas is from West Jessamine HS

Senior Candice Wiley led the Cards with a 73 in the final round. Her three-day total of 232 matched that of Louisville freshman Emily Haas, who fired a 77 Sunday.  


Red shirt freshman Katie Petrino carded a 81 on the final day and finished three strokes back of Haas and Wiley for the three days with a 235. Freshman Sara Karlsson's 80 on Sunday gave her a 245 total. Maria Castallanos toured the final round with a 78...good for a 247. 


A lot of youth contributing on this year's team. Last year's leader Anna-Karin Llungstrom should be back from thumb surgery to compete in the BIG EAST Championship April 23-25 in Orlando, FL.


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Rough outing for Louisville tennis yesterday in the Bass-Rudd Center, falling to #26 Tulsa 7-0. 


"We ran into a very good team today. Sometimes you just have to give credit to your opponent for playing so well." --UofL head women's tennis coach Mark Beckham. 

Fellerhoff lost 6-3,1-6,6-3 Sunday

Julia Fellerhoff took her singles opponent to three sets before falling. The rest the Cardinal singles participants went down in straight sets. The loss snapped a five-match UofL winning streak. Louisville is 10-8 for the season. The BIG EAST Championships are three weeks away and Beckham indicated that the Cards might be a squad no one wants to face because of their improvement since the season began.


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Louisville softball is among the statistical leaders in quite a few categories in BIG EAST softball this season. Here are some of the categories that Sandy Pearsall's squad (33-2) top the league in and the BIG EAST standings as of 4/7/12. 


TEAM HITTING


Batting average..............1. Louisville (.318)
Slugging percentage........1. Louisville (.484)
Doubles........................1. Louisville (52)
Triples..........................1. Louisville (13)
Hits..............................2. Louisville (291)


TEAM PITCHING


Opp. batting average.......1. Louisville (.171)
Strikeouts......................2. Louisville (249)
ERA..............................2. Louisville (1.26)


INDIVIDUAL HITTING


Batting average...............1. Kristin Austin (.407)
                                        10. Taner Fowler (.359)
Hits...............................1. Kristin Austin (44)
Runs.............................1.Kristin Austin (30)
Triples...........................1.Kristin Austin (7)


INDIVIDUAL PITCHING


ERA...............................2. Chelsea Leonard (1.06)
                                         5. Tori Collins (1.25)
                                         7. Caralisa Connell (1.55)


BIG EAST STANDINGS


USF  8-0, 35-5                      Providence 4-4, 13-21
Notre Dame 3-0, 19-10         Pittsburgh 3-6, 20-17
Syracuse 5-1, 24-9               St. John's 2-5, 14-21
DePaul 5-1, 21-12                 Villanova 0-6, 25-12
Louisville 6-2, 33-2               Seton Hall 0-6, 18-21
Connecticut 6-3, 17-14          Georgetown 0-6, 15-23
Rutgers 5-5, 15-20


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2013 UofL women's basketball target Mercedes Russell has named the ten school that are in the running for her services. An impressive list, for sure. 
The Springfield, OR star is the #1 ranked recruit for the 2013 class and from what we've seen of her on video, it's a just and fair assessment. Click the link below to see who "made her cut". 


Top 10 for Russell


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 The announced crowd for the Derby Festival Classic in the KFC YUM! Center Friday night was slightly over 6500. This is a far cry from the glory days of the event back in Freedom Hall when over 16,000+ attended. 

Quite frankly, the Kentucky Derby Festival committee has dropped the ball on this event. Other high school Classic events have become more popular and the festival's inability to land UK future stars has killed the attendance. 


Also, moving the event to Thurs-Fri hasn't helped. Pulling the Night of the Future Stars from Bellarmine University and sending it to New Albany High School was disappointing as well. We understand the reasoning, since several future IU ballers were taking part in the slam dunk, three point shooting and 2 on 2 competitions...but it isn't the "New Albany/IU Night of Future Stars" and more than a few probably chose not to cross the Sherman Minton bridge and watch. 

Add a girls game to the event. 

Maybe having just one UofL future star hurt attendance. Maybe they need to ADD A WOMEN'S GAME to the activities -- like the top Classics do. Maybe they need new leadership, organizational staffing and a hook-up with a major sponsor. Maybe they're tired of our advice...but the numbers don't lie.


WE didn't attend this year. It's the first time we've missed this annual event in over 20 years. And, honestly...besides not getting together with friends we usually attend with...we didn't miss it.


Also, we used to receive several e-mails each year from the marketing folks who promote the Classic...some well in advance of the two-day event...with news, features and stories. Those disappeared this year, too. 


Get a new strategy, KDF. This used to be one of the top two post-season high school basketball classics. 


It isn't anymore. 


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Finally, supporters of embattled University of Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino have planned a support rally Monday night at 7 p.m. in front of the university administration building. We couldn't pass on this. 


Here's the "Top 10" on the rally. 


10. Supporters leave notes taped to the steps explaining why they didn't show up


9. Everyone shows up on motorcycles with 25 yr. old blondes riding on the back.


8. Bobby shows up nailed to a cross and wearing a crown of hog tusks.


7. The movie Pinocchio is shown immediately after the support rally.


6. Louisville and Atlanta Falcons fans hold a counter-rally at the Fayetteville airport. (In secrecy, of course)


5. John L. Smith is flown in from Weber State just in case things get out of control.


4. A blonde, vestal virgin from the football staff is sacrificed at the rally. 


3. Feeling slighted, the University of Arkansas basketball team schedules a "Support Mike Anderson" rally at the same time over at the basketball arena.


2. Former UofL women's basketball coach Tom Collen shows up on a moped not wearing a helmet. 


1. It's a hoax...designed to draw attention away from Petrino's secret decision to become the new head coach at UK. 
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