Welcome to DI athletics Bellarmine! -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WHAT DOES BELLARMINE'S ENTRY TO DI ATHLETICS MEAN TO UOFL WOMEN'S SPORTS?

Unless you've just come out of a coma or been recently returned to earth by an alien spacecraft, you're probably well aware the Bellarmine University is joining NCAA DI Athletics. The formal announcement will be made today (Tuesday) at 11:30 a.m. 

The Knights are joining the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and will become the tenth institution in that conference. Their conference mates are Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Lipscomb, NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology), North Alabama, North Florida and Stetson. 

Bellarmine leaves D II competition in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). 

Since we are a women's athletics fan site, I'll concentrate in today's article about the women's side of Bellarmine's athletics. 

Bellarmine currently has 10 women's athletic squads competing in D II and we would guess that all ten will carry over to the Atlantic Sun. Those sports are basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field and volleyball. Bellarmine does not have a women's lacrosse team, maybe surprising...since men's lacrosse was the only DI competing program on campus prior to today's announcement. 

But, Louisville doesn't field a DI men's lacrosse program...so it'll be interesting to see if the Knights make the commitment to take on the sport (of if the Cards move to create a DI men's lacrosse squad.) In the ASUN, only four of the nine programs currently compete in WLAX (Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Liberty and Stetson). Kent State, Howard and Coastal Carolina are "out-of-conference" squads who are in the seven-team alliance. 

The city of Louisville now matches Cincinnati with two D I college athletic programs. UC and Xavier have built up quite the rivalry over the years and one has to wonder if the same type of "cross-town" competition will develop between the Knights and Cards. 

Let's look at the ten women's sports that Louisville and Bellarmine both compete in and examine possible competition between the two schools. 

BASKETBALL 

"C.B." is now CW? 

--  It would be a tough task right off the bat for Chance Dugan's WBB squad to be included the Cards in their schedule. A profitable one, yes, for Bellarmine...if played at the YUM! Center and the two schools have played 12 times over the past 43 years. I have this vision of 10,000 Louisville fans trying to get into Knights Hall for a...well, never mind, that's not going to happen...

-- They last met in 1999 and Louisville holds a 10-2 record advantage. My guess is that Chance will want to recruit for DI a few years to build up an already impressive roster before inquiring about openings in Jeff Walz's schedule. 

-- Former Cardinal great Candyce (Bingham) Wheeler is an assistant coach for Bellarmine WBB. 

-- Jeff Walz has shown a willingness to play mid-majors over the years with games against Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee State, Hartford, Houston Baptist, Chattanooga and Marist. The Cards have played ASUN member Liberty twice....the last time in 2009 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

CROSS COUNTRY

There is previous interaction between Louisville and Bellarmine's women's cross country squads in the annual Greater Louisville Invitational and in several NCAA Regional events...so we see that continuing. 

FIELD HOCKEY

The ASUN doesn't have a Field Hockey conference of their own.  Liberty competes in the Big East. Whether Bellarmine decides to explore conference affiliation there or maybe with the MCA, CAA or other conference remains to be seen. Louisville Field Hockey regularly schedules mid-majors ( Miami, OH, Longwood, Kent State) so if Bellarmine goes for a DI conference, the thoughts here are that Justine Sowry would welcome a match against the Knights...

GOLF

Chancellor Dugan is BU's WBB head coach

The ASUN has a women's golf conference and six of the schools participate in it. Matches tend to be more of an invitational format these days...one would think that the Cards might extend an invitation to compete in the Cardinal Cup each year, and Louisville and Bellarmine could show up as contestants in other invitationals...as well as NCAA Regional qualifying events. 

SOCCER

All nine of the ASUN Conference schools compete in women's soccer, so we'll figure Bellarmine will, too. The Cards only get 7-8 non-conference matches a year, due to the heavy ACC commitments, but have played a wide variety of out-of-conference schools during Karen Ferguson Dayes time at Louisville. I could see an early season match between the two down the road. 

SOFTBALL

Few could "mow 'em down" like Maryssa Becker...

The Cards and Knights used to face each other regularly in the fall exhibition schedule and Louisville did play ASUN Conference member Lipscomb this year, so we like the idea of the two getting a yearly game or series started in the spring.

Add to the fact that Cardinal pitching ace Maryssa Becker is an assistant coach for Bellarmine. (Let's just be glad she's used up her eligibility...Cardinal batters might have a rough go of it against her.) 

SWIMMING

No official announcement yet or where Bellarmine swimmer will compete (the ASUN doesn't have a swimming conference) but the CCSA (Coastal College Sports Association) is likely. Three ASUN schools compete there already and the ASUN is one of the associations official partners. The chance of the Cards and Knights matching up in dual meet is always possible down the road but Bellarmine may want to wait a bit and get a solid core of DI athletes on roster first is my assumption. 

TENNIS

Possibilities exist here for dual matches (the Cards faced Northern Kentucky, Furman and Charleston Southern last year) and various regional invitationals and classics could include both schools. 

TRACK AND FIELD

A sport where matchups already exist. Bellarmine participates in the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational each spring on the Belknap campus and at the Kentucky Invitational (along with Louisville) in April. We fully expect to see those interactions continue. 


VOLLEYBALL

All nine ASUN conference members play volleyball (they even play beach volleyball) so we'd expect Bellarmine to be the 10th team. The Cards like to have a couple of classics and in-season tournaments each year where they bring in multiple schools and I can see Bellarmine getting an invite to participate in one of those when space allows. The key, once again, is building a roster suited for DI instead of GLVC level competition. 


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So... welcome to DI, Bellarmine! We hope that this venture grows consistently and favorably.  A budding potential rivalry in many DI spots awaits you with Louisville and the Louisvillians who sponsor and support either or both school's athletic programs eagerly await "Knights vs. Cardinals" ! 

A step up to the next level of competition can take time. I hope that our readers will be supportive, encouraging and attend some Bellarmine women's athletic events in addition to your Cardinal support. I know some of you do already. I get to 2-3 Bellarmine WBB games a year and plan on upping that number.  I've watched Bellarmine Field Hockey, Soccer and Softball as well in the past. 

Join me and the CARDINAL COUPLE crew in welcoming our city's newest NCAA DI School and get out and spend "a few days and nights" with the Knights when you can.



paulie
xxxxx

Pre-Season Lists -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

In the latest sign that the summer doldrums are drawing to close, the pre-season ACC rankings and Pre-Season All-ACC teams were announced for Volleyball and Soccer.

These are always fun, and good honors for those involved, if maybe a bit meaningless in the overall scheme of things.

Case and I referenced these updates yesterday on the radio show, but we haven't covered them here on the site.

Soccer

Soccer was selected 12th out of 14 participating teams in the ACC for Women's Soccer.  No players from UofL were selected for the Pre-Season All-ACC team in the sport.  The top four spots went to FSU, UNC, Duke, and Virginia; worthy selections, all.

While I am a fan of the sport of soccer, and certainly enjoy watching it, Case follows it far better than I, and knows the landscape far more in-depth than I do.  He's looking for the UofL team win an ACC tournament game, and make an NCAA appearance.  With 8 teams participating in The ACC tournament at the end of the season, those are lofty goals compared to a pre-season 12th pick.  Nevertheless, if continuous improvement is what you're looking for, this is about where you start.  This is still a relatively young team, as there are more freshmen than there are sophomores, and there are more sophomores than there are juniors and seniors combined; but it is a team with more experience than last year, with the large number of sophomores returning with a season under their belts when so many were called on to play last year with no collegiate experience whatsoever.

Exhibition play gets under way THIS WEEK, with a trip to Ohio State on Wednesday, and DePaul coming to visit for the first game of a women's and men's exhibition double-header at Lynn Stadium Saturday starting with the women at 5:00.  The men will be playing Lipscomb.

Volleyball

Volleyball was selected to finish 8th out of 15 participating teams in ACC Volleyball.  Two players, Tess Clark and Molley Sauer, were selected to the Pre-Season All-ACC team.  Molly Sauer is the Libero on the team, a junior out of Assumption High School and KIVA, here in Louisville.  Tess Clark is a senior out of Phoenix, AZ who has been a middle hitter for The Cards for 3 years, but early indications are that the new coaching staff wants to take advantage of her strength and power and move her to an outside hitting position for this year.

UNC, FSU, Pitt, and Notre Dame are picked to take the top 4 spots this year.  The only real surprise in the bunch is that Pitt is picked that high.  They have traditionally be a middle-of-the-pack team in Volleyball, though in the past couple of years have shown distinct improvements.

I believe Louisville, with a new coaching staff, is largely a question mark, and thus the middle-of-the-pack selection for the team.  This is a time for potential redefinition of the team and program, and we'll be looking forward to seeing where this program goes.  The energy certainly seems to be there, the only question that remains is the ability of this coaching staff and the players to execute.  The resume's are good, with two of the coaching staff having held tenures at Nebraska, and the third out on the west coast where volleyball is a way of life.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new, at the time of this writing not-quite-finished-being-renovated, Cardinal Arena.  A new venue, new coaching staff, and 6 new players to match names to faces.  We're still two weeks away from the Red and Black Scrimmage, and three away from the official start of the season, but I'm ready to get this season started.


The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We had a great time on the weekly Cardinal Couple Radio Hour yesterday as we discussed USA U23 basketball, other women's sports and played our "Catching Up" interview with Cardinal great Candyce Bingham. In the weekly quiz, Worldwide narrowly avoided an end to his four-show winning streak by pulling out the right answer to the bonus question to defeat Case. Jared ran a close third on the Mascot Quiz. The guys took exception to my quote of the week...but it led to a fun dissection of my thoughts.

Did you miss the broadcast? It's OK...we have the replay for you at the link below:

THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 8/5/17


paulie
xxxxx

Durr to Represent USA -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Final U-23 Roster Set

Because of our daily post format here at Cardinal Couple, we may not always be the first to bring you major news. You may also see the information presented in a daily post reflected in a previous day's comment. Such will be the case today. However, we do our best to bring you the news about Louisville women's sports that is most pertinent to you. We have our own opinions and viewpoints about those sports and we try to provide an honest and personal commentary. I have said before that I do not have as much inside knowledge about some of the topics that grace these pages, but I do what I can. With that said, let's talk about some international basketball.

The women's U-23 team roster was determined yesterday after the "gold and bronze medal matches." I'm not completely sure why they deemed the mini tournament important enough to award medals instead of just playing the game (it was just an exhibition tryout format after all), but that is neither here nor there. You can read more about all of the players and coaches' reactions at the USA Basketball website here, but the team is as follows:

Ariel Atkins - Texas

Monique Billings - UCLA

Kalani Brown - Baylor

Jordin Canada - UCLA

Asia Durr - Louisville

Sabrina Ionescu - Oregon

Brittany McPhee - Stanford

Kelsey Mitchell - Ohio State

Jamie Nared - Tennessee

Arike Ogunbowale - Notre Dame

Mercedes Russell - Tennessee 

A'ja Wilson - South Carolina

I'm not going to lie to you all this morning and pretend that I know who most of these girls are. They're names that I've heard of course, especially those that are on teams Louisville played last season, but I am not as "tuned in" to NCAA WBB as you may be accustomed to or as you may yourself be. I am proud of Asia Durr for making the team and having the opportunity to represent her school and country. She is an amazing player and, by all accounts, a wonderful person. Louisville is lucky to have her and I am excited for what she can bring this season. To say I am disappointed that Myisha Hines-Allen didn't make the team wouldn't really be the right word. That would imply fault of some kind, and it's tough to do that in this situation. Even though some of the players were at the trials for the exhibition and were ineligible to be picked, the selection committee still had the tough task of whittling approximately 30 of the best women's college basketball players in America down to just 12 for the roster. It would have been great to see Myisha suit up alongside Asia and Coach Jeff Walz but it was not meant to be.

All of these girls that were invited had a wonderful opportunity to get better over the past week. They played with and against some of the best of their peers and will be able to carry that experience forever. I think that the opportunity to play in all-star situations like this not only make a player better from a pure improvement standpoint, but I also think it makes players better teammates. Being able to come together in such a short time and perform as a team while learning new rules and styles of play is a testament to the mental fortitude that many of these players have. Those that were selected to go to Japan will have the opportunity to get even better, as well as experience a land rich with culture that many of them may never have otherwise gotten the chance to experience. I say congratulations to those that made it and good luck to the team in Japan.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're back on the mics today as we are (almost) every Saturday. We'll talk about women's basketball trials, the upcoming seasons that are rapidly approaching at this point, have a wonderful chat with former Card, Candyce Bingham, and I'll try to beat Jeff at a quiz of some kind. I'm determined to beat him at some point. Check out today's episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on WCHQ 100.9 FM, the WCHQ app or on their website at this link. In addition to the live show, you can always catch the recorded version on the website about a day after airing. Tune it at 11AM for more joy and excitement of UofL women's sports!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

USA U23 Decision Day...Volleyball welcomes new staffer -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CLOSE GAMES HIGHLIGHT SEMIFINALS


On a day where Lamar Jackson (Not a top-five college player?)  and the pre-season UofL Football ranking (#19) are being bandied about in main-stream Louisville sports media....we're going in a different direction here a Cardinal Couple...your leader in college women's sports. 

The 36 participants in the USA U23 tram tryouts and their respective four squads played semifinal games yesterday in Colorado Springs, CO in preparation for today's Gold and Bronze finals. We'll also see which 12 players the USA Committee designates to go to Japan for the round-robin format later today. All in all, exciting basketball on a collegiate level yesterday at the USA Training facility.  Jeff Walz has an abundance of talent out in Rocky Mountain Way land and they're leaving it all on the court. 


TEAM 3 65  - TEAM 1 60 

Jamelle Elliott's Team 1 squad was win-less going into the semifinals and had previously been beaten by Team 3 earlier in the scrimmages but they came out with a vengeance Thursday and led Cori Close's Team 3 28-25 at halftime of the contest. They stretched that out to 47-37 near the end of the third quarter but a 9-0 run by Erin Boley's Team 3 made it a contest gain in the fourth period. Down 55-52 with 3:38 to play...Team 3 took off on another 9-0 run and secured the victory to advance to today's Gold medal game. 

Leading the way for Team 3 was OSU's Kelsey Mitchell with 13 points. Hallie Thome (Michigan) and Gabby Williams (UConn) had 12 each for Close's winners. Jackie Young (Notre Dame) had 16 points in defeat for Team 1. Team 3 advances to Gold medal play to face Team 2 at 11:30 a.m. EDT. 

Thome discussed the win: 

"We were mentally tough. This being our third full day -- we are all mentally tired and a bit exhausted so finding that fourth or fifth gear to push through was what helped us."

TEAM 2 79 - TEAM 4 71

It was Myisha Hines-Allen's Team 2 versus Asia Durr's Team 4 in the second semifinal and another exciting contest. Michelle Clark-Heard's Team 2 took an early 19-11 advantage in the contest and pushed it out to a 45-35 halftime lead over Courtney Banghart's squad. Asia Durr's team wasn't ready to toss in the towel, though, and with Asia playing a key role tied the contest at 65-65 with four minutes to play. Team 2 got clutch play from Arike Ogunbowale and Azura Stevens down the stretch, though and prevailed for the eight-point win. 

Team 2 placed five players in double figures...led by Stevens (UConn)15. Ogunbowale (Notre Dame) had 14...as did Jordin Canada (UCLA) and Ariel Atkins (Texas). Durr led Team 4 with 15 points. 

So, who's likely to make the 12 player roster? I have no inside information and I'm purely going on scrimmage performances here...but I'll toss Azura Stevens, Arike Ogunbowale, Ariel Atkins, Asia Durr, Kelsey Mitchell and Jackie Young out as a six-pack that have a great chance of wearing the USA jersey. After that, it gets a bit tougher. A'ja Wilson and Erin Boley maybe? Victoria Vivians and Kristine Angiwe? I'll be a homer and pull for Myisha Hines-Allen and also toss Hallie Thome into the mix...but today's action will be a big determining factor. In any event, they'd be 12 to watch today. We'll know sometime Friday evening how many of my guesses I got right. 

Also keep in mind that Stevens most likely won't go to Japan since UConn is scheduled to be in Italy during that same time. Will there be an auxiliary player named if Stevens is selected...or any of the other UConn or Duke participants make the squad...since Duke will be in Italy also.  Intrigue awaits...

Any of the 35 participating would probably be worthy...they're all top-notch, elite collegiate performers in their own right...and there are probably no "wrong" selections in this group.

(Notice how I used all three varieties of 'they're', 'there' and 'their' in one sentence? And correctly!  Bonus points!) 

Action today on https://www.usab.com/live was previously announced to begin at 10 a.m. with the Bronze game. 

Allegedly. The website live stream is just currently listing the 11:40 Gold Medal game...so we'll have to wait and see. 

(EDITOR NOTE: As of 10:37 this morning...no Bronze medal game was being shown at the website.)

-- Paulie

I'll be watching and we'll discuss the games and the selections on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR broadcast tomorrow at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and live on the Internet at www.crescenthillradio.com. I'd also imagine some observations will be in Case's Saturday article here at the site. 

Good luck Asia and Myisha in the process!. 

(parts of today's article are courtesy of USA U23 basketball) 



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WELCOME TO THE VILLE JASMINE BROWN

Dani Busboom Kelly, the head UofL Volleyball coach, has a bit more assistance coming her way in the newly renovated Cardinal Arena facilities. And, she's bringing in a "Volunteer" for the job...in a couple of ways. 

Jasmine Brown has been introduced as a volunteer assistant for Volleyball....she had an outstanding collegiate career as a Tennessee Volunteer wide-netter from 2011-14...playing under Busboom for two of those years. She was the Vols "go to" serving and defensive specialist during her time in Knoxville...originally joining the squad as a walk-on. 

Brown has been involved in club coaching in the Knoxville area and high school coaching over the past couple of years. Coach Kelly comments: 

"When Jasmine decided she wanted to go into coaching, it was a no-brainer to make her part of the staff. She has an amazing work ethic and has proven herself to be a great teacher of the game at the club level. I believe Jasmine has the potential to be one of the top coaches very early in her career." 

Welcome to the Ville, Jasmine. Teach 'em right!  

(Portions of the this article are courtesy of gocards. com) 


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Catching up with...

We're pleased to announce our next guest on "Catching Up with"...a feature on our Saturday radio show. It's no other than #13....C.B. Candyce Bingham.

One of the guiding forces in UofL WBB's NCAA Tournament run in 2009...Candyce is back in the Ville and doing great things as an assistant coach for Chance Dugan's Bellarmine women's basketball squad. The Knights made the NCAA Tournament last year and we'll talk to C.B. about that and many other things Saturday around 11:30 a.m. on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. BE sure to catch the entire broadcast...it starts at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM locally and on-line at www.crescenthillradio.com

We had a great interview with C.B. Friday morning and we're excited about bringing it to you Saturday. 

We've got a full house lined up for the broadcast with Case, Worldwide, Jared and Paulie and there are rumors there will be another chance for Worldwide to defend his four- show winner's title on the weekly quiz. 






paulie
xxxxx

#12 Field Hockey wins at Miami (OH)...C.B. back in college coaching ranks...Evans down to three -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SECOND HALF SURGE SENDS FLOCK PAST REDHAWKS

Freshman Minout Mink lifted Louisville out of a scoreless battle with Miami (OH) yesterday and Lotta Kahlert added an insurance goal with 13 minutes to play as the #12 Louisville Field Hockey team improved to 2-0 with a win on the road yesterday against the MAC foes. Miami drops to 1-2 on the season.

It was a tale of two halves, according to UofL head coach Justine Sowry: 

"Miami is a very good team and they dictated play in the first half. We were undisciplined in executing our game plan and became internal. Our second half was much different and we started to control the tempo by putting them under pressure and keeping better possession of the ball...the positive is that we finished the game well against a very good opponent." 

After a strong defensive first half by both squads, the Cards capitalized on a penalty corner just four minutes into second half action. Mink fired a shot past Miami goalkeeper Alyssa Xavier to break the drought...the UofL freshman from Haaksbergen, Netherlands getting her third goal on the season. 

Imagine that, a goalie named Xavier playing for Miami...

Louisville stayed with the international connection at the 57:18 mark when Kahlert, a senior from Hamburg, Germany received a feed from Nicole Woods (out of Beverly, MA) and got her first goal of the season. The Cards had nine shots in the final half, up from their five in the first 35 minutes. 



The Flock continued their strong defensive start to the season...they held I.U. to one goal earlier in the week in a 5-1 romp...Cardinal goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran, a sophomore from Larne, Northern Ireland. had one save in the contest and the Cards held the RedHawks to just four shots in 70 minutes.

Next up, Brown comes to Louisville for a Saturday, 11 a.m. match. We hope they bring some other colors with them, as well...

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CANDYCE BINGHAM RETURNS TO COLLEGE COACHING

Everybody remembers C.B., right? Part of the squad that took Louisville to their first-ever Final Four WBB appearance. "Mom" to the squad (while Angel was "the crazy aunt...). The force inside. 

She's back! After a year at Manual High School, her alma mater, where she helped lead the Crimsons to the 7th Region title and Sweet Sixteen berth...Candyce Bingham has been named as an women's basketball assistant coach at Bellarmine University.

Head coach Chancellor Dugan couldn't be more excited: 

" Candyce brings experience to us with playing in the national championship, coaching in the national championship, playing overseas and her Division I coaching experience. Her wealth of knowledge will be valuable for us." 





For Bingham, the yellow brick road stops on Newburg Road. 

" I think everybody at some point wants to get back home. Louisville is definitely home for me. It's exciting to have family and friends here who are able to come to the games and be supportive. Family means a lot to me." 


Dugan can relate to that. A Louisville Sacred Heart graduate, she spent four years at EKU as a player and eight years as a coach at USI (Southern Indiana). That parlayed into 13 years as the head coach at FAU (Florida Atlantic University). When the chance came to return to Louisville, though, Dugan jumped at the chance to take over the Knights program. 




Bingham is replacing Crystal Kelly, another Sacred Heart grad who had a fantastic college career at WKU and three WNBA years, who accepted an assistant coaching job at Tennessee Tech in May. 

Shannon Litton, who coached with Dugan at USI and attented Morehead St. remains on staff. Dugan has built a coaching staff that is well-qualified to take the Knights back for another GLVC title and berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament. 

With Bingham on the bench, Coach Dugan just might be tempted to call her name and send her into the fray. In any event, the wealth of coaching experience will be a boon to Bellarmine in the upcoming season. The Knights return a strong roster that includes nine players from the Louisville metro area. 

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EVANS DOWN TO THREE

2017 WBB prospect Dana Evans is down to three in her college choices and Louisville has made the list!

Along with Purdue and Tennessee, the Cards are in the final process in her decision-making. Evans, out of West Side High School in Gary, IN. is the #2 ranked guard in the 2017 class...according to ESPN. 

She made her official visit to the Belknap Campus on Saturday and announced her final three via Twitter yesterday. 

Jeff Walz just keeps rolling them in...

paulie
xxxxx

Your top eight UofL WBB players of all time -- Monday Cardinal Couple

SHONI, ANGEL TOP THE ALL-TIME UOFL WBB LIST.

We have been running a poll in June here at CARDINAL COUPLE to see who your All-Time, top eight UofL WBB players are. We chose the number eight because felt that most great teams always had a few backups that could come in off the bench and give a championship team a spark. 

Here are your results. We have listed the years the player played and the percentage of votes they received also.



1. (tie) Shoni Schimmel (2010-14)  100% 
1. (tie) Angel McCoughtry (2005-2009) 100%
3. Jazz Covington (2003-07) 80%
4. Candyce Bingham (2007-09) 77%
5. Monique Reid (2008-13) 66%
6. Nell Knox  (1990-93)  62% 
7. Valerie Owens (1977-80) 48%
8. Asia Taylor (2009-14) 34%

Just missing was Antonita Slaughter (2010-14) with 32%.



A good mix of players are represented here. Five of the eight got drafted by the WNBA and two are still playing in the league. Five of the top eight played in a National Championship game. The top four scorers in UofL WBB history are represented in the list. 

Since there was a tie for top vote grabber...I suppose the question still remains on who was the best WBB player at Louisville of all time? 

Both Shoni and Angel were unique in what they did here in their four years. I did a very unofficial polling yesterday of five people I know and asked them who they thought was #1. 

Angel won....4-1.  

Thanks for taking part in the poll! Let us know what you think of this "Great Eight". How would it do in a fictitious game against a great eight from Kentucky? Or UConn or Notre Dame? How many on this Louisville great eight would make an All-Time great eight of NCAA WBB players since 1975? 

And....should we do it again in 2018 or 2019 once the college careers of a few current UofL WBB players has ended? 

paulie
xxxxx

UofL Women'sBasketball was #3 in attendance for 2014-15 -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

9358 average attendance for Walz Ball last year.

University of Louisville fans love the women's basketball squad. The Jeff Walz squad averaged 9358 for home games in the 2014-15 season. Only Tennessee and Iowa State drew and the Iowa State attendance was only a couple of hundred ahead of Louisville. 

Why so high in on the outskirts of Ames, IA. you might ask? You have to understand the craziness for women's and girls basketball in Iowa. UofL Pep Band Director Al Greener (a transplanted Hawkeye) explained it to me a couple of years ago. Girls high school basketball in the state of Iowa is a religion. From Des Moines to the smallest of cities...the citizenship rolls out to watch the high school game. It is a social event. Main Street shops in rural communities close early so the owner and employees can attend games. 

The Iowa State women's basketball coaches are no dummies...the 2015-16 roster has four former Iowa high school stars on it. 

Equally high is was the Iowa Hawkeyes roster for 2014-15. (Lisa Bluder either hasn't released the 2015-16 roster yet...the Iowa WBB asst. SID is asleep on the job or I've lost my on-line search skills) 

They had three former Iowa high school girls basketball stars. Northern Iowa and Creighton draw well, too. The Iowa residents realize and support the fun and excitement of the game...on the high school and college level. 

Only Iowa State has crashed the top 50 out of the four schools...but match those four schools mentioned above up against any other four schools from any other state and I'd wager the total attendance is higher in Iowa.

And you thought Iowa was primarily known for corn, wrestling and Radar O'Riley from M*A*S*H...

Tennessee...well, the Lady Vols are going to draw because of the Pat Summit legacy. It is interesting to note that the yearly attendance for Lady Vols Hoops has dropped since Pat stepped aside. With the recent transfers to UT and returning roster, the Vols looked poised to be a top 10 program in 2015-16.  Fans still gripe about Holly Warlick.

It is hard to replace perfection. And, Pat does still attend home games. 


So...would local attendance grow for Louisville if a few in-state girls were on this year's roster? The Cards in the Walz era have recruited well in-state.  Let's not forget Sara Hammond, Nita Slaughter, Shelby Harper, Laura Terry and Candyce Bingham...just to name a few. Walz certainly hasn't ignored the Commonwealth of Kentucky since he had been here. He did go after the Lebanon duo of Epps and Goodin-Rogers. He would have loved to had Rebecca Greenwell and Erin Boley. He did have Gwen Rucker, Ashley Rainey and Janae Howard on board in the early days. 

Does anyone remember Monique Reid or Tia Gibbs? Point made, end of story on lack of local recruitment by the current regime. 

Sometimes, you just have to go after the best players. How many Final Fours have Iowa or Iowa State been to in the last eight years? Or, for that matter...Kentucky WBB? 

Louisville WBB outdrew the National Champs (UConn) in 2014-15. 

With the #1 recruiting class in the nation on campus...the dynamic duo of the M&M girls returning...everyone's favorite shot-putter "E" and fan favorite Cortnee Walton back...UofL WBB fans have a lot to look forward to in 2015-16. 

You're going to love Sydney Brackemyer and her all-out, 110% hustle and enthusiasm now that she's healthy. We hear Arica Carter has been "reborn again" with the desire and commitment to show us the high-school version Jeff Walz fell in love with. 

Yeah, we'll miss not having a Schimmel or two. That could change in a few years if younger sister Milan continues to tear up the New Mexico girls basketball scene. Will the Native American fan base diminish now...since #22 or #23 aren't on the roster? We hope not. 

Getting from #3 to #1 in attendance? Quite frankly, it's up to you...the fan base. You have a top-flight facility to watch games. Reasonable season ticket prices. Out-of this-world competition and a highly competitive Conference.

Best-in-class players and the best young coach and coaching staff in the college WBB domain. 

I reflect on the past sometimes... 

I remember going to games at local high schools to watch Louisville WBB. I remember when the women's played before the men's games...maybe 200-300 in cavernous Freedom Hall. When a student could get in by just flashing their student ID and sit at center court in section 335. 

I look at today and just smile...my, what a long way Louisville WBB has come! 

The program can go further. The program is committed to going further. Do you think Cortnee, Emmonnie, Arica, Syd, Mariya, Myisha, Asia, Taja, Brianna, Sam and Erin showed up just for the pretzels, Sean Moth and Derby Week?

They fully believe they can bring Louisville women's basketball a National Championship. So does Walz and the coaching staff.

So do I.    

Be there for it. Make the commitment and go to games. 

For those interested in obtaining season tickets for the 2015-16 Louisville women's basketball campaign, please click here to fill out a wait-list application. 

paulie

Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- WBB, Volleyball in action tonight

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Louisville WBB travels to Bowling Green for WKU

- Louisville Volleyball hosts UConn

Thanks to Burn Brother for forwarding this Jude picture

We all know the plot lines. Former assistant goes up against mentor. Former Cardinal and Louisville high school greats on WKU bench as assistant and staff. Frormer Cardinal assistant faces previous employer. Toss in a wise-cracking detective, blonde in an overcoat, and shadowy figures and you've got a great mystery thriller. (No...Jeff, Jenny, Paulie and Sonja are not playing the aforementioned character actors)


Yes, the University of Louisville women's basketball team travels to Bowling Green tonight. Michelle Clark-Heard (head coach), Candyce Bingham (assistant coach), Margaret Richards (assistant coach), Greg Collins (assistant coach) and Laura Terry (program assistant) all have ties to either UofL or the city in one fashion or another.

And Jeff Walz has ties to WKU, serving as an assistant to Paul Sanderford...who still has ties to WKU and mentored Jeff.

I know, it's beginning to sound like a Waltons' Mountain reunion (maybe Cortnee Walton will show up) or family picnic...so let's get to the game itself.

WKU hosts the Cards and is on a three-game win streak. Their only defeat on the season came to Vandy. Last out they went on the road and whipped NKU (another Commonwealth of Kentucky directional school) 74-64.

Louisville travels in with an unblemished record...downing Free Shoes University (aka Florida State) 69-59 in overtime in the YUM! Sunday. The Cards are either #4 or #3 in the nation (choose your poll) and can't get caught looking ahead to UK on Sunday.

The Toppers have talent. Alexis Gowin and Chastity Gooch put up a combined 36 points against NKU. The game is a big one for Topper fans, staff and players...a top five ranked team hasn't visited E.A. Diddle Arena since 1998 and the Toppers won that one...against LA.Tech.

CHASTITY GOOCH

Playing Louisville: “I feel like this is a huge opportunity for us. I feel like this game should tell us where we stand. It’s very exciting. How many teams can say they get to play a No. 4 team in the country?

Handling Cardinals’ pressure: “We just have to talk to one another. We have to calm each other down. If we see someone kind of getting out of control, we’ve got to tell that person it’s OK and just take care of the ball.”

WKU is rolling out all the stops for this one. Free tickets at area IGA grocery stores, 1000 free "white out t-shirts" for attending fans.  A food deal including a hot dog, bag of chips and soda for $7 bucks. A coat drive by the Bowling Green Jr. Women's Club.

Attendance should be huge. E.A. Diddle Arena holds about 7300. Can the Toppers fill it on Thanksgiving Eve?  

The Cards will be looking to perform a little better at the start of this one than they did in their only other away game this season (Oklahoma) or last game against FSU (at the YUM!).
Louisville has weapons galore, a surprisingly good rebounding margin over opponents this season and Shoni.
That should be enough to translate into a "W" for the Ville.

Game time is 8 p.m. EST and ESPN 3 has the broadcast. It's also on Cards TV, Cards Radio 790, WKU PBS in the Bowling Green area and the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network.

Cardinal Couple will be there also and we'll have a full report on the action and events Thanksgiving morning. We sincerely hope that the Cards don't go down to Bowling Green and become turkeys. We'd love to see them carve WKU up. Drumsticks crossed, we'll have thankful news and a story line that involves a UofL win.

I have this feeling, though...this one is going to be a close one...decided in the final minutes. It's a potential season-changing game for WKU and Michelle Clark-Heard's team doesn't quit until the final buzzer goes off .

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Louisville Volleyball moves to Cardinal Arena for action tonight at 7 p.m. against UConn. The Huskies haven't had a season to boast about in the AAC...but it's a good idea to always be a little wary of any team that sports the Huskies logo.

Brooke Mattingly had 12 kills and six blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a 25-13, 25-19, 25-16 win over UConn at UConn on Oct. 27th.

We'll have a recap on this match also in the Thanksgiving edition of CC.

With the home slate complete, the UConn women's volleyball team (13-18, 4-12 American) hits the road this week to close out the 2013 season. UConn will face Louisville (21-7, 16-0 American) on Wednesday at 7 p.m., then conclude the regular season with Cincinnati (2-28, 2-14 American) on Friday at 12 p.m.

-paulie-