The streak ends...FSU out-muscles Cards 50-49 - MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LATE LAPSE LEADS TO LOUISVILLE LOSS

"It" is no more. After 20 games, nine cities, three months plus and crowds that ranged from 441 to 14,248...there is finally another digit beside "zero" on the right-side of the hyphen where Louisville WBB's record is listed. 

The "It" is the Louisville win streak and the number now reads 20-1 for the Cards. In a day of college basketball giveaways and Girl Scouts, Louisville drops from the undefeated ranks with a 50-49 loss to #11 FSU Sunday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center. The largest crowd of the season and lowest point total for the Cards. 

This game wasn't pretty. Not by any stretch. Not even when Louisville jumped out to a 20-5 lead with less than a minute in the first quarter. (O.K., maybe that was a little pretty). The shots were dropping and DOOO-BLAY was well on her way toward amassing the digits desired for a double-double but, unlike the majority of opponents before...Florida State hadn't curled up into the fetal position and started sucking their thumbs. They tried something different.

 Revolutionary.

They came up with the idea that if Asia Durr doesn't get the ball, or has a hard time moving when she does...there just might be a way to cut into that double-digit lead and (dare we say it?) maybe even win the game?

It was "one of multiple plans we had to stop Durr" according to FSU head coach Sue Semerau, and this one was showing signs of working. That and controlling the boards. Louisville ended losing the rebounding battle 52-42 and Chatrice White (16), Shakayla Thomas (11) and that doggone (Ama) Degbeon (10) had over 70% of the grab.

Five FSU seniors, that play significant minutes and that had a purpose, came into the KFC YUM! Center, eventually gained control of the contest and held on to win. 

The Noles shot horribly (19-68 for 27.9%) but forced 16 Louisville turnovers and managed 16 points off them. If you need a stat in addition to rebounds to point to, use that one. 

In the end...the final two minutes...when it really mattered and when the game was decided, the teams combined for two three-pointers, a meaningless jumper for two and one out of two free throws. Nicki Ekhomu, another senior, scored the winner after clanging her first free throw off the rim but sinking her second with 7.6 left to give Florida State a three point lead. A Durr three pointer ensues that misses the mark and pointless Hines-Allen follow up two as time expires has White screaming in elation from mid-court and Thomas double fist-pumping while five Cardinals slowly and forlornly leave the court. 

FSU led in points scored in three of the quarters. They cut Louisville's lead in half to start the third quarter with a "three" and had the contest tied before the final quarter.  No one had an answer for White on the boards...and Louisville attempted just six free throws, compared to the more aggressive 'Noles taking 14. There's a story in that somewhere...not one Walz was willing to elaborate on...but "Silly" Joe Vaszily, the head of the officiating crew, made a few calls that only he saw, judging by the crowd response. 

Free throws, however, did not lose this game for Louisville. Neither did 2-15 three-point shooting nor 2-12 marksmanship in the third quarter. This game was won by effort, and the Cards seemed a step slow, a bit disjointed and out-hustled and muscled at the end.

A team that has had a couple of close escapes on the road can't cheat the hangman in front of maybe the loudest crowd of the season on Sunday. They'll move on, the season is certainly not over and 10 more conference games and a ACC Tournament appearance awaits Louisville...beginning with the "Did I read that right?" 11 a.m. start Thursday at Miami. The key is....how will the Cards respond?


THE FRED REPORT

FRED THOMPSON. His expression mirrors
my Monday Morning attitude. 

F - Free Throws. I think they still let both teams and multiple players shoot them in games, don't they? Maybe there is a Sunday limitation on them. They got got six chances in forty minutes, Myisha Hines-Allen with five of them and three going through the net. 60% doesn't get it done and we have to withhold a letter here. 

R - Rebounds. In short, Louisville got their "a$$" kicked on the glass. MHA and JJ did give it a go, getting 15 and 11 respectively...but the final numbers were 52-52 in favor of Chief Osceola's bunch. The 20-11 FSU advantage on the offensive end was largely due to White's yeoman effort of nine. The Shelby, Nebraska native and Illinois transfer tied her season high of 16 total in the game (against Sacred Heart...and we're pretty sure that wasn't the Lexington, Rd high school).  No letter here. 

E- Effort/Execution. Overall, the Cards turned in 10 great minutes and 30 minutes of getting outplayed. What was up with Durr's 5-21 shooting and the six-point third quarter. Still, it wasn't a blow out and UofL had a chance to send it into overtime with less than ten seconds to play against a top 15, two-loss team. We'll release a lower-case "e" here. 

D- Defense. The Cards didn't have many answers for keeping Thomas and White, the two main Seminole shooters, at bay but held FSU to less than 30%. Those two were 10-33 and the other seven FSU players were 9-35. You'd usually expect a "W" for Louisville after a defensive effort like that and it was the fourth lowest opponent total of the year. I just can't award a letter for a loss, no matter how stellar the stat was. No letter. 

FINAL FRED REPORT:  -_-_-e-_

Points off turnovers (won by FSU 16-5) and 2nd chance points (also FSU 18-13) were key factors in FSU going to 18-2...but this game was lost by one team wanting it just a little more than the other and doing the things necessary to win it for the duration. Coming back to life after having one foot in the grave and down by 15. Fighting just a little harder for loose balls and missed shots. Preventing Durr an open look on the final play. You earned this one FSU. Enjoy it. Notre Dame awaits next one week from now. 

You play for all 40 minutes. The sooner Louisville understands that, the better. There were no last minute heroics, senior moments (unless you include FSU's) or magical plays to pull the Cards out of this one yesterday. Just a wistful glance at what was and what might have been. 20-1 isn't the end of the world. It's a damn fine season so far. But, to 14,248...it was a rotten way to end a Sunday. 

I went back and looked at my pre-season prediction. I had the Cards at 18-3 to this point of the season (with losses to FSU, Notre Dame and Ohio State) and two more to come before ACC Tourney Play starts (to UConn and Syracuse). So, I'm ahead of what I predicted, but disappointed in the loss. 

Drop the hot potato and move on to the next entree. The time to eat is always so short...

paulie
xxxxx 

Chatrice White to Visit Louisville Women's basketball...Card WBB #2 in ESPN poll -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

6'3" ILLINOIS CENTER GRANTED RELEASE AND WILL VISIT LOUISVILLE

The leading scorer  and rebounder on the Illinois women's basketball squad from last season...Chatrice White...is transferring from the program and has scheduled a visit to Louisville this week. Reports are she is scheduled for a mid-week tour of the Belknap Campus and may possibly be joined by her parents...(and what a wonderful week to be in Louisville!) 

White, a 6'3" sophomore from Shelby, Nebraska, poured in 18.4 points for the Fighting Illini in the 2015-16 season and grabbed 9.3 rebounds for the 9-21 Big Ten squad. She's a former McDonald's All-American and played on the USA U 19 squad last summer with Mariya Moore and Jeff Walz.

White has also visited Notre Dame in her search for a new academic center to continue her student-athlete career. Her departure is the second in a week's time for the Champaign, IL WBB program...fellow Nebraska native Brooke Kissinger, another sophomore, announced she would be transferring to Crieghton. 

The departure adds to the woes of Illinois, which recently settled a lawsuit with seven players who accused women's basketball coach Matt Bollant and some staff members of creating a racially hostile environment. White was not one of the claimants. 

White's skills are multi-faceted on the hardwood...a hard, blue-collar worker inside the paint on both ends of the court that can also step outside and be deadly from mid-range and further when getting shots up.  

College honors

• All-Big Ten Conference honorable mention (2015).
• Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2015).
• Three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week (2014-15).

College Notes

• As a freshman in 2014-15, averaged a team second-best 14.5 ppg. and team-highs of 7.0 rpg. and 1.9 bpg. as the University of  Illinois finished wtih a 15-16 record. 
• Owns the Illini’s all-time freshman season records for points (448) and blocked shots (60), ranks third among all-time Illinois freshmen for rebounds (216) and fourth for steals (60).
• Her 60 blocks ranks sixth among Illinois’s all-time single-season blocked shots leaders and 15th for career blocked shots.

White would add significant shooting, leadership and rebounding skills to a Cardinal squad in the 2017-18 season that would have graduated Cortnee Walton and Briahanna Jackson and would have Myisha Hines-Allen, Arica Carter and Mariya Moore as seniors.

As a freshman, White was part of a Illinois team that knocked off Kentucky 77-71. White led the Illini with 23 points in the contest and has shown time and time again her ability to be very pro-active in the paint instead of standing in the blocks waiting for the ball. 

She'd be a great "get" for a Cardinal squad that experienced some late season rebounding woes in losses to Syracuse and DePaul. She'd also have the chance to perform in from of 10,000 people a night in the KFC YUM! Center instead of the 1500 that attend Illinois WBB.

Playing in the BIG 10, she's also gotten a taste for and excelled at the battles that occur in the paint. With the added ability to take the ball out deep and extend the opponent's defense...her style of play would augment and compliment the skills of versatile Cardinal stars Hines-Allen and Moore...adding in the overall quickness and agility of Asia Durr and several of the incoming freshmen would give coaching opponents of the 2017-18 Cards nightmares on match-ups, containment and defensive alignments. 

A roster of front line talent including White, Hines-Allen, Sam Fuehring, Erin DeGrate, Ciera Johnson, Kylee Shook and Bionca Dunham would be the tallest in Cardinal WBB history and also an imposing task to prepare for if you're an opposing coach.

Enjoy the "Ville" Chatrice. #32 is Emmonnie Henderson's old jersey number and would be a great fit on another player who can rebound and score with alacrity. 


__________________________________________________



CARDS WBB #2 IN ESPN PRESEASON POLL


In the "way too early" preseason women's college basketball poll released by Charlie Creme at ESPN, the Cards have landed in the #2 spot behind Notre Dame. 


Heady stuff for the Cardinal program. Certainly additional motivation for the returnees and newcomers to the squad. A blessing and a curse, in reality. A great honor but also a sword hanging over a program's head that may need some adjustment time in merging a talented freshman class into an already establish and deep squad. 


Hopefully, last year's curse isn't in place where the Cards were ranked #8 and stumbled out of the gate. 


Being higher than UConn, Baylor and South Carolina may raise a few eyebrows...but it is a deep roster of Cardinal players with boatloads of talent.


With five ACC schools in the top 25, certainly another year of tough contests in conference play. Syracuse at #20? What have you been drinking, Charlie? That was a school that played in the national championship game. 

Ah, the complexities and buffoonery of pre-season meanderings... 

paulie

xxxxx