Tuesday Cardinal Couple - Where are they now?

.
TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-We catch up on six former Cardinal foes.


With the WNBA in full swing now, we were looking at some highlights from games over the past few days and the questions arose about some of the foes that used to play against Louisville over the last few years and if they were in the WNBA.

We started our search with an easy one. Former Connecticut star Tiffany Hayes is playing on Angel's team...the Atlanta Dream. We saw some clips of the Dream's loss to the Fever on Sunday and Hayes appears to have lost none of the swagger and bravado that she had with the Huskies. She and Stefanie Dolson didn't have the best games in the KFC YUM! Center when they visited during the winter...but it was a UConn win. Dolson's going to miss Hayes when the 2012-13 version of the Huskies take the court.

Next on our magical player discovery tour was April Sykes. Besides sharing our last name, we watched her career at Rutgers over her four years with interest and saw her turn into a very good player after some rough earlier years. Still remember her uncalled for "enforcer" tactics in the KFC YUM! as a junior at the end of Rutgers' loss to the Cards. Friends of ours who follow the Rutgers program tell us she gained a lot more maturity and level-headedness as a senior. She's switched coasts...playing for the LA Sparks now. 

We followed the career of Natalie Novosel early on...starting with her days of high school ball at Lexington Catholic. Novosel was a key component at Notre Dame all four years that she toiled for Muffett McGraw. Her final appearance in the KFC YUM! Center was less than spectacular...Notre Dame won but a post game press conference revealed "Double N" was suffering from flu-like symptoms and allergy problems. Natalie is in our nation's capitol now...pounding the hardwood for the Washington Mystics. Skylar Diggins is going to miss the punch that Novosel and Devereaux Peters provided with Irish with last year...

Keisha Hampton had a fantastic collegiate career with Doug Bruno and the DePaul Blue Demons until injury cut her senior year short. She had a way of dominating the Lady Cards inside and was part of the injury train that went off the tracks for Bruno's ballers last season...leaving him with just seven bodies for the BIG EAST schedule. 


She was drafted 23rd in the WNBA draft by Seattle but didn't make the final roster cut. 

We also checked out a couple of players who made things rough for the Lady Cards from a couple of seasons ago. Although Hampton isn't going sleepless in Seattle, Victoria Dunlap is. 


She was the undersized center that over-performed during her years at UK. Hated it when she played the Lady Cards, but we did like watching her go up against SEC opponents for the Cats. She's on a Seattle Storm roster that looks awfully strong this season and teamed up with former Vol Shennika Strickland and powerhouse Lauren Jackson. 

We also wondered where Cardinal-killer Courtney Vandersloot ended up. We'll remember for a long time the whipping she and her Gonzaga teammates put on the Cards early in the regional match-up a couple of years ago...and the furious rally that Louisville mustered to get back in the game. Vandersloot has left the Pacific Northwest and taken her game to the Chicago Sky roster. 

Which Cardinals will we be tracking several years from now in the WNBA? We're confident Angel will still be wrecking havoc on opponents. We'd like to see Monique Reid get the chance to test her inside-scoring proficiency against some of the front-liners on the next level. Can "Sho-time" Schimmel take her magic act to the WNBA and have success with it? Will Becky Burke have success in the European leagues and maybe catch the eye of a WNBA team that needs a long-range specialist? 


Who do you think might be introduced as a ex-Cardinal and current WNBA player down the road?  


Maybe we can get Walz to lobby for a Louisville WNBA franchise, trade for Angel, add C.B. and staff the rest of the team with Lady Cards. It'd liven up the summer months around here...and we have no doubt that filling the lower bowl in the KFC YUM! would be no problem with (what to call our imaginary team?)...


The Louisville Lasers?
The Kentucky Fillies?


Nice mind-wandering on a rainy Tuesday morning...have a great day everybody!
.
..
...

Russell, Team Concept win End of the Trail title.....Dream fall to Sky

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Oregon's Mercedes Russell having a big summer

-Dream lose lead, fall to Chicago 81-69.

-Odds and ends

The Mercedes Russell led Team Concept took the 128 team End of the Trail title at Oregon City High School Saturday...defeating Spokane based Northwest Blazer in the final game 62-40. Russell had 22 in the championship game and drew the praise of several of the coaches there.

The 6'5" center from Springfield, Oregon takes her
skills to Chicago next for the Nike Showcase Shootout.

"Their post player is the real deal. Best prospect I've seen in 30 years." Northwest Blazer head coach Stephen Klees commented after the game, referring to Russell. "It's probably the best team that has ever come out of Oregon. I've been doing this 33 years and they're the best I've ever seen." 

Ahead for TEAM CONCEPT is the highly competitive NIKE Summer Showcase is Chicago. Russell and teammates start play in the Windy City beginning Tuesday. The Oregon team has three of the best 2013 prospects in the nation in Russell, 6'4" forward Kallee Johnson and guard Jordan Reynolds. The upcoming showcase will be the toughest test of the summer schedule...facing some of the powerhouse teams from the east.

288 teams will battle in Chicago and about as many college coaches will watch.
The action starts Tuesday and we'll keep you up-to-date on Ms. Russell and her teammates progress.

*********************************************************************************************

Atlanta (3-8) can't seem to catch a break this year in the WNBA. Up by 13 at the half, the Dream fall to the Chicago Sky (6-6) by 12 last night in the Windy City.

Angel McCoughtry led the Dream with 17 and had this to say following the defeat:

Angel with 17, but the Dream lose...

"They came out the second half more aggressive than we were. I think we weren't as focused and they adjusted and I think that's when they made their move."

Atlanta led 63-62 with 5:06 remaining after two McCoughtry free throws but the Sky sprinted off on a 9-0 run after that to put it in the "W" column for them.Erika DeSouza added 14 for the Dream, Iziana Castro Marques finished with 12 and Armintie Price tallied 10. For Chicago, ex-Rutgers star Epiphanny Prince popped in 24 and rookie Courtney Vandersloot (Gonzaga) contributed 16. Chicago made ten straight free throws in the final minute and a half - eight from Prince - to seal the victory.  

Atlanta forward Sancho Lyttle is back on the team after playing in the Euroleague championships but did not play because of a strained back. Looks like Courtney Paris is still around, too...she played in last night's game.

**********************************************************************************************

ODDS AND ENDS

-At this point in time, chatter from several reliable sources that one of the Lady Cards will not be going on the trip to Canada because she is enrolled in classes during the trip schedule.

-Rumors afloat that Jude Schimmel looked very impressive, especially on the defensive end, in the Lady Cards June scrimmages. Even slowed up with a bum ankle.
It'll be interesting to see how the coaches mix her in during the Canada trip.

-We are saddened that after five years, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS...the excellent television show about high school football and life in Texas...will aire it's final episode next week. Someone needs to get to work on a spin-off.

-Japan defeated Germany in the World's Cup women's soccer? That has to be one of the top five upsets of 2011. The Germans had won the last two titles. Congrats to the USA, too...knocking off Brazil despite being a player short for about an hour, it seemed.
.

Lady Cards end season with 7 point loss 76-69

. SUNDAY (and snow!) . . @ Cardinal Couple . . . -Vandersloot's play too much for Louisville to overcome. . . -Quotes and comments . . -Cards loss by the numbers . . -Watson reflects on the game, season . . -Softball splits on Saturday . . The numbers for Courtney Vandersloot pretty much explain why the Louisville women's basketball team fell short Saturday night in Spokane. Vandersloot did to Louisville pretty much what she's been doing to competition all season. 29 points in 39 minutes. 8 for 10 shooting from the field and 12-14 from the foul line. She took and made more free throws than the entire Louisville team. She also had five rebounds, seven assists and seven steals . . "She's a really nice player." Louisville head coach Jeff Walz commented after the game. "Where she really hurt us was with the steals." What also hurt Louisville was Monique Reid hobbling off the court with 18:26 left in the first half and the game tied 2-2. Reid actually suffered the groin injury before the game during warmups while stretching, tried to go, but couldn't. The injury occurred 30 minutes before tip-off . . "I heard a pop in my hamstring. It was my groin. I tried to go, but I just couldn't." the sophomore from Fern Creek commented. . Walz reaction to the injury was different, to say the least. "I tell everyone that warmups are great but for any of you that have dogs, I have yet to see a dog stretch before chasing a **** car. I don't know why we have to stretch so much. I mean, that dog just takes off sprinting and he seems to be OK." . . (WE actually had a Yorkie once that pulled a leg muscle chasing a cat. He lept off the porch in pursuit and gave a yelp...hobbling to a stop. He wasn't a prolific scorer, though and couldn't post up. No warm up, either.) . . . Walz reflected on the Cards final game... "We didn't make it a very good TV game. I hope the viewers didn't turn it off.... For 10 minutes, we played really good basketball. But when we cut it to three, we never got it to one. We never got it to where the next shot really mattered to them..and we had our chances." . Finally, we'll agree with the summations of sophomore Tia Gibbs. "We dug ourselves a hole, but we tried to fight back . One thing we don't do is quit." Gibbs remarked. "We kept fighting till the end." The Zags get Stanford Monday night in the Spokane Regional final, who outlasted North Carolina 72-66. . . ************************************************************************************ . . . Louisville shot 44.8% in the game (30-67) and 54.3% in the second half. The Zags countered with 43.9% (23-57) and just 37% in the second half. 3 point range was a blur for Louisville...going 25% (4-16). Schimmel was (2 for 10) and Gibbs (2 for 4). Gonzaga 2 for 7 past the arc. Free throws were the key here...Louisville getting only nine attempts and hitting five and Gonzaga going 24-28. . For Louisville, Schimmel led the way scoring with 18 points in 37 minutes. She had two at halftime. Keisha Hines had an impressive final game in a Cardinal uniform with 17 points, and six rebounds. Tia Gibbs had 16 points on 7 for 13 shooting and Asia Taylor recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards. Charmaine Tay tallied four points, Reid had two before she left and Sherrone Vails two in five minutes. Becky Burke, Shelby Harper and Antonita Slaughter all played but failed to score for the Cards. . The Cards won the battle of the boards 40-33, thanks to the strong effort of Taylor. Louisville did have 19 turnovers (10 in the first half) compared to just 13 for the Bulldogs. Louisville had 13 assists, Gonzaga 12 and the Zags pilfered the ball 13 times (Vandersloot 7) compared to 8 Louisville steals. but Louisville's freshmen accounted for 24 of the 69 points. They grabbed 8 of the 40 boards and went 11-30 from the field. Besides Schimmel's 37 minutes...Tay logged 30, Vails five and Slaughter four. . . ************************************************************************************ . . . David Watson reflects on the loss...and the season. I won't be disparaging or critical as Louisville exits from the Big Dance. Basically, this one was over when Monique Reid, Teena Murray and Amy Meadows went to the locker room after a minute plus of action. Exit the leading scorer and calming influence and exit the Cards chances of winning. Great rally, granted and Keisha Hines gave it her all in her Cardinal swan song, but take those 16 points a game out of the equation and you get a Cardinal team flying without one of their wings. Ironic that the very thing that made Cardinal basketball less that prolific last year (injuries) rose up last night and sealed the Cards fate again. . . You can talk about how you have to go with the players out there, how one player doesn't make a team and toss in any other cliches you want. It DID matter last night. Without the inside force of Mo..the Lady Cards were a no go. Sure Taylor, Hines and company tried to pick up the slack. They did a credible job. Gotta wonder how many of those wild, forced shots that "Showtime" Schimmel shot in the first half might have been passes to Reid? "Showtime" was one of the 'not ready for prime time' players for the first twenty Saturday night (Apologies to Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and the rest of the SNL crew). . . But, it was a season to remember and one that provided a lot of fun and excitement for Lady Cards fans. These girls improved dramatically as the season progressed and with all but Keisha returning, they'll be a great team in 2012. Huge wins over Kentucky, Xavier, Vandy and DePaul will be remembered by me for quite some time. The future is so bright for this bunch that I recommend everyone go out and buy window blinds and shades. (My nephew is in the window treatment business. A shameless plug here). Walz has the keys to a powerful vehicle here. Low mileage, high dynamics and rave reviews from the season ticket holders who've taken test drives. Let's hope he can continue to put the pedal to the metal and live life in the fast (break) lane. . . We appreciate all the commentary and reports that David Watson has provided this season. His insights and views are always entertaining and informative and we look forward to his take on Cardinal hoops when the gals hit the floor in November. Until then... Gracias, amigo and buenas suerte! . . .************************************************************************************ . . Louisville softball split a double header at Ulmer Stadium Saturday afternoon with Villanova, losing the opener 3-1 and taking the second 5-3. . The Cards ran into a strong pitching performance in Game 1 from Nova's Molly Manning, who fanned five and allowed only four Louisville hits. . Louisville opened the game with a triple from Jennifer Esteban but Manning fanned the next three Cardinals to grab a bat. Nova got on the board in the third 1-0, pounding Cardinal starter Caralisa Connell for three hits, but Louisville rallied to tie it in the third when Hannah Kiyohara reached on an error and scored on a Katie Keller sacrifice fly. Freshmen stepping up big for the Cards... . . Nova took the lead for good in the fourth inning with a walk and single. They added an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Louisville could not rally in the bottom of the seventh. . . The Cards watched Nova take an early lead in the second game 1-0 in the first inning but Louisville tied it up in the third behind the freshmen again. Kiyohara singled and scored on a Keller double. The Wildcats regained the lead 3-1 in the top of the fourth, thanks to a two run homer off of Connell by Kristi Burlin. . Louisville roared back in the bottom of the fourth with four runs, though. With two outs, Kristin Austin singled, advanced on Maggie Ruckenbrod's single and Esteban singled to fill the bases. A walk to Keller sent Austin to the plate and all three remaining base runners scored when Alicja Wolny pounded a deep double to right field. Connell held the Wildcats scoreless the rest of the way. . . Connell pitched all 14 innings for Louisville yesterday, no word on why Tori Collins never toed the mound. The teams play the rubber match today at 1 p.m. . We're not sure what got into the formatting for today's articles and we're sorry that it's tough to read with everything piled up on top of each other. WE suspect those darn chimps...WE always do... .. ..

Louisville looks to enter Elite Eight tonight

GOOD SATURDAY MORNING (yawn...) FROM YOUR FRIENDS at CARDINAL COUPLE. It goes down tonight...Louisville one of sixteen teams still alive. ESPN will show the four games tonight and you can also follow Louisville's game against Gonzaga on 790 WKRD.









-LADY CARDS face Gonzaga tonight at 9 p.m.


-Louisville softball vs. Villanova this weekend


-McCarty leads throwers in Alabama.


-The Sideline Announcers final four...


-Staff picks for the Sweet Sixteen


-Sara Hammond named Miss Basketball.

The University of Louisville women's basketball team will attempt to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament tonight in Spokane, Washington when they tip it up against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at 9 p.m. Louisville, a i#7 seed and #11 seeded Gonzaga are the two highest seeds left in the Sweet Sixteen participants. Shoni Schimmel, pictured above, is back in the Northwest and has probably had a few moments like above with her sister Jude and family.
She is pictured here with her cousin Sam McCloud above.

Courtney Vandersloot (right) and her Bulldog teammates look to be the "Cinderella" in the Elite Eight. Gonzaga looks to be the first #11 seed to advance to the Great Eight in tournament history.

The sixteen teams still dancing are as follows:

#1 seed in the Philly Regional...Connecticut...will play #5 seed Georgetown Sunday night

#2 seed in Philly is the Duke Blue Devils. They get #3 seed DePaul.

#1 seed in the Dayton Regional is the Tennessee Volunteers. They go against #4 seed Ohio State.
#2 seed in Dayton belongs to Notre Dame. They'll try to advance against #6 seed Oklahoma.

#1 seed in Spokane is the Stanford Cardinal. They'll battle #5 seed North Carolina tonight

#7 seed Louisville in the Spokane regional gets the #11 seed Gonzaga after UNC v. Trees ends.

#1 seed in Dallas is the Baylor Bears. They'll try to dispatch of #5 seed Green Bay on Sunday.

#2 seed Texas A&M is the #2 seed in Dallas. They'll battle #6 seed Georgia Sunday.

When you break it down...the BIG EAST has 5 of the 16 remaining. (Louisville, Connecticut, Georgetown, Notre Dame and DePaul). The Big 12 with three teams left. (Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas A&M). The SEC has two still dancing (Tennessee and Georgia). So does the ACC (Duke and North Carolina). Green Bay is in the Horizon League. Ohio State plays in the Big 10. Gonzaga is a WCC member and Stanford is from the PAC 10.

Louisville will play in front of a sold out arena in Spokane against the Zags. WE'LL have full coverage of the results after the game here at CARDINAL COUPLE. Here's how the staff here at CARDINAL COUPLE sees it going down:

-Sonya Says:

The matchup here will be Vandersloot against Schimmel. Both are tireless workers who can create with or without the ball and can shoot the net off the rim when hot. Both have an accompanying cast to go with them as well. I think Louisville's is a little deeper in Monique Reid, who just might be more dangerous than Schimmel and Vandersloot on the court. Tia Gibbs has been playing with a purpose all season and Keisha Hines has picked up her game dramatically since mid-season. Add the hard driving freshman Charmaine Tay and the long range abilities of Becky Burke to the above and you've got a recipe for success. I'm going with Louisville here...let's say 81-72.

-Paul Predicts:


There's an old horse players axiom that states "class tells, competition sells." and you can apply it to tonight's game. Louisville has banged heads with members of the best conference in the nation for half the season. They've got three key players who went to the FINAL FOUR and championship game two years ago. Their road to Spokane went thru a under ranked Vandy team and Xavier at Xavier. Gonzaga played in their gym, dispatching Iowa and UCLA.


Excuse me if I'm not impressed with Gonzaga's path to the Sweet Sixteen or their league and competitiveness, but I am not... and I go with Louisville as the winner. By 17...85-68.



-David Watson writes:


If Louisville can stay out of serious foul trouble, rebound with the ferociousness of the past two games and stay hot from beyond the arc, they'll conquer and advance tonight. It may not be easy, won't be pretty at times, but these Main Street maulers, YUM Center sprinters, LADY CARDS who play hard will win this shootout on the banks of the Spokane River. Make it Louisville 89 - Gonzaga 86.

.
Sonja, Paul and David's other seven picks in the Sweet Sixteen are at the end of today's column.


.
*************************************************************************************
.

Louisville softball faces Villanova today in BIG EAST action at Ulmer Stadium with a doubleheader against the Wildcats...beginning at noon. Nova comes to town with a 8-14 record and a win last time out against St. Joseph's 1-0. The Cards come off a 6-0 whitewash of UK. The admission is free, the concession stand is outside the stadium and has coffee and hot chocolate. GO LADY CARDS softball. We'll recap the action in Sunday's CARDINAL COUPLE. We might even drop in to watch bat meet ball...


*************************************************************************************


D'Ana McCarty took first place honors in the hammer throw in the Alabama Relays Friday evening in Tuscaloosa, AL. Her toss of 57.59m was a full meter better than the competitions. Three other Cardinals competed in the event...Patrice Gates finished fifth, Hannah Baker eighth and Amasji Kendall 11th. The Cards will also take part in the discus throw today down in "Sweet Home Alabama".


************************************************************************************


Congratulations to the Final Four sideline announcers contestants! Andrea Kramer won easily against Eamon McAnanly yesterday to join Erin Andrews, Allison Williams and Pam Oliver in the semifinals. The survivors will get a few days off before competition resumes next Friday.


************************************************************************************

Congratulations to Rockcastle County senior and UofL future Lady Card Sara Hammond for her selection as Miss Basketball in Kentucky. Hammond led the Rockets to the state title and will be a talented addition to the 2011-12 Lady Cards. The Rockets lost but one game all season and Hammond's ability to play multiple positions will serve the Cards well over the next four years.

.
************************************************************************************

Here are the staff picks for the other seven Sweet Sixteen matchups:

1) UConn v. Georgetown. Paul, Sonja and David all pick UConn. (Duh...)

2) DePaul v. Duke. Sonja goes with the Dookies. Paul and David chose DePaul

3) Tenn. v. Ohio State. Sonja and David are selecting Tennessee. Paul likes Ohio State.

4) Notre Dame v. Oklahoma. All three picks go to Notre Dame.

5) Stanford v. North Carolina. Sonja and Paul have Stanford. David chose North Carolina

6) Baylor v. Green Bay. Baylor gets all three staff members' check marks.

7) Texas A&M v. Georgia. Sonja and Paul side with Texas A&M. David has Georgia on his mind.

PLAY BALL!!
..

University of Louisville women's basketball team leaves for Spokane

CARDS HEAD TO REGIONALS

-Lady Cards leave for Spokane Regional


-An introductory look at who'll they'll face there...the Gonzaga Bulldogs


Monique Reid waves goodbye to Lady Card basketball supporters as the Cards get on the bus to go to the airport and fly to Spokane (Photo by Pam Spaulding/Courier-Journal)

A small but enthused crowd gathered at the University of Louisville Student Activities Center Thursday morning to send off the Lady Cards women's basketball team...as they travel to Spokane, Washington for a 9 p.m. match-up against Gonzaga University in the 1st round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Regionals at Spokane, or the "Sweet Sixteen" as it's referred to.
.
Let's hope Coach Walz packed the black, "Jim Tressel" sweater vest. Brought wins in Cincy. Can't buck the trend now...
.
The other participants in Spokane will be #1 seeded Stanford and #5 seed North Carolina..who will face each other in the other Saturday night game at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Contrary to popular belief, the facility is not located on the Gonzaga campus...although Gonzaga did host and play their first two games at their facility on campus...the McCarthy Athletic Center. WE see it as a similar situation to that at the University of Connecticut...where the Huskies play games in their on campus, Gampel Pavillion in Storrs, and also in the XL Center in Hartford. .

The Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena holds 12,500 and is located on the north bank of the Spokane River near downtown Spokane. Both Washington State and Gonzaga University men's and women's basketball team have played there at times over the years and the arena is a short ten minute walk from downtown Spokane. .

.
Tickets for these upcoming regional match ups are probably harder to find that the "weapons of mass destruction" that George W. Bush kept looking for during his presidency. With hometown team Gonzaga in the games and the fanatical fan base of the Stanford women's basketball team only a two hour flight (or 750) miles away...the seats went quickly. Nevertheless, fans of Shoni Schimmel and the University of Louisville women's basketball team...especially those from the Umatilla Reservation and other surrounding Confederation tribes... are bound and determined to go and see "the Show" and her teammates in action. Don't be shocked or surprised if a lot of them get in the arena. Louisville will welcome the "rez dressed in red" for their fan support and if they can be half as crazy and loud as the Lady Cards fans who invaded Xavier and the Cintas Center...any Gonzaga "almost home court" advantage will be neutralized.
.
Unfortunately, CARDINAL COUPLE finally came to the determination today that we won't be going to watch the Lady Cards participate in the regional. What looked like a great chance of at least one of us going to the game ultimately fell apart. WE WILL provide full coverage of the events and activities there...and comprehensive coverage of the game for you, the CARDINAL COUPLE reader. We encourage those of you who are able to make the trek to e-mail us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com with reports, observations and comments.

************************************************************************************

WE'LL start our coverage out with a look at Louisville's first opponent... the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga plays in the West Coast Conference and is coached by Kelly Graves...who is in his 11th. year there. The "Zags" went 28-4 this season before NCAA Tournament play...losing only at U.S.C., at home to Stanford, and on neutral courts to Mississippi and Notre Dame. They were perfect in conference and entered the NCAA Tournament as a #11 seed....facing the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first round on the Gonzaga campus. They dispatched of the Hawkeyes 92-86 and went against UCLA in the second round.
.
The Bruins fell to the Bulldogs also...89-75...as Gonzaga senior guard Courtney Vandersloot (pictured left) became the first player in Division I (men or women's) basketball to reach the 2,000 point and 1,000 assist plateau. She put up 29 points and dished out 17 assists against UCLA. The Bruins led by as many as seven in the first half but a Vandersloot 9-0 run against the Westwood girls early in the second half gave the Bulldogs a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
.
Where UCLA made their mistake was trying to run with the Bulldogs for forty minutes. It is a style of hoops the the Zags are quite comfortable with...having scored over 100 points seven times during the season and between 90-100 in eight games. In the Zags losses this season...Notre Dame limited them to 61, Mississippi held them to 52, Southern Cal to 73 and Stanford to 78...so pressure defense and a patient, ball control offense might be the ticket to success against them. WE'RE not coaching the Cards...but putting a Tia Gibbs or Asia Taylor, two of the best Cardinals defensively, on the 5'8" Vandersloot might just slow the train from getting down the tracks...full court presses after made UofL baskets might just be effective, too. The Cards can be deadly in their zone presses and traps and it wouldn't surprise US to see Walz employ the tactic.
.
Gonzaga played in the W.C.C. and the level of competition there isn't at the level of what the Cards faced in the BIG EAST. The Portland's, Pepperdines, Santa Clara's and San Francisco's all have tough and challenging women's basketball programs...we have no doubt...but when you go up against the likes of UConn, DePaul, Notre Dame, Rutgers and Georgetown night in and night out...you're definitely prepared for what the rest of the women's college basketball nation can throw at you.
.
Besides Vandersloot, who averages 18.6 p.p.g. and 10.2 assists...the Bulldogs look to Katelan Redmon, a 6'1" junior wing from Spokane who gave the Bulldogs 17.3 p.p.g. and 6.2 rebounds per contest. Jazmine Redmon (no relation to Katelan), a 5'9" freshman guard also is an essential Zags player. Kayla Standish, a 6'2" post from Ellensburg, WA. leads the Bulldogs on boards with 8.7 a game and averages 16.6 ppg. The Zags have eight players from the state of Washington on their roster...forward Kelly Bowen hails from Victoria, Austrailia and guard Tatriana Lorenzo played high school ball in Wahiawa, Hawaii.
.
WE'LL look further at the match-up in the Friday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. Our CARDINAL COUPLE Special Correspondent DAVID WATSON will also comment on the Zags...or the "white, Washington Catholic girls "..as he calls them. Should be interesting.
.
.