GOING THROUGH THE E-MAIL FOLDER -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

YOU SEND 'EM...WE'LL ANSWER THEM

One of the many fun things about running a website and doing a radio show is that we get e-mails from a vast array of people about a variety of subjects. Every once in a while, I like to post a few up (names ALWAYS withheld) with my reply. Snark and sarcasm sometimes come into play  

We joke on The Right Side Of The Site that the staff chimps print each one out, cover it in banana pudding and feed it to Bill The Goat after replying to you...actually, that isn't true...ol' Paulie adjusts the spectacles and sends a garbled response to each sender after mas tequila and a trip to the Oasis. 

What is going on with Dakota Weatherford?  We've received several inquiries about "the attack Yorkie" who shone so brightly throughout the 2015-16 WBB season. It seems her name is no longer on the WBB Roster over at gocards.com according to a few of you. I had CoCo the Chimp verify that (and, yes, it's true...she is no longer listed on the roster) so I sent several bloodhounds to the Belknap Campus to see if they could track her down. They came back with Sidney Melton and several unpaid parking tickets. 

Calls to Walz resulted in discussions of iambic poetry, the Derby contenders, a challenge to see who could hit the most free throws blindfolded and a lengthy review of the Keynesian economics platform. 

We expect the mad scientist will divulge more on this later when he feels it's time to do so and...on a personal note...c'mon people, it's not even May yet! Channel some of that women's basketball energy over to softball and lacrosse for a few weeks for ol' Paulie and the squads. OK? 

Is anyone else leaving the UofL WBB Roster? 

I get speculation on this from people who put way too much thought into it. I've heard, from a few of you, a varied range of possible departures...from Erin DeGrate to Brianna Jones...with a dash of Arica Carter and Sam Fuehring thrown in for seasoning. 

Let's turn this around. Let's play this game. Who else is leaving the UK WBB Roster? With the recent announcement of 6'2" freshman Batouly Camara and assistant coach Tamika Williams-Jeter jumping off the ship...UK has had six departures since the fall. For you conspiracy theorists out there among you, that's a much better story. 

Players come, players go. It's a fact of life in women's college basketball these days. Don't lose sleep over it.

WHY DIDN'T CANDACE PARKER MAKE THE OLYMPIC TEAM?

This one is puzzling to all. The roster will be announced Wednesday and the over/under on UConn players that'll go to Rio is currently at 5 in Vegas.

Personally, I think it's a shame.

Parker still has game and she is a great ambassador for women's basketball. Geno will formulate some type of response, he may have already....but as I tweeted out when I heard about her omission: 

" Leaving Parker off the USA team is like not inviting LeBron James to a dunking contest. Incredulous."

IS KELSI WORRELL THE BEST WOMEN'S ATHLETE TO EVER PLAY AT LOUISVILLE? 

That's a tough one. She certainly would rank in the top three, in my opinion. If I was forced to give you a "top five" of UofL women's athletes...she'd be in there with Angel McCoughtry, Lola Arsenbekova, Aja Sherman and Nikki Boltja. What say you? Is Kelsi top of the list? 

So...keep those e-mails coming. We relish your opinions, feedback and commentary. 

paulie
xxxxx 

Jeff Walz Interview...UConn wins title -- Wedesday CARDINAL COUPLE

UCONN WINS WBB TITLE

In case you missed the game and were looking for some kind of miracle upset by Syracuse write up...sorry, Charlie. UConn took their fourth straight title 82-51 Tuesday night in the Bankers Fieldhouse in Indy over the Orange. That was even with a 16-0 run by Syracuse in the third quarter.

Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, Morgan Tuck. All good as advertised. Fortunately, for the rest of the women's college basketball world, all graduating. 


INTERVIEW WITH COACH WALZ

Paulie had the chance to talk with Coach Walz Tuesday morning and here's the interview highlights. The full interview can be heard this Saturday on our CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

TUESDAY NIGHT'S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

" I'll be at home watching the game on TV. I went up on Sunday to the Final Four and spoke at the clinic they offered to all the coaches. I really enjoyed that. My two oldest were in town on their spring break so I decided to spend more time with them." 

ON CORTNEE WALTON

"I'm very happy for Cortnee and her award. It just goes to show you -- like I tell all of our kids -- what you put into it is what you get out of it. Cortnee's invested, and not only on the basketball side of it, invested in herself. Invested in our community, our city. The kids of Louisville. And she didn't do it just to get on The Good Hands team. She did it because that's what she's all about. And...it's going to pay off for her in the end. It's quite an honor for her and our program and most importantly...she's having the time of her life right now at the Final Four.

It's about how hard you work on the court and off the court.

MORE ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

"I'm friends with both coaches but I'd love to see the ACC and Syracuse and "Q" win. I'm good friends with "Q". We've always talked and compared our NCAA Tournament match-ups. Getting in the right bracket, what match-up you're going to get. He was really excited when his draw came out and I was excited for him. Seeing the teams he might possibly have to play and what those teams do from the outside and it worked out perfectly. His kids have played very well. 

The problem is...it's UConn. Breanna Stewart, throughout my 20 years is the best I've seen play. It's amazing what she can do offensively, defensively. Even in the semis the other night, she didn't have a great first half but she demands so much attention...it allows other players to get shots. It allows other players to get going and all of a sudden you have to worry about them and then you forget about Stewart and suddenly she has 20. It's a big task for Syracuse, no doubt about it. I think UConn is going to win but I'd love to see Syracuse pull it out if possible." 

THE SEASON THAT JUST ENDED

"Some great memories, no doubt about it. We start off the season 1-4 and we talked about it. I think our kids were living off what past teams had done. Not realizing the work that goes into it and that work that you have to put it. But, we regrouped from that. The kids got their focus back and we improved as a basketball team. We win 22 of 24 games. We get into the ACC Tournament and you lose by five to Syracuse in a game you're up by four in. A game we sat down and watched...because you've got to value the basketball.

We come home and play DePaul and lose by one. The telling stat of our season was that we had seven games that were decided by five points or less. We go 1-6 in those games. The NC State game was the only win. That's something I've talked to our kids about. You have to be focused for 40 minutes. You have to be disciplined and not cheat the process. When it gets down to that last two minutes, that's when your bad habits come out. 

I was proud of our effort this season and how we competed. With all the youth we had there were a lot of learning experiences for us and it's something we're going to grow from. Now we're at a crucial time of this year because we have until April 15th to do workouts. Two hours a week and that's it. In the month of May we can't do anything. In June and July we get two hours a week for eight weeks. Player development in the summer is really on the players. We can give them a nugget, what they need to do...but two hours a week isn't going to make them any better. Are they willing to go out on their own? 

That's the things I love listening to on post-game radio and TV interviews. The kids who say they love the game. Kids that live in the gym together. Stewart talking about Morgan Tuck and Tuck talking about her...saying she's the one who challenged me to get in the gym every day...and when she's there...I gotta go. When you're best players are in the gym, the rest follow. 

Those are the things we're trying to get our players to embrace and understand. We need that from our top echelon...to challenge the others to get in. 

MYISHA HINES-ALLEN: THE DEVELOPMENT, PROGRESS AND WORK TO BE DONE.


"She had a great season...No question about it. She needs to work on her conditioning, she has to work on her outside shot from the three-point line...which is getting better but needs to improve. Working the defensive end of the floor. Special players separate themselves not only from the offensive end but from the defensive end. I think she was right there in almost being a Kodak All-American but some of the things I've heard is she needs to be more consistent on both ends of the floor. That's a challenge I've put in front of her. She wants to be great, now it's a matter of working harder to become one of those top ten. It's a learning process, a maturing process. I hope that she'll really grab and run with it." 

DAKOTA WEATHERFORD

"Dakota's a great kid. She really works hard. She's exactly what you want out of one of your players...she comes in to practice and busts butt. She takes care of business off the floor. She's always there for community service. She wants to give back. I was excited for the opportunity to give her a scholarship for this year. We'll wait to see how things turn out for that next year and it's one of the things I've talked to her and her family about. They've been great and very understanding about it even if she returns as a walk-on. As of now, she'll be a walk-on but we'll look and see if things can change on that. 

TAJA COLE

"We had had some talks during the year. Sometimes it's a challenge when a freshman comes in. They sometimes put expectations a little too high and when they don't meet them, there's disappointment. It was a situation where we played on Sunday afternoon against DePaul. By 7 p.m. she's sending me a text wondering if she can meet on Monday with her. She came in on Monday and said she wanted to transfer. We wish her the the best and hope she can find a place to develop into the type of player she wants to be." 

NEXT YEAR: THE RETURNEES AND THE FRESHMEN


"I think it's going to be a good thing for us because we need some competition at a few of the spots. I'm going to start to work, I think, on the philosophy UConn and Geno has with his players. If you don't work every day, you're not going to play. There's situations where I'm watching their games and they're up by 50 and there are kids not playing. And I've asked him about that and the answer is if you're not going to work hard every day in practice, you're not going to get rewarded by playing in the game....no matter what the score is. And, we're going to go with that philosophy. We have some very talented players but we have some players who need to turn that corner in dedication. I say it all the time. The great players...Angel, Shoni, Candyce, Dez. Look at Becky Burke. She wasn't a great overall player but she was really good at what she could do. She shot the ball. Toughness. What you do when the coach is not watching separates you.

Right now, we're trying to get that across to a couple of them. What you do in the hour and a half of practice isn't enough. You've got to be in this gym on your own working on your weaknesses. There's no reason to have a player that shoots 45% from the foul line. If I'm in that situation, I'm going to shoot 100 free throws a day. I want to step up to that line and have everybody say instead of our fans moaning...'aw, she got fouled'...to...the other team saying 'damn, she got fouled'...knowing that they're going in."

"It's a challenge we're trying to put in front of some of these kids who have never had that challenge back in their high school and AAU days."  

SYD BRACKEMYRE

"She's not going to continue to play. She'll still be a part of the program and help us from a coaching/instruction standpoint and still be with the players but her knees are not going to allow her to continue on. We really feel bad for her from that standpoint but we're really encouraged and impressed with her maturity level. She probably could have fought through it for two or three years and then needed a knee replacement....her knees have gotten to that point where it'd be rough playing at this level. She wants to be able to have a family someday and play ball with her kids and in the backyard and there really aren't that many 19-20 year olds that are thinking that far ahead. I give her a lot of credit for that. I feel bad that she's not going to be able to get out there and show people what she can do basketball wise but I know she'll continue to give a lot to our program just from within and being able to help the current players and those in the future. Sure, we probably could have used her against DePaul but if I play her and then something happens...I've got that to live with. She's got that to live with.  She knows the game, she's passionate about it. She could be a coach I'm going up against down the road." 

paulie
xxxxx

Louisville women's basketball -- Cards end first half on 19-2 run...coast by UCA 87-60 -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HINES-ALLEN DROPS 25, WEATHERFORD'S DEFENSIVE SPARK GETS CARDS BY SUGAR BEARS. 

Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game

It took the Louisville Cardinals 13 minutes to get rolling Friday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center, but once they did...they put together a magnificent seven minutes of basketball to push past Central Arkansas and secure a second round game against DePaul Sunday in the NCAA women's basketball tournament. 

Game time Sunday is 2:30 p.m. 

It was the Sugar Bears who were displaying the emotion and hustle early in the contest. Although the Cards jumped out to a 5-0 lead after an Arica Carter jumper two minutes into the contest, UCA fought back and grabbed a 13-12 lead on a Taylor Baudoin layup with 4:28 left in the first period. 

Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game

Behind Baudoin and Brianna Mullins the #14 seed in the Dallas Region would take a 18-12 advantage before Louisville was able to get back within three on a Myisha Hines-Allen jumper with five second left on the clock. 25-22 wasn't the score  Jeff Walz or the 5823 fans wanted to see...but Hines-Allen was starting to get untracked and had eight first quarter points.

The Sugar Bears weren't ready to dissolve, though...Dakota Weatherford's tenacious defense was giving them fits and her 'plus one' gave the Cards a 29-27 lead a minute and a half into the second stanza. Maggie Proffitt countered with a three for UCA and Sandy Jackson's jumper tied the contest at 32-32 with 6:29 until halftime.

Then, the Bears went into hibernation.

Hines-Allen nailed two jumpers in a row and Asia Durr connected on a put-back and it was 38-32 Cards. UCA took a time out. It didn't help. 

Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game

Sam Fuehring found success in the paint and Hines-Allen swished the nets on two consecutive jumper and suddenly it was 44-32 with 2:47 until half. The Cards were on a 12-0 run and the Sugar Bears were befuddled. Durr hit another jumper and a score and free throw from Mariya Moore had the Cards on a 17-0 run and leading 49-32. Central Arkansas finally ended their 5 1/2 minute scoreless streak on a Baudoin jumper...but Moore scored off a Sam Fuehring assist with 22 seconds left in the second and it was 51-34 UofL at the halftime buzzer. 

The Cards would steadily increase that lead throughout the third quarter...a Durr three made it 62-43 Louisville halfway through the half and Moore cashed in on a trifecta to increase the lead to 71-45 at the 1:44 mark. Fuehring's layup with 56 seconds left in the quarter set the tally at 73-49...Louisville got 14 of their 22 points in the third in the paint and Hines-Allen already had her 25 and was done for the evening. 

GUESS WHO? A-TAYY and TIA!  (Photo by Charlie
Springer- UofL Card Game) 

The final quarter provided a heavy dose of Brianna Jones, Weatherford, Fuehring, Erin DeGrate and Taja Cole. Louisville held the Sugar Bears to 22.2% shooting (4-18) in the final ten minutes and DeGrate had half of the Cards 14 points as the Cards continued to out-play UCA. Two DeGrate free throws gave Louisville a 87-57 lead, their largest of the night, but a late Central Arkansas three set the final score at 87-60.  Cards win! Cards win! 

Game time against DePaul Sunday will be 2:30 p.m. GET YOUR TICKETS! It will also be shown on ESPN 2. 

HOW DID FRED DO? 

Free Throws. The Cards sank 16 of their 21 charity attempts for a 76.2% and that's good enough to award a capital F. Moore gets an extra high five for her 7-8 foul line performance and DeGrate went an impressive 3-4. 

Rebounding. Louisville won the rebounding battle 41-38 but was outrebounded 10-7 in the first quarter by UCA. No Cards hit double figures in the grabs department...but only Sam Fuehring played more than 23 minutes...so that's not real surprising. We'll allow a lower case "r". Louisville had a decided height advantage...even with the second squad in.

The Blue Demon enjoyed the first game...

Easy shots. With an overwhelming 50-18 points-in-the-paint advantage and 54.8% shooting, Louisville did quite OK in the interior. Only Cortnee Walton seemed to be struggling with her shot and that's understandable with a broken pinky. UofL made 9 of 11 layups in the first half and 10 of 12 in the final twenty minutes. We'll bestow the capital E with no reservations. 

Defense. Although the Cards seemed sluggish and not very effective early in guarding the Sugar Bears, the spark of Dakota Weatherford in her seven first half minutes was worth the price of admission alone. Central Arkansas ended up shooting 32.9% for the game after the hot start...so we can let a lower case "d" slide by here...mostly because of the attack Yorkie wearing #15. 

WHAT WE LIKED

Mrs Sugar Bear is a cutie! 

Hines-Allen throws another hammer...she's like a fine wine...continuing to improve with age. 12-17 shooting and a team leading seven rebounds. Several of her first-half moves were in the "did you see that?" category and she showed why she was the ACC Player of the Year once again today. 

Defensive Dakota...the spark and enthusiasm that the diminutive destroyer shows on the court transfers rapidly to the fan base..she got the Cards and the supporters going and had three of Louisville's seven steals. Weatherford's defense turns opponents' skies cloudy.

Getting Moore...It was a relief to see the sophomore bounce back from her less-than-desirable ACC Tournament. She realizes there is a lot more to the game of basketball than just successful shooting and yesterday afternoon she displayed the things quite successfully that don't make the stat sheets. 

WHAT NEEDS WORK

Gotta depart from the slow start. A similar beginning against DePaul like UofL displayed today versus UCA will have the Cards watching the rest of the tournament on television instead of going to Dallas. 

See the three. Although Louisville held the Sugar Bears to 35% shooting beyond the arc...the opponent was getting a lot of open looks. That could increase dramatically against DePaul...who spreads you out and has razor-sharp passing skills. The Blue Demons also went 11-21 from three-point range...and a similar performance Sunday could sink the Cards.

You can't really complain too much about a 28-point win to start your tournament run, I guess...but the road gets much tougher Sunday. Louisville will need to play a 40 minute game and contend with a Blue Demon squad that goes to the boards very well and has no difficulty scoring. 

Survive and advance. The Cards eventually connected Friday against a gutsy but less talented opponent. They'll face a much stiffer test Sunday against a much more disciplined and excellently coached DePaul team...who had little trouble knocking off JMU 97-67 in the first game Friday. 

A special thanks to Charlie Springer for the great photography work today!  

__________________________________________________

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

We've got a great radio show planned for today...filling the net with lots of basketball and we'll toss in a little swimming, softball and lacrosse for good measure. Recorded some very good audio from Selection Monday and Friday Hoops as well...so you don't want to miss our broadcast on WCHQ 100.9 FM and on the internet at crescenthillradio.com at 11 a.m. this morning! 

March Madness, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

___________________________________________________

PICK 'EM UPDATE

After 16 games, we have two people that went a perfect 16-0 in their picks. Congratulations to The Real Joe Hill and The Deb Factor for their excellence. Several contestants recorded 14-2 success and there is a log jam of folks at 13-3. 

Good luck to all today and remember it ain't over till it's over! 

paulie
xxxxx

Louisville women's basketball throws bulls-eye against Dartmouth 94-52 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FIVE CARDS HIT DOUBLE FIGURES IN 42-POINT ROMP

Coach Sam W. in her ugly sweater

Louisville shot 52.1% and put Briahanna Jackson (14), Sam Fuehring (14), Myisha Hines-Allen (13), Asia Durr (12) and Erin DeGrate (10) in double figures Tuesday night while creating 22 turnovers in a win that got the Cards back to .500 (5-5) for the season. 

Despite the huge win, Jeff Walz wasn't totally satisfied with his team's effort against the Big Green on Ugly Sweater night in front of a crowd of 7971.

Coach Walz is 2-0 lifetime in this ugly sweater.
(Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game)

"They (Dartmouth) average 52 points a game and that's exactly what we held them to. We scored 94 and that's fantastic...but we didn't do anything but hold them to their average. We've got to figure out how to take a lot more pride in what we're doing. We're really having difficulties in communicating the importance of defense to our kids."

We thought there might be a chance to see extended freshman play last evening against the (2-9) Big Green and Walz sent the group into the fray en masse with 5:20 left in the first period to replace starters Mariya Moore, Myisha Hines-Allen, Cortnee Walton, Briahanna Jackson and Arica Carter with the Cards holding a 6-2 lead but guilty of two turnovers and shooting just 3-8 from the floor. 

Coach Steph displays her ugliness in sweater choices as well

Asia Durr, Sam Fuehring, Brianna Jones, Taja Cole and Erin DeGrate played together for three minutes and got scores from Durr and DeGrate to push the lead to 10-6 but a scary scene developed with 1:42 remaining when Durr went to the floor and had to be helped off the court....favoring her left ankle. The Cards held a 15-7 lead after ten minutes and were outscoring Dartmouth 10-0 in the paint. 

Ugly shoes and socks even got in on the act.

Walz put four of the starters back in the contest with Durr (who suffered a slight ankle roll) and Louisville ahead 21-13 at the 6:40 mark. A basket by Durr gave Louisville a 27-20 lead with 4:11 left until half-time and her score started a 12-3 run to finish the half...that included threes from Jackson and Durr...plus a nifty move by Hines-Allen in the paint to give the Cards a 39-23 lead after two periods. 

Dartmouth's Lakin Roland's grandmother representing

The Cards were shooting 42.1 % on 16-38 shooting. So was Dartmouth...going 8-19 from the floor. Hines-Allen had eight points on 4 for 5 shooting and Durr totaled seven first half points.

Louisville turned up the effort after the half...going on a 15-0 run from the 8:03 mark to 4:39. Jackson canned three threes in that stretch...putting Louisville ahead 59-28. DeGrate connected on a nice feed from Moore and Hines-Allen added a free throw to set the tally at 62-36 after thirty minutes. 

Cardinal fans were wearing ugly sweaters, too

A wide variety of combinations saw the court for Louisville in the final period...the Cards outscoring Dartmouth 32-16. Jones, DeGrate, Weatherford, Fuehring and Cole finished out the final five minutes for UofL. Fuehring went 5-5 from the floor and 2-25 from the stripe to score 12 points in the final quarter...Louisville shot 70.6% on 12-17 shooting in that final ten and held the visitors to 36%. 

A win that was fully expected and that gave Coach Walz the opportunity to try quite a few different combinations...giving all players at least 10 minutes (Weatherford) on the court and no player more than 24 (Moore, Walton). 

UofL Pep Band bassist rockin' the ugly sweater

The Cards out-rebounded Dartmouth 45-27 and hit 10-22 from the three-point range. Jackson had four of those...Durr and Weatherford added two each. Moore was an uncharacteristic 1-6 from the deep and Cole hit the only three she attempted. 

Points in the paint went to Louisville by a whopping 40-4 margin and the Cards held a 29-7 edge in points off turnovers. 

WHAT WE LIKED

This sweater may have been the ugliest of all...EEEWWWW

-- Yay! Dakota!  Not only did she get her first points of the season...she ended with eight points and had three assists an a steal. A great, hustling effort for the attack Yorkie from Cicero, IN.

-- Further on with Fuehring. A big fourth quarter the 6'2" freshman...showing some drive and determination in the paint. Free throw shooting still needs a little work but we saw her take it to the hoop big time against the tall Dartmouth interior. 

Paige Sherrard getting ugly on press row with this sweater

-- Myisha Claus? The sophomore came to the post-game presser wearing a Santa hat and did a few dance moves before answering questions. When asked if she asked Walz whether she could wear the hat during the game...she shyly lowered her head and replied "no...no...I got it from a fan after the game." 

THINGS THAT NEED WORK

Defense. One wouldn't think that defense would be an issue in a 42-point win, but Hines-Allen and Walz both indicated that it was the thing that needs the most improvement with the squad.

Double the ugly in sweaters right behind me! 

Free Throws. 10-17 won't cut it and the combined 6-13 from Walton, Hines-Allen and Fuehring must improve before conference play. Durr and DeGrate, at least, were perfect...going 2-2 each. 

C.J.'s Jonathan Lintner keeping it ugly in sweater choices

The effort may not have been picture perfect all 40 minutes tonight....but Cardinal fans needed a blow-out, good-time-in-the Yum! outing and they got one tonight. There were encouraging things from the freshmen tonight, but as Walz pointed out in the post-game presser....they cannot simply rest on the laurels of a good performance and decide to not work as hard in the future. 

The sweaters may have been ugly but the win wasn't and the redemption train successfully rolls through another stop

Louisville returns to action on Friday with a trip to Cookeville, TN to face Tenn. Tech. 

paulie
xxxxx    

Louisville women's basketball....it's time to get defensive -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

WALZ LOOKING FOR DEFENDERS FOR GULF COAST SHOWCASE.

As the Louisville women's basketball team practices in preparation for Friday night's game against Marist in Estero, FL in the Gulf Coast Showcase, Jeff Walz is looking for his five best defenders and those will be the five that take the floor against the 0-4 Red Foxes. 

(If it means anything, Sonja and I spotted a red fox in our backyard last night near dusk and it was running scared and quickly looking for shelter.)

Scoring isn't a concern for Walz, his squad is averaging 70 points a game...which could easily be 80 if they'd start making more wide open layups...but stopping the opponent is of prime concern for the Cards' head coach...who sees opponents averaging 73 points per game. Also, opponents are shooting 48% against Louisville. 


Starting lineup changes are likely for the #23 ranked, 0-2 Cardinals and Walz is using these three days of practice before departing to Florida to determine the players that will be his best defenders.  

OK. So who besides Briahanna Jackson will be on the floor for the tip against Marist? 

Walz isn't saying yet...we may not know until game time...but here's one intrepid columnist guess on the other four. 

Dakota Weatherford. The transfer guard from Evansville is all about the hustle and intensity. Two very good components for defense. If Walz wants to send a message to the squad that they need to hustle, what better way to get it across than by finally playing her?

Sydney Brackemyre. Syd's another one that is a competitor and goes until she hears the whistle. Fully capable of guard a paint player or wing...the 6'1" red-shirt freshman runs the court. The knee is the only potential drawback, not the heart or courage. 

Cortnee Walton. Shooting may not be her strong suit as of yet but she gets to the boards well and does not give up her ground in the paint willingly.

Mariya Moore. Maybe a little too aggressive at WKU with five fouls, the sophomore has a wealth of basketball knowledge and can be tenacious on traps and presses.

The word is out on the practice courts at Cardinal Arena and the KFC YUM! Center. Defense gets you playing time from here on out.  Who will stand up, lock-down and deny the distributions? 

(BTW...it is well-known that my prediction rate is usually about 20% or less...ask any of the fall women's coaches...but it's 100% certain defense decides these upcoming days for WBB.) 

paulie

Meet the new girls -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

EIGHT IS ENOUGH! NEW FACES, SKILLS FOR 2015-16

When Louisville women's basketball takes the court Sunday afternoon against California, eight women who have never recorded a stat in the history of Louisville basketball will be available to Jeff Walz. 

As fans, there will likely be an adjustment period to learn these eight. Some you'll easily recognize, others may take a little longer to match the name and style with the number. 

So, as a public service and familiarity guide....we present to you the highly un-official but hopefully helpful

CARDINAL COUPLE GUIDE TO NEWCOMERS FOR 2015-16 


# 1 ERIN DeGRATE  6'4" C     Waco, TX

DeGrate is the tallest of the Cardinals...so you should be able to get familiar with her quickly. She'll battle in the post and will be grabbing rebound. She chose Louisville over Baylor, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. She's one of five kids in her family and has a professed "sweet tooth". Follow her on Twitter @ErinBalls_254


# 3 SAM FUEHRING  6'3" F     Wanaque, NJ

Fuerhing will be a player you'll come to recognize right off the bat because of her ferocious style of play in the paint and scoring ability inside. She picked Louisville over South Carolina, California, Tennessee and Rutgers. She has five brothers and played club ball on the New Jersey Sparks team in 2014 with Myisha Hines-Allen. She also had a pretty mean Volleyball career at Immaculate Conception H.S. Track her exploits at @SamFuehring


# 5 TAJA COLE  5'7"  G               Richmond, VA

You'll come to know Cole quickly because of her quickness and defense. Expect to see her leading and finishing the fast break. Also blessed with a better-than-average outside shot...Cole is an all over the court threat. Parents complained about her in grade school because she kept stealing the ball from their kids. We think you'll see it carry over to college. She also enjoys hospital volunteering. Probably to check on all the ankles she's broken over the years. Tweet her @teamcole5


#22 BRIANNA JONES   5'9" G         North Babylon, NY

Known as "Bree" by her teammates and "Jonesie" by the coaching staff...you familiarize yourself with her as the girl who keeps hitting all those mid-range jumpers. She's a versatile off-guard who also thrives in the transition fast break sets. Her long range plans are to major in accounting...which will be helpful in tracking her career stats.  You can get updates @B_thekid_Jones


#25 ASIA DURR   5'10"  G               Douglasville, GA

The #1 player in the #1 class of 2015, Asia has the skills to take over any game and make all her teammates look fabulous. Getting closer to 100% after a summer groin injury, you'll recognize her right off the bat when she creates those "Did you see that? moments on the court. Send your emo's to @A_Hooper25


#31 SYDNEY BRACKEMYER  6'1"  F   Wilmington, OH

Syd the Kid should be familiar to all since she was on the bench during her redshirt season at Louisville last season. With a smile big enough to light up the KFC YUM! Center...Syd can lock them down on defense and punish opponents inside or out. She also dons Asia Taylor's old jersey and we're betting she'll be just as integral part of the Cards as A Tayy was. @Syd_the_kid31 will get you Twittered up with the pride of Clinton Massie


#15 DAKOTA WEATHERFORD  5'6"  G   Arcadia, IN

The latest addition to the 2015-16 squad, "Kota" brings a never-say-die, competitive spirit to the team. She led her Evansville squad in steals and assists during her year there and will be a crowd favorite coming off the bench. The Arcadia, IN native will be easily spotted for her high arching, long range attempts. Defensively strong and deceptively quick...she's a secret weapon that the mad scientist will unleash upon beleaguered opponents. @kotaweatherford is the address for congratulatory comments.


#21 BRIAHANNA JACKSON  5'6"  G   (From a galaxy far away) 

A recruiting bonanza for Walz after she left UCF to search for a school that fit her playing style..."B.J." is all that is advertised and has out-of-this world quickness, leaping ability, scoring prowess and game knowledge. Already emerging as a team leader, Jackson's star is just beginning to rise and she'll be a candidate for a banner in the rafters of the KFC YUM! Center when her time is done here at Louisville. She's not a big social media maven...but you can show her a little love at @bj_hoopster. 

paulie
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