Louisville Women's Basketball, Volleyball as seen by Jared Anderson -- Paulie on Jurich v. Board WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HOOPS ARE COMING! 

Two months until Christmas! That means women's basketball is that much sooner. For you Facebook-ers, the UofL women's basketball official Facebook site has started creating events for all of their games. Friend them up, there will be a lot of good stuff there in the months to come. 

If you haven't read Tuesday's post here yet, Paulie went into great detail about their annual luncheon from Monday. There are quite a few interviews to listen to, including the always interesting "takes" from Coach Jeff Walz. He has complete confidence in this team's ability and their chances to be successful. How do you define success for them. Tell us in the comments section.

Also listen to Paulie's zany chat with the lovable Sam Purcell. I want to see this proposed "best out of ten" free throw showdown. My money's on Purcell. 

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VOLLEY UP! 


Volleyball's Tess Clark and her magical ways of 1,000 kills take the "serve and block" Cards up to South Bend tonight for a midweek match against Notre Dame. No Touchdown Jesus involved in this contest but perhaps Ace Jesus will be sitting on the Cardinal bench. Anything to help clean up the service errors we saw when Dani Busboom Kelly's wide-netters visited the Sunshine State. 

The Fighting Irish enter the contest at 16-5 while barely clinging onto a conference record above .500 at 6-4. That ACC mark ties them with Duke for sixth place in the standings. Notre Dame has 224 blocks on the year, which could provide the Cards some trouble. In recent years tall teams that block well have been Louisville's Achilles heel, including last year's matchup. 

Each team defended their home turf well and the Cards were led by a stat sheet filled by Morgan Miller. Besides the 224 blocks, the Irish also have recorded 123 aces on the year. The Cards back row of Molly Sauer, Gabby Wiley and a hopefully healthy Alexis Hamilton (how about that tongue twister) that should be off concussion protocol should be able to hold down the fort just fine. 

Louisville has some nice numbers of their own, including Tess's thousand kills. Jasmine Bennett and Maggie DeJong have teamed up in the middle blocker position quite well, recording 40 and 41 blocks apiece. 

This past week the Cards (8-2 in conference) were listed as having the 36th. toughest schedule in DI -- which is something I fully concur with. Those darn Big 10 games from early in the season at least look good for this stat. Also, UofL received some votes in the latest polls, but have not reached a top 25 ranking yet. A win tonight and a win against ACC #1 ranked Pittsburgh on Friday could boost the Cards into the rarefied air of top 25. 

Notre Dame leads the all-time series 20-15 against UofL but tonight is a wonderful opportunity to close the gap an make the win streak against the blue and gold two games. A win would also give the Cards a two game win streak since they foiled  FSU in Tallahassee on Sunday. 

Both contests will be shown on the ACC Network Extra. 7:00 tonight. You might want to catch the Friday match at Cardinal Arena to cheer on these gals. 

Go Cards! 
Jared Anderson 

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WORDS AND MORE WORDS

(Some thoughts from Paulie on Star Wars XII: The Jurich Strikes Back) 

Put your hands in the air like you just don't care! 

Dr. Greg Postel's letter to Tom Jurich outlining the reasons for his firing and Jurich's response have been released because of the Freedom of Information mandates and neither appear to be happy campers. 

Postel alleges that Jurich promoted zero tolerance for infractions, failed to supervise head coaches, demonstrated ineffective management responsibilities and exhibited a lack of collegiality. 

Jurich, through his legal counsel, claims that Postel and the University's board are smearing his reputation and Jurich unequivocally denies the allegations and implications. 

This donnybrook is far from over. I can't wait to see if Jurich will write a book about his life and times at UofL. Hey, if Colin Kapernick can...why not T.J.???

Can we work Muffet McGraw into
the mix? 

So, the mudslinging, pie-in-the-face proceedings are underway. Grab some popcorn and have a seat Cardinal fans. This one could be a extra-innings affair. Forget that several UofL athletic teams are battling for conference titles and have key games ahead. The public wants blood and it looks like they're gonna get it. Claws out, kittens! 

Maybe we could add a few hookers, some bogus on-line classes, mad NFL stars charging from the sidelines to confront befuddled officials, Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's On First?" and some Led Zeppelin live to make this another nation-wide headline grabbing embarrassment for our dear and beloved alma mater UofL.  Go to your corners, boys and come out swinging when you hear the bell...this pi---ng contest is on, who's got the fuller bladder? 

 -Paulie

Tom Jurich Fired...Women's Soccer tonight -- Asia Durr Honored -- Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE

BOARD OF TRUSTEES TERMINATES TOM JURICH

(Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game)

Wednesday afternoon, by a vote of 10-3, the UofL Board of Trustees fired Tom Jurich...with cause. Just what the "just cause" is...is anyone's guess. 

Insubordination? 
Sticking by Rick Pitino? Inability to get along with interim President Greg Postel? 

Postal wasn't talking about the ramifications yesterday after the board meeting ended. 

He did reference to the hope that the UofL students and community would "rise to the occasion"... a phrase that adidas, ironically enough, has on Cardinal t-shirts...but his refusal to explain just what the "just cause" sure seems like an absence of accountability. 

Saying it's about the legal proceedings...when a man has spent almost 20 years building the athletic program to unfathomable heights...is a lame and unacceptable answer. 

The other shoe has dropped.

 Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, Jim Patterson Stadium, Lynn Stadium, The Louisville Lacrosse Stadium, The "Little" YUM!, The big Yum, The Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, The Ralph Wright Natatorium, Trager Stadium, Cardinal Park, Cardinal Arena and Ulmer Stadium all became realities and Cardinal venues during Jurich's reign. 

Every coach in the UofL Athletic Department...save Rex Ecarma...was hired by Tom Jurich. Jeff Walz, Bobby Petrino, Sandy Pearsall, Dan McDonnell, Rick Pitino, Bobby Petrino, Ken Lolla, Arthur Albiero, Kelly Young, Karen Ferguson Dayes, Dani Busboom Kelly, Anne Kordes, Rick Pitino, Kenny Klein, Justine Sowry, Mark Crabtree, Courtney Trimble, Derek Copeland, Dale Cowper and Mark Beckham all were hired by Tom Jurich. Even Steve Kragthorpe. 

A current coach, who wished to remain anonymous, told me Wednesday: 

"We all are a little nervous now. Tom is all we've known. All we can do now is try to work as hard as we can to make our student-athletes successful, in sports and life, because that was what Tom was all about. We'll work with Vince [Tyra] because that is who we have now. As far as staying here at Louisville? I'll see. This was a destination job but with Tom gone, the next moves are going to weigh a lot with me. There's a lot of questions." 

This was a bad move. The wrong decision. You don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Tom Jurich will have no problems finding another job. And Louisville? Time will tell who ascend those stairs and becomes the new A.D. up there on the 3rd floor of the S.A.C. 

Chairman David Grissom and Interim President Greg Postel were able to finally breathe a collective sigh of relief. They’ve been plotting behind the scenes for quite a while now, wanting to remove Tom Jurich from his job at the University of Louisville.

Rally around the student-athletes. They and the coaches need you more than ever now. Don't boycott games. Show righteous rage if you must. Be dis-satisfied with this blunder by the board but don't back off your love and support for these kids and their coaches. 

It's still UofL. It's still the ACC. It's still the red and the black. 

But, it's a sadder day and a inconceivable move. And, if you think politics had nothing to do with this...wake up and look at the landscape. 


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#15 WAKE FOREST TO FACE WSOC TONIGHT

The Demon Deacons from Winston Salem...those Wake Forest kickers...will be in Lynn Stadium tonight for a 7 p.m. math on the pitch against the Louisville Cardinal women's soccer squad. 

Louisville needs this one badly. In eighth place in the ACC and hoping to make the ACC Tournament (which accepts eight teams)...a Cardinal win in their final home game of the regular season is greatly needed. The Cards have 9 points in the standings (a win gets you three points and a tie gets you one). The Cards are 3-4 in conference. N.C.State, Boston College and Notre Dame have 10 points. Clemson has 8. Wake Forest has 13 and is in third place in the standings. 

The Cards could go a long way in securing a bid tonight with a win. They end the season in North Carolina with games against UNC and NC State. Difficult, but not impossible. 

Do this, WSOC. GIve the beleaguered UofL fans a bright spot in what has been a really tough week.  

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DURR HONORED

UofL junior guard Asia Durr has been selected as the 2017-18 ACC preseason Player of the Year, as voted on by the league's coaches.

In addition to the award, Durr, senior Myisha Hines-Allen and freshman Dana Evans earned All-ACC preseason honor from both the league coaches and the Blue Ribbon Panel, the conferences media and sports information directors

Durr and Hines-Allen were named Preseason All-ACC, while Evans was one of five players named to the Newcomer Watch List. 

This is the second straight season that a Louisville student-athlete has earned ACC Player of the Year honors. Myisha Hines-Allen got the 2016-17 nod. 

The Cards were picked to finish second in the league by the 15 coaches...getting one first place vote, while the Blue Ribbon Panel also put Louisville second. Notre Dame was picked first in both polls. Duke was selected third. Florida State came in fourth and Virginia rounded out the top five in the coaches poll. The Blue Ribbon Panel agreed on 1-4 with Miami getting fifth in their poll. 

The preseason All-ACC teams were: 

BLUE RIBBON

Lexie Brown - Duke
Rebecca Greenwell - Duke
Shakayla Thomas - FSU
Myisha Hines-Allen - UofL
Asia Durr - UofL
Stephanie Watts - UNC
Paris Kea - UNC
Arike Ogunbowale - Notre Dame
Marina Mabrey - Notre Dame
Chanette Hicks - Va.Tech

COACHES

Lexie Brown
Rebecca Greenwell
Shakayla Thomas
Francesca Pan (Georgia Tech)
Asia Durr
Myisha Hines-Allen
Paris Kea
Arike Ogunbowale
Marina Mabrey
Elisa Penna (Wake Forest) 


Congratulations to these three Cardinals! The season begins


paulie
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Court in session....how will they judge? Friday CARDINAL COUPLE

******BREAKING NEWS******

MARIYA MOORE LEAVING LOUISVILLE WBB

Sources close to the UofL WBB program have confirmed that junior Mariya Moore has decided to leave the Cards. She will leave the program at the end of the semester and return to California. Her hopes are to play her senior season closer to home. It is also being reported that her sister Minyon Moore is leaving USC. The news on Minyon comes from her father's Instgram page. 

Moore was a second-team All ACC selection in the 2016-17 season and averaged 12 points a game for the Cards. A check of the 2016-17 roster at gocards.com still has Moore listed...but several reports on Moore leaving Louisville began to surface last night and it has been confirmed that she won't play for Louisville in the 2017-18 season. 



LOUISVILLE PRESENTS CASE TO NCAA COMMITTEE ON INFRACTIONS.

Back on the popular 1960's television show LAUGH IN, there was a segment called "Here Comes Da Judge". The late Flip Wilson was "yer honor". The skit also produced a song by Pigmeat Markham called....wait for it...Here Comes Da Judge. 

SONG LINK: HERE COMES DA JUDGE!

I'm pretty sure I've still got a t-shirt somewhere with that saying on it...unless Sonja has donated it to one of the thrift stores she likes to give old stuff to. 

Yesterday, in Cincinnati, the Cards faced the judge...or, in this case, an 11 hour session in front of members of the NCAA Committee on Infractions to present their side of the prostitute/sex scandal that stunned the campus, community and college sports back in October 2015.

Nothing like swift justice, right? 

Decisioning should come in 6-8 weeks on the series of incidents where Andre McGee allegedly paid for women's to "entertain" in Billy Minardi Hall. 

The Cards went to these hearings and told the truth, according to athletic director and vice-president Tom Jurich (which is always a good thing to do...in court and in all other aspects of life, as well).  Chuck Smrt, Tom and Rick Pitino were on hand to answer questions from the committee...along with a few lawyers...and offer rebuttals. Also there was acting UofL President Dr. Greg Postel and former program assistant Brandon Williams, accused of a major program violation in the original charges and guy who refused to give up his cell phone. 

Andre McGee was not present. I wonder if he's still driving for Uber? 

Details of the proceedings are confidential. UofL officials are prohibited by the NCAA from answering questions about the proceedings. There was even confusion on where the proceeding were going to take place...some local television stations were headed to Indianapolis to cover the event (home of the NCAA) when they found out it was Cincinnati and a ballroom at the Hyatt. A quick right-turn at Columbus, Indiana ("Take a right on 46 and head to I-74, boys!") and off to Ohio. 

At least the Cards were at a hearing and not up in front of Judge Smails from the movie Caddyshack...as for Cincy as a locale? Maybe they had tickets for the Reds and Cubs...

Some say Pitino didn't speak about the hearings after all was said and done yesterday. Some say Jurich likes the new interim President Postel and thinks they'll get along fine. We'll come back to that.  All are wondering how this thing is going to turn out. Six weeks can't go by fast enough. Let's hope an organization that usually moves at a turtle's pace can proceed on this issue like Julian Leparoux guiding a horse down Churchill's stretch to the wire. 

-- Take a vacation, Rick...A lot of observers are speculating that Coach Pitino will be suspended for a few games next season. How many and when during the season is the big question. Three games at the start of the year? Sure no problem. Seven games during ACC Conference play? Could be a big problem. 

-- Take down the 2013 National Championship banner and vacate the title? That probably won't happen. A penalty too harsh for what happened. 

-- Monetary fines? Yeah, probably so. The NCAA loves to levy fines. 

Let's not forget that the Cards reported the violations on their own and took measures against themselves....sitting out the 2016 NCAA Tournament. There's been a board upheaval and former president James Ramsey is gone. 

Most Cardinal fans just want this chapter to be finished and the whole episode to come to closure. Other schools have "allegedly" done much worse, didn't self-report their actions and still haven't gone to trial yet. We want to be done with it.

Tom Jurich on his Thursday in Cincy: 

“It was a long day, but very productive,” Jurich said. “We said from Day One that we’d tell the truth, and we’ve done that. I was extremely impressed, this was my first time, really, to be around Dr. Postel, certainly in a very challenging environment. I couldn’t be more proud of him and look so forward to working with him now in the future. I always say to my staff, you like to evaluate people when you’re going through adversity. Well, this is adversity. Seeing him stand up for our institution and for our athletic department, and to stand for what is real, I was so impressed. So I look forward to (that) with Dr. Postel. I think our university is in great hands. And I can’t say that enough.”

On the subject of the hearing, Jurich, continued, “We exchanged all of our information and the enforcement staff gave all of their information. The committee on infractions listened, they asked questions when they felt were needed. I think it was very, very thorough, and I think it goes without saying that I can’t wait to get this behind us. I’ve been told, in there, that we are not allowed to answer any questions, I’m told that until this is resolved, the thing it looks like it could be resolved in 6 to 8 weeks.”

Well? We're waiting !

It seems this has been going on for way too long, in my humble opinion. The NCAA is a huge and ponderous entity that moves at their own slow and lumbering pace and reacts slowly, if not deliberately, on infractions. Let's go back to horse racing, everyone wants to see the results of the race posted as soon as possible...especially if a horse you liked might be involved in them.

 This whole Louisville vs. NCAA episode is like running the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May and then informing the attendees and watchers that the posting of the official results will be on the Fourth of July.

Well? We're waiting...

What say you, readers? 


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DID YOU NOTICE? 

Last night I was flipping around the cable channels looking for something to watch when I landed on the NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers. During a crowd shot, who do I see but UofL head women's basketball coach Jeff Walz and his lovely wife Lauren watching the contest...center court and about five rows up from the action.  

Although Walz wasn't there scouting potential players for the Cards...he'll get back to that this weekend...he did get to see an exciting contest (for some) where the Cavs overcame a 25-point halftime deficit to rally and beat Indiana. 

Lebron James. Wow, just wow. 

Not a bad Thursday night date, Coach. 
paulie
xxxxx