Cards Bounce Back Against Niagara -- Liz Dixon Grad Photos -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Bounces Back with Win at Niagara

Louisville Lacrosse broke their two-game losing streak with a 19-10 win at Niagara yesterday. The Cards improve to 7-9 on the season.

The Purple Eagles came out ready to play, scoring less than two minutes into the match and played Louisville to a 3-3 first quarter. Niagara would also score two of the first three goals in the second quarter for a one-goal advantage.

Louisville, historically known for big runs, proceeded to go on a 9-0 run over the back half of the second quarter and first portion of the third quarter for a comfortable eight-goal lead.

Niagara would cut the lead to five to close out the third quarter, but a 6-2 run over the final period allowed the Cards to cruise to a nine-goal lead and blowout win.

Caroline Blalock completed a hat trick early in the second quarter and would have five goals by halftime. The super-senior would complete a double hat trick in the third quarter and ended the match with a single game career-high seven goals. 

Nicole Perroni posted a four-goal performance, including three straight of her own spanning over the final minutes of the first half and early second half. Her fourth and final goal came early in the final period.

Louisville's leading scorer Hannah Morris scored two goals while six Cards contributed one goal apiece.

The split goalkeeper philosophy continued today. Sara Addeche got the start and surrendered give goals along with one save over 21:53. J Pleck would come in relief to allow five goals in addition to six saves. The two have nearly identical playing time on the year with the latter having a better save percentage and more saves.

Scott Teeter's squad returns home this Saturday to close out the regular season. Louisville and Notre Dame will square off on the Cards' senior day at Cardinal Stadium at noon. Admission is free at Cardinal Stadium for this match. A win would give UofL two conference wins and tie them for fifth (out of nine teams) in the ACC, pending no other teams earn a third conference win.

Liz Dixon Grad Photos

My Friday did not end following Louisville softball's run-rule victory over Syracuse in their series opener. My next stop was with Liz Dixon to take her graduation photos for her.

Although, Dixon is graduating, she will still be returning for one more season with the Cards and will take a few extra classes while focusing primarily on basketball and winning a national championship.

During our tour around downtown and campus, we ended up inside the Kueber Center, where the four ACC Championship and four NCAA Final Four trophies were sitting out. I picked up the 2022 Final Four trophy to use for the photos and made a comment on how heavy it was. Liz, with her quick witted sense of humor replied with "That's why we lift weights."

Here's a few of her grad photos:

On a side note, good luck to Louisville baseball as they take on their blue buddies down I-64 tonight at Jim Patterson Stadium. Tickets range from $5-$200.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Louisville women's basketball -- Durr honorable mention AP...Newbauer to Florida...WE have a Final Four--Tuesday CARDINAL COUPLE

Asia Durr was named to the AP All-American honorable mention team on Monday. A nice recognition for the Douglasville, GA sophomore...who led the Cards in scoring at 19.2 ppg and sank 119 threes during the season. Asia broke the previous record for threes...held by Shoni with 118 in the 2013-14 season. Asia was second in the NCAA in threes made. 

Durr led the Cards in baskets made for 2016-17 with 233. She also led the team in steals...with 46. 

Big things ahead, no doubt, for the Cards guard. When one looks back on the 2016-17 season...the image of Durr knocking down threes will certainly come to mind. 

Asia shot .424 from the field for Louisville this season and .405 from the three-point line. She was also one of the most productive from the free throws line with a 78% success rate. 

No Cards were selected for the Wooden Award teams. 

As a by-line, I was on the Louisville First show with Howie Lindsey and Matt Wilinger this morning. The topic turned to a starting line-up for Louisville WBB next year. (Is it too early to think of such things? We thought not...) Howie came up with Durr, Mariya Moore, Myisha Hines-Allen, Kylee Shook and Dana Evans. I can see that...but I think you may have to consider a healthy Arica Carter and Ciera Johnson....as well as the talented Jazmine Jones into that candidate pool. 

What say you, Cardinal Couple readers? 


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Cameron "Cam" Newbauer has been named as the next head women's basketball coach at Florida. Newbauer, who was an assistant at Louisville from 2011-13, is the first male coach in the history of the program. Another Walz protege gets a bump. 



Newbauer achieved great success at Belmont University...where he went after working with Walz...in his four seasons there. He complied a record of 51-14 (29-3 in the Ohio Valley) over the last two seasons and led the Bruins to the NCAA Tournament twice. 

The Bruins' athletic director...Scott Stricklin...seems pleased with the hire: 

“Cameron Newbauer brings energy, vision and an incredible work ethic to the University of Florida. In addition to developing well-coached teams, he’s a hard-charger when it comes to recruiting and fan engagement,” Scott Stricklin of his first coaching hire since becoming the Gators’ athletic director. “He’s coached in our league with Georgia and coached in the Final Four with Louisville. As a head coach, Cameron’s built the Belmont program and led them to back-to-back NCAA berths. I share his confidence that he can build Florida women’s basketball into a conference and national contender, and look forward to Cameron, Sarah and their family joining the Gators.”

Cam will have his initial work cut out for him. The Gators went 15-16 last season and graduates three players. Three of the top four scorers are gone...with the transfer of Eleanna Christinaki to Maryland. 

UF's new coach will have some tools to work with in three returning starters, led by All-SEC freshman guard Delicia Washington, plus the addition of transfer point guard Funda Nakkasoglu, who averaged 19.1 points per game at Utah State in '15-16 on her way to first-team All-Mountain West Conference honors. UF will return guard Simone Westbrook, a starter on the '16 NCAA tourney squad who missed the entire season following knee surgery last summer 

Prior to joining Walz, Newbauer spent four years with Andy Landers at Georgia as an assistant. Landers, now retired, has been seen on TV quite a bit recently as one of the analysts for the NCAA women's college basketball tournament. 

Congratulations to Cam! A great guy whose trajectory continues to soar. If anyone can draw talent to the Gators in the extremely competitive SEC...it's Cam. 


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The Final Four for NCAA women's college basketball was set last evening with UConn rolling over Oregon 90-54 and South Carolina holding off Florida State 71-64. 

Stanford, Mississippi State, Connecticut and South Carolina are your Final Four participants. Two #1 seeds and two #2 seeds. 

Not that hard a stretch to come up with these four...although no one in our Cardinal Couple contest had all four in the Final Four. Three people did have 3 out of 4. 

LEADERBOARD. 

51-9 The Deb Factor, Cliff

50-10  Curtis F. 

49-11 Charlie Mc., Kenny S. 

All five have UConn winning. Charlie Mc. and Cliff have three of the Final Four. Deb, Kenny S. and Curtis have 2 of the 4 finalist. 

Cliff has Stanford vs. UConn in the title game.

Charlie Mc has South Carolina and UConn

Deb had Florida St. vs UConn 

Kenny S. had Notre Dame and UConn

Curtis F. had UConn and Notre Dame. 




paulie
xxxxx

Friday Cardinal Couple -- The road ahead for Louisville WBB

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- What if.....

- GO CARDS!

-Saturday Radio....radio

We'll do a little anticipatory thinking today. What if the Louisville WBB crashes the Final Four Party? What if this #3 seed decides to continue the Unfinished Business tour and finds themselves in Nashville next week?

It is entirely possible, you know. Hosting a Regional and meeting an opponent on Sunday that was dispatched early in the season. There's no doubt Louisville is playing better basketball than back then. LSU is too...but Jeff Walz and crew will have had five days to prepare for them.

I like Louisville's chances.

"I miss UofLWBB in the zombie Apocalypse, little brother..."

After that, it comes down to a Tuesday night tussle against either Maryland or Tennessee. Let me make this perfectly clear. I want the Vols in that opposite slot. The weakest one seed..a seed that should have been Louisville's. I hope 5000 Orange clad fans make the 4 hour drive from Knoxville to witness the carnage, the beatdown and the Louisville victory. I hope they eat in our downtown restaurants, stay in hotels and buy stuff from local merchants.

And then go home. Quietly.

Louisville beat them last year to earn a trip to the Final Four. Here's to history repeating itself.

Do NOT allow this guy and girl in Nashville

Let's face it. Most of the nation wants to see an NCAA Women's Championship game with Notre Dame and UConn. Not this guy. He wants to see Kentucky knock off the Irish and DePaul stun the UConn Huskies.

I could care less who comes out of the Stanford region. I have South Carolina in my bracket picks. Yeah, they'll do...

What a wildly fun and eye-popping time in Nashville...without Irish and Huskies...it could be. Cats and Cards II - the Nashville Chronicles.

I know...I probably won't get the Final Four I'd like to see and the rest of the nation would dread. They want to see the UnBeatens slug it out. I want to see the underdogs and the scorned show up in Nashville. 

And then to see the Cards beat the Cats on a neutral court and advance to a NCAA Showdown against DePaul, South Carolina or Stanford? All the talking heads on ESPN would be jumping out of second floor windows in Bristol or moving cars on the Interstate.
 
Charlie Creme would resign and move to New Guinea to raise soybeans. Kevin "KneeGandhi"...goes on a bender and ends up married to Kara Lawson in a Vegas wedding chapel.

Exactly. Let's add a little habernero to the oatmeal. Let's shake it up and send the preferred, the chosen ones, the establishment home early. Let's dance with the prom queen..spike the punch and eat nachos at a five start restaurant. Time to crash another party...ruin a lot of bracket picks and go dancin'. 

Finish the unfinished business ATayy, Shoni, Nita and Tia.

If you can possibly do it...buy your tickets and go to the KFC YUM! Center Sunday and Tuesday. Take a friend. Wear RED. It's the most wonderful time of the year.


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WE WOULD BE REMISS IF WE DID NOT WISH OUR UOFL MEN'S TEAM THE BEST OF LUCK IN TONIGHT'S REMATCH AGAINST THE UK WILDCATS. INDY IS GOING TO BE NUTS TODAY, TONIGHT AND IT SHOULD BE A GREAT GAME.


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We've got a nice treat for you on the Saturday CARDINAL COUPLE Radio Show.

UofLCARDGAME owner and observer Charlie Springer will be in studio joining me and sharing perspectives and thoughts on Cardinal Athletics.

BE sure to click on and listen! Help Crescent Hill Radio by donating...click the link below and read and listen. It's a good radio station even when Cardinal Couple isn't on the air... 

www.crescenthillradio.com




GO CARDS!

PAULIe
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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- An article about the Schimmel's

- Volleyball travels to Rutgers

- Soccer looks to score at Cincy

- NCAA WBB with a Friday/Sunday Final Four?

Schimmel Family Extends its Gratitude to Supporters

 

Thanks to Brent Cahwee, NDNSPORTS.COM for sharing this GREAT article!

Cici and Rick Schimmel at the 2013 NABI Championships in Phoenix, AZ

(Oregon) – As the basketball season approaches all across the country for the many colleges and high schools the parents of Shoni and Jude Schimmel, Rick and Cici, released a statement today expressing gratitude to all of the supporters of their family.

The family noted, “As we are so busy just getting through the day sometimes we forget to think about and to thank our friends for what they mean to us. You are always in our hearts and prayers.”

Shoni and Jude Schimmel are of course the two famed Native American basketball players at the University of Louisville who exploded on to the national scene with the Cardinals Women’s basketball team as they marched through the NCAA tournament last season on their way to a national runner-up finish and inspiring many Native Americans from all across the country.

Since that time the family has been on a whirlwind tour across Indian Country and befriending countless tribes and fans along the way.

“We definitely had a busy but productive summer visiting 17 reservations and speaking to over 20,000 Natives. We hope the time we have taken to visit so many places has been a rewarding and inspiring moment in the lives of the people we have had the pleasure to meet.” said the family.

One of those highlights of the summer was a trip to the annual Native American Basketball
Invitational (NABI) where Shoni and Jude were awarded the Phil Homeratha Leadership Award. At the time Jude was the only one of the dynamic duo on site to accept the award(s) as Shoni was competing with the USA Women’s University basketball squad at the World University Games in Russia. The Schimmel family was able to catch a lot of the basketball games and visit with the fans of the family.



Shoni, now a senior at Louisville and Jude a junior, will be starting the season in the next few weeks and will look to make another run for the National Championship.

The family said, “No promises of another Cinderella run through the NCAA tournament this year, but we certainly plan for an exciting season. "
The family is also asking those that are able to this season, to show up and show your support for Shoni’s final game in March.

“I want to highlight the March 3rd game which will be Senior Night. We are encouraging as many of our friends and family to try to attend this game if possible. This will be Shoni’s last regular season game at Louisville and we play UConn so we want to show her lots of support.” said Rick Schimmel.

Whether they make it back to the National Championship game or not, you can bet that the outpouring of support and love for the Schimmels will continue and you can bet there should be more than a handful of Native supporters at Shoni’s final game for the Cardinals. See you there!


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VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO EXTEND AAC WIN STREAK

THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL TEAM SITS ATOP THE AMERICAN WITH A PERFECT 7-0 RECORD AND WILL LOOK TO KEEP THAT WINNING STREAK INTACT WHEN THEY GO TO PISCATAWAY, NJ TO FACE THE RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS FRIDAY NIGHT AT 7 P.M.

LOUISVILLE HAS WON 10 OUT OF THEIR LAST 11 AND FACES A RUTGERS SQUAD THAT IS 0-7 IN AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PLAY AND 4-17 OVERALL.

LOUISVILLE HAD BEEN ABLE TO COMBINE A MIX OF THE NEW ( MAYA MCCLENDON AND JANELLE JENKINS) WITH THE OLD (EMILY JUHL, CAITLIN WELCH, BROOKE MATTINGLY) TO SOAR ABOVE THE COMPETITION IN THEIR ONLY SEASON IN THE AAC.


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SOCCER ENDS REGULAR SEASON AGAINST THE BEARCATS


KAREN FERGUSON DAYES WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM ALSO SITS ATOP THE AAC WITH A 7-1-0 RECORD AND 11-4-1 OVERALL. THEY FACE A BEARCATS TEAM IN CINCINNATI TONIGHT THAT TOOK THEM TO DOUBLE OVERTIME LAST YEAR IN CARDINAL PARK BEFORE THE CARDS  2-1 IN SEASON FINALE FOR BOTH SQUADS.

THIS VERSION OF THE BEARCATS IS 8-9-1 AND TIED FOR THIRD IN THE AAC WITH A 4-3-1 RECORD.

CHARLYN CORRAL LEADS THE CARDS WITH 13 GOALS ON THE SEASON AND IS FOLLOWED BY CHRISTINE EXETER...WHO HAS PRODUCED EIGHT. FROSH GOALKEEPER PAIGE BROWN HAD FOUR SHUTOUTS AND 57 SAVES ON THE YEAR.

THE AAC TOURNAMENT GETS UNDERWAY 10-31-13 AT "VARIOUS CAMPUS SITES".


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FRIDAYS AND SUNDAYS?

           

( Thanks to Greg Johnson, NCAA.com for this report)

       

The Women’s Final Four would move to Friday-Sunday competition dates by as early as the 2015 tournament, according to a change approved by the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.

All changes recommended by the committee must be approved by the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet.

The Women’s Final Four will continue to be held on the same weekend as the Men’s Final Four. But instead of the semifinals taking place on a Sunday, with the championship game on a Tuesday –– a formula that has been used since 2003 — it will move to a Friday-Sunday schedule.

Additionally, the committee, which met this week in Indianapolis, decided that the top-16 seeds in the 2015 bracket will host the first- and second-round games, while regionals will be played at neutral sites.

The committee also decided that all games played on the first two weekends of the 2015 championship be conducted on Friday-Sunday, Saturday-Monday.

The move to games on Friday-Sunday for the Women’s Final Four is intended to be more fan friendly because the championship will conclude on a weekend, committee members said. In surveys that committee members reviewed, fans noted that the Sunday-Tuesday playing dates required taking three days away from work.

The committee also discussed moving the Women’s Final Four to the weekend after the Men’s Final Four. But after a thorough debate, the committee decided the current weekend is the best fit for the women’s game.

“It was a difficult decision for us,” Carolayne Henry said, the committee chair and senior associate commissioner/senior woman administrator for the Mountain West Conference.

“The atmosphere on the Final Four weekend is something we can continue to capitalize on. As we grow, we can look to see if we want to be a stand-alone entity. For now, we want to take advantage of the excitement around basketball that takes place on that weekend.”

The committee also decided that allowing the top-16 seeds to host on the first weekend will enhance the student-athlete experience by potentially drawing more fans to the arenas.

The changes will hopefully draw larger crowds because host teams will have spent a whole season building fan support for a successful team.

“We feel this will give teams incentive to get better so they can host,” Henry said. “It was a
challenging and difficult discussion for the committee. We know there are teams that would like to host, but they may not necessarily be in the top 16. We love having fans of teams, and the next step is attracting people who are fans of the game that will come to the arena because they want to see a good game.”

A system that rewards good teams with hosting rights could also save money. Sixteen of 64 teams will not travel on the first weekend of play.

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association expressed concern that playing on home courts during the regional rounds created unfair competitive advantages as teams compete for Women’s Final Four berths. The committee agreed that games in the second weekend of the tournament should take place at neutral sites.

-Paulie

...

Thursday Cardinal Couple - Is It Sunday Yet? Edition

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Jeff McAdams dashes from Ulmer to the lacrosse fields and from New Orleans to the presentation of the naming of the conference UofL will spend a year in for Thursday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. He even made stops to help little old ladies dodge traffic on Cardinal Blvd. and help Mo off the bus at the SAC...that's our guy!)



I hope its not Sunday yet, because that would mean we missed some more good Cardinal Athletics in the meantime.

Softball Swings for State Swagger

While the Louisville Baseball team forced an inning of bonus baseball before falling to our neighbors to the east, Sandy Pearsall's Softball squad had better luck, and continues the great week in Louisville Athletics.

The scoring started in the second, and yes it involved a ball landing on the very crowded outfield berm. Taner Fowler got on base by being hit by a pitch, with Hannah Kiyohara following with a walk.  The setup in place, Kayla "De La" Soles put one over the left field fence to put three on the board.

The Cards put up another couple of runs in the 5th when Jordan Trimble singled to start the inning.  Alicja Wolny followed with a deep shot to right that didn't quite clear the fence, but did drop in and was more the sufficient to get Trimble home.  Wolny made it to 3rd.  Unfortunately, she got caught at home in a fielder's choice by Maggie Ruckenbrod.  The Ruck advanced to second, where she's usually throwing people out from her catcher's position, on a Taner Fowler sacrifice.  Hannah Kiyohara's single got her to 2nd on an overthrow at first and gave Maggie the chance to make it home for the final Card point of the game.

The Kentucky Wildcats picked up their only score in the 6th inning, but otherwise "Good Carl" Caralisa Connell was in control in the circle.

The Softball squad next take a trip to New England for a three game series with St. Johns with a noon and 2pm double-header on Saturday the 6th and a noon followup game on the 7th.  They'll then scoot over to play a noon and 2:30 double-header on Tuesday the 9th with Providence in Rhode Island.  Game times won't conflict with any Final Four basketball games in either bracket, and ESPN3 is apparently streaming the St. Johns games, so this would be a good time to check out the Softball Cards without suffering from a wind chill factor.

All's Quiet on the Western...er...the Lacrosse Front

Kellie Young's Lacrosse squad managed to draw a large media response to the Yum! Center on campus for their practice Wednesday afternoon, though rumor is that there were other goings on in the building...something about a broken leg?

Lacrosse has had a good break between games, giving them a good chance to practice for Notre

Dame's arrival at the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, adjacent to the Yum! Center on campus tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm.  6/7 ranked Notre Dame continues the steady stream of quality opponents that the Louisville Laxers are coming up against.

Marquette comes to join the fun on Sunday for a noon first draw, which leaves plenty of time to check out the Lacrosse game and still get home or wherever you're going, to be glued to a TV at 6:30.

Cardinal Couple Crashes the Crescent City

While much of CardNation is heading to Atlanta, at least a trio of Cardinal Couple writers are travelling to Lou Orleans for the Women's Final Four.  Jenny, Sandy and myself have travel plans in place to be in NOLA Sunday through Tuesday to cover Jeff Walz and the Louisville GiantSlayers as they hope to continue to shock the basketball world. Paulie will man the fort back here in Louisville...feeding the staff chimps and hopefully getting reports from us as time allows.

The fun continues Sunday evening at 6:30pm for the Cardinal Women's Basketball team.  Opinions have certainly turned as I note that all five of the ESPNw analysts have now picked our 5 seed Cardinals to beat the 2 seed Cal Bears.

If you're not making it to Nawlin's, all of the games will be on ESPN.  We're in the first game at 6:30 Eastern Time on Sunday, as mentioned.  The second game, the ever-expected UConn vs Notre Dame matchup should tip around 8:30.  The finals, hopefully an all-Big-East affair, will be Tuesday with an 8:30 Eastern Time tip.

New Conference Name

We've known for a while now that the seven Catholic schools are buying out the Big East name from the current conference.  What wasn't known is what the new name for what remains of the Big East was going to be.  The announcement has occurred, and the result is, "The American Athletic Conference".

The conference administration has already stated that they don't intend to use an acronym, instead referring to it in common usage as "The American".  I'm skeptical that the general public will follow
along and will instead use the acronym AAC, as is common practice with many conferences.

In any case, its only of minimal concern for us in Louisville given our imminent switch to the ACC.  The announcement on the Big East's website makes no mention and doesn't use any of the logos of the departing schools such as Pitt, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville...no surprise, really, and I can't say that I blame them.

( An excellent report...by Jeff today. After an extensive review of the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em Challenge for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, it seems our intrepid writer is in second place...as well..with a record of 50-10 as the team roll into New Orleans. Keith B. hangs on to a 52-8 mark to lead the way and Steve O. is in line for the show money at 49-11.

Also a great time for Paulie earlier Wednesday at the SAC Building for the greeting of the victorious WBB team. Lots of good interviews for our Saturday Radio Show and I also made it on a video! Several times. See if you can pick me out...link below)

Paulie

LINK:
CARDS RETURN TO LOUISVILLE


FINALLY.....WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THIS? CARDINAL COUPLE CO-OWNER SONJA ISN'T IN THE RUNNING TO WIN THE PICK 'EM...HER 43-17 RECORD IS A BIT BEHIND THE LEADERS...BUT HER FINAL FOUR?

UOFL, CAL, NOTRE DAME, UCONN.

SHE LIKES THE CARDS TO WIN IT ALL...

(SHE ALSO HATES THE SINGLE POINT PER WIN SYSTEM WE USE.)

ARE YOU LISTENING, SHONI? SONJA SAYS TITLE 'EM UP!

(PIC OF HER BRACKET)

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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Final Four Bound!!!

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Cards headed to the Final Four!

(Jenny O'Bryan with the byline on the thrilling Lady Cards victory that puts them in the Final Four Sunday night against California.)

Wow, where do you start?  This team is absolutely peaking at the right time.  Good coaching?  Believing?  Hard work finally paying off?  All of the above?  Whatever it is, it looks good on these Cardinals!

Louisville Women’s Basketball pulled off yet another shocker in the world of women’s basketball.  Defeating Baylor on Sunday night was a shock like none other in this game.  Everyone questioned how Louisville and Coach Walz would rebound from that emotional outing.  Question answered!  Louisville takes down Tennessee to make only their 2^nd ever Final Four appearance.  This could not have happened to a better group of young women. 

Louisville started the game with a bang.  Hot out of the gates the Cards were passing nicely, hitting some shots and causing all kinds of turnovers for Tennessee.   Tennessee looked dazed and confused.  Louisville was crashing the boards, especially the offensive boards, better than I have ever seen during the first half.   Louisville takes a 41-26 lead into halftime. 

The Cardinals came out of halftime and opened with a pass to Mo Reid down low under the bucket for an easy 2.  After a turnover, the Cards hit back-to-back 3’s to grow the lead to 20 points.  It seemed too easy.  Well, easy it was not.  Tennessee was not going away quietly.  Senior Taber Spani got hot in the second half and slowly helped to chip away the lead Louisville had built.  From about the 12 minute mark until the 3:00 minute mark, it looked like Tennessee just might catch the Cards.    It was not to be.  The Cards sparked a scoring spree, led by a lay in by Shoni Schimmell that saw the  

lead balloon back up to 12 with just under a minute to go.

The Cardinals held on and won, 86-78. 

Shoni Schimmel was named the Regions Most Outstanding Player, and with good reason.  She has found her groove this postseason and led the team in scoring in both the Baylor game (22) and the Tennessee game (24). 

While S. Schimmel has really stepped up her game and is deserving of the award, overall, all of the Cardinals are playing incredible ball this post season.  Coach Walz has said it all season long, we have said it here, if this team could all play well on the same night, they can compete with anyone in the country.  That is exactly what they are doing this postseason. Every one of these players has upped their game!

From crisp passing, crashing the boards, stellar defense and an onslaught of offensive options the Louisville Women’s Basketball team is putting it all together at the right time.  They are playing hard and having fun and winning.  What more can you ask for? 

The Cardinals will head to the Final Four for just the second time in the history of the program.  Both appearances in the Final Four have been led by Coach Jeff Walz.  Louisville is just the second 5 seed to ever make it to the Final Four. 

This is also only the 10^th time that the same University has both its men’s and women’s team both in the Final Four.

This has been no walk in the park for Louisville Basketball.  Louisville has played and beaten a #4 seed (Purdue), a #1 seed (Baylor) -- the overall #1 team in the country and prohibitive favorite to repeat as National Champions -- and a #2 seed (Tennessee). So much for your seeding theories, NCAA.

Louisville will face the #2 seed California Golden Bears in the semifinal game on Sunday evening in New Orleans.  Should the team win that game they will face another #1 seed in either UConn or Notre Dame.   It should be noted that Cal is making it to the Final Four for the first time in their programs history. 

Coach Walz said it best in his interview after the game.  “We are the ugly ducklings of the tournament.  No one wanted or expected us here.  But our journey continues”. 

So it does.  My room is secure in New Orleans.  I anticipate securing my tickets to the games early   Will you be headed to New Orleans to ride this wave with our beloved Cardinals? 

 

Congratulations Coach Walz, and the entire coaching staff.  You have given this team every opportunity to grow as players, and they have risen to the occasion.  You have given this team the belief and confidence that they can win, and they have.  You have given this team every reason to believe that there are still 2 wins left to be had.   Excellent, excellent coaching!  Congratulations. 

 The media is calling this team Cinderella, I simply call it Louisville Basketball!

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Just a quick thought.   I have said it, the media has said it, Coach Walz has said it, Cardinal Couple has said it…just think what this team could do if it were healthy.   With 3 would be starters on the bench, just how good could this team be if they were healthy? 

We will never know the answer to that questions, but….

This is the second season that Louisville Basketball has battled significant injuries.  Due to those injuries, Bria Smith and Sara Hammond got thrown out of the frying pan into the fire their freshman year.  Due to injuries this year, Jude is getting more time, and Antonita Slaughter has had a break out year.  Injuries are a part of the game.  Every program deals with them.  Perhaps Louisville Basketball is as strong as it is because of these injuries.   The growth of the aforementioned players has been critical in getting the team to where they are today.  Maybe, just maybe, the injuries have helped this program.

I have my opinions.  What are yours?  Let us know in the comment section.  

-Jenny O'Bryan

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In a season where the Lady Cards have through the benching of Shoni for a half, a thumping by Syracuse to end the season and by Notre Dame to end the conference

tournament...plus the death of two of the players' grandmothers...the adversity, injuries and conflicts are all now water under the bridge.

Jeff Walz is headed to Lou Orleans. 64 entered, four remain.

Celebrate with other Cardinal fans tonight at Ulmer Stadium as Louisville plays UK in softball at 6 p.m. We have confirmation on the report that the team will be arriving back today at 12:45 p.m. at the Student Activities Center. 

-Paulie