A PREVIEW OF BYU -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Gary Witherspoon, our West Coast hoops guru, brings us today's CARDINAL COUPLE article. He previews BYU, a team he regularly follow. Don't forget to get those NCAA WBB Tournament entries in by Friday morning! It's free, you could win a major award or a absolutely fabulous CARDINAL COUPLE T-SHIRT !! We'll have a couple of randomly drawn picks available for viewing in Thursday's article. 

We present Gary's fine work here picture-free. Enjoy! 

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Here is a preview of BYU Louisville's first round opponent.  Game two against either South Florida or LSU is going to be tough.  LSU has been playing better now that they got things resolved with their star player.

If this seeding has any merit for the Cards, it is the opportunity to knock off Kentucky if they can get by either South Florida or LSU.

Gary

BYU:  Louisville’s Round One Opponent

If you remember last year’s tournament or caught the gist of the comments by the ESPN announcers Monday night indicating that BYU might be a threat to Louisville, you should be a little more at ease after reading this introduction to BYU.  BYU is one of the teams I follow somewhat closely.

Last year’s BYU team kind of took the tournament by surprise or by storm somewhat like Louisville did in 2013.  As a 12 seed, BYU trounced fifth seed NC State, dominating their post players and inside game.  And they handily beat fourth seed and big ten champ Nebraska before facing UConn in the round of 16.  BYU gave UConn the toughest game they faced all season.  BYU was the first team to lead UConn late in the first half.  UConn hit a shot with 15 seconds to go that gave UConn a 1 point lead going into half, but BYU hit a shot at the buzzer that would have taken the lead back except the shot was ruled late.

Most people thought BYU would fold in the early part of the second half, and UConn did come out smoking and took a four or five point lead, but BYU came back and to re-take the lead again at about the 17 minute mark.  It stayed close until around the 13 minute mark when UConn started a run that gave them a double digit lead, and this is when most teams fold, but BYU came back twice to get the lead back to single digits and eventually got it to 6 points with about 7 minutes to go.  Then Morgan Bailey got her fourth foul and when she went out, UConn started pouring it on and eventually got it to 19 points at the end.  But that 19 point win was the hardest fought win UConn had all season.

This game was no fluke.  Nether team played really well offensively.  BYU had the post players with whom to battle UConn.  Morgan Bailey, BYU’s power forward and niece of Thurl Bailey (NC STATE’s post on the national champion team in Survive and Advance), completely outplayed Breanna Stewart.  Stewart had three of her first five shots blockec by either Bailey or Jennifer Hamson, BYU’s 6’7” center.  Stewart had only one basket in the first half.  Bailey is an Emmonie Henderson type post player, but with a lot of savvy and greater shooting range.  Hamson stuffed Dolson twice and stuffed Stewart once and altered Stewart’s shot three times in the first half alone.

BYU also had a couple of great shooting and performing guards in Lexi Eaton and Kim Beeston.  Kylie Maeda, a 5’4” point guard, ran the offense.  Beeston and Hamson graduated (ran out of BB eligibility), so only Bailey, Eaton and Maeda remain as starters.  While Eaton and Bailey are as good as any of the players on Louisville’s team, BYU has become pretty much a two player team.  If Jeff Walz concentrates the defense on those two players, they can be bottled up and severely limited.  While Bailey is probably a better all-around player than any of Louisville’s four post players, Louisville has a four to one advantage on her because BYU has only Bailey and four small guards, and BYU has no one on the bench to replace Bailey.  Bailey shoots 52% from the field, and was the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, averaging around 18 points per game and 11 rebounds per game.

Lexi Eaton averages 21 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists per game.  She is a very versatile player who is best in the mid-range game, but she can also drive to the bucket and shoot the three as well, as can Bailey.   Eaton hits just over 40% of her three point attempts.  Eaton draws a lot of fouls, and gets a lot of free throws.  Bailey hit two threes over Stewart in the first ten minutes of the UConn game.  Lexi is kind of a combination of Bria Smith’s ability to drive to the basket, Mariya Moore’s offensive prowess and accurate shooting, and has a lot of the court savvy of Jude Schimmel.  But again Eaton will be just one great player against three for Louisville.

BYU lost their power forward and second leading rebounder to a season ending knee injury, and they are really hurting now in rebounding and defending the post.  Other than Bailey at 6’2”, BYU starters are 5’4”, 5’’5”, 5’9” and 5’10”.  I think they list each of these as an inch taller than this, but I think this is probably more accurate.  BYU has no one coming off the bench who can contribute much, unless the coach pulls a surprise and uses a player no one, except for those close to the program, even knows about.

They do have 6”2” Alohi Robins-Hardy who somewhat strangely sits the bench.  Early in the season as a freshman and as a three time state champion from Hawaii, Alohi showed she could handle the ball well, shoot accurately from all over the court and be a strong rebounder and passer.  However, she apparently is in the coach’s doghouse for now.  When asked about her a month or so ago, Coach Jeff Judkins simply said she has the potential to be a great player, but she was not in basketball playing shape.

Alohi was recruited by Judkins and given a basketball scholarship, but she said she wanted to play both volleyball and basketball, and he told her she could do that as Jennifer Hamson did.  However, during BYU’s NCAA volleyball run that took the volleyball team all the way to the Championship game with Penn State, Alohi was largely co-opted by the volleyball program and volleyball coach.  She was made the team’s starting setter at the NCAA regionals, and continued in that position all the way to the final championship game.  Robins-Hardy was an odd but very poised and very talented 6’2” freshman setter who could also block, hit, serve and dig.  That was a big role for someone just a few months out of high school.

BYU went into the NCAA volleyball tournament unseeded.  Volleyball only seeds 16 teams, and BYU became the first unseeded team to ever make it to the championship game.  With Robins-Hardy’s prowess and an already strong team, BYU beat four consecutive seeded teams who were all ranked in the top twelve in the nation.  They beat Arizona 3-0 in the round of 32, Florida State 3-1 in regional semis, Nebraska 3-0 in the regional finals and Texas 3-1 in the national semifinal.  They were finally stopped in the national championship game by eight time national champion Penn State.

I only mention that because BYU is getting a reputation as a giant killer in women’s sports.  As a result they have a bit of a mystique to which I think the ESPN announcers were alluding when they announced BYU as Louisville’s scary first round opponent.  But I do not think this BYU basketball team represents much of a threat to Louisville, unless Coach Jeff Judkins pulls Alohi Robins-Hardy off the bench as a big ace in the hole, like the volleyball coach did it its NCAA run.  I do not know if Alohi could transform the basketball team into a powerhouse as she transformed the volleyball team into a national powerhouse.  That move got the volleyball coach the National Coach of the Year Award.  

I would really be shocked first to see the coach play her, and even more shocked to see her have that much impact on the team, but she did do it in volleyball.  During the summer she went with the basketball team on its once every four years foreign tour.  Then she started practicing with the volleyball team in September, but she did not play much in any of the volleyball team’s matches.  

She started practicing with the BB team when BB started and did not travel with the volleyball team.  Late in the volleyball season, the coach was beginning to get disappointed with the volleyball team’s senior setter, and invited Alohi to volleyball practice to try setting.  Late in the season in a WCC match, BYU was getting beat in the third set with the score one to one in sets.  He put Alohi in as the setter and BYU pulled the match out 3-2, winning both of the two final sets.  After that Alohi started working out with the volleyball team preparing for the NCAA tournament.  Facing ACC powerhouse Florida State, the coach inserted Alohi as the setter after BYU lost the first set.  With Alohi setting, blocking, hitting, digging and serving, BYU went on to win three sets to one, and Alohi was from then on the starting setter on the team.

Alohi set up Jennifer Hamson for 31 kills in the next three sets against Florida State.  Hamson was Judkins former star basketball player who gave UConn fits and was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in last year’s WNBA draft even though she was not committed to playing professional basketball and may opt for Olympic volleyball.  Judkins two basketball players won the volleyball coach the National Coach of the Year Award in his second season at around 30 years of age and in his second year as BYU’s volleyball coach.  The young volleyball coach also probably got a big pay raise while Judkins has been coaching almost 20 years at BYU.

Alohi might be caught in some athletic department politics as a result of all of these happenings.

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE -- SHONI'S IMPACT ON THE WNBA

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Shoni and her WNBA impact

- Great verbal from DeGrate

( CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST GARY WITHERSPOON LOOKS AT SHONI'S IMPACT ON THE WNBA IN UTOUR WEDENSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE. SHONI ALSO GOT A  STANDING OVATION MONDAY NIGHT WHEN SHE, MARIYA MOORE, SARA HAMMOND AND JEFF WALZ WERE INTRODUCED AND RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR SUMMER ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO THE SOLD OUT PAPA JOHN'S CARDINAL STADIUM CROWD DURING A TIMEOUT IN THE LOUISVILLE V. MIAMA FOOTBALL GAME. )

The Future of Rez Ball:

Impact of Shoni Schimmel’s Rookie Season on the WNBA

It was a matter of dismay and consternation for some Shoni Schimmel fans that she was left off the WNBA All-Rookie team (http://www.ndnsports.com/atlanta-dreams-shoni-schimmel-left-off-the-wnba-all-rookie-team/). Three noted WNBA commentators also discussed their disagreement with the vote (https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=651373868303277).

The rookie team vote was a predictable snub given the fact that I think this selection is by media vote, and the media normally go by comparative statistics. Because the other rookies played on teams with worse records and not as heavily laden with veteran talent, they got more minutes and thus put up more points and rebounds per game than Shoni did. But in an objective view, few if any rookies have ever had a bigger impact on the WNBA from the perspective of performance records, outstanding plays, performance style, fan and media attention, merchandise sales and ticket sales. With all those accomplishments, missing the All-Rookie team will probably be remembered in the future as an insignificant footnote to her rookie season, but it also attests to the depth of talent in the 2014 rookie class.

Shoni set a record of 21 assists in her first two games in the WNBA, and became only one of six players to ever score 20 or more points in a single quarter, a record that came against the best team in the WNBA. She was the first rookie to ever win the All-Star MVP, and she set a record for the most points ever scored by any player in a WNBA All-Star game. She also had a record seven threes in the All-Star game, and her four two pointers were all sensational shots. The back-handed flip shot over Griner was deemed by WNBA TV to be the number one highlight of the season. She made Player of the Week (not rookie of the week) in the last week of the season (only one other player on the all rookie team ever accomplished that). Her jersey sales led the WNBA, and her merchandise sales put Atlanta at the top of team merchandise sales. Her plays made the ESPN Sports Center top ten twice during the season.

With the kind of a resume that Shoni accumulated through the season, there was plenty of reason to not only put her on the All-Rookie team but to have made her Rookie of the Year. There is no doubt that she had the greatest total impact on the WNBA of all 2014 rookies, but there is room for critics to find holes in her game and in her stats and thus justify in their minds not including her in the All-Rookie awards. As it was in high school and college, her Rez Ball style of play continued to be controversial and votes like these illuminate those controversies. It will take years to fully evaluate, but her style of play may well have a permanent affect on the women’s game of the future, just as Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan affected the style of play in the NBA. While current WNBA players may not emulate her style of play, girls now playing at the AAU level may start emulating Shoni’s style more and more; and. over time, and that emulation will impact the way women’s basketball is played in the future. This is more likely to occur if Shoni continues to be a big fan draw, a frequent WNBA highlight reel focus and if her team has even greater success in the regular season and in the playoffs than they had this year.

As for the 2-1 playoff defeat of the Atlanta Dream by the Chicago Sky, it showed great resilience on the part of the Sky, and a monumental collapse by the Dream especially in the third and deciding game where they gave up a 20 point lead, a 17 point lead in the fourth quarter and a 3 point lead with less than 25 seconds to go, a one point lead with Atlanta shooting two free throws (both missed) with less than 10 seconds to go, as well as a missing a 15 foot jumper that could have won the game at the buzzer.

In hind sight, I think the move by the Atlanta Dream management to sign the French point guard Celine Dumerc turned out to be a counter-productive. It is perfectly understandable how it looked like a good move in the spring before the draft. Neither of the likely starting guards for the Dream, Hayes and Thomas, were anything approaching an ideal point guard, despite both being good players and Hayes having a much better season than was expected. When Dumerc was signed, the Dream did not know they would be getting Shoni Schimmel in the draft, nor did they know how good Shoni would be in the WNBA as a point guard.

The other problem with the Dumerc signing was that Dumerc herself never got fully comfortable playing with the Dream and playing in the WNBA. Despite the extensive international experience of the 32 year old Dumerc, she did not adjust to being the Dream’s point guard as quickly or as well as Shoni did. The fact that Dumerc did not join the Dream until June, the third month of the season, also proved to be more of a problem than was originally anticipated.

What her presence did do was keep the guard rotation in flux all season, while the Dream coaches were giving her time to adjust to the Dream’s style and players and to adjust to play in the WNBA. While some progress was made by Dumerc, her presence in the lineup kept Thomas’s and Schimmel’s role on the team, as well as that of Ajavon, in flux the whole season, and the team never developed the on-court chemistry and complementarity that coaches and management envisioned.

Next year it just might be a wise move for the Dream to draft Jude Schimmel to be their future point guard. Let’s see how Jude does as the incumbent point guard for the Cardinals this season.

GW

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For those of you who continuously harp to us that Jeff Walz needs a big girl on the roster...how about this?  

Jeff Walz has just landed a big time commitment for the class of 2015. Erin DeGrate,  a 6’5 center from Waco, Texas, was visiting Louisville this past weekend. She got back home to Texas and made her commitment official to the Cards. ProspectsNation.com ranks her as the 8th best center in the class, and the 36th best player overall.

In the end, DeGrate chose Louisville over offers from Baylor, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Washington, and Kansas.

Two other prospects were on campus along with our two 2015 verbals...how could they not have had a great time with all the activities on campus over the Labor Day Weekend?

Congrats to Coach and the staff. We'll love it even more when that LOI gets faxed in, of course...but for now...Erin Go Cards! 

paulie

Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Rez Ball: Part III and "Dream rudely awakened"

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

game update:

Yeah, we know the Dream blew a 16
point lead in the 4th quarter to lose to
the Chicago Sky Tuesday night in Atlanta.

We got nothing here. We watched it and
we're done with it.

Fire Michael Cooper. A six year old could 
have coached that one better. Sure, the guy
had tongue cancer. I've never seen a tongue
win a WNBA Championship though.

Yo...defensive genius. Put someone tall on
a 6'5" slasher ( see: Elena Della Donne) who
can hit from outside. It boggles the mind...

( WE ARE PLEASED TO PRESENT THE FINAL PART OF GARY
WITHERSPOON THREE-PART INSTALLMENT ON "REZ BALL"
WE THANK GARY FOR THIS IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE 
TRADITION, HERITAGE AND SUCCESS OF ACTIVITY !! in case
you missed any of these reports, they are in the Cardinal
Couple archives. We recommend you read them all...)

REZ BALL:  An Awareness and History



A few months ago I read a comment from Russell Begaye on the Facebook page run by
fans of Shoni and Jude Schimmel. Russell Begaye is a member of the Navajo Nation
Council and is currently campaigning as a candidate for Navajo Nation President.
Begaye wrote, “I never thought I would hear national TV broadcasters talk about and
use the term rez ball.” His comment was noting with both surprise and pride how the
Schimmels had brought a unique and little known aspect of contemporary Native
American culture to a level of national awareness that few if any Native Americans
anticipated.


Despite the national awareness of “rez ball,” there is still not a very clear or very
adequate understanding of what Native Americans call rez ball. From the style of play
they see in Shoni Schimmel, non-Native American fans and commentators believe rez
ball is a creative and fancy style of play that involves a lot of no look passes, fancy
dribbling and creative shots. While artistic passes, fancy dribbling and creative shots
commonly occur in rez ball, these patterns do not fully convey the essence of rez ball.
Rez ball is not easy to define. Shoni Schimmel has often been asked to define it and
she tries to provide some idea of it, but it is a cultural feature that does not lend itself to
easy description or translation for someone who has not seen it or played it. As a
retired professor of cultural anthropology and a professor of American Indian Studies, I
am used to discussing and defining cultural patterns not familiar to outsiders of a
culture. That background and training does not mean I can do this cultural translation
fully or adequately, but I will give it a try.


My other credentials for being able to define rez ball is that I have been exposed to it for
more than five decades, I played rez ball for about two decades and I coached boys
basketball at the Navajo Academy (a college prep school in New Mexico) for five years.
My exposure to rez ball is primarily with the rez ball played on the Navajo reservation.
However, at Navajo Academy we played Native American teams from many other
reservations, so I have some broader exposure to how basketball and rez ball are
played on other reservations as well.


Rez ball has developed on many reservations and probably has various aspects that
are distinct to different reservations in different areas. Nevertheless, today there are
many tournaments that are open to and participated in by players from many different
reservations and areas, so most of the players today are exposed to how the game is
played on many different reservations. But the rez ball I see in Shoniʼs game in the
Northwest is very similar to, if not exactly the same, as the rez ball I saw all over the
Southwest going back 5 decades. It definitely seems to me that rez ball is still pretty
uniform across decades of time and in a wide variety of places.Before I can attempt
 to define or describe rez ball, I need to discuss how, where and
when basketball is played on reservations. Basketball is a very popular phenomenon
on most reservations and among urban Native Americans as well. My description of the
phenomenon of basketball in general and rez ball in particular is focused primarily on
my experience on the Navajo reservation and to a lesser extent to my exposure to rez
ball in the general Southwest and Northwest.


I distinguish basketball and rez ball from each other. Rez ball is that played in pick up
games and in open independent, non-school basketball leagues and tournaments.
School teams are often coached by coaches with training in traditional basketball, and
they often insist to one degree or another on their players and teams playing a more
traditional non-Native style of basketball. However, rez ball still heavily infiltrates and
affects the way more “traditional” basketball is played in school competition. This is
because about half the coaches today are Native Americans, and they typically
embrace and support more rez ball features in the way their teams play than is the case
with non-Native coaches. The other factor is that no matter how hard some coaches try
to get their teams to play a more traditional, non-Native style of basketball, their players
frequently revert to the rez ball styles they know and like. These players are also often
more effective in winning games when they infuse the game with a lot of rez ball
patterns.


One thing that is common across time and place is the popularity of basketball
tournaments. To generate significant cash, all various community groups need to do is
sponsor a basketball tournament. These sponsors charge each team an entry fee. It
might be $150 and each player will pay $15. The sponsor gets the gym, the referees
and the trophies. The sponsors charge an admission of $3-$10 and sell concessions.
Back when I started playing at these tournaments, the teams were all menʼs teams, and
most tournaments had at least 18-24 teams. The teams are usually guaranteed two or
three games. Sometimes the the tournament brackets were split between teams who
had players who were 35 and older and those who who were under 35. Today most
tournaments usually also have at least two brackets, one for men and one for women.
There are often more womenʼs teams entered than menʼs teams.


Native American women took to basketball very quickly and became good very fast. In
reservation areas today, girls high school basketball generally attracts as big or bigger
crowds than boys high school basketball. Over the past three decades, teams from the
reservation areas have won most of the state tournaments in the 3A classifications in
which most play in both New Mexico and Arizona. There has often been two teams
from the reservation who have played in the state tournament championship game.
One year three of the four teams in the state girls semifinals were reservation teams.
Navajo fans will drive 150-250 miles to fill up the 20,000 seat arena in Glendale where
the championships are played. Boys teams from the reservation have also done pretty
well, but not as well overall as the girls teams have done.


One somewhat unique development in the independent (non-school) reservation
tournaments discussed above are coed brackets. These generally require at least two
 players of each gender be on the court at all times. The teams are usually made up of
five females and five males - sometimes 4 and 6. The difference in level of play
between the men and women is not as great as one might imagine, and these coed
tournaments are a lot of fun for both the players and the fans.


Reservation high school games are usually packed for both the girls and the boys. In
many areas the girls games outdraw the boys games, but both are very popular and
gyms are filled. Lines start forming hours before the game in many places. About 15
years ago, Ganado High School on the Navajo reservation in Arizona built a state of the
art 5500 seat basketball arena that had individual chairs with backs for every seat in a
360 degree circle around the court. It is a better facility than many colleges play in.
This facility was and is used for the sponsored tournaments of independent teams as
well as for school games.


Not to be out done, Chinle, a town 50 miles to the north, built a 7500 seat arena The
Chinle facility has often been used for regional state tournament playoff games, as well
as for regular high school games, independent menʼs and womenʼs winter leagues, and
for sponsored independent tournaments that usually occur in the late spring and
summer. The facilities can also be used for large gatherings. Now Window Rock High
School is building a 10,000+ seat arena. Games at these facilities are generally full.
The people love basketball. The only sport that can generate anything close to the
amount of interest there is in basketball is rodeo. While interest remains high in rodeo
and most communities sponsor a rodeo each summer, the interest in and participation
in basketball easily exceeds the interest in, attendance at, and participation in rodeo.
In order to understand rez ball, one must understand the popularity of the game in
Native America. Basketball is not just a winter sport. It is played and watched 9-10
months a year. It is usually only left dormant during the months of September and
October, which are filled with cross country and football as well as with rodeo and
other athletic events.

gw


WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK, COMMENTS AND INPUT ON
GARY'S TRILOGY. WE APPRECIATE THE TIME, EFFORT AND 
DEDICATION THAT HE PUT INTO THIS SERIES AND LOOK FORWARD
TO ANY FUTURE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT HE WILL GRACE THE
CARDINAL COUPLE PAGES WITH...)

PAULIE

GW

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..
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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Rez Ball Part II

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Rez Ball: Part II

( Today we bring you Part II in Gary Witherspoon's three part article on Rez Ball. If you missed Part I..it can be found in last Wednesday's CARDINAL COUPLE. Gary has also sent a WNBA Playoffs Preview that will run Thursday.)

Enjoy!

Part III:  Showboating or Showtime?

It has often been said that art is in the eye of the beholder, and I propose that is also true of whether a particular play or style of play is viewed as showboating or showtime. 

A couple of nights ago I was listening to an interview with the “Big O” Oscar Robertson.  The interviewer, Chris Webber, said he saw a film of one of Oscar’s high school games where his hand was above the square on the backboard on an attempted tip in, and he said he was impressed.  He said “I had thought players back in your time (late 1950s) were not as athletic as they are today.  Oscar said, “we could do all the things players do today, but we were not allowed to do them.  My high school coach said he would kick us off the team if he ever saw us do a dunk - anytime - not only in a game, but also in practice or even playing in a pickup game in the gym.  Our coach said that was showboating, and it was a corruption of the purity of the game, and made a travesty of basketball tradition and sportsmanship.”  That was the majority opinion back then.

Just last year, Marie Taylor, an ESPN reporter, said that Kim Mulkey told Brittney Griner when she came on the Baylor campus that she would be benched if she ever hurt the team’s chances of winning a game because of doing a dunk.  At this year’s WNBA All-Star game, the players on both teams set up a play so that Brittney Griner would have a chance to do a dunk, which was one of the highlights of the game.  There are more missed layups than there are missed dunks in women’s basketball.  Why is there so much prejudice against the dunk?

It is amazing how backward and short-sighted some basketball coaches have been and continue to be about their sport and profession, and how easily they forget that they are in the entertainment business.  We need to remember the history described above when we consider whetherrez ball is showboating or showtime.  Or whether rez ball and high flying poster dunks are just another culture’s style regarding how to play and enjoy the game.

There is a saying that has its foundation in the game of golf:  Different strokes for different folks.  We might extend that perspective to propose that in basketball there are different styles for different players.  Rez ball introduces non-Native Americans to a style of play built on the idea of playing the game for the joy of the creator, for the joy of the community and for the joy of the players.  Such a game can heal the sick, entertain the less fortunate, honor and celebrate all of creation.  These are actually the ancient traditions from which the modern game of basketball was developed and modified..

Magic Johnson came into the NBA in 1979 when the league was struggling.  He brought showtime to the league.  Without knowing it, his style of basketball and his approach to playing the game exemplified the ideals and essence of rez ball and put joy back into the game.  He came into the league with an effusive presence, a charming personality, and a smile that lit up the whole arena.  For him the game was fun and exciting, and that fun and excitement - that joy of playing - turned out to be contagious and captivating;  it infused the sport and the whole league with a new spirit and a new style.

It just might be that in a pattern similar to what Magic Johnson did for the NBA, Ms. Shoni Schimmel is in the process of doing for the WNBA.  Shoni runs the plays and tries to do what her coach asks her to do; but, with a little here and a little there, and a whole lot in the All-Star game, Shoni is introducing rez ball to the WNBA and to the whole world of women’s basketball.  By so doing, she is re-injecting a new level of joy into the game.  This will not corrupt the purity of the game, but take it back to its ancient origin and tradition.

It is relevant that Iroquois college lacrosse players, brothers Miles and Lyle Thompson, took the world of college lacrosse by storm in 2013-2014.  Playing for the University of Albany (New York) with a big time schedule, the Thompson brothers each scored more points (goals and assists) over the last two seasons than anyone else had scored in the history of college lacrosse.  In an unusual event, the Tewaaraton Trophy, the Heisman Trophy of Division I college lacrosse, was awarded to both Miles and Lyle Thompson.  The Thompsons, along with cousin, Ty, have led the Albany team in becoming the highest scoring team in Division I lacrosse for last two years in a row. In 2014 Albany defeated top ranked Loyola to reach the quarter finals of the NCAA tournament where they lost a heartbreaking overtime game to Norte Dame 14-13.  Albany squandered a 5 goal lead in the fourth quarter in route to the overtime loss.  Notre Dame went on to the finals.

The following is from the NY Times

The Thompsons — whose cousin, Ty, had 41 goals and 12 assists to help make Albany the highest-scoring team in Division I for two straight seasons — were born on a Mohawk Indian reservation in northern New York and relished the breakthrough because it was something very special.

“Words cannot describe how happy I am. It brought tears to my eyes,” Lyle added. “To share the award with my brother is an honor. For us, it is about bringing a positive influence and helping people, not just Native Americans, but everyone.”

Tewaaraton is the Mohawk name for their game, and the bronze trophy depicts a single Mohawk player adorned in a simple loincloth and golden eagle feather. It’s mounted on a hexagon-shaped slab of black granite, the six-sided base symbolizing the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy — the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora tribes.

The Thompsons brought joy, innovation and flare to the game of lacrosse. They made quick and daring assists and made deceptive and creative shots from behind the back, over the shoulder, and between the legs that drove goalies crazy.  You could say they brought joy to the college game of lacrosse, or you could also say they bought showtime or rez ball to the college game of lacrosse, the Creator’s Game.

Lacrosse and the Thompsons are relevant to the rez ball and showtime discussion here because the lacrosse played by the Thompsons and the rez ball played by Shoni Schimmel derive from common cultural roots, values and emphases.  And the games they play, as well as the styles they exemplify, have their antecedents in the Indigenous sports history of the Americas.

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Gary Witherspoon reviews Shoni's road trip

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Gary Witherspoon reviews the Atlanta Dream road trip

- USA U18 to face Canada in FIBA Americas Finals



THE ATLANTA DREAM'S WESTERN TOUR IN THE WNBA

During the week of August 5-8, the Atlanta Dream went west and lost to the Phoenix
Mercury (75-67), the Seattle Storm (88-68) and the Los Angeles Sparks (80-77 in OT).
While the Dream have a better record than the Storm and the Sparks and the Dream
won previous games at home against both teams, it was not surprising that the Dream
lost all three of these games. The Dream have already clinched the first seed in the
playoffs in the East, and they are too far behind the Mercury and the Lynx to catch them
for a top seed in a possible finals series. On the other hand, both the Storm and the
Sparks are in close battles for playoff spots in the West.

The game with the Mercury was the most interesting from a competitive perspective
with the Mercury having had a recent 16 game winning streak and supporting the best
record in the league. The Dream were without their 6-5 All-Star post player, Erika De
Souza, who also is their leading rebounder and second leading scorer. De Souza was
recovering from the flu. Angel McCoughtry got banged up early in the second half and
missed most of the second half. Playing Brittney Griner without De Souza and playing
much of the second half without McCoughtry, the Dream did well to keep the game
close and to have a chance to win it in the fourth quarter.

In the three games, Angel McCoughtry averaged 11 points on 10 for 30 two pointers
and 2 for 11 three pointers. She averaged 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 3
turnovers in 27 minutes per game. Shoni Schimmel averaged 13 points per game on 9
for 20 two pointers and 7 for 20 on three pointers. She also averaged 4 rebounds, 1
steal, 5 assists, and 3 turnovers in 31 minutes per game. Shoni has not played that
many minutes since early in the season. Angel played well under her norm, particularly
in Seattle where she did not make a shot from the field and had only two points on two
free throws. She has shown obvious frustration with the lack of calls she gets when she
is fouled in the act of shooting.

Shoni Schimmel played consistently well in all three games. Her points were 13,14 and
12, her rebounds were 4, 4 and 3, and her assists were 5,6 and 4. Her shot selection
was pretty good and her percentages were decent but not great. Shoni ran the point
most of the time, and her passing was great if not spectacular. Shoni also played good
defense most of the time on this trip.

The most spectacular play by Shoni of the three game stretch occurred in the fourth
quarter of a close game with Phoenix. Shoni and fellow rookie Nadia Colhado were
guarding Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner respectively. The Phoenix duo set up a pick
and roll play where they expected to take these two rookies to school. As Griner rolled
to the basket, Taurasi passed the ball to Griner. But both Shoni and Nadia got their
hands on the pass and deflected it to Tiffany Hayes under the basket. Shoni took off
down court and Tiffany Hayes dribbled the ball once and then threw a high pass to
Shoni who was around the midcourt line as the pass sailed over her head toward SW
corner of the arena. Few thought Shoni could run down that ball before it went out of
bounds, but she not only turned on the jets to catch up with the ball, she managed to be
able to stop long enough to turn to the basket and get up a shot up just as she was
about to go out of bounds. The shot got only net, and that three pointer took the lead
back for the Dream at 54-52.

Here is what the Phoenix TV play by play broadcaster said about Shoniʼs play: “Long
pass. Letʼs see if Schimmel can run it down. She does, fires and drills it! That was
ridiculuos! She did not even look at the basket. I think you have to love that shot just
running it down.”

Then Candance Dupree hits a nice layup and the announcer says, “Dupree hits a
layup.” And then he goes back to talking about the Schimmel play: “Shoni Schimmel. I
am not even sure she had the speed to catch up with that ball in the corner, much less
grab it and fire in a three. That as absurd, but fun to watch.”

Shoni followed up that play a few minutes later by poking the ball away from Taurasi
again. Hayes again picked up the deflection, but this time Hayes sent a perfect over the
shoulder pass to Shoni who was able to put the ball in the basket on a four foot jumper.
That shot brought the Dream to within four points at 71-67 with 1:07 to play.
The game at Seattle was a bad one for the Dream. Seatle came out fired up and the
Dream looked like they were in a sleep walk. It got ugly early. Seattle went up by more
than fifteen in the first quarter, and pushed that to well over twenty in the second
quarter. In a battle for a playoff spot, Seattle came out looking for blood in a game in
which they knew they would be playing at home in front of a somewhat hostile crowd
that would be rooting for a player on the other team.

As was mentioned in a couple of post game interviews, the Storm was determined to
crush this visiting team and its hotshot player for whom the fans would be cheering.
This attitude intensified as they listened to the crowd roar its enthusiasm for Shoni when
she game out for warmups. It continued to increase as the crowd cheered loudly every
time Shoni made a shot in “warmups.” As the Seattle announcers noted, they had not
seen any of the great stars of the WNBA get this kind of adulation or “rock star”
treatment at home, let alone on the road..

Shoni Schimmel fans outnumbered and out shouted the home town fans at both the
Atlanta Dreamʼs games in Phoenix and Seattle. At Phoenix, about 5,000-7000 fans out
of a crowd that exceeded 12,000 stayed after the game on a weeknight to have a post
game chat with Shoni Schimmel. As one observer noted that amounted to more fans
than the typical number of fans who attend many WNBA games. This turnout out for a
post game meeting with Schimmel exceeded the roughly 4,000 fans who met with her
after the Minnesota game a couple of weeks earlier.

All these reporters and media people keep saying that Shoniʼs fans are her Native
American following. Certainly the loudest and most devoted of her fans are mostly
Native American, but we saw a lot of fans at the Phoenix game who love Shoniʼs game
who are not Native American and who are not Atlanta Dream or Louisville fans.
We sat in a court side section of 10 chairs just to the left of the Phoenix basket and
team seating. Among those ten (not a scientific sample but still representative of
something), there were 6 Shoni fans, including three NA girls of college age wearing
Schimmel jerseys. There were also four avid Phoenix Mercury fans, two of whom were
wearing Diana Taurasi jerseys. The two older Mercury fans commented to us on how
much they loved to watch Shoni Schimmel play.

 I did not visit with the younger couple wearing Taurasi jerseys, but I did find it interesting
 that every time I watched the guy taking video before and during the game, he was zoomed
 in on Shoni.

While none of these Mercury fans applauded other Dream baskets, they all applauded
when Shoni ran down that ball going out of bounds, stopped on a dime, and shot the ball in
one motion for a 3 pointer. That was pure Rez Ball instincts. No one coached her to do that.
The Phoenix fan base may not be representative of the whole WNBA , but I got the
feeling from talking with Mercury fans and others in the crowd that they think Shoni is
going to become one of the all-time greats of womenʼs basketball, and that she will
change the way the game is played.

We had VIP court side seats with access to free
food and drinks. So we were able to talk with a lot of avid fans of the Phoenix Mercury
and womenʼs basketball in general.

Shoni Schimmel fans probably bought 10,000 tickets for the games at Seattle and
Phoenix. Her presence probably sold another thousand plus for the game with the Los
Angeles Sparks. When you add the ticket prices to the concessions, parking and
merchandise purchases, Shoni fans probably added more than half a million dollars of
extra revenue to the WNBA and its franchises from just these three three games alone.
And it is possible that figure is closer to a million.

Shoniʼs jersey has already been announced as the top selling jersey in the WNBA. No
figures were released as to how far it exceeds the sales of Skylar Diggins jersey that is
in second place. The Dream has reported that activity on its web and social media sites
have skyrocketed since they drafted Ms. Schimmel, and her addition to the team has
propelled the Dream to the top spot in the WNBA in merchandise sales. Players who
resent the attention and adulation this rookie is getting should think twice about that
when they discover how her presence is increasing revenue, and that increase in
revenue should eventually increase salaries in the WNBA.

The Seattle announcers said the team ordered 400 Schimmel Showtime jerseys for the
game, and those sold out in less than 15 minutes. Seattle had their play by play
person, Dick Fain, interview Shoni after the game in front of the crowd. When Shoni
came out for the interview, she got a loud ovation that lasted over a minute before the
interview could get started.

I will have some more comments about the dynamics of these unprecedented crowds in
another essay later this coming week. I am also planning to write an essay on the
nature and characteristics of Rez Ball.

Ms. Schimmel is handling all this attention and pressure extremely well. She continues
to play the game with the Rez Ball joy and enthusiasm she has always exhibited. In the
process, she has become more mature and more media savvy. I think her experience and
training playing at the University of Louisville with Jeff Walz, and her exposure to
the media during that time, have given her a solid foundation for handling media
attention with maturity and savvy.

 Her education at the University of Louisville with a
degree in communications probably has also helped prepare her to deal with the media
attention she is getting. While she has tens of thousands of adoring fans (and that
number may be rapidly approaching a hundred thousand fans), there are also a lot of
people, competitors and media out there just waiting to pounce on her first misstep.
You have to admire the way she has carried herself under all the media scrutiny and
under the pressure to live up to the hopes and expectations of her adoring fans.

GW

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USA FIBA U 18 advances to the finals of the FIBA Americas today by downing Argentina
97-51. Aja Wilson (23 points) led a charge that got USA up 11-0 to start the game.

It was 30-8 at the end of the first half and 56-16 at half time. Argentina did outscore
Dawn Staley's ballers 23-20 in the third quarter...but the lead was still 76-39 for the
USA girls.

Louisville's Mariya Moore with a limited role in the semifinal win....seeing only nine minutes
of playing time and hitting her only shot attempt to finish with 2 points.

The USA gets Canada in the finals this evening. The Canadian squad advanced by defeated
Brazil 67-60. USA handled Canada earlier in pool play 107-76.

Game time is 7:30 p.m. and can be seen on fibamaericas.com

Paulie

Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Starting Ms. Schimmel ??

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- What role is best for Shoni Schimmel?

- Fat Friday Trolley Hop a rollicking good time


( WEST COAST READER AND OCCASIONAL COLUMNIST GARY WITHERSPOON TREATS
US TODAY WITH A VERY INTERESTING  AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING ARTICLE ON THE WNBA AND SHONI SCHIMMEL. REMEMBER, CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO TODAY AT 11 A.M.
WITH JUSTINE SOWRY, VIC STRATTON, WBB, SOFTBALL AND MUCH MORE !!)



LISTEN LIVE AT 11 A.M. THIS MORNING ON CRESCENT HILL RADIO AT THE LINK BELOW:

ANOTHER REASON TO REGULATE INTERNET BROADCASTS




Does the All-Star MVP Deserve to Start?

There has been a lot written in the media and discussed on line about the
appropriateness of Shoni Schimmel coming off the bench for her Atlanta Dream
team.  Facing Atlanta coming to play the Lynx, Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve was
asked whether she thought there might be a change in Atlanta’s starting lineup. 
Coach Reeve said, “I expect to see a change.  How can you not start the MVP of the
All-Star Game?”  That is a good question that many people are asking.  To add to
the irony of the situation, the Lynx were having a celebration of NA heritage at
the game, and they had thousands of Native American fans coming to the game to
see Shoni play, not to see her sit on the bench.

Women's basketball has been struggling in many places to put fans in the seats,
and does not have the dynamic slams to entertain like the NBA has.  Therefore,
it has to value the entertaining nature of Shoni's game and not dismiss it as
showboating.  Anyone who has watched her play knows she plays to win first and
foremost, but she also enjoys being creative and entertaining, and she uses her
play to inspire her teammates and help them win games.  You do not have to play
boring basketball to win. 

It was nice to hear Jeff Walz note the entertainment value of Shoni’s game in an
article in Slam Magazine about Shoni Schimmel by Mirin Fader.  The article was
titled “Dream Big.”

 (http://www.slamonline.com/other-ballers/womens/shoni-schim mel-atlanta-dream/). 


People have to remember that sports are first and foremost entertainment.  If
the WNBA is to survive and prosper economically, it has to value what is
entertaining and what is exciting for the fans.  The fans voted Shoni on the
All-Star team, not because she is Native American, but because she is one of the
most exciting and entertaining players to watch in the WNBA. 

Off and on I have played and coached BB since the 1950s.  I can remember back in
the 1950s when the mostly White establishment outlawed the slam dunk in college
and high school BB.  That misguided rule held BB back more than a decade until
the fans eventually demanded the dunk be allowed.  To me, those media people who
demean and dismiss Shoni’s game are similar to those who wanted to keep the
men’s game in the conservative dark ages back in the 1950s and 60s. 

Believe it or not, the dunk is still banned in warmups in college games.  The
ban was not because of the fear of bending the rim or breaking the glass;  it
was because excessive flamboyance offended the conservative establishment.  This
is also why we still have that stupid rule about excessive celebration in
college football.  And it is why the conservative media and establishment in
women’s basketball is still uncomfortable with the free-wheeling, creative and
flamboyant nature of Shoni’s entertaining style of basketball, better known to
Native Americans as Rez Ball.

I have gotten frustrated with commentators on ESPN being critical of her game
every time a pass or shot goes array, but then in another article lament the
attendance problem at women's basketball games.  Why do they insist the game be
played so conservatively, and then at the same lament the lack of fans in the
stands.  Shoni and the WNBA All Star game showcased how entertaining women's
basketball can be, and how creative and high risk plays and shots can contribute
to excellent play and to winning as well as be entertaining.

Nevertheless, I am not as critical of Atlanta coaches as some others I have
read.  The Dream have other guards who are very good players.  Tiffany Hayes has
been phenomenal, and has been very entertaining in her own right this season. 
Jasmine Thomas is a very good guard who plays excellent defense, can hit the
open shot and can drive to the basket.  But she is not an ideal point guard. 
She does not see the court well, does not feed the post well and is not
particularly good at leading the fast break. The Dream added the French PG
Celine Dumerc, and she is still adjusting to the WNBA. But she can play and
deserves playing time as well.  Shoni is the only one of the guards who can be
both a good PG and a good shooting guard. 

People have been writing articles as though Shoni has been a rarely used reserve
all season, but that has only been true of the last four games just prior to the
All-Star game.  In the first 17 games, she averaged 24 minutes per game, which
was the fourth most minutes on the team.  From the time she was announced as an
All-Star on July 8, her minutes were immediately diminished to an average of
only 10 minutes per game, even though her team was up a +16 during those ten
minutes when she was on the floor.   Despite barely playing in the four games
after she was announced as an All-Star, she is still fifth on the team in
scoring, second in assists, and first in free throw percentage.  And she leads
the team in three point shots made. 

From an external perspective, it appears she was punished severely for having
the audacity to be elected an All-Star, even though it was the Dream that put on
her name on the ballot.  Not playing in those four games after being elected an
All-Star made her stats at the All-Star Game look bad, and virtually everyone in
the media has made a big deal of her poor stats going into the All-Star game.

I have no problem with Shoni not starting, but letting her play 10 minutes or
less is not good for her, not good for her team and not good for the WNBA. 
Bringing her off the bench gives the reserves an extra explosive offensive
player who can create for herself and others.  It does not necessarily mean the
coach thinks she is not one of the five best players on the team.  Many teams
bring off the bench a talented sixth player to help their reserves and put
pressure on the other team's reserves.  Shoni’s sister, Jude, essentially played
that role for Louisville last year.

In the end, Coach Reeve was indeed surprised at the start of the
Minnesota/Atlanta game because Shoni did not start, but Shoni did get 31 minutes
in a double OT, 50 minute game.  In the game. Shoni hit five threes, scored 17
points, had 8 assists, 2 steals, 3 rebounds while making only one turnover.. 
She also literally grabbed the ball and wrestled it away from Minnesota’s
All-Star PG Lindsay Whalen while both players had both hands on the ball. 
Lindsay is bigger and supposed to be a lot stronger than Shoni, but Shoni
fearlessly grabbed the ball while in Lindsay’s hands and wrestled it away from
her.  Then Shoni dribbled the ball to the hoop and made a no-look pass to a
teammate for an easy layup. 

While the game was tied at the end of the fourth quarter with less than ten
seconds to play, Shoni went for the steal against Maya Moore, the WNBA’s leading
scorer; and, with a teammate’s help, Shoni got the steal.  Shoni then took the
ball to the Dream’s hoop where she attempted a highly contested short hook shot
to win the game.  It bounced off the rim and a teammate’s put back also went off
the rim, so the game went to overtime.   Those are the kind of surprising and
exciting plays Shoni’s fearless and flamboyant play brings to the game. 

The Lynx won the game 112-108 in double OT.  Five All-Stars played in this game. 
Maya Moore scored 48 points in the game, and seven  players scored 17 or more
points in the game.  The game certainly followed the pattern of the All-Star
game with brilliant, competitive and startling plays on both sides.  All the
fans were entertained.

GW


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The end of the month Friday Night Fat Friday Trolley Hop on Frankfort Ave. in Crescent Hill had absolutely perfect weather and a great entertainment lineup last evening. CARDINAL COUPLE crew Paulie, Sonja and Worldwide were on hand to see the country-rock, up and coming stars Ben Knight and the Welldiggers and the legendary Juggernaut Jug Band.

It was four hours of fun and great music! The electic Juggernaut Guys (Roscoe Goose, Slim Chance and Skip Tracer) were buoyed and inspired by the large, appreciative crowd to put on one of the best shows I've seen the boys do in a long time. That, without a bass player...(Nick O' Time has left the band)...the trio roared through classics like "Waiting For That Chicken Pie To Cool" and an absolutely hilarious tribute to Led Zeppelin while keeping the crowd enertained with their snappy dialouge.

They'll be at Joe Huber's in Starlite, IN tonight. Go if you have a chance.

 paulie
...
..
.

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE - Reader Gary Witherspoon looks at the HBO Special, Rez life, Umatilla and the Schimmel sisters - Louisville softball takes two against DePaul

The Louisville WBB team nearly played that perfect game that Jeff has been talking about for some weeks. There were a few defensive lapses in the first few minutes of the game that led to four easy baskets for Iowa, and the reserves made a few miscues at the end, but otherwise it was the best game of the season. Only the game at Ball State might have been played more nearly perfect, but the competition and the significance of this game was much greater than the Ball State game. It was a tough night for Sara Hammond who could not seem to do anything right, and Asia was limited by foul trouble. The officials called the game extremely close. Later last night I saw HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and their feature on the Schimmel sisters. I am going to try to offer a short review of that. I know something about the subject. I was a professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies at the University of Washington for 25 years, and I was a head BB coach at the Navajo Academy for 5 years. I played in Rez ball tournaments for over 20 years in the Southwest, and my son played in many Rez ball tournaments in the Northwest more recently. I had many students from the Umatilla reservation and have taken classes there on field trips. It is not the place these films make it out to be. The reservation is an absolutely beautiful place of over 200,000 acres. It is not a cesspool of abject poverty that people want to escape. Since the Wildhorse Casino, motel and related businesses were created, jobs and income have been reasonably good for most tribal members. They have a beautiful multimillion dollar tribal museum that tells their history, language and culture. They have lots of recreation facilities. Housing is modest but good, and life there is comfortable and friendly. Leaving the Rez is not such a challenge because life there is so bad but more because it is so good. While there are problems there as there are problems everywhere, it is not the ugly place of despair and abject poverty the films made by non-Indians want to portray it to be. But the journey off the rez that Shoni and Jude took, nevertheless, involved a big challenge and represented a huge leap of faith for Shoni and Jude. The journey involved leaving a beautiful place, a rich traditional culture and and all their relatives and friends to go 2,000 miles away to a big city university and try to succeed in the rigors and demands of higher education and try to compete at the highest level of college athletics. Native Americans understand the difficulties and hazards of this journey and appreciate what Shoni and Jude have done and take inspiration from it. These film makers are putting their own spin on it and much of that spin is inaccurate. Also, a lot of non-Indians seem to think Shoni and Jude are big because Native Americans do not have any other big time sports heroes. That is not true. Recent Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford is NA from Oklahoma, and he was the first overall pick in the NFL draft. And Jacoby Ellsbury from the Warm Springs Rez near Shoni’s led Oregon State to the College World Series championship, and was a prominent part of the Boston Red Sox’s two World Series championships in the last 7 years. Notah Begay, a teammate and close friend of Tiger Woods, won two tournaments and was rookie of the year of the PGA tour before his golf career was cut short because of an injury to his back. All of these athletes have appeared at Native American events and given free clinics in Native American communities. Angel Goodrich led 12 seed Kansas to two big upsets in last year’s NCAA tournament, and she made it to the sweet 16. She is Native American from Oklahoma and has appeared with Jude at many events. She beat out Skylar Diggins for Tulsa’s starting point guard position in the WNBA last season. So why are Shoni and Jude so big among Native Americans? I think there are several reasons. One is they play Rez ball and are proud of it, and basketball is really big on reservations and even in urban Indian communities. Golf, football and baseball are not as big as basketball in contemporary NA culture. In Arizona 25,000 Navajos will travel over 200 miles to watch their girls basketball teams compete for and usually win the state 3A championship. Boys teams also attract big crowds, but the girls teams get just as big or bigger crowds. Two high schools on the Rez have field houses that seat 5500 and 7500 respectively and they fill them up. A new high school gym on the Navajo reservation is now under construction that will seat over 10,000. These are better facilities than most college teams play in. Shoni and Jude’s popularity also involves who they are and how they conduct themselves and how they respect and embrace the communities from which they came and with which they identify. Their popularity also took a big jump after the Baylor upset. The NCAA tournament is a unique sporting event, and it captures the interest and imagination of people all across the country. For Native Americans, Shoni’s shot over Griner was a symbolic victory over all the adverse giants that have besieged and overrun their lands and nations over the last 500 years. The only equivalent of that is the victory in college football of the Carlisle Indian School over the Cadets of Army in 1913. That Army team included future WW II generals Patton, Bradley and Eisenhower. I think the Schimmels are also big because they are a sister act and have different personalities and styles. There is something there with which everyone can identify. It is also important to Native Americans how the University of Louisville and its supporters have embraced and appreciated the Schimmels. As a result, it is not just Shoni and Jude that Native Americans support, but it is the whole team they have adopted and support. Gary Witherspoon, Professor Emeritus Anthropology and American Indian Studies The University of Washington ********************************************************************************* CARDS TRIUMPH IN NON-CONFERNCE DOUBLEHEADER AGAINST DEPAUL Louisville 8 – DePaul 0 (six innings) Junior Kelsi Jones went 2 for 4 with a three-run double to help lead the Cardinals to an 8-0 win over DePaul. Freshman Maryssa Becker got the win, holding the Blue Demons scoreless on three hits and striking out six in 5.0 innings. The teams played through three scoreless innings before the Cardinals broke through with seven runs in the fourth. Katie Keller delivered a leadoff single to break up Kristen Verdun’s no-hitter and stole second. Maryssa Becker’s base hit placed runners at first for Brittany Duncan who reached on an error to bring Keller home. Pinch-runner Jordan McNary stole third and came home on a hit by Maggie Ruckenbrod. Kayla Soles singled to load the bases for Hannah Kiyohara who drew a walk to plate Duncan. Jones connected on a three-run double to give the Cards a 6-0 lead. She came around to score on Whitney Arion’s sacrifice bunt to make the score 7-0. UofL tacked on a run in the sixth when Kiyohara and Jones led off the inning with back-to-back hits and Arion walked to load the bases for Keller’s RBI single down the left field line for the 8-0 final.   Kirsten Verdun (12-4) took the loss, giving up seven runs on five hits and striking out four in 4.0 innings. Becker improved to 7-1 on the season and allowed only one DePaul runner in scoring position when Verdun registered a two-out double in the third. Rachel LeCoq combined on the shutout, giving up one hit in one inning of relief. Keller was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run. Kiyohara was 1 for 2 with two runs. Louisville 7 – DePaul 3 In game two, the Cardinals overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat the Blue Demons 7-3. Brittany Duncan was 3 for 4 with four RBIs while Kelsi Jones was 3 for 3 with two runs and two stolen bases and Maryssa Becker picked up her second win of the day to help UofL complete the doubleheader sweep and move to 20-11 on the season. DePaul (18-8) jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first when Kirsten Verdun and Allie Braden opened the game with back-to-back walks to set up Mary Connelly’s three-run home run. The Cardinals answered with four runs in the home half of the first. Jones got things started when she beat the throw for an infield single. Whitney Arion followed with a walk to set up Katie Keller’s two-run double which cut the lead to one run. Maryssa Becker doubled to bring Keller home and tie the score. Becker crossed the plate on Brittany Duncan’s RBI single to give UofL a 4-3 lead. Louisville tallied three more runs in the sixth. Jones drew a one-out walk and moved to second on Arion’s bunt and Becker walked to load the bases. Duncan stepped up to the plate and ripped a three-run double down the right field line for the 7-3 final. Becker (8-1) picked up her second win of the day, holding the Blue Demons scoreless while scattering two hits and striking out five in 7.0 innings of relief. Caralisa Connell got the start and allowed three earned runs in the first. Becker went 1 for 3 with two runs and an RBI. Verdun (12-5) took the loss, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits and striking out two in 6.0 innings. Connolly was 1 for 3 with a three-run homer. Nicole Pihl had the other hit for DePaul. UofL (20-11, 2-1 American Athletic Conference) will hit the road for a three-game American Athletic Conference series at Houston March 29-30   (Info on games courtesy of Louisville Sports Information Department)   ... .. .