Taylor three leads Cards WBB past Canada 68-66 in GLOBL JAM -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS TAKE GOLD MEDAL IN GLOBAL JAM

Down 66-65 to Canada with 30 seconds to go in the 4th quarter, the Cards got a game-winning three from UMass grad Sydney Taylor to give Louisville WBB a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way. The bucket made the Cards the winners of the Gold Medal game in the 2023 Globl Jam...and it also served a bit bit of revenge for UofL -- having suffered a loss to Canada on Thursday by three points. 

The Cards are probably glad this Team Canada squad isn't in the ACC. 

It was a back-and-forth game on Sunday, Louisville outscoring the Canadians by seven points in the final quarter to get the "W". It was a win where Louisville played better than they had in any of the previous three games of the Jam, but the Cards are also a team that are still figuring it out in terms of playing together as a team. That's not strange, considering they've had less than a dozen practices together and there are only four student-athletes back from the 2022-23 squad. 

Taylor had been hot earlier in the first half, going on a 8-0 run to help the Cards built a nice lead. Canada roared back to make in a two-point game at the half, though. Taylor ended up with 12 first half points. Her game-winner was her only score of the second half. 

Canada started the second half on a roll, though, and held the Cards "bucketless" for close to the first seven minutes of the third quarter....and built a seven-point lead in the process. Louisville rallied in the fourth quarter to get back in to the contest and Taylor put in the three-pointer that gave Louisville the win. 

Taylor's thoughts on the game-winner: 

"It was just a regular out of bounds play...just to the get in and run the offense. I think that's be nine of ten seconds on the shot clock. I saw Nina Rickards come across, I screen for her to try and get her open. Both of the defenders went with her, left me wide open, so I took the shot. It wasn't for me, I promise." 

Modesty, aside...it was a big shot for a team that'll have the rest of the summer and most of the fall to try and form some sort of identity and a game plan. 

The contest started out with a bit of a twist, with Jeff Walz doing wholesale, five-for five substitutions on the floor early in the game to try and find a scoring combo or someone that would listen to him.. Louisville finished the contest strong, though, scoring seven straight points to  take a 63-61 lead late in the fourth quarter. 

The old adage goes: "Those who score the most, win...unless it's golf."  And, with the players going back to campus to finish up summer classes, the coaching staff has video from four games to break down, analyze, learn from and use when the team returns for the beginning of the 2023-24 season practice. The Cards did score the most points on Sunday, though, and that got them the title.

They've found a three-point specialist in Taylor and Rickards looks like she could easily be a top-flight scorer in the pattern of an Evans, AD or Hines-Allen. 

It should be a fun season to watch.

paulie 

Summer Activities - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Summer Activities

We have this period that we call the Summer Slump, the Summer Slowdown, or other typically alliterative terms.  At times we point out that there is activity going on in Louisville sports programs, just none of it very visible or public. We notice a bit of a slowdown in readership and comments because there are no win/loss results to discuss and review, player performances to evaluate or game day predictions and keys to report.   

So what activities are taking place, then?

Well, first it should be noted that working in the sports programs may seem like a dream to many of us, but it is a job, and it's hard work.  So summer is a time to take a break, relax and recharge with some time off, maybe go on a vacation someplace with ocean breezes?  Each coach and staffer has their own approach to how they vacation.  I saw on social media a day or two ago, a picture posted by an Athletic Trainer with a ebook on a beach.  One coach has a place on a lake that they retreat to, including getting out on the lake in their boat.  If you think about the hours that these folks work during their season, you can certainly understand their need to get away and recharge a bit.

Recruiting is also a big deal in the summer.  Most schools are on summer break as well, and many of the best prospects shift their athletics into high gear during the summer.  Which is not to say that they're taking it easy during the school year, but many clubs and leagues take it up a notch during the summer.  The daughter of some friends is in the pool swimming six days a week during the summer, for example, a pace of work that isn't sustainable during the school year.  Coaches can travel all over the country, and even world, trying to find the best prospects.  Cardinal Forever Becky Burke, head coach these days at the University of Buffalo in New York, shared a picture of herself on a hotel treadmill here in Louisville at 6am this morning thanks to a big basketball event at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center.

The last big activity of the summer is camps.  Volleyball has several more camps this summer, with the last on the 14th.  Soccer, Field Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse, Softball, and more hold summer camps with the goal to help develop younger players as well as giving the staffs a chance to evaluate many of the best players in the sport in a short period of time.

Occasionally we'll see teams get to take international trips.  Volleyball traveled to Brazil earlier in the summer, Women's Basketball is heading to Toronto, Canada for the Globl Jam event starting Wednesday.  Not every team gets to take an international trip every year.  Indeed, trips like the one that volleyball took are limited to once every five years at most.  But when they do occur, they can take up a significant chunk of time for the program in the summer.

Planning!  All of the above is a lot of work, and requires planning and preparation.  Add in the process of arranging schedules, particularly non-conference, and there's a lot of work to be done there.  A special shoutout to the Directors of Operations for each of the programs who bear a lot of this burden.

Finally, practices get underway during what we here at Cardinal Couple would still call the summer slump.  Particularly for fall sports, Volleyball, Field Hockey, and Soccer, by the time players are finished with camps, it's about time to start individual workouts.  And with seasons starting as soon as mid-August, if you have about two weeks of pre-season camp, that starts getting underway about the beginning of August.

(Catch up with old friends...)

c

So while we lament the lack of material to cover, there really is a lot going on with our favorite sports programs, and we occasionally get glimpses of it through social media.  If you think about it, it starts to get the excitement building for the seasons to start.

Cards in the Pros

Of course the other things we get to do more of in the summer is keep track of our Cards in the Pros.

NWSL

Emina Ekic again saw limited time in the Racing game Friday evening here in Louisville.  With the return of Nadia Nadim, competition for time on the pitch will be getting even tougher.  The NWSL is starting an international break as many players on NWSL rosters head off to play for their various national teams, including Ekic, as we found out this week.  She will be playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Check out Case's article from yesterday if you missed that news and are confused at how Ekic, born and raised here in Louisville, can play for B&H's Senior National Team.

WNBA

Myisha Hines-Allen, leading a roster full of players on crutches, it seems, will be playing at 3pm at Connecticut, where she'll likely meet up with Liz Dixon.  Dixon's Suns are 3rd in the standings, with Hines-Allen's Washington Mystics are in 4th, but the Suns are three games up on the Mystics.  Streaming and linear coverage for the game on the ESPN flagship.

Emily Engstler with the Minnesota Lynx tip off at 7pm against the Las Vegas Aces in Minneapolis.  The Lynx are part of a logjam in the middle of the standings with Dallas and Atlanta just a game behind the Mystics.  NBA League Pass has this game.

A late start, 8pm, for AD and the Atlanta Dream as they visit Dana Evans and the Chicago Sky.  Dana Evans was honored with throwing out the first pitch at a White Sox game this week.  The Dream are part of that logjam with the Lynx, and the Sky are only a game behind, as the middle of the WNBA is a real mess of teams right now.  Again, NBA League Pass has this one.

ACC Network Takeover

Don't forget that Louisville is featured tomorrow on the ACC Network takeover.  For 24 hours, tomorrow, you'll see nothing but the best UofL sport events from the past year.  The times for women's sports:

3am: Field Hockey vs Michigan

7am: Volleyball vs Kentucky

9am: Basketball vs UNC

2pm: Soccer vs Boston College

6pm: Volleyball vs Oregon (NCAA Regional Final at KFC Yum! Center)

8pm: Volleyball vs Pitt (NCAA Semifinal at CHI Center in Omaha)

10pm: Lacrosse vs Pitt

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

( A pic from the "old days" and the three of us "in the basement on a hill")

A trio on the  as Jared heads off to his honeymoon and Daryl was feeling under the weather.  Case, Paulie, and myself were on the podcast. We talked about players heading off to international play, and all of the UofL sports news we could find this week.

Find the fun at it's home on anchor.fm/Spotify:  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Louisville-and-International-Play-e26n3bp

JMcA

GLOBL JAM SHOULD BENEFIT "NEW LOOK" CARDS WBB -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

REBUILT CARDS WBB ROSTER WILL BENEFIT, GROW FROM EXTRA PRACTICES AND PRE-SEASON CONTESTS

I was asked a question the other day about upcoming 2023-24 Louisville women's basketball. The question came from a long-time season ticket holder, and was centered toward the roster. 

"Just who does Walz have coming back that we would remember from last season?"

Let's start with Olivia Cochran. Cochran was one of the main forces in the paint for Louisville WBB last year and will only get better in the upcoming season. She'll be a team leader, which will be pretty important with all the new additions. Fans will remember Nyla Harris, also, who moved into a forward spot at the end of the season and impressed with her speed, jumping ability and skills. Merissah Russell also saw significant time as the season progressed and she's a tall (6'0") guard who knows Walz's system. Finally, a healthy Alexia Mobley, will add the strong rebounding that every squad needs and can jump out of the gym if she's back to normal.

Four returnees that will need to help the seven newcomers. But, it's not like these newcomers are fresh yearlings out of the woods. 

(there is Love on campus)

Eylia Love learned a lot in her redshirt year on the bench and in practice and is a tall, 6'1" senior guard who started for a year and a half at Georgia Tech...so she knows the ACC from a couple of viewpoints.  

(Nina won't bring any Gators to the KFC YUM!)

Nina Rickards was a starter at Florida and has gone through the battles of playing the best of the nation. She's a superb defender, too. She led the Gators in minutes played and was second in scoring. A proven offensive talent, which is a nice weapon to have. 

(KIki can bury the three)

Kiki Jefferson is another scoring guard. She led James Madison in scoring and grabbed almost eight rebounds a game. She was the 2022-23 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and totaled almost 1900 points in her four years at JMU. 

(Syd another expert from the deep)

Sydney Taylor started all of UMass's 32 games last season at guard and received first team All A-10 Conference recognition. She scored 16.1 points a game and led the A-10 in made threes. 

(Jayda did it all for Cal for two yars)

Jayda Curry comes in from Cal and led Cal in scoring both seasons she was there. She also led the Pac-12 in scoring her freshman year. She was also an All-Pac-12 First team player both years and was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. 

(replacing HVL with HVS)

Hennie van Schaik comes in from CSU-Bakersfield and the forward also had Dutch National team experience. An aggressive rebounder and a proven scorer in the paint. She was on the All -Big West freshman team her first season. 

(Height is always good, and Eseosa has that)

Eseosa Imafidon will come in as a freshman and most likely redshirt, but the 6'5" center averaged a "double-double" in her senior year at Proctor Academy. She's from Nigeria and didn't start playing basketball until 2019.

So, extra practices and a pre-season tournament is just what the doctor ordered for a team full of talent that needs some time to master how to play with each other and as a team. And, that's what they'll get. The GLOBL JAM gives them extra practices and four games in five days. Starting on Wednesday, July 12th...the Cards WBB squad will play three opponents (Team Africa, Canada and Puerto Rico) in four days before going into the finals on Sunday, July 16th. 

(Jess Laemmle was a freshman who stayed the whole time)

The concept of mixing old and new student athletes seemed to work well for LSU last year, after, they did take the national championship. And, it looks like that'll be the way of college basketball from now on. Bring 'em in off the portal and if you need a few more, add some freshmen. In Louisville's case, last year, the freshmen were a mixed bag -- you had a few leave and several stay. We've seen that before and will most likely will again down the road.  

Just what American TV Channel or internet feed might be picking these up is unknown to us currently, but we'll pass it along when we find out. 

paulie

MERISSAH RUSSELL SHINES BIG FOR CANADA U 23 IN GLOBL JAM -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 RUSSELL, CANADIANS WIN GLOBL JAM

July has been a pretty good month for Louisville women's basketball player Merissah Russell. 

Russell was on the Canada U 23 squad that participated in the inaugural "five games in six days" Globl Jam event in Toronto's Matamay Center. Aaliyah Edwards (UConn) was named MVP of the Jam, but Russell, a 5'11" Louisville WBB junior guard from Ottawa, Ontario, averaged 12.6 a game for the Canada team who went 5-0 and defeated France for the title.  

Canada began their Jam play on July 5th, with a 65-53 win over Belgium. Russell had eight points for the squad. Wednesday, July 6th put Canada up against USA and Russell had 14 points for Canada in a 78-69 win over the USA. France was next for Russell and company and the result was Canada's largest win so far in the Jam with a 73-56 win where Russell went for 17 points. 

The win advanced Canada to the semifinals on Saturday, July 9th with a rematch against USA. And, it resulted in Canada's biggest win of the tournament, a 85-60 win. Representing the USA in the event was the Virginia Commonwealth WBB squad  .Russell had 13 points in the win that advanced Canada to the Sunday finals against France. The VCU team went 16-12 in 2021-22 and made it to the second round of the WNIT.  Was it the strongest squad the USA could have put in the tournament? Probably not, but the Rams do have five Canadians on their squad and top notch scorer Taya Robinson , who has finished her eligibility at VCU

Canada defeated France for the second time in the event -- a 78-60 win where Russell had 11 points and three three-pointers to give the Canadians their fifth win and the title. 

It's a impressive and encouraging start that will lead to Russell's eventual third year with the Cards. As a sophomore in 2021-22, she saw action in 18 games . She saw 118 minutes, or about 6.6 minutes a game. She scored 25 points for the Cards, 11th-highest on the squad -- and sank three of her nine three-point attempts. 

One would think the Canada showing would bode well for Russell and her third year as a Card. She comes back to a Louisville squad that, including her, has five returning guards from last year and nine total guards listed.  

We think Russell will be a valuable part of the UofL roster in 2022-23 and. if she can display that three-point shooting touch she did in the GLOBL Jam, she'll see a lot of important minutes. 

paulie