Louisville women's basketball faces Connecticut Tonight -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

#2 VS. #3 

Geno now

The Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team comes to the KFC YUM! Center tonight for a 7 p.m. game against the #3 Louisville Cardinals. The city probably could have used Huskies and any dog sleds they cared to bring yesterday morning after a snow and arctic blast rendered driving difficulties and school cancellations. 

The Huskies, you see, have no problems driving. Or hitting threes, playing defense or scoring points. They, like the WBB Cards, have just one loss on the season -- a stumble at Baylor back on Jan 3rd -- 68-57. Back on Jan. 3rd, Louisville was still undefeated, having turned away North Carolina 73-68.  The Cards only loss would come a week later, at South Bend when Notre Dame upped Louisville 82-68. North Carolina must have learned something from the UofL loss, they knocked off Notre Dame earlier this week  in Chapel Hill. The Irish are the only common opponent the two teams have in common this season, Connecticut going to Notre Dame and winning 82-68. 

Geno back way back when

So, what does all of that tell us? I'm not really sure, except that -- maybe -- try and schedule the tough contests and foes at home. Or avoid playing them. 

Geno knows a thing or two about the Louisville squad. He's 16-1 against them lifetime, his only loss coming back on 3-17-93 to a Bud Childers coached Cardinal squad 74-71 in the NCAA Mideast Regional first round at Iowa City.  Bud left Louisville a few years later to take the head coaching job at James Madison (back then they were a better program than Louisville) and then WInthrop before retiring and becoming a successful franchise owner of several Sports Clips hair cutting franchises. 

Caption this picture if you want...

What have we learned here? A college coaching career can lead to owning several "clip joints"... salon styling and hair cutting franchises? Geno has a full head of hair, his restaurant business and spaghetti sauce. Coach Walz keeps his lettuce high and tight and has never ventured into hair-cutting (except as a patron), restaurants (except to dine) nor making his own spaghetti sauce (that we know of). Walz was offered a maitre d job at one of Geno's four restaurants. I wonder if they'd let him sit in the "wee chair" during slow periods? 

Geno's streak of win against UofL is impressive but consider that he's 24-0 lifetime against West Virginia, 47-2 against Seton Hall, 43-3 vs. Georgetown and 19-0 over Cincinnati. Who has won the most games against Geno? Let's circle back to Notre Dame, where Muffet McGraw has 12 wins and 36 losses against the Huskies. 

"Hey, is that Coach Walz coming to watch us practice?"

Coach Walz loves what he does, probably had a good night's sleep last night, isn't stressed out about tonight at all, knows his players are fired up about tonight and is looking for a high-level performance out of them. He knows how hard Geno's squad plays.

Walz knows the prime time opportunity ahead of him tonight comes down to one main thing. Scoring. Putting the ball in the bucket. Knowing your role and carrying it out.  

Trying to out-coach the legendary Geno. Not getting blown out early, like last year. 

What does Coach Walz think about tonight? Here's his presser from yesterday: 

LINK: WALZ PRESSER 1/30/19   

(WBB SID Nick Evans "calls me out" at the very end about my game and Coach points out to me that. "Shooters, shoot"...Hey, I wasn't called the "Fern Creek Force" for nothing.") 


BUT WHAT ABOUT TONIGHT, PAULIE?

Connecticut is 18-1 and has outscored their opponents by an average of 31.4 points (80.1 to 48.7) in seven ACC games. Overall they hold a +28.5 edge in scoring in their 19 games (81.9 to 53.4). 


Five Huskies are double digit point producers. Katie Lou Samuelson leads the way with 18.8 a night. The senior also tops UConn with 49 made threes on 137 attempts (36%). Napheesa Collier isn't far behind her with 18.6 points per outing and gets to the charity stripe more than any other Husky, (62-89), for 70%. Both Megan Walker and Crystal Dangerfield have been good for 12.9 a contest. Dangerfield is deadly from the free throw line, 31-33 (94%). Freshman Christyn Williams completes the double-digit points providers with 11.1 an event and sees about 34 minutes a game on the court. 

The Huskies starting lineup is basically a five-guard attack with Collier the "big" in the middle at 6'2". All of them are perfectly capable of getting the ball up the court and leading the fast break.  Samuelson is 6'3" but more guard-than-paint-oriented.

Another freshman, Olivia Odoba-Nelson, has seen action in all 19 games and plays an average of 10 minute a game.  After that, the Irish have four "benchers" who come in to do clean-up in blowout games, all five could probably go elsewhere and be starters...Batouly Camara, Kyla Irwin, Molly Bent and Mikayla Coombs.  

Sophomore Lexi Gordon announced last month she was going to transfer and will toil for Texas Tech next season. 

Five UConn numbers: 

Biggest win -- 56 ( vs.St. Louis)

Most Points Scored -- 99 (vs. Seton Hall)

Best Quarter -- 1st, where they outscore opponents 446-251

Turnovers  -- The Huskies force 16.1 a night and commit just 11.6 

Games in the 90's -- (5) against Ole Miss (90), DePaul (99), St. Louis (98), Seton Hall (99) and UCF (93) 


SO...WHO WILL WIN? 

Why, the team who scores the most points, that's who!! (One of Walz's favorite answers when he's asked that question). 

Ball control is going to be a key tonight. How do you do when you have it, can you limit turnovers and steals, are you able to work it effectively and get open, not forced, shots?

Are you able to play the shutdown defense and how will you do on second chance opportunities? 

The Cards have nothing to lose tonight. Time to "go for it" on fourth down, swing for the fence, pull the goalie and serve the ace. 

Most pundits and predictors are picking UConn to win. It's not a conference game. It won't affect the ranking or NCAA Tournament seeding that much. Louisville has been shutting down ACC offenses in the last five games, yes, but UConn is a horse of a different color. UofL has arguably the best player in NCAA Division I women's college basketball in "Nite-nite". She'll meet two other contenders for that crown in Samuelson and Collier. 


The Huskies are 93-0 in the AAC since joining the league. 108-0 if your toss in tournament play. They won't face a larger, crazier, louder and enthused fan base on the road the rest of the season than they will tonight. How will they handle it?  



ESPN comes in with their "A" team.  Amin, Lobo, Lawson...with Holly Rowe running the sidelines (dressed in blue, whatcha wanna bet?)   

I hope the Cards come out, shake the nerves and just have some fun in a great Thursday night matchup between two great teams. Two teams who were shocked in the Final Four last year. Two teams bent on returning to that "foursome" this year in Tampa. 


I hope "the AC is 'on'", Asia is "Durrific" and "JJ Airlines" is running on schedule and packed with passengers. I hope Sam is a chairwoman of the boards and Kylee, "B" and Dana are representing their "A" games. What role will "Kasa" play. Does Lindsey get a chance to bomb threes? 

It's four probable WNBA players in Durr, Carter, Samuelson and Collier. It's two of the best coaches in the women's game.

It's gonna be wild. The "intro" should be crazy. Make sure you're there early to catch it. Bring your "outside" voice. 


Let's go 81-79. Cards. In a thriller. That's the pick. Be there, so you can tell your grand-kids and co-workers you were there "that night". Get there early, it could be a crowd of 16,000 plus.  Feel free to leave your prediction in our comments section. 

Probably won't be there tonight...

We'll recap it tomorrow here at Cardinal Couple. Hopefully, a" glowing report on a victory type of article".

Then, again, it's Jared's write up. Who knows what he'll touch on. His spontaneous viewpoints are a favorite here at the Chimp ranch.  

We also invite you to join us Saturday. 11 a.m. for the "not ready for drive time" radio broadcast of The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. Jeff Walz (well, at least his bobblehead) will be in studio with a selectively picked group of audio talent. WCHQ 100.9 FM and Facebook Live. 

The Cards try to match steps with UConn on the frantic treadmill of women's college basketball tonight. Let's lace 'em up, climb aboard and get with it. Pulse and heart monitors optional. 

paulie
xxxxx

Louisville women's basketball -- UConn capitalizes on Cards slow start, wins 69-58 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

19-0 HUSKY RUNS EARLY SINKS CARDS

If, by some chance, you missed the first ten minutes of the Louisville women's basketball game against Connecticut in Storrs last night, consider yourself fortunate. It was a disaster. It started well, enough, with Arica Carter hitting a three to give Louisville the only lead they would have in the contest, but the walls caved in after that. The Huskies went on a 19-0 run that virtually eliminated Louisville's chances. It was ugly, painful and disappointing to view if you are a Cardinal fan. It was just another day in the office for Husky backers. 

Shots wouldn't fall and were hurried and forced. The offensive patterns never materialized. The first quarter turnovers were atrocious (nine of them) and the Huskies couldn't miss from the floor. Led by Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn just went off on the bewildered and out-of-sync Cards, roaring to a 19-3 advantage and a 24-6 first quarter lead. It was what UofL did to Notre Dame earlier in the season, but the Cards were on the receiving end. We know who is #1 in the nation with no doubt whatsoever now and it isn't the ACC school on the banks of the Ohio.

Walz called timeouts. They didn't help. Kia Nurse, UConn guard, was applying intensive-care defensive on Asia Durr and the junior couldn't gather enough space to tie her shoes...much less get a good shot off. Louisville looked clueless, the Huskies scored at will and the capacity crowd in the Gampel Pavilion nodded and cheered in approval every time the Huskies did something right and Louisville miscued and floundered. 
The sense of dread and disillusionment clear and present as I watched from my easy chair. This wasn't so easy. 

"We defended them about as well as we wanted to and that was the plan going in" 

Those words, from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, were a understatement. Mission accomplished. The Cards looked like one of the non-conference patsies that were sacrificial lambs to Walz's crew early in the season. 

After those bloody and deflating first ten minutes, the Cards started to gather a bit and get back in sync...but it was too late. The Red and Black played on fairly even terms in the second session with Connecticut but still found themselves on the short end of a 42-22 halftime score. It was "Lou" (Samuelson) taking on Louisville single-handedly and doing quite well, almost outscoring the Cards by herself after twenty minutes. Threes, drives to the basket, layups, jumpers...she was the Energizer Bunny and Louisville was dead batteries when it came to containing her. 

Play Louisville basketball? Certainly not this version. 

You can credit the Cards for not letting this one get any worse. In fact, Asia Durr and company won the second half 36-27. She finished with 20 points, Myisha Hines-Allen recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds -- her 13th double-double of the year -- and Arica Carter hit a career high four trifectas in the affair to finish with 12 points. Sam Fuehring had a strong effort inside, mostly in the final half, with strong rebounding and eight points. 

But it was all after the contest had been decided. The 11-point margin of loss was the closest Louisville got to the lead since the horrific first period. Jeff Walz discussed the first quarter: 

"We had good shots there in the first quarter and just missed them. I thought that some of them were too quick and those led to transition for them. That's something you can't do." 

A non-conference lesson learned. 

Losing to #1 in the nation is no disgrace. Louisville shouldn't plummet from their #4 status in the nation, especially when you consider Notre Dame is #5. The ACC Championship is still a very attainable goal and the Cards continue on, with the road trip taking them to Boston College next for a Thursday night contest.

How will the loss to UConn affect them against the Eagles? One would hope they come out madder than hell and punish B.C. But, that first quarter gave every other coach in the ACC key insights on how to stop the Cards. Whether there is anyone in the ACC that can duplicate what UConn did is highly doubtful. Will the Cards come out still hurting and stung in Chestnut Hill? We hope not. 

I'm going to do my best to forget the first half-hour of what I saw last night. Walz will probably use it as a teaching tool, and rightfully so, because there are a lot of things to learn from there. I'd just as soon forget that beginning last night. UConn came out and did what they do. They took control of the car and never gave the keys or driving privileges to the passengers. They showed all women's college basketball fans that the road to Columbus and Final Four dreams goes though Storrs and Geno's roadblock and gauntlet. 

"I thought we competed, which is want we wanted to do, but I just wish we could have made it a better game off the bat".

So do we, the fans, Coach. So do we. 

The question is...how will the Cards react when they get behind the wheel Thursday?
Cardinal fans had hopes, expectations and dreams of knocking off #1. I did too. What we got was a painful and embarrassing lesson on how the elite team in women's college basketball handles big match-ups. 

The casual basketball fan who may have missed the game will look at the final score and maybe think that UConn got a bit of a test last night by only winning by 11. They would be mistaken. This one was over early and UConn maintained. Case closed. 

Let's hope UofL learned something and can put it to use. 28% shooting in the first half would be a great place to start the teaching. Remaining calm and collected in a frenzied environment a good teaching point.  

Does Louisville want them again? Further down the road...NCAA Tournament time? I'd just as soon pass. I hope we end up on the other side of the bracket. We will learn from the loss, yes, but can the Cards do anything to prevent the Huskies from doing it again? Geno's squad learned too. 

I'll dwell on it no more. As UofL football coach John L. Smith said many years ago...sometimes you just have to tear off the rear view mirror and just keep driving. 
Let's hope the Cardinal Caravan doesn't have any slow, sluggish starts in what's left of winter.

I know this column isn't in the usual vein of our "joy and excitement" of Cardinal women's athletics. I'll try to end on that note. The Cards didn't completely fold up the tent. They won the second half. They played UConn as close as just about anyone has this year. They are still a great team and will have many more successes this season. 

Onward. 


THE FRED REPORT

Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) must
have watched the first quarter...

FREE THROWS -- UConn rarely fouls, in the eyes of most referees. When they did last night the Cards failed to capitalize. 55.6% on 5-9 shooting doesn't get a letter.

REBOUNDING -- Here's one battle the Cards did win last night...36-34. Myisha with 12,  Sam with seven and Arica grabbed six. We'll provide a small case "r" for that. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Throw out the first quarter and it wasn't all that bad in effort and execution. But, that first quarter...ugh. I'll take the high road here and award a small case "e" for the overall performance. 

DEFENSE -- Holding the Huskies to 69 points is pretty impressive.  Samuelson and Williams pretty much scored when they chose to, though, and the Cards got pounded in the points in paint category 44-24. The closer you get, the easier the bucket gets. Based on that, I'll with-hold the letter. 

FINAL FRED REPORT:  _-r-e-_


paulie
xxxxx