Field Hockey defeats Richmond...Dunbar decides

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Two freshmen score in 2-1 Field Hockey win

-Soccer cancelled due to rough weather

-Dunbar commits to...

-Louisville Football romps in season opener


HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!


Getting goals in the second half from Shannon Sloss and Jennifer Pels, Louisville Field Hockey defeated the Richmond Spiders yesterday in Richmond, VA. The Cards improve to 1-1 on the season with the victory.

Today's game was brutal," said U of L head coach Justine Sowry. "The conditions were some of the toughest we've experienced, but we endured. Richmond was the more poised team and showed more discipline on the day, however we showed a lot of toughness. We were resilient and kept fighting until the end which shows how much character this team has. It was not pretty by any means, but it is an outstanding result for the program."


Louisville trailed 1-0 at the half...the teams went the first 30 minutes of the game without a score. It took the Cards 11 minutes into the second half before Sloss got a pass inside the circle and belted it home to tie the contest.

The game winner came with seven minutes left...Pels getting a penalty corner pass from sophomore Elisa Garcia and finding the back of the net for the win.

Louisville returns to action Friday when William & Mary visit the Trager for a 1 p.m. tilt.

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The Kickin' Cards match against #10 Wake Forest was first delayed for two hours, eventually started but halted when weather became severe in Winston-Salem.

Louisville trailed 1-0 when the contest was stopped...the game will not be counted as official since less than 70 minutes were played.

Soccer head to Kentucky next for a Friday game against the Wildcats.

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On the recruiting front, Cardinal target Kortney Dunbar has decided on where she'll attend college and the Edwardsville, IL wing has chosen Tennessee has her hoops home. We wish her the best.

It is also rumored that Myisha Hines-Allen may announce where she will play basketball on Tuesday.

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Louisville football. Wow. Teddy for five TD's and the Cards deliver at 49-7 thumping to the Ohio Bobcats. Despite the heat, it was a fun day for football at the Pizza Oven.

80 Under 80 was rockin' and PJCS looked pretty full to me.

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Cardinal fans start early. Below...Reagan Yaste tries to get the family involved by doing the CARDS cheer. (At least we think that's an "R" she's trying to do.)

Have a great Labor Day, everybody!

-Paulie

Shoni Schimmel and a recruiting roundup

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Shoni Schimmel: More than a flashy passer and three-point shooter

- Recruiting news

As Louisville Basketball fans, we all know the high-risk, high-reward type of player Shoni Schimmel is.   Her no look passes, her long 3 ‘s that hit nothing but net, and the flashy passes have earned her the heart of Louisville fans.  The basketball memory that will likely live in infamy for fans of the game is the layup and +1 over towering Brittany Griner in the Sweet Sixteen this past post season to eventually earn a berth in the National Championship game. 

Schimmel has also had a knack for some pretty knucklehead kind of moves.   Whether it is poor passing decisions or being seated on the bench while she decides to buy in or not, if you are a fan of Shoni Schimmel you take the good with the bad. 

Schimmel is a whole lot more than her flashy moves on the court, to many people.   The Schimmel story is powerful and motivating.  It is inspirational.  It is about working hard, dreaming big, and attaining the seemingly impossible.   

As fans we are frequently hearing of stories of talks and appearances the Schimmel’s participate in.  As Shoni Schimmel prepares for her final year as a Louisville Cardinal she is spending part of her off-season motivating and inspiring many youth.  See the link below for one more story talking about that kind of inspiration.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/010784.asp
 

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Imani Tilford, the 5-7 point guard out of White Plains, NY, and former Louisville target, is off the board.  Tilford made public her verbal commitment to Georgia Tech on Tuesday.  Whether Louisville was still actively recruiting Tilford is providing some message board fodder for recruiting junkies like myself.   

The potential bigger implication here is will her AAU teammate, and highly recruited friend and Louisville target, Myisha Hines-Allen follow suit?   The two purportedly wanted to play together in college.  Whether that is true or not we will have to wait a bit longer to determine.  Hines-Allen is reported to be down to a final four:  Louisville, Ohio State, West Virginia and Georgia Tech.    She is also reported to have an official visit scheduled in September with GT.  At this point I would expect her to take her official visits and hopefully then make a decision.  When she will be on the campus at Louisville has not been publicized. 

I have seen at least one prediction by a club coach in the northeast (via twitter) that it will come down to Louisville and Georgia Tech.   I say get her on campus and I like our chances!  I am sure the Louisville coaching staff is working on that very thing. 

In other recruiting news Kortney Dunbar (wing out of Edwardsville, IL) is reportedly down to Baylor, Duke, Florida, Louisville, Oklahoma State and Tennessee.  She is in the process of setting up her official visits.    She only gets 5 officials and internet chatter suggests she has eliminated Tennessee from consideration. 

( Jenny O'Bryan is a staff columnist for CARDINAL COUPLE and can also be heard on our weekly radio show CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR on Crescent Hill Radio. )

http://www.crescenthillradio.com

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Just a reminder, if you bought dinner tickets for the Central Cardinal Club annual fundraiser dinner tonight, well...it is tonight!

Lots of great activities in addition to the dinner. Four excellent speakers, a huge silent aucion, members of the Louisville women's basketball and volleyball teams will be present and Howie Lindsey emcee-du-jour.

Happy Hour at the PNC Club in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium starts at 4:30 p.m. The crew from CARDINAL COUPLE will be there, too (Jeff, Paulie and Sonja)...validating parking and throwing people in ice baths. 

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Tuesday Cardinal Couple

 

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

-Team Defend will represent USA in FIBA U18 3x3

 

 

Kortney Dunbar

Kortney Dunbar's (Edwardsville, IL) team came in 3rd. On her team was Dejanae Boykin ...who we featured at Cardinal Couple a few days ago

 

Also, on this team is Gabby Green ( who has Louisville in her top 8) and Katie Lou Samuelson , the 3rd and final Samuelson ( her 2 sisters play for Stanford) although she has expressed interest in Louisville.

 

There's no question that 3x3 basketball is different.

First, obviously, there are only three players on the court, and second, that trio is playing halfcourt basketball. But on top of that, the USA representatives aren't selected from a large group -- instead, teams of four play a tournament, and the winning team represents the United States.

The four players, 18 and under, who will be at the FIBA U18 3x3 World Championship Sept. 26-29 in Jakarta, Indonesia are Notre Dame commit Brianna Turner (Houston, Texas/Manvel High School), Gabby Green (Oakland, Calif./St. Mary's High School), Katie Lou Samuelson (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei High School) and Arike Ogunbowale (Milwaukee/Divine Savior Holy Angels). They called themselves Team Defend and won all seven games they played, including a 21-10 win over the young St. Louis quartet of Alecia Sutton, Cierra Porter, Sophie Cunningham and Napheese Collier in the finals.

Team Defend will return to Colorado Springs Sept. 21-24 to get ready to defend the 3x3 World Championship.

To earn that honor, Team Defend went a perfect 7-0 in tournament play at the USA Basketball women's U18 3x3 National Championship in Colorado Springs, Colo., defeating Team Primus 21-10 in the championship game.

“It feels really good to win this, because last year we didn’t have to play anyone to get to the 3x3 U18 Worlds,” said three-time USA Basketball gold medalist Turner, who is ranked No. 1 in the 2014 Full Court Fresh 50. “But this year we actually went through the whole tournament process, you get to get a look at teams and play against teams. The team we beat in the championship game, we lost to them before (in a 3x3 pre-tournament), so there was even more pressure for us to beat them."
Team Primus was the youngest team in the tournament, with three 16 year olds and 14-year-old Sutton. The young squad went undefeated in tournament play until they met Team Defend in the championship game.

In addition, Suttion won the ball handling skills challenge, while recent Georgia Tech commit Zaire

Gabby Green

O'Neil (Selden, N.Y.) and Arella Guiranthes (Westbury, N.Y.) also claimed individual titles.
Ogunbowale, who in June helped the USA capture their third consecutive gold medal at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship, was the tournament MVP. All four members of Team Defend, in fact, have won gold medals with USA Basketball, and all will be juniors or seniors in high school this year.

The third annual FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championship, which was billed as the 2011 FIBA 3x3 Youth World Championship in its inaugural year, is expected to feature 24 women’s teams and 32 men’s teams and the top teams will qualify for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.


In addition to the men’s and women’s tournament, the 3x3 U18 World Championship program for the weekend will also include skills contests and a mixed-team tournament with two males and two females competing on one team for their country.

(Thanks to fullcourt.com for the article idea...)

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Julia Fellerhoff

Going into the third day of the 2013 ITA National Collegiate Summer Championships, being hosted by Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., U of L singles players Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine have both advanced to the quarterfinals.


Fellerhoff, a seeded player in the draw, beat Kaysie Hermsdorn of Abilene Christian 6-3, 6-0 before taking down Oklahoma State's Karyn Guttermsen 7-6, 7-5. Fellerhoff then beat ACC power Miami's Clementia Riobuena 7-6, 7-5 to earn a shot at Florida's Alex Cercone.


Fellow senior Rebecca Shine, who was also seeded, beat Pitt's Taylor Washington 6-1, 6-4 before felling Iowa's Katie Zordani 4-6, 6-2, 1-0. Her win over Miami's Kelsey Laurente with another tiebreaker (7-5, 2-6, 1-0) sets her up to meet Alex Chatt, a nationally ranked high school player.The two paired up as doubles partners and beat Pascarella and Youel of Northern Iowa 8-1. Next to fall was Indiana's Rubenstein and Fujimoto 8-1. This makes for a matchup with top-seeded Auburn's pair of Kaster and Pfeifler.

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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Summer ball winds down for the Class of 2014

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(Staff hero Jenny O'Bryan fills us in on the latest on recruiting in today's column. With her ear to the wall, eyes on the feeds and nose to the grindstone...Jenny is always looking for the latest news and always produces.) 

"V Dub" is on everyone's radar

The final summer evaluation period is underway starting Tuesday, July 23 and ending Monday, July 29.  For the class of 2014 it is the end of their summer basketball careers.  Coaches will be fanning out to D.C, Louisiana, Georgia, and many other events to look for the next big game changer. 

We have been talking about rising seniors (class of 2014) that are on Louisville Women’s Basketball radar.  Jatarie White, Victoria Vivians, Gabby Green, Myisha Hines-Allen, Imani Tillford, Mariya Moore, Natalie Romeo and Kortney Dunbar, to name a few. 

We will soon be hearing about unofficial and official visits as these young athletes start to trim their lists and make decisions about their futures.  Louisville will get a few more athletes ready to join Sydney Brackemyre and Ariana Freeman at the YUM Center.  The early signing period is fast approaching and this class could be wrapped up before the season starts. 

While a lot of attention is being paid to the rising senior class, coaches are also watching younger athletes at these events creating lists of talent, and potential spotted on the court, that match the needs of the program in the future years. 

Two names surfaced during the early evaluation period that had offers extended to them by Louisville.  Keep in mind the coaching staff cannot talk about a recruit until they have signed with the school.   The earliest a student athlete can sign is in the fall of her senior year.  So where does the information come from?

Social media has made this information available to enthusiasts, like myself, probably to the chagrin of college coaches everywhere.  Student athletes, their parents, club coaches, and scouting services all tweet about the goings on in the basketball world.  Scouting services dole out information to the general public via twitter when they hear it. 

UofL wants to know what
Brown can do for them.

In the class of 2015 wing Taylor Brown was recently offered a scholarship by Louisville Basketball.    Brown plays summer ball with fellow Louisville recruits  Hines-Allen and Tilford from the New Jersey Sparks basketball program. 

I cannot find much in print about Brown, however, the attached video shows her doing it all for her high school team.  Given it is a highlight reel, you are only going to see the good stuff, but there is plenty of that to see!  Brown is pulling down rebounds, finishing in the paint, making jumpers as well as 3 balls.  She has a real nice hi-lo pass to get the assist.  She looks like a baller and I look forward to watching her name as her recruiting heats up. 
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKp0c11a0fU

The other name coming out of the early evaluation period is Dekeriya Patterson out of Florida.  What makes Patterson unique is that she is in the class of 2017.  Before you have to stop and count on your fingers, she is a rising freshman in high school.  This youngster has not even played her first high school game, and yet Louisville has offered her.  Following her club director, Kenny Kalina, on twitter, it looks like new Assistant Coach Sam Purcell is very high on this rising high schooler.   The below is an excerpt from Kalina on his website:

Many have already seen that Louisville has offered Patterson and while that is impressive, her play has been just as impressive. Patterson has a skill set of a college sophomore already and has yet to play a high school game. With deep range and a taste for the big game and big shot there is no one you would rather have with the ball at the end of a game than her. Look for her continued development at Dunbar on the defensive end and maturity to turn her into a must have player in 2017.
 

Does this description remind you of anyone?  "Deep range, big game, big shot"  "ball in her hands at the end of a game".  While I was not following recruiting back when Shoni Schimmel was going through the process, this youngster sounds a lot like the Schimmel we know now.  This kiddo is not yet in high school.  Wow, do I look forward to watching her high school career. 
 

For all you other recruiting junkies out there, this will give you a few names to follow.  I think we have a faithful reader and commenter in Florida, maybe he will hear more about her than us and keep us abreast of the news.  (Joe, are you reading this?)


-Jenny O'Bryan

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Dunbar impressive, Tucker on the move

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Kortney Dunbar one to watch in 2014 Class?

- Jannah Tucker on the move?

- USA Women's Basletball WUGS start it up today

Normally, I leave news on recruiting in women's basketball to our recruiting ace Jenny. But, faced with a Monday column to write and no real ideas on where to go with it...a couple of e-mails from regular reader Kenny S. gave me a little fuel to get across the finish line.

Kortney Dunbar is a 6'2" guard out of Edwardsville, IL that will be a senior this upcoming season. If the city sounds familiar...it's because current freshman Lady Cards Emmonnie Henderson played with Dunbar last season. It seems Kortney may be on the UofL WBB watch list for 2014. We're hearing UofL head coach Jeff Walz is in Florida...not working on his tan, but watching Dunbar and her Midwest Elite Platinum team play in a tournament there. Her squad has made it to the semi-finals and will play on ESPN 3 Monday morning.

Dunbar (along with Henderson) was a big reason why Edwardsville went undefeated in the 2012-13 regular season. She averaged 14.4 points per game, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.8 assists. She's also got range, sinking 54 three pointers. Other major universities are also in on the hunt.

6'2" guard. That alone is impressive. Along with her numbers from her junior year, I can see why the coaches are on the trail.

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Holly Warlick is getting a feel of what it's like to finally be a head coach. #12 ranked in the 2013 class Jannah Tucker, who also played on the 2012 U17 USA Basketball team isn't enrolling in Tennessee. According to Warlick, Tucker changed her mind for personal reasons.

According to sources, two other UT recruits...Mercedes Russell and Jordan Reynolds are on campus for summer sessions.

Tucker has played this game with UT before, verbally committing to the Vols in June 2012, briefly de-committing and then signing a National Letter of Intent in November. This time, it looks like it's her final answer. She won't be learning the words to "Rocky Top".

Tucker did not play her senior high school year because of an ACL tear but averaged 30 points a game as a junior at New Town High School in Randallstown, MD. Prior to committing to UT, Tucker listed Duke, Baylor, Maryland and UConn on her short list.

UT now has just 10 players on the roster for the 2013-14 season.

We know Louisville currently doesn't have any room for Tucker...we hope she ends up somewhere that she's happy and can play with the skills that wowed the coaches in the U17 games and tryouts.

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The USA women's basketball WUGS get it started today with pool play in Kazan, Russia. We'd rather they play basketball...but if the USA needs them in the pool...so be it.

USA is in Pool B and startes against Mail. By golly. If they win, we can retool an old Little Richard song and proclaim:

"Good Golly Beat Mali"

Other teams splashing around in the water in Pool B are Brazil and the Czech Republic. USA will play each opponent in their pool once and then, hopefully, move on to the quarterfinals that start on Friday.

Get out the flotation devices and snorkel, the Women's WUGS are making waves.

And, get the ball to Shoni, Coach Coale.

--Paulie--

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It's July, that means basketball!

CARDINAL COUPLE WEDNESDAY

- Hoops heating up in July

( Jenny O'Bryan fills us in on her latest observations on women's basketball recruiting news. It looks like UofL has a lot of top-flight talent mentioning the Lady Cards and it also looks like Jenny is going to be busy keeping track of all this talent!)


July marks the summer NCAA Certified Evaluation Period where AAU basketball teams head all over the country to play in front of coaches.  You can expect the U of L Women’s Basketball staff will be out in full force over the course of the next month trying to reel in some top talent to join the team in 2014. 

We all know by now two recruits have already verballed to Louisville, Sydney Brackmyre and Ariana Freeman.  I expect they will take their official visit to Louisville in the fall and are likely to sign during the early signing period this Fall.
 

We all also know that Syd has been recovering from an ACL tear and is getting stronger every day.  Paul and I had the opportunity to see her at the first Elite Skills Camp. 

A great article surfaced last week about Freeman.  Wow, what a workhorse, and what incredible dedication this young woman is showing to the game preparing herself for being a future Cardinal.  If you are not excited about seeing this young woman as a Cardinal, you will be after you read this article. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/recruiting-insider/wp/2013/06/26/summer-workouts-heat-up-for-paul-vis-ariana-freeman/

Just who will be joining this already talented duo in 2014?   The two evaluation periods in July are July 6-12 and July 23-29.  Below is a little of information about a few kids I have seen linked to Louisville.

Two west coast kids who play AAU ball on the same team are Mariya Moore and Natalie Romeo, a wing and guard, respectively.  Their names have been linked to Louisville basketball for months now.  

A 3^rd incredible talent from California is Gabby Green.   Green will miss the summer circuit of AAU ball as she made the USA U19 World Championship team.  If Walz and Company want to see Green play in July, they will have to go to Lithuania.  She is a fierce talent.  Check out this clip:
 

GABBY GREEN

Vivans is a scoring machine!

We have already mentioned Jatarie White ( 6-4 center ) out of S. Carolina was on campus recently as well as Victoria Vivians  ( 6 foot wing) out of Mississippi who has Louisville in her short list of 4. 

Another recruit who was on campus just this past weekend who will also be in the sights of the staff this month is Mackenzie Engram.   Engram is a 6-1 forward out of Georgia.  Her list of schools is SEC heavy with Georgia Tech, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi and Auburn.  I wonder what the Coach Purcell effect will be here?  Makes one wonder, does it not?

The final recruit on my radar, not necessarily Louisville’s radar, is Kortney Dunbar out of Edwardsville, Il.  Does that sound familiar?  It should, Dunbar was a teammate of incoming freshman Emmonie Henderson.  This 6-2 guard is a solid shooter, and certainly does not hurt to have that kind of size on the perimeter. 

It certainly looks like the staff is zeroing in on some top talent.  

I’ll be following their progress over the evaluation period and hope to recap how they have done at the end of the month. 

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Unless you have been away for a week and unplugged from technology, you have likely heard that U of L Women’s Basketball has been nominated for an ESPY Award for the biggest upset in sports.  If you have not voted, please do so.  Coach Pitino is also up for Coach of the Year and Angel McCoughtry is up for WNBA Player of the Year. 

Go visit the page and vote.  Let’s keep this Year of the Cardinal thing going!
 

Voting ends July 17 at 9:00 p.m. 

LINK BELOW
 

http://espn.go.com/espys/2013/

-Jenny O'Bryan

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