CARDS In the Ville -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Good Friday morning readers   

My favorite day of the week is here again.  I am also excited to share some news from around campus this week.  

I got the chance to meet the new Associate head coach for Field Hockey, Mike Pallister the other day.  I helped him get onboarded and we got a chance to chat for a few minutes and I'm wishing them success on the pitch next season!   Let's get some more wins for the Cards !! 

I'm also really pumped and proud to share that I had been working on a fun fan project for the men's basketball coach, whose 50th birthday was yesterday.  An idea that came to me sometime last year turned into a crazy fun project where I was able to create and collect over 630 fan signatures and well wishes on 50 birthday CARDS to deliver to him for the big day.   It was such a fun engaging project for me and a lot of people who participated.  

And I'm happy to report that I did get a Thank You message back from coach this week, as well.  He seemed super appreciative and impressed so many people were able to contribute to the project.  

It was a really good Cardinal week if you ask me, have a great weekend all! 

As Always, 
Go Cards

~Daryl 

The Crew - Sunday Cardinal Couple

The Crew - An Appreciation

Last night was the first event on the gocards.com calendar, a Men's Soccer exhibition game against Belmont.  Given the absolutely wonderful turn of the weather, I decided to pop out and check it out.  The good guys won, 4-1, but that's not the important thing.

I was, as you might imagine, refreshed by getting out in gorgeous weather, taking in a sport that I do enjoy watching, even if it was between teams that I don't follow closely.

But I think even more refreshing, our famous photographer Jared Anderson was (as is typical for him) out there as well getting some shots.  After the first period (they played three 30 minute periods rather than two 45 minutes halves...I'm not sure why), he came and sat with me in the stands.  He was still getting a few shots from that vantage point, but in between he and I just chatted across a variety of topics, many, but certainly not all, being various UofL sports.

The chance to just hang out with Jared got me thinking about "The Crew" we have here at Cardinal Couple, and really appreciating what each of us brings to the virtual table.

 

Of course, each of us focuses a little bit (ok, a lot in my case) on different facets of our coverage.  To some degree that is oriented along program boundaries, but also a bit in our approach to the programs.

An example:  Both Jared and Case bring lots to the table when we're talking about Soccer.  Case has a great mind for the game, having actively played the sport for many years, while Jared, partly through his photography, brings a more up close and personal view of the team.

Speaking of experience with a particular sport, while Jared and I are perhaps the most regular attendee to Softball, Daryl has many years of experience with that sport, both stepping up to the plate, and standing behind it, and brings strategic insights to it that I never could. She was the TV "Voice of the Sofbtall Cards" too, a few years ago.

Bringing Daryl into the picture, it wasn't lost on me that, for a significant period of time, Cardinal Couple basically comprised four dudes expounding on women's sports.  The addition of Daryl brings a welcome woman's voice to the site and podcast.  As suggested above though, she's not just here because she's a woman and we're talking about women's sports, she is every bit the avid sports fan, excellent writer, and podcast presence, to rival and surpass the rest of us.  Softball, and WBB are Daryl's main wheelhouse, though she has vowed to add more coverage of golf to the mix as her own golf game has improved over the past few years.  I really look forward to that.

Case was already mentioned above, but aside from his knowledge and expertise in Soccer, I always know that Case will be ready to geek out with me about whatever random technology thingamabob that I've been working with.  Case also typically prepares and posts the podcast form of the CCRHP each week unless he can't be on the call, in which case it falls back to me to do it.  (Which reminds me...)  Beyond that and more on point here, he has really built an expertise in Lacrosse as well, helping to anchor our coverage of that sport.  Jared and I will continue to try to get him to come out to more Volleyball matches, too.

Who have I missed?  Oh, of course, Paulie.  The technologically challenged one (his words).  Despite that, Paulie has persevered over the years, adding, albeit slowly, various bits of technology to his work with Cardinal Couple, including his trusty Tascam audio recorder, and with our CCRHP migration from WCHQ, which he spearheaded,  over to online distributed recordings, he persevered and figured out how to connected...with a little bit of remote handholding, but this was during Covid times, so ultimately he had to figure it out and he did.

Of course, Cardinal Couple is ultimately the brainchild of Paulie, and he is our fearless leader.  I thought he was a little bit crazy when he first suggested starting a radio show, but when it came together on (the now dearly departed) WCHQ with him at the helm, it worked and has evolved into the CCRHP that we know and love today.

Paulie managed to stay pretty current with all of the sports we cover, but I think he really spends more of his time with WBB, Lacrosse, and Field Hockey. He has known WSOC head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes since she arrived on campus, too, and their yearly preseason interviews are...classic.

Paulie and Daryl..at WBB preseason

We've all cheered Paulie on as he deals with various medical issues, particularly over the past year or so and we certainly missed his presence at various events last year when those medical issues prevented his attendance.  But he has vowed to make it out more this year to some of the programs and we'll all be better off for it.

He needs a kidney. If you want to step up and donate one. sign up for the testing and compatibility tests with the very fine UC (Cincinnati) Kidney department . Call (513) 584-7001 and get more details

We're about to dive headfirst into Fall sports this week, with Women's Soccer kicking it off Thursday evening vs Bellarmine and Volleyball's Red & Black scrimmage on Saturday afternoon, so now seemed like a good time to put into words my appreciation for what this Crew does each year.  We're a bit niche, but I hope we're bringing about a net positive for women's sports.

And, of course, it would be pointless without our readers and listeners, and it's oh so rewarding to hear back from you all in the comments or in other channels.  Keep it up, keep cheering, and Go Cards!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We had three on the call yesterday, Jared, Paulie, and myself.  Which means that it fell to me to post the podcast form as hinted at above (darn you, Case!).

It's now available as I forgot to do it yesterday right after the show.  We had a good conversation about the ongoing Olympics and UofL's rooting interests in them.  And we looked ahead to the beginning of official competition this week with Women's Soccer kicking it off on Thursday.

Check it out at it's Spotify home, or any podcast directory:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Olympics--Fall-Sports-preparation--and-more-e2n2akn

-- 

JMcA

ACC Trivia -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

As Case mentioned yesterday, Louisville women's basketball had the weekend off from regulation play. Outside of WBB, there's not much happening in the realm of Louisville women's athletics.

In the ACC world, lawsuits between the conference and Florida State regarding football-related activities continue. The ACC looks to add Stanford, California, and Southern Methodist (SMU) effective next season, but it appears a few schools are hoping to depart elsewhere in the coming months or years pending litigation and contract buyouts.

So, while we have our 15-team conference for now, let's have some ACC trivia! For this trivia, we do recognize Notre Dame as the 15th member of the conference.

1. How many total states are represented in the ACC?

A. 8

B. 9

C. 10

D. 11

2. Three states have multiple ACC schools. What are those three states?

A. Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina

B. North Carolina, Georgia, New York

C. Florida, Indiana, Massachussetts

D. Florida, Virginia, North Carolina

3. Six ACC schools have the state they reside in in their name. What are those six schools? For example, the Big Ten would have schools such as Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan as some for their conference.

4. Four ACC schools have the city they reside in located in their name. What are those five schools? For example, Stanford University is located in Stanford, California. Note: While the University of North Carolina is sometimes referred to as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we are not including that in the questionnaire.

5. Which ACC school has both male and female mascots?

A. Boston College

B. NC State

C. Miami

D. Duke

6. Only one ACC school has a mascot that the person dressed as the mascot shows their face. The rest have hoods or masks on. Which school has the mascot that you can see the person? Note: Florida State does not have a mascot for non-football sanctioned events so the Seminole mascot is not included in this question.

A. Notre Dame

B. Syracuse

C. Wake Forest

D. Virginia Tech

7. Which ACC school has the smallest enrollment?

A. Louisville

B. Florida State

C. Georgia Tech

D. Wake Forest

8. Which ACC school has the largest enrollment?

A. Notre Dame

B. Boston College

C. Miami

D. Georgia Tech

9. How many ACC schools have orange as one of their primary or secondary colors?

A. 8

B. 5

C. 2

D. 1

10. Three ACC schools have mascots that do not end in the letter "S". What are those three schools?

A. Louisville, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech

B. Boston College, Clemson, Wake Forest

C. Notre Dame, NC State, Syracuse

D. Florida State, Miami, North Carolina

11. Which ACC school is the oldest?

A. Pittsburgh

B. North Carolina

C. Clemson

D. Louisville

12. Which ACC school is the youngest?

A. Virginia

B. Clemson

C. Notre Dame

D. Miami

13. Which school is the most recent to join the ACC?

A. Clemson

B. Duke

C. Louisville

D. NC State

14. Seven schools founded the original ACC on May 8, 1953. Which of these schools is not a founding member?

A. North Carolina

B. NC State

C. Duke

D. Georgia Tech

15. Which two founding members have since left the ACC?

A. Cincinnati and West Virginia

B. South Carolina and Maryland

C. Florida and LSU

D. Coastal Carolina and Maine

Feeling pretty confident with your answers? Let's see how you did!

Question 1 - C. 10. The current states represented in the ACC include Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachussetts.

Question 2 - D. Florida, Virginia, North Carolina. Florida has Florida State and Miami. Virginia has Virginia and Virginia Tech. North Carolina has North Carolina, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest.

Question 3 - University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Florida State University, North Carolina State University (NC State), and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

Question 4 - University of Louisville (Louisville, KY), Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina), Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York), and University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). This one is tricky because the University of Miami is actually located in Coral Gables, Florida which is about 15 minutes from Miami, Florida.

Question 5 - B. NC State. The NC State Wolfpack have Mr. Wuf and Ms. Wuf. Paulie and Ms. Wuf are good friends and are often seen taking pictures together down at the ACC Tournament.

Question 6 - A. Notre Dame. While mascots such as Louie require someone to be fully inside a costume, the leprechaun only requires a green and gold suit and a beard.

Question 7 - D. Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons currently have an enrollment of 8,789.

Question 8 - D. Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets currently have an enrollment of 47,961.

Question 9 - B. 5. Syracuse, Clemson, Miami, Virginia, and Virginia Tech all consider orange as one of their primary or secondary colors.

Question 10 - C. Notre Dame, NC State, Syracuse. Notre Dame is the Fighting Irish, NC State is the Wolfpack, and Syracuse is the Orange. Fun fact: Syracuse moved away from the name Orangemen and Orangewomen in 2004 after Nike advised them to do so.

Question 11 - Pittsburgh. The University of Pittsburgh was founded in 1787. North Carolina is the second oldest school, being founded in 1789. Louisville is the only other school to be founded in the 1700s, opening its doors in 1798.

Question 12 - D. Miami. The University of Miami was founded in 1925. The Hurricanes will celebrate their centennial on April 8, 2025.

Question 13 - C. Louisville. The University of Louisville officially joined the ACC on July 1, 2014. The year prior, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Notre Dame joined the ACC.

Question 14 - D. Georgia Tech. While Virginia was the first non-founding member to join the ACC just seven months after the ACC was formed, Georgia Tech did not join the conference until 1979. There are some who still argue that Virginia is a founding member because they joined in 1953, the original founding year.

Question 15 - B. South Carolina and Maryland. South Carolina left the ACC in 1971 and is currently a part of the SEC. Maryland left the ACC in 2014 and is currently a part of the Big Ten.

How did you do? Is your ACC knowledge still up-to-date? ACC membership will extend to 18 schools effective the 2024-2025 season.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

LouiSville's Logo -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

NOTE:

(There were supposed to be logos in today article but they disappeared into the ozone. I have contacted Daryl and when she responds, they'll be in the write up. These things happen...)    --paulie

Hello again fans!! Its me again. Welcoming you to another weekend and still counting down to kick offs around the Ville.

We’ve spent a lot of time covering the teams and giving some predictions on how we think the seasons might play out. Students and faculty are returning to campus in waves. Move in day is coming up next week… its getting real!! The 2023-24 seasons will be underway in no time and we will be sitting here wondering where the time went.

In the meantime, the powers that be over in the marketing department decided they would get their monies worth of having anyone on staff and are deciding to change the Louisville ‘look’ again. Paulie must've seen some writing on one of the walls when he was down on campus this week because he just said a couple days ago he hoped they wouldn't mess with the logos... 😂😂😂

I'm with you, Paulie, I agree with you on this one.

What's that old saying if it ain't broke, don’t fix it? Idk, this just seems like a waste of time and energy.


See below the slight changes to the font for the Cardinals.






For reference, below is what it looked like before.

Like what is even going on here??! Its quite messy.  I hate that the first L doesn't match the last two and the I's are also have different angles...


I can see it now, the administration running around town swiping all the merch with the old logo off the shelves and imploring Cards fans to buy the new stuff. Its exhausting and hard to keep up with what seems like a font/uniform shake up every 2 years. Will Louisville ever get to the point where they pick a font and stick to it, say like Michigan does with their block letter and Alabama does with the script?


I doubt it but it would be nice.



Have a great weekend.

As always
Go Cards

~Daryl

A change in the wind? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 POTENTIAL DEFECTIONS OF FSU AND CLEMSON COULD SHAKE UP THE ACC...

As fall sports are set to begin in the ACC in less than two weeks, maybe just as big a story are the rumors flying around about ACC defections.  You'll remember...back in 2014 it was a defection (Maryland) that opened the door for Louisville to join the conference. Now, after a decade in the conference...the Cards and a dozen or so other ACC members are looking at re-alignment possibilities and defection possibilities again. 

Clemson and FSU see the dollar signs beckon and there is a lot of chatter out there that they'll chase them. Football seems to be the driving force here, and there is already speculation that if the Noles and Tigers hit the trail...California and Stanford from the dying PAC 12 might be knocking on the door, dressed in their Sunday best, seeing an invite to the ACC. Somehow, two west coast Pacific Athletic Conference schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference seems a bit odd to me...but I guess a decade ago...ACC purists thought that a city on the Ohio River being in the Atlantic Coast conference was weird, too. 

Why all this jumping around? It is all about revenue. Repeat and rinse. It's about moolah, greenbacks, benjamins, bank, folding stuff and loot. 

Maybe we shouldn't cast too much of a disapproving eye. After all, it was Louisville who went from MVC to Metro to C-USA to Big East to AAC to ACC...and the motivation wasn't centered around neat places to eat and colorful mascots. 

It was all about the dollars. As much as I am still confused to this day why West Virginia left the ACC to go to the Big 12,...I snap myself back  to the real world and remember why. Money. 

Joel Grey had it right in Cabaret when he and Liza Minellli sang about money. Scarface and the BrotherMob nailed it, too, when they rapped about money makes the world go around. Ig... f you listen carefully enough on a calm summer evening, you can hear Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding shouting "Show me the money" in the distance. 

Athletics bring in a considerable amount of money to colleges and universities. Clemson and FSU, who have no qualms squawking about the "unfair" ACC dollar split, see more money potential elsewhere and...repeat it with me....money makes the world go around.

(Hi, Daddy. Classes are great but the coaches still don't know what conference we are in)

And, yes, football is the conductor of this money train. 

I was at a lunch recently with some UofL fans and friends of mine and we were talking about the travel snafus California and Stanford would run into...if they joined the ACC and had, for example...a three game conference road-trip to...let's say... Boston College, Miami and then Virginia Tech. Then, think about it for the Field Hockey or Lacrosse programs at these schools...instead of football or men's basketball.  

Of course, Hawaii does a bit of flying each athletic season for their 20 SPORTS PROGRAMS. Who knows...maybe they'll come out next week and proudly announce they,are joining the SEC.

Deion Sanders, head football coach at  University of Colorado gets it:

"All this is about money, you know that. It's about a bag. Everybody is chasing a bag. Then, you get mad at players when they chase it. How's that? How do the grown-ups get mad at the players when they're chasing it when the colleges are chasing it?"

Greed, it seems, should be a new elective for incoming freshmen in course-scheduling. Maybe Gordon Gekko can guest lecture.

Money is the most important thing on campus. And that's sad. But, it's real. College athletes, on the main stage, is all about greed, for the major programs within a college's athletic department. 

I  hope to be here, and not breathing dry air, five years from now. I can't even imagine what conference alignments will look like then.

 

I guess it's time to finally get rid of those old Big East Louisville sweatshirts I have. The ones that Sonja is always nagging me about ( "you never wear this anymore...I'm taking it to Goodwill...you need closet space")  and re-gear.  I used to get nice polo shirts from a certain source at a certain university. That cowboy has saddled up and rode off into the sunset, though. 

I just hope we don't change our logo. Last time I checked, we were the only Cardinals in the ACC. But, saay...is that Stanford coming down the road? Great...the old Cardinal vs Cardinals nickname conspiracy just might be ramping up again several notches...At least they have a crazy looking tree on their sidelines at times. All we got is some screaming intern with a microphone trying to get the crowd to clap their hands. 

Stay tuned...this soap opera could get real interesting...

Paulip

Reflecting Back Over the Last Several Years -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

REFLECTIONS

Remember the Silos? 

Remember the question in job interviews: Where do you see yourself in five/ten years? How many times have we looked ahead to think about where we would be but never actually looked back to see where we came from over that same stretch? In just 10 short (or long) years, things at Louisville, especially with women's sports have changed drastically.

Before we look at how Louisville Athletics has changed over the last 10 years I'll do a quick reflection of myself involved with UofL over the last 10 years.

This time 10 years ago I was preparing to enter freshman year as a Cardinal. I was still a UK fan at that time. It's crazy to think my UofL fan blood has only been around for 10 years and my involvement with their sports even shorter!

(...cleans up pretty well...)

I was getting ready for band camp with the Cardinal Marching Band- my first ever Louisville game as a student or in band was a Louisville vs Kentucky football game. Oh, the irony. In that same stretch of few weeks, I had joined the Cardinal Pride Pep Band and my earliest memory of a women's sport was volleyball. What freshman boy wouldn't be in awe over Katie George?

In that span of 10 years, I quickly switched my allegiances to Louisville, spent many years in the band, attended hundreds of games, traveled the country to cheer on the Cards, worked as a student on campus, changed majors, graduated, changed "big boy" jobs, and somehow became deeply involved in Louisville Athletics media. I went from having my first camera and taking some pretty poor quality photos at games that you can find in really old posts on here to newer cameras (I just bought another new camera two days ago) and slightly better quality photos. Many of the action photos you see from recent games have my handprint on them.

But let's move onto Louisville Athletics in the last 10 years. Overall, the Cards were still one of the top schools in the Big East. The Big East days would come to a close before the Cards spent a year in the AAC and have since been a more notable name in the ACC for the last several years.

Tom Jurich was still Athletic Director. We have since seen Vince Tyra come in to replace him, followed by Josh Heird being named as the newest successor earlier this year.

No new sports have arrived to campus in the last 10 years, but many stadiums and facilities have had nice overhauls. Lacrosse got a press box. Field hockey just got a new turf. Volleyball moved from Cardinal Arena, to the KFC Yum! Center, back to Cardinal Arena, now known as L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Soccer moved from Cardinal Park to Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium. Basketball was just familiarizing itself with its new home at the KFC Yum! Center. Softball got a makeover with seating.

Women's basketball added three more Final Four appearances in the last decade. They have hoisted the ACC trophy four times through the regular season or conference tournament. They have had two ACC Player of the Year awards and have had numerous players go to the WNBA. Multiple assistant coaches have gone on to become head coaches or associate head coaches at schools such as Mississippi State, EKU, and USC.

Field Hockey earned its first ever trip to the Final Four. It has also won an ACC Championship and is one a few ACC schools to ever go undefeated in conference play in a single season. The wall of All-Americans grew significantly.

Golf has seen coaching changes. Whitney Young is in her third season at the helm. Her predecessor, Courtney Trimble, was brand new 10 years ago. The Cards became a near-lock for the NCAA Regional Championships each year including reaching the NCAA Championship final in 2018.

Lacrosse saw a transition from its first ever head coach to its current head coach in Scott Teeter. The Cards have spent plenty of time in the Top 25 over the last decade and has even grown enough to include primetime TV games at Cardinal Football Stadium. The presence of international players on the roster has grown a lot in that timespan.

Soccer saw a move from Cardinal Park to Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium, lauded for being one of the premier collegiate soccer-only facilities in the country. The Cards have seen multiple NCAA Tournament appearances as well as a handful of players drafted to go pro. Two players were named to their respective conference Offensive Player of the Year with Emina Ekic in the ACC in 2020 and Christine Exeter in the AAC in 2013. There was also a beautiful 2-1 overtime victory over #1 North Carolina in 2015.

Softball saw its first ever coach Sandy Pearsall retire after having built the program from the ground up and being in charge for almost 20 years to seeing the hire of Holly Aprile. Ulmer Stadium had an overhaul with seating since that time and just revamped their lights to include nighttime UofL red lights recently. They have been to five NCAA Regionals in the last 10 years.

Swimming and Diving went from no women's championships to seeing two different women's athletes earn NCAA titles. Kelsi Worrell won back-to-back titles in the butterfly. She became the first woman in history to swim the 100-yard butterfly in under 50 seconds. Mallory Comerford raised the NCAA Championship trophy three times in her career at Louisville. She even tied with Katie Ledecky in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Arthur Albiero has continued to help Louisville Swimming and Diving became highly decorated. Louisville also saw a big jump in its diving program and even sent a diver to the World Championships this past summer.

Track and Field went from sharing Cardinal Park with soccer to having full rights to the venue. They also partnered with the City of Louisville to add an indoor track and field venue in downtown Louisville so the program would have the option to host both indoor and outdoor meets. The field program has become one of the top in the country and the Cards saw their first women's outdoor individual champion when Gabriela Leon won the pole vault this year.

Volleyball has gone through quite a bit of change. Anne Kordes was early in her stint at Louisville as the Cards' sixth head coach in program history and was in the midst of winning four conference titles in six years before Dani Busboom Kelly came in behind her. Volleyball had gone from playing in Cardinal Arena on campus to transitioning to the KFC Yum! Center before a huge revamp and renaming of Cardinal Arena, now L&N FCU Arena, became the permanent home for Louisville volleyball. Under Coach DBK, Louisville has one multiple ACC championships and has made three Sweet Sixteen appearances, two Elite Eights, and a Final Four. The Cards became ranked #1 for the first time in program history en route to a 32-0 start to the season.

                                                     *****************************

Here at Cardinal Couple, Jeff, Case, Daryl, and I have all joined Paulie's ranks as writers and contributors. Ten years ago, the writers were Sandy, Jenny, Paulie, Sonja, Phil and David Watson.  Our time on "live" radio transitioned from a basement on a hill in Crescent Hill, to a studio/house in the Mellwood area, seeing that radio station closing and us transitioning to the ever-popular podcast format. The ACC Pick Em and NCAA Pick Em have both grown into popular events that have become highly competitive. 

Things change over time and it seems like things have grown for the better over the last 10 years. With many bright moments ahead in Louisville Athletics, it's nice to take a moment just to look at how far things have come in the last 10 years and the insane amount of accolades and accomplishments have happened in that span.

Hopefully we can look back in another 10 years and see plenty more to brag about in that stretch.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Officially Summer -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello readers!   

It's Daryl checking in on the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend.   It was my luck to work at my 9-5 so its still a 5-day work week for me. As graduations wrap up and vacations begin for the summer months, the sports seasons are dry but the hype is real looking ahead.  

The 'Reason for the Seasons'

THANK YOU to those who have served our country and lost their lives for it.  It takes a brave individual to put on those uniforms every day to make sure we are secure.  We appreciate those who serve.  

Cardinal Couple Family

A huge shout-out to Paulie for covering our daily check-ins on here when any of us are unable.  Between the five of us, seven days in the week and twelve D1 sports to cover, Paulie leads the charge to make sure everyone is happy.  

When I think about my involvement with UofL athletics, a lot of my time and energy has shifted over the last year.  I appreciate Paulie giving me the outlet to continue to cover my favorite team but also the freedom to take care of business when I need to.   I am a proud Cardinal Couple contributor and naturally part of a "cardinal couple". 

My long-time boyfriend and I are huge UofL fans and most of our partnership revolves around the Cards.   Game days spent with friends, trips to road games make life-long memories.  We also love watching actual cardinal birds when we see/hear them.  We like to see who can find it first when we hear them call.  (You can Youtube "cardinal calls" if you can't recognize them yet, its very recognizable!) It's a fun game we play.. its satisfying to finally find that red spot!

Out of Office

I did spend the weekend at the Waterfront for Forecastle.  I haven't yelled at anyone to get off my lawn yet, but I did have several of those 'becoming your parents' moments while I was down there.  

I usually go with the jersey/sport look for this festival as do a lot of those who attend but the WNBA/Women's names rarely make an appearance.  As you can imagine, the thrill I experienced when I saw Jack Harlow come on stage with the Hailey Van Lith jersey.  I did spot another person with a white HVL t-shirt jersey who deserves a shout-out as well, so major shout-out HVL for making an appearance in this year's festival fashion which has now flooded social media from Jack's performance.  

Summer Fun Ideas...

Not sure if you can make a big trip this summer with gas prices looking like they have been?  Below are some short trips up to Indy that can be made to see a couple former Cardinals in WNBA actions.  I got my eye on that match-up with the Sky for sure!  From what I can tell from social media, the players look to be pretty available for pics/autographs after games too! 

Mystics at Fever Tuesday and August 12

Emily Engstler coming off a 13 point, 9 rebound performance on Friday vs LA Sparks 

Myisha Hines Allen coming off a 26th birthday on 5/30

Liberty at Fever June 10 

Sky at Fever June 19 and July 7 

Have a great Tuesday! 

As Always, Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

Jaz, Kylee and Liberty try Myisha and Mystics tonight -- Softball adds graduate manager -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WNBA 7 PM GAME FEATURES CARDINALS

We took a brief departure from following our Louisville WNBA Cards yesterday -- to review the events, actions and programs that were involved and that caused COVID-19 to strike the UofL campus among the student-athletes. And,

 As far as previewing anything for last night, no Cardinal WBB players were in action in the WNBA triple-header.

 Just to catch you up, the Sue Bird-less Seattle Storm had to walk out of the bubble feeling very lucky Thursday evening. They blew an almost-20 point lead in the final quarter but still managed to down Atlanta 93-92. 

Did anyone mention former Texas A&M star Chennedy Carter might be sorta good? The rookie blistered Seattle for 35 points in 36 minutes last night. 

In other games. the Connecticut Sun clipped the Dallas Wings 91-68. Dallas playing the role of Icarus and flying too close to the Sun, I suppose. 

Phoenix is overcoming their slow league start quite nicely and is now 5-2 with a win over Chicago in a battle of 4-2 teams. When you have Diana Taurasi and Brit Griner putting in 22 points each for you, you're probably going to win most nights out.

Tonight is the fun night for fans of ex-UofL WBB greats, though.

The games begin at 6 p.m. when our neighbors to the north (the Indiana Fever) look to get back to .500 against a Minnesota Lynx team that comes at you most nights with Napheesa Collier and Sylvia Fowles. "Big Syl" is averaging a double-double but sat out the Lynx last game -- a win over New York -- with a calf injury.

Then, at 7 p.m. match of three Cardinals, when Jaz Jones and Kylee Shook look for their first win as New York Liberty players against Myisha and the Washington Mystics. After a scorching start to the season, the Mystics (3-2) have cooled off a bit in their last two games -- falling to You can't point the finger of blame on "Mooks" though...Myisha Hines-Allen is averaging 17.6 points per game and 9,6 rebounds.

This should be a fun one, watching Myisha go up against Kylee. Maybe the Liberty will see fit to giving Kylee and Jaz a bit more time on the court. I mean, seriously...your team is 0-5 Walt Hopkins....what do you have to lose? The two have already created a few highlight reel moments with their passing and scoring and deserved the extra minutes...(in my humble opinion, of course...I'm not ready to replace Hopkins or Deb Antonelli as a font of knowledge).

Angel and the Aces get the night game (9 p.m.) and it should be a great one with two 3-2 teams going at each other. The Los Angeles Sparks are the opponent and it's Candace Parker vs.Angel McCoughtry ! Angel is averaging 14.4 points per game in five contests and looking like the Angel of old. 

Viewing opportunities for tonight's games:with our Cardinals are on ESPN 2. 

SOFTBALL ADDS GRADUATE MANAGER

University of Louisville softball coach Holly Aprile has announced that Hannah Dossett will join her staff as a graduate manager starting in August 2020.
 
"We are very grateful to have Hannah join our staff as a graduate manager," said Aprile. "Hannah embodies our core values and brings a ton of great experience to our program as a former ACC Academic Honor Roll student-athlete.  Her work ethic and knowledge base will be a very positive addition to our staff."
 
Dossett, a native of Warsaw, Ky., was a four-year starter at Syracuse, suiting up for the Orange from 2016 through 2019.
 
Throughout her career, the catcher/infielder helped Syracuse to 109 victories and four ACC Championship appearances and stands tied for third on the program's all-time list for sacrifice flies with six. In 2016, Dossett made an immediate impact during her rookie season, starting all 52 games and tallying five home runs, 10 doubles and a triple while driving in 23 RBI and scoring 23 runs. In 2019, she registered a career-best .289 season batting average.
 
Dossett represented the softball team on the Syracuse Student-Athlete Advisory in all four of her seasons. She was also successful in the classroom as a four-time ACC All-Academic Honor Roll and Syracuse Dean's List selection.
 
She earned her bachelor's degree in business management from Syracuse in 2019.

Have a fantastic Friday!

paulie

xxxxx

 

Louisville women's basketball -- Let the Games begin! -- Weekend view -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NCAA Tournament Time

Happy Game Day!  The moment we have all been waiting for is here!  At noon, our anticipation to see Louisville women's basketball take the court in the NCAA Tournament will reach its peak.

The Cards face 16-seed Boise State in front of a home crowd at the KFC Yum! Center.  The Broncos (23-9, 14-4 Mountain West) won the regular season outright and claimed the crown in their conference tournament to receive an automatic bid to make their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.

Boise State last lost on Feb 3 to UNLV.  Just over a week later was Louisville's loss to UConn.  Boise State rides a 10-game win streak into the match-up, the first ever between these two teams.

Riley Lupfer is a sharpshooter for the Broncos, averaging 16.4 points per game.  Her 3.75 three-pointers per game is fifth-best in the country.  For comparison, Asia Durr averages an even 3 threes per game.  Lupfer has hit 120 threes on the year.  Shalen Shaw heads the post for Boise State, averaging seven rebounds per game.  11 of the 15 players on the roster stand 6'0 or taller, which has helped in the rebounding and blocks columns.

"Boise State is that way. It's in Idaho!"

As a team Boise State averages 69.2 points per game while giving up 61.4.  They have a rebound margin of +6, high ranking in the country.  Most of the Bronco's scoring comes in the two middle quarters, scoring 55% of their points then.  They shoot .355 from behind the arc and .731, both excellent figures.

What does Louisville have to do to win?

A 1-seed vs 16-seed match-up is expected to be an easy win for the higher seed.  The confidence boost plus the home crowd should help some.

Let Asia Durr find her shots.  If she isn't hot early do not let that cause hesitation when looking to her later in the game. "Nite-Nite" is a scorer and she will find ways to put up numbers.  To help Durr get some open looks the Cards need to pass the ball.  An extra pass or two can often put the defense out of position just enough to get some elbow room and a good look at the basket.

Combine size with strength to overpower Boise State down low.  Myisha Hines-Allen is having a highlight year with her double-doubles so feed her the ball.  "Doo-Blay" and Sam Fuehring play with a fiery emotion and they won't rest until they haul in every last rebound.

The missed lay-ups need to be cleaned up.  You can't get any closer to the basket unless you pull a Brittney Griner and dunk the darn thing.  Everyone on the team has missed an easy lay-up at some point this season and it usually follows with "#$@&%*!" coming from Walz on the bench.  A heavy presence and solid scoring down low will open up the exterior for better looks.

I won't give a prediction to the game in hopes of preventing a jinx, but all know who most of us will be rooting for (sorry Keith B, Boise State fan).  Make sure to get out there and cheer the Cards on if you can manage to get off work.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to provide pictures due to the fact it is near-impossible to get off at the bank last minute.

The Irish Visit for St Patrick's Day Softball

Thanks, ACC.  I think the university as a whole has had enough poor luck in recent years.  Playing Notre Dame on St Patrick's Day sounds like a tough one.  Game one is scheduled for today at 2:00, moved up from the 4:00 original start time.  Saturday's first pitch is 1:00 and Sunday is noon.  Days and times can change, weather pending.  I will have my green Louisville shirt on Saturday at Ulmer hooping and hollering.

The weather calls for rain this weekend.

After 25 games of non-conference play and a 20-5 record the Cards finally face ACC opponents.  The Irish took the series 2-1 last season at Ulmer Stadium.  Anyone remember the stormy Monday night last year?  The Cards went on to win 7-4.

Danielle Watson and Megan Hensley should do most of the work in the circle.  The question surrounding this team's success is if they can fix issues they have battled in the past.  Louisville continues to have problems with defensive errors, with most of them coming from the left side of the infield up to the front of the plate.

Notre Dame leads the all-time series 18-16.  A sweep sounds pretty great right now.  The Irish are 16-8 on the year and has relied on their offense to carry them.  Ali Wester is hitting .455 and Katie Marino has already sent five balls out of the park.  Can the UofL pitchers shut down the ND offense?

Lax Comes Home

After a two week trip to the southeast region of the US, the Louisville lacrosse team comes back home to the LLS where they will face Boston College.  That game will be starting right about the time the radio show concludes.

Trust me when I say the food truck is good.  The trick is keeping your food down while cheering on the high-scoring, fast-paced offense Scott Teeter has going on.  Even the hungry, stingy defense has drawn attention.

Record Breakers

The swim and dive team broke two school records at the NCAA Championships.  Rachael Bradford-Feldman made it into the record books by one hundredth of a second in the 200 IM with a time of 1:55.67.  The 400-medley relay team clocked in at 3:26.93.  The 200-free relay team finished with a time of 1:27.19, the fastest at the nationals for Louisville and falling a bit shy of a their record breaker on the day.

Another Day at the Office

Make sure to tune into the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour tomorrow morning at 11:00 on WCHQ (100.9 fm).  If you live outside the range of the station you can listen online for free or check out our new Facebook Live option on WCHQ's Facebook page.  Paulie and Worldwide will be in the studio with your truly.  Case is recovering from an injury so we send him best wishes.  In his stead we welcome my partner in crime from River City Cards, Mike Gilpatrick.  If you want to know anything about the Detroit Tigers or Louisville Baseball he is your man.  We have a full lineup ready to go so make sure to tune in!


Pick 'Em closes at noon

If you haven't submitted your picks for the NCAA Women's Tournament Pick "em" here at CARDINAL COUPLE....what are you waiting for? A full moon, good crops, the Easter bunny?

We have a $25 Panera Card for da winnah! $15 Cracker Barrel card for second-best. Jared Anderson verifying brackets while turning quarters into nickles and dimes! People from all over the continental United States entering. It is your manifest duty to grab a writing utensil, fill out a bracket and send it to us. We have dozens of chimps sitting up in the Bracket Central suite with nothing to do but ride Bill the Goat and Frank the Mule around the offices and play jarts!

You better have something in the comments section by noon today or I'm telling Mom!

Paulie 

Happy Friday and Go Cards, especially women's basketball!

Jared