PLAY, DELAY OR STAY AWAY? -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 JCPS ATHLETIC BOARD MAKES THE CALL TONIGHT

The Jefferson County Public School Athletic Board meets this evening to make a decision on fall sports in the Louisville area. 

If you're wondering what exactly this has to do with the joy and excitement of University of Louisville athletics, consider the rosters of the women's fall sports squads on the Belknap campus. You'll find several "homegrown" student athletes on the squads. Women's Soccer star Emina Ekic, who went to Louisville Manual. Sam Minrath and India Reed both played field hickey locally. Louisville Volleyball has a couple as well on  the 2020 roster with Alexa Hendricks and Anna DeBeer. Local talent has always been a "feeder"for the Louisville fall women's sports squads -- and there are many other high school seniors who have played at Jefferson County high schools and gone on to other colleges and universities to establish student-athlete careers. 

Earlier this month, the KHSAA (Kentucky High School Athletic Association) voted to proceed with fall sports. Jefferson County, however, has a bit of different circumstances than some of the smaller counties and communities that make up the KHSAA. The wider spread of COVID-19 being the main one. 

This is a decision ahead that isn't going to be popular, no matter which way the athletic board votes. 

If they decide to start fall sports, there will be worry about the health and safety of the participants, coaches and those who attend the events as fans. If they cancel the fall events, there will be an outcry from the coaches, parents and student-athletes who want events and participation. The third option is a delay. That, in itself, had subsections -- in, how long a delay? For a month, until the spring, until January 1st, 2021? 

This is no easy decision to make and I'm glad I'm not on that board that will make the decision tonight.

To the north of Louisville, Southern Indiana high schools, who have already gone back to school, are also playing fall sports. Including football. With fans in the stands. Of course, it's too early to tell what COVID-19 case will spring up from that. From all indications, spacing and masking has been in place in the stands. But, what about the linemen, or forwards and defenders on the field that are breathing on each other unmasked? 

The vast majority of fall sports are, of course, outdoors. Volleyball, though, in Kentucky can start practice today and begin matches/competition on Sept. 7th. 

It'll be interesting to see how the Jefferson County High School Sports board votes tonight. 

APOLOGIES AND CHANGES

Our platform for posting articles here at Cardinal Couple is Blogger. Blogger recently went through some updates and changes designed to "improve the experience". 

Maybe...

What has happened here on the posting end is that the format has gone to double spacing only, which is annoying and not great for a daily column like ours. Also, pictures and labels have become much harder to add to articles. And, finally, the ability to comment on articles has disappeared, it seems, for many of our readers. 

On Thursday of last week, commenting suddenly stopped functioning for a lot of you. I've gotten e-mails from you and I thank you for letting me know about this function not working for you. I apologize for not jumping on this situation earlier, but, it took me awhile just to figure out how to try and change things in the blogger format and, quite honestly, I'm not sure I understand it yet. 

Gee, I could use an IT guy...

And, I haven't commented in awhile, admittedly, so I don't know if it affects the staff here or not, and, let's be honest, our guys aren't much on commenting to begin with -- but the loss of readers' comments does concern me. And, the staff here is registered to comment under a different category than the "anonymous" commentor....we're registered through Blogger.  

I know, commenting "anonymously" can be trickey with the verifying stuff you have to do...like "how many fire hydrants are there above?" or "choose the automobiles" but we have to have some type of verification/identity procedures here -- otherwise the comments would be over-run by "bots", spammers and sellers. 

So, my request is simple. Would you try to comment today? It doesn't need to be long or eloquent. Just a simple "Interesting article" or "I disagree" or even "Hi guys!"  -- anything, just to see if we can get comments again. I'm no I.T. specialist, so maybe I messed something up in the change-over. 

Thanks for you help.   

paulie

Hooping it up in Louisville this weekend -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

THE CLASSIC One Of The Major Showcase Events This Weekend 

The Classic, sponsored by National Exposure Basketball, comes to the Kentucky Expo Center (formerly known as the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center) starting today and almost 400 teams of U12 through U17 high school girls basketball prospects will be in town for three days of hoops. 

28 courts. A four-game guarantee. Over 300 college coaches. Organized mayhem form three days, driven by the steady beat of balls bouncing, shoes slapping the court and the yells and comments of the players and coaches. A symphony of sound. 

On the first "live" weekend of recruiting this spring, high school basketball comes to Louisville's door. And the Cardinals coaching staff will be in attendance for many of the contests. 

On Thunder Weekend in Louisville, expect a bunch of "thunder" as well out on Phillips Lane by the airport on the hardwood -- instead of the River. 

Here are a few of the participants the Cards will be watching: 

Rickea Jackson --  A 6'2" wing in the Class of 2019 from Detroit, MI...she plays for the Sports City U squad. She's very explosive on the perimeter, attacks the hoop well, active on the glass and can attack in transition. She's the #2 ranked wing by Prospects Nation and Hoop Gurlz has her at #9 overall. She has not come up with a college declaration yet. 

Jordan Horston -- This 6'1" guard out of Columbus, OH is also in the Class of 2019...she also plays for Sports City U.  Athleticism, quick leaper, plays outside or around the rim and impressive mid-range shot. She's #3 ranked by Prospects Nation and Hoop Gurlz has her at #6 overall. Undeclared at last glance, plenty of school have an interest. 

Zia Cooke -- She's a 5'9" point guard out of Toledo and is the #1 ranked point guard current at Hoop Gurlz and #7 overall inn the class of 2019. She has a scorer's mentality, fast off-the-dribble, can take defenders to the hoop easily or beat them from mid-range or deep. Has great body control and finishes plays in traffic. Also undeclared at this writing. Another Sports City U baller. 

Kierstan Bell -- This 6'1" guard can manufacture, deliver off-the-dribble, a defensive nightmare for opponents, passes well and can play excellent defense. From Canton, OH. She comes in at #2 by Prospects Nation at her guard spot and Hoop Gurlz lists her as the #4 prospect overall for the 2019 class. In Ohio, they call her "SheBron" and the Canton faithful ring bells at home games whenever she scores. 
She does her club ball for 77 South Elite All-Stars. Remember the name. 

LINK: A nice read on Bell:  QUEEN KIERSTAN

Gabby Hutcherson --  Out of the 2020 class, this 6'2" "stretch 4" can create inside or out and plays solid defense. From Columbus, OH...Hoop Gurlz has her at #7 in her position and #24 overall. She is undeclared as well and Ohio State and Maryland have been listed as possibles. 

So, plenty of top flight talent in town for a major test. We haven't seen a whole lot about posts yet in the Cardinals radar and, admittedly, I'm not the greatest on recruiting news...but based on this partial list, Louisville has some major talent in town and ready to roll. 

It's a Treasure Hunt! Wouldn't it be great if'
she wore a parrot on her shoulder?  Arrgghh! 

I also read that a prospect from the class of 2021...Tatiana Pope...who will be in attendance, might be worth watching. She's already 6'5" and can shoot the three with accuracy. Hoop Gurlz doesn't list her in their top 25 yet and Prospects Nation doesn't list a top 25 for 2021...but there's plenty of time to evaluate this young women. 

My favorite (name wise) has to be Treasure Hunt, a 2020 prospect and 6'1" wing out of Chattanooga, TN. She's the #2 wing in the class according to Prospect's Nation. 

An early spring chance to make a name for yourself or catch a coach's attention this weekend out at the KEC. Hundreds of athletics in the venue, all a bit nervous...hoping to do well and catch a few eyes, in addition to helping their squad win. All looking at the men and women in the polo shirts and seeing if there is a logo or school name up in the left or right corner of the shirt. 

Club ball. A totally different creature than high school ball. Kentucky Premier, one of the most recognized and successful club programs, will have 11 teams at the three-day event. Score More Athletic Club, the second largest of the hoops clubs with representation in four different cities in the Midwest and East, brings in 15 squad. 

For some of the girls...the  "veteran performer" status applies, having played in tournaments like this for the past 4-5 years. We're not sure where Nyah Green is playing this weekend, but we'll assume that that there will be a Cardinals coach in the venue wherever it is to watch the 2019 Louisville signee and best of the class. We're also unsure where Ramani Parker, a 6'4" paint dweller from the 2019 Class and headed to Louisville out of California will be showcasing her skills this weekend. Fill us in if you know? 

Yes, the coaches will be watching and evaluating. A coach, who requested anonymity, told me this about events like this: 

"You need to go in with a game plan. You make sure your staff knows who to watch, you, as head coach will be keying in on your main recruits, and some of the court-sides can get pretty crowded with coaches. You're thinking of your future needs for the program and trying to watch the players in that kind of situation. Who passes well? Who had good mid-range skills? Is she a talker? Does she go to the hoop or hang around the perimeter?  You fraternize a lot, too. With other coaches, club coaches, parents and talent scouts." 

I won't be attending any of the KEC events, unfortunately...Cardinal Couple coverage on other things and (what appears to be) the bare minimum in the studio Saturday -- so far -- with just me and Jeff for The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour, plus a phone call from the travelling Jared will have me quite busy, plus writing for Case on Saturday as well...as he goes into the serious testing part of trying to become an engineer. 

(We hope he gets a nice, new shiny train!) 

I've also got Handicapping Heroes in full swing now and the horse racing venue also keeps me hopping. So much for that "slow season" I used to experience at the end of women's college basketball.  

We'll get a little more into the weekend's events tomorrow and it's a busy one for softball, lacrosse and the other spring UofL women's sports.  

Paulie
xxxxx

SUMMER NEWS AND HOOPS RECRUITING -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We've all survived the Fourth of July and are back to our regularly scheduled summer. I was planning on writing the Wednesday article before some car troubles delayed me and Paulie was nice enough to cover for me.

Speaking of Paulie, the news is good. He's up to 1/2 mile a day of walking, mostly without a cane. He anticipates driving soon, maybe we should post that well in advance so motorists in our area have a heads-up.

Women's golf, who has been quiet since the season ended, announced five members who were named WGCA All-American Scholars. Congratulations to Shannon Gramley, Lauren Hartlage, Louisville Oxner, Delaney Shah, and Molly Skapik. Remember that grades come before sports!

Paulie mentioned yesterday that Rachel Pease from the cross country team was named as an ACC Sportsmanship Award Winner this year. Rachel made us all proud with the sportsmanship she showed and proved to us all that winning isn't everything. Her actions were so heroic that she deserved a shoutout for a second day in a row.

Unrelated to women's sports, social media has been buzzing about former men's basketball player Russ Smith. A member of the 2013 championship squad has been averaging over 60 points per game in the Chinese League.

Morgan Miller is officially listed on Oklahoma's volleyball roster. We were fortunate to have the six foot lefty for a couple of seasons. M&M was versatile and could play just about any position you threw her in. She transferred out of UofL to move closer to home.

For all of the softball lovers out there (I'm talking to you, Jeff) Jordan McNary has found a passion for coaching. She's been assisting the Louisville Sluggers softball team during their summer play. Louisville has seen many former Sluggers throw on the Cardinal Red and black for their collegiate career. A fantastic player becoming a fantastic coach over there!

Thankfully, we only have a month left of no sports. Women's soccer kicks the season off at Ohio State on August 9th. After that we are thrust into the fall season with numerous sports playing.

Until mid-August comes we can only contain our excitement and hope for continued success this season with all of the teams.

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

With the recruiting "live" period starting today for women's college basketball, Jeff Walz and his staff will be busily traversing the nation checking out the future talent.

The EYBL is in town out at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center (66 courts!) and the Cardinal staff is checking out that action as well.

Some of the names?

With two recruits already on board for 2018...the Cards will probably be looking for an additional one or two. Aquira DeCosta and Nylassa Smith are two top prospect still remaining out there that haven't committed. The Cards will, of course be watching multiple classes for talent to add to the program.

Happy hunting staff!

Jared