Sea of Red sees Cards defeat UK WBB 80-75 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR'S  32 PACES CARDS PAST CATS

Another classic Battle of the Bluegrass yesterday in the KFC YUM! Center as Louisville WBB holds on after squandering an 18-point lead to down Kentucky by five in front of 13786 screaming fans Sunday afternoon. 


The fans had plenty to yell about. A Cardinal team that looked invincible in the third quarter after a close first half. A Cats squad that did not buckle under the pressure after falling behind 18 points in the third quarter. Frustration about the Cards 41% free throw shooting in the final quarter. Outrage at maybe the most ridiculous technical foul assessed to Louisville this season. All the elements were in place to create a situation that ultimately ended with a lot of Cardinal fans leaving with feelings of relief that victory was secured and UK fans walking out wondering "what might have been" if the defense had been a little stouter earlier. 

This was a contest early on that featured an Asia Durr 7 - Cats 7 start, after the senior All-American provided the Cards offense in the first two minutes. UofL used a 5- 0 run to take a 12-7 lead after Sam Fuehring completed an "and one" a minute later. Louisville held that five-point lead for the quarter with Dana Evans knocking down a jumper with 25 second before the horn. 

Evans also started the scoring to open the second quarter. Several fans commented to me that they were puzzled by Arica Carter's lack of minutes in the contest, but with Evans performing the way she was on both ends of the court, Walz made the decision to keep the diminutive point-guard from Gary, Indiana out there. Her free throws gave Louisville a 34-27 edge with 2:30 before the halftime break and Durr's two charity tosses secured a 36-29 halftime edge for the red-clad home team, an interesting choice of uniforms, arguably to support the "red out" promotion..while UK was clad in the white. 

Louisville was bucketing the ball and that was good for a 16 for 29 half of shooting for 55%. UK at 38%...hindered by a less than spectacular 4-15 effort in the second session of ten minutes. Cardinal fans gladly, but a bit nervously, eyed the lead while wondering if the Cats had a run still to come. 

One thing UK was proficient at was knocking Durr around like a cue ball on a billiards table. Between UK's trio of Maci Morris, Rhyne Howard and Taylor Murray...Durr was getting pummeled like a defenseless quarterback under siege by the Chicago Bears defense. Asia shrugged it off and even smiled about it in the post-game presser. Just a part of the college game were her words.

Nevertheless, the Cards came out on fire in the third. A Jazmine Jones three-ball, followed by a Durr trifecta and then a Fuehring basket plus free throw gave the Cards an early 9-4 run in the first two minutes of the second half to push the lead to 45-33. That would grow to 57-39 (the Cards biggest lead of the game) with three minutes left in the quarter when Jones went coast-to-coast to put in a layup. A minute later, a beautifully timed lob to Jones for an alley loop basket had the YUM! Center patrons in a frenzied delight.  Then, inexplicably and incredulously Jones was whistled for a technical foul. She was stunned, the fans were stunned and Jeff Walz argued the call vociferously with head referee Joe Vaszily. He's not nicknamed "silly Joe" without good reason, you know.

Jones had yelled "Let's Go!" after the alley-oop went in.

Either those two words are a couple that really tick off this officiating crew or her vocal delight was mis-heard and mis-understood. It was the start of a 8-2 run for the Cats after the free throws and subsequent possession. The Cards recovered, though, and finished the quarter up by 15. Bionca Dunham on a excellently-timed bucket and free throw and an Evans basket. It appeared the Cards might have the Cats searching for the exit and the quarter ended with Louisville up 67-52. 

Give credit to Matthew Mitchell and his squad for succeeding on their strategy to get back in the contest. In what might have seemed like the longest ten minutes in Louisville play this season, the Cats employed the "let's foul them and see if they can earn it from the line" ploy. 

It was the right employment and worked well. 

The lead started to drop. From 17 to 10 halfway through the fourth. Louisville was sinking either just one of the two free throws they were getting, or none at all. The Cats were scoring on their possessions. Asia Durr was having trouble finding the range on three-pointer attempts and, despite a eye-popping swat of a Rhyne Howard layup by Jones, the Cards had seen the lead evaporate to five with two minutes remaining. 

The Cards had 12 free throw attempts in those final two minutes. Five went in. UK sank two free throws with 27 seconds remaining to get within four at 77-73. It was nervous time in the downtown arena. 

Fortunately, UK never got closer than four. A Fuehring free throw with 14 seconds set the tally at 79-73 and Carter hit one of two with 5 seconds to set the final numbers 80-75. The Cards win. Despite being out-scored 23-13 in the final quarter. Louisville remains undefeated at 10-0 and Kentucky takes their first defeat of the season to set their record at 9-1.

Asia Durr early made this win possible. Despite 2-10 three point shooting (I still say she had dead legs in the fourth quarter, something she denied in the post-game interviews) Durr's theatrics for three quarters helped UofL construct an advantage.

The first seven points, 17 in the first quarter, 24 by halftime. Despite the tae-kwon-do, defense-by-mugging tactics UK employed. 

Walz played nine players in the contest, but three of them combined for just 14 minutes (out of the 200 minutes available). I'll not question the substitution patterns. He's with them every day and knows what he's got.  


THE FRED REPORT

I think we all needed water (or something stronger) after Sunday. 

Free Throws -- 15-28 is 53.6% I won't say anything else about it. I've already got Coach Walz mad at me about my earlier question about them. No letter awarded

Rebounds -- UofL held a 32-28 edge in grabs. Fuehring and Dunham with seven each. Jazz added six. The number, while a "win" for Walz's squad, pales when you consider that the Cards managed only six on the offensive boards and gathered only six second-chance points. I'll offer a lower case "r" here, but it could easily be a "no letter". 

Effort/Execution -- The Cards definitely hustled all game and had a 12-0 fast-break-for points edge. Seven steals and 13 forced turnovers. 56% shooting is excellent. They had no answers for Rhyne Howard (25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists) but they just may have faced the SEC Freshman of the Year yesterday. Just seven turnovers for Walz's Warriors. I'll award the capital "E" here. 

Defense -- Louisville held UK to a 43.3% shooting percentage. They shut down long range threat Maci Morris ( 11 points in 26 minutes ) but senior Taylor Murray and Howard went for 43 points on 14-29 combined shooting, You can defend free throws and the Cats did excel there with a 16-19 success rate. (84.2%) 75 points a bit higher than Louisville normally allows. I'm OK with designating a lower case "d" for the defense. 

FRED RECAP:  _-r-E-d


SOOO...

Louisville did what they needed to do to win the Battle of The Bluegrass. Five players in double figures (Durr's 32, Fuehring with 12, Jones added 12, Dunham contributing 11 and Evans ending with 10). 

A game yesterday that Louisville was never really in danger of losing but a game where UK dominated the final quarter, a quarter that has been their worst quarter so far this year. Kudos to the incredible hustle and spirit of Jazmine Jones, Durr's "oh-it's-time-for-another-big-game-performance" afternoon and solid battling in the paint from Fuehring and Dunham. 

An example of the beating performed on
Asia yesterday (From Charlie Springer's
UofL Card Game website -- Photo credit to
Cindy Rice Shelton) Taking it on the chin...

I'm not overly concerned with the lack of minutes from Shook or Carter. You win as a team and you go with whose hot. We don't know how much Shook's tendinitis affected her time or performance and Carter contributed well in her time out there. 

This was a game most Cardinal fans thought would be a close win for Louisville and they got just that. Maybe not in the way expected, but, any landing you can walk away from is a good one and Louisville flew through some choppy weather, weathered a slew of questionable "calls" and "no calls" from the stripes and scored the most points. 

The team will take it. The fans will accept it. I'm happy about it. A fun afternoon in front of a vocal and enthused sea of red that hung on every shot, play and sequence. 

An opponent that refused to roll over. A home squad that gutted out a quite physical win. College basketball, with all it's many twists and turns, was in fine display yesterday by the river.


THEY SAID IT

Post-game comments below: 

JEFF WALZ

ASIA DURR AND SAM FUEHRING

KENTUCKY'S MATTHEW MITCHELL, MACI MORRIS and RHYNE HOWARD (audio only)



paulie
xxxxx



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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Tapley loaded for bear

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Kentucky Premier holding some potential Cards

-2015 Georgia prep star Benham verbals to UofL


In this changing and challenging world of high school recruiting, sometimes we forget that there is a second source and force besides the prospect's high school that can shape and guide a girls' decisions and rationale when it comes to a college choice.

Welcome to club ball.

Club ball, travel teams are the entity that allow the rising

prospects to play, compete and get exposure when they aren't playing for their high school team. It's present in a multitude of sports besides basketball. It's an assembly of the best players in a certain area who band together and play a competitive schedule against other club teams.

I remember several years ago going to one of these shootouts for club teams that was held in Cardinal Arena. I was new to the travel team concept...this club ball scenario was first time fact gathering to me.

One of the players who impressed me played for Kentucky Premier, probably the best program in the state and the Ohio Valley area. I approached the Premier coach...David Tapley and asked if I could interview her. And I had a delightful talk with Makayla Epps. She was dead solid and sold on UofL then.

Things change.

In today's Courier-Journal, reporter Steve Jones has a nice article about Tapley's latest "clubbers" who are picking up some major college interest. He's got several players that  UofL is targeting.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130803/SPORTS11/308030004/Future-taking-shape-Kentucky-Premier-girls-basketball-players

I'm sure our Jenny here at Cardinal Couple has the names Krys McCune, Maci Morris, Erin Boley, Nora Kiesler, Lindsay Duvall and Alexis Robinson on her Twitter and Facebook hunt lists. A look at the Louisville Elite Camp Roster from June 26th. shows that three of the six were participants. A review of my notes from that camp reveals that I was pretty impressed with Kiesler, Morris and Duvall.

They all play for Tapley and Kentucky Premier.

If you put these six girls on the same high school team here in Kentucky, they'd win the state Girls Championship trophy going away. In club ball, though, they face teams with similar talent almost every weekend.

When a young woman announces her college choice it is usually at her high school with her parents and high school coach nearby. When the university announces the signing of this player, they always make mention of the high school. But when the recruiting services review a young lady, they base a lot of their rankings and ratings on club ball performance. What has Jeff Walz and his staff been doing for a lot of July? Going to club ball tournaments.

When I was a boy, you played either Optimist or backyard basketball until you got to the seventh grade. Then there was junior high hoops, freshman teams and varsity. Club ball? Never heard of it.

Times have changed.

Tapley has direct access to six of the best in the state. Louisville has either offered or is probably going to offer the six mentioned above.

Power broker or benevolent mentor?

Tapley has both titles. A high school coach gets a player for
maybe four months a year. A club team gets a longer time with these kids. Even in the eighth grade. Look at Lindsay Duvall. She was impressive in the Walz Skills Camp. She visited UofL on Thursday. Tapley wasn't sure whether UofL had made an offer, but Cardinal assistant coach Samantha Williams supposedly has told him, "I will not lose this kid."

These days, it's good to be David Tapley.


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Maya Benham 5-11 WF 2015 Douglas County HS GA is going ACC. Benham gave verbal to Jeff Walz & Louisville Cardinals. DOUGLASVILLE Lady Tigers

 

We now have the 2015 recruiting class underway. My notes on her from the June 26th. skills camp at UofL.

Maya Benham (2015) 5'11" Douglas Co. (GA)Loved the way she shot, passes, hustled and has a very dominating court presence. Drives in traffic to hoop well.

You're gonna love this girl, Lady Cards fans!

-Paulie

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(Staff Columnist Sandy Walker with her weekly jaunt through the world of Cardinal Women's Athletics. She's our version of Wikipedia...if you can't find it here, it probably doesn't exist. )



 

NELL ON WHEELS

 

Anyone who checked the comments last week saw that Louisville was selected as the most recent location for Nell Fortner to bring her “Nell on Wheels” show.    Those of you who were unable to see the taping or who are interested in seeing other video’s posted from the Louisville trip can check out Sara Hammond’s tour of the women’s training and practice facility http://m.youtube.com/videos?open=1&c=17&s=pop&t=t

Also check out this video of the Lady Cards Pre-Kentucky practice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4LH-lQo99w

 

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BASKETBALL SPECIAL TICKET PACKAGE

 

The women now have a special 4 game special package of tickets available to the women’s games.  Go to twitpic.com/biriq1 for the details or call the Louisville ticket office at 502-852-5151.

 

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WOMEN’S HOOPS ON TV FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 3-9

 

Check out the NCAA posting of televised games for the week.  http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2012-12-02/women-s-hoops-tv-dec-3-9

 

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BASKETBALL RANKINGS AS OF DECEMBER 3, 3012

 

Louisville carries a 8^th place ranking into Saturday’s home game against Valparaiso.  Game time is 7:30 at the YUM! Center.  Come and spend the evening with your friends while watching the best game in town.

RANK	SCHOOL	RECORD
1	Stanford	8-0
2	Connecticut	6-0
3	Baylor	6-1
4	Duke	6-0
5	Notre Dame	5-0
6	Georgia	9-0
7	Kentucky	6-1
8	Louisville	8-1
9	Maryland	4-1
10	Penn State	6-1
11	California	6-1
12	Texas	5-0
13	Oklahoma	7-1
14	Tennessee	6-1
15	Purdue	7-1
16	Oklahoma State	6-0
T17	UCLA	4-1
T17	Kansas	7-0
19	Dayton	9-0
20	Ohio State	5-2

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BASKETBALL RECRUITS

 

I am sure that I am missing others but word is that 2014 recruit Sydney Brackemyre @syd_the_kyd31 and 2015 recruit Maci Morris @Maci15Mo were at the game last Saturday.  Hopefully they could see themselves out there on the floor as the focus of 15000+ cheering fans.

The breath-taking panorama of the KFC YUM! Center on game day for the Louisville Women's basketball is something that never ceases to amaze us here at Cardinal Couple. 10,000-15,000 fans, the stirring intro for the Cardinal team, the LadyBirds and roar of the Cardinal fans has got to be VERY impressive to high school juniors and seniors. Heck, it's got to be impressive to anyone!

 

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LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL

 

There is just a little over 2 months before the softball team opens their new season in Las Vegas against UCF on February 8.  They will participate in the Sportco Kick-Off Classic with UCF, UNLV, Minnesota, Texas Tech and DePaul. 

Coach Sandy Pearsall’s 2013 team includes 8 new players.    Bios can be found by going to the Louisville Official softball website news page for November 15 at http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/111512aab.html .  They are Maryssa Becker, Kristina Dillard, Rachel Houck, Autumn McDuffie, Jordan McNary, Morgan Meyer, Nicole Pufahl and Tiarra Sanabria.  3 recruits are KY residents with Autumn and Morgan coming from Louisville and Jordan is from Madison, KY.

 

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ACC SOFTBALL

 

Plans are for various contributors to the Cardinal Couple site to provide brief overviews of various ACC sports where women’s teams are expected to be in competition with U of L.  Since Louisville will soon be joining the Atlantic Coast Conference and as a new member will be participating in their softball conference. 

This past year found Georgia Tech (The Yellow Jackets, who won their third regular season ACC title in the last four years) and Virginia Tech in the ACC finals with North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Florida state, NC State, Boston College, Virginia and Virginia Tech all fielding teams.   Five teams (Georgia Tech, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech) advanced to the NCAA Championship while Virginia Tech went on to within just one win of advancing to the Super Regional.  Obviously the conference members have and are changing but we look forward to the competition and introduction of conference teams to our facilities and team. 

Most recently the ACC softball championship tournament was played at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. but the 2013 Conference Championship will be held May 9-11 in Tallahassee, Fla., at Dr. JoAnne Graf Field on the campus of Florida State University.

Comprehensive current and historical softball information regarding ACC teams can be found at http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/acc/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/release/release.pdf

 

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COACH WALZ on WHAS.com – 11 INTERVIEW

 

In case you missed it, the November 30 WHAS-11 Great Day Live Featured Video with  Rachel Platt and Terry Meiners interview of Coach Walz can be seen at http://www.whas11.com/video/featured-videos/UofL-womens-basketball-coach-Jeff-Walz-181538421.html where he not only discussed the team but also the effect our move to the ACC may bring.

 

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MILESTONES IN BASKETBALL

 

Shoni Schimmel surpasses 1000 points during Thursday’s win over Austin Peay.  She is the 6^th player to reach this mark as a junior and the 23^rd player overall to do so. "Shake 'Em" is on path to be the second leading scorer in UofL women's basketball history at this pace. Monique Reid is already the 7th leading scorer all-time at UofL and with a 300-point season, she could pass Kristin Mattox...who is 5th on the list with 1737 points.

The top three are Angel (2779 pts.) Nell Knox (1899) and Jazz Covington (1805).

(Thank you, Sandy for another comprehensive and detailed report on Cardinal Women's Athletics. We were unaware that Clemson did not field an ACC softball team, just a 'club' version. We will be bringing you more synopsis of other ACC women's athletics this week and leading up to the Cards inclusion in the conference. Scheduled down the road is Jenny and ACC women's hoops, Jeff and ACC Volleyball and Paul will preview ACC Field Hockey and Soccer. I suppose they'll dump the rest of the sports on me. Have a great day, everybody!   -- Sonja)

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bippityboppityboowhatchagonnadoyouvelostyourwaythisbrightsunnydayanditdoesnotlookgoodforyousojustsingasongcarryonandallyourdreamswillcometrue

Friday Cardinal Couple -- Stars galore at Cardinal Elite Camp Clinic

.
FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Action, competition and talent the order of the day in Cardinal Arena on Thursday.


It may have reached the 100 degree mark in Louisville Thursday afternoon, but it wasn't as nearly as hot as the all-star group of players on display at the Jeff Walz Cardinal Elite Camp Clinic in Cardinal Arena. 

Despite having hip surgery Wednesday, Asia Taylor was
on hand to run the score clock. 

Talented high school girls basketball players from all over the nation were on hand for the four hour event. One didn't have to look too far to see the best and the brightest in action. Whether it was Mercedes Russell banging under the paint, Makayla Epps lofting that sweet mid-range jumper, Rebecca Greenwell taking one to the hoop with skill and grace or Erica Moore making head-shaking play after brilliant play...the stars were out early Thursday afternoon before an appreciative crowd of around 150.

A brief hydration break before another drill

After a brief overview of NCAA rules, regulations and guidelines by assistant WBB coach Cam Newbauer for the campers, Teena Murray took over and took the players through a series of dynamic stretching exercises. Also there to lead and spur them on was the UofL WBB squad..the vocal encouragement from Mo, Sara, Sherrone and the rest of the Lady Cards filling the gym. 


The campers then separated into four smaller groups 

Working on the mid-range jumper

for skills practice on essentials such as jump shots, transition basketball, layups, 5 player weaves and trans-post passing. Almost two hours went by as the Cardinal coaches, players and camp staff worked with the groups on shooting, defense, rebounding and breakdown moves according to position. 


When 3:00 p.m. rolled around, it was time for the first of two thirty-minute scrimmages. The players were divided into two red and two white squads and competed for fifteen minutes against each squad of the opposite jersey color. 


This is where it got really fun and competitive. 

UofL WBB Freshman Megan Deines takes in the action

With so much talent and skill level competing, it's really hard to pick out who performed the best...but the four members of the CARDINAL COUPLE staff present were sold on the efforts of Makayla Epps (Marion County), Katie Collier (Webb School), Raven Merriweather (Sacred Heart), Maci Morris (Bell County) Jasmine Lumpkin (Joliet) and Lauren White (Edwardsville) as "ones to watch" when it came to guard play. Also keep an eye out down the road for 6th grader Casey Collins (Katie's younger sister) who went toe-to-toe with the bigger, older guards and never backed down. 


CARDINAL COUPLE's Jenny O'Bryan will have a future article about who she thought was impressive and her thoughts on the afternoon. Don't miss it! 

Front liners that impressed would have to include the names of #1 ranked 2013 recruit Mercedes Russell (Springfield), Erica Moore (Mount Vernon), Nora Kiesler (Assumption), Logan Powell (Marion County) and Taylor Robinson (Ladue Horton Watkins). 


Then...there was Becca Greenwell. The senior-to-be at Owensboro Catholic showed no ill effects from her knee surgery. A quick crossover move, silky-smooth jumper and all-over-the-court awareness made her my personal choice as MVP of the first round of scrimmages. Some players just "have it". She's one of them. 

CARDINAL COUPLE'S Sonja and Sandy react to the
aggressive post play.  

After the scrimmage, the groups broke up into guards and forward/centers. These drills were fun to watch...Coach "Sam" had her guards doing a lot of push ups whenever I looked at that end of the court...I was concentrating on the battles that the bigs were displaying underneath the basket.

One to watch in future years is 6'6" center Nancy Mulkey out of Texas. Still a bit thin and just a freshman, but goes to the hoop with aggression and has a nice outside shot. Keep an eye on Logan and Kendyl Powell out of Marion County, too. Definitely not afraid to mix it up underneath and both hit the boards well.

Stretching it out the Teena Murray way...

Free throws and 3-point drills followed before the second and final 30-minute scrimmage of the afternoon. I dedicated this one to Mercedes Russell watching, who Louisville really wants to land.


I can see why. 

A.J. flashes that beautiful smile before going out to
teach the campers. (Take it easy on Jude, A.J!)

She positions well on the offensive sets and her height and agility allows her easy access to close in shots and put-backs. Teamed with Epps and Morris, they played with the precision of a squad that had been together for years. One writers dream: To see these three in Cardinal Red and Black against Big East opponents. Epps has a "lights out" jumper and Morris runs the point with the skill of a college senior. 


It was fun to watch these three compete against Becca Greenwell's squad for 15 minutes. You could tell that neither squad wanted to lose this scrimmage. Add Greenwell to this writer's wish-list to see in a Cardinal jersey. Her skill set is light-years beyond her age.

Free throws: a very important factor in any game

It was also good to see the Lady Cards out there working with the campers and teaching. Sara Hammond is a natural coach and it was fun watching her work the sidelines during the scrimmages. All the Cards seemed to be enjoying themselves and after the scrimmage they engaged the campers in conversation and a lot of laughter and fun filled the court. Mo Reid is brimming with confidence and authority this summer...can't help but think she's on the cusp of a sensational season. All of the Lady Cards went out of their way to encourage, teach, demonstrate and reinforce the things that are essential and important on the court. You can tell this bunch really likes each other and brief, casual chats with Cortnee Walton and Megan Deines indicated that they are fitting in just fine with the group and enjoying being Lady Cards. Although freshmen aren't allowed to work camps, they both seemed to enjoy watching the action and are ready to join in next year. 

Nora Kiesler (middle left) is a rising star for Assumption.

The four hours seemed to fly by. 


As Sonja and I walked to the car in the blazing heat after the camp, we talked about the massive amounts of talent we had just witnessed. A short chat with Rebecca Greenwell after the camp confirmed that she had a great time and that Louisville is still among the top schools she is looking at. Mercedes Russell grinned broadly when asked about the camp and saw it as a "great afternoon of fun and learning." Makayla Epps thought she had an "OK" camp and assured us that the ice wrapped around her knee was nothing to worry about...just a standard post-practice procedure. 

We had a wonderful time with the CARDINAL COUPLE staff writers in attendance Thursday afternoon and enjoyed meeting the CARDINAL COUPLE readers who came up to us and introduced themselves as the afternoon went on. If anyone had a better time at the camp than us, it was probably the actual participants...who got in a great four-hour workout Thursday afternoon in Cardinal Arena. 


Our thanks and appreciation to the coaches, staff and players who were gracious, entertaining and so much fun to watch and be around. 


This is Cardinal basketball, ladies and gentlemen...and you will not find a better product, philosophy and way of doing things out there...in our book.   


--Paul Sykes