Card Earns Post-Grad Scholarship -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

With the Bats in town, Daryl is otherwise indisposed pressing buttons at Slugger Field. In the case of Thursday's game, those buttons probably included "seek shelter" due to the thunderstorms that rolled in. At any rate, I'm feeling well enough to get back into these pages as I'm just about fully recovered from my first bout with Covid (nearly 900 days before I finally got got), so you'll get me today and tomorrow.

Michaela Dukes Named NCAA Post-Grad Scholar

Every year the NCAA hands out 126 postgraduate scholarships: 21 each to men and women from the three collegiate sports seasons. The scholarship is a one-time $10,000 award granted to a student-athlete continuing their education in an accredited graduate program. Any student-athlete who has graduated is eligible to be nominated by their school for selection. In addition to athletic and academic performance, community service, leadership, and other extracurricular categories are evaluated to determine the recipients.

This year, Michaela Dukes was named as one of the awardees. Dukes is a Kentucky native on the rowing team who graduated with a degree in Health and Human Performance / Biology. She was named to the Dean's List twice and was named a Dean's Scholar in six other semesters. In 2020-2021, Dukes was named to the All-ACC Academic Rowing team. Athletically, Dukes competed on the V8 boat for the Cards. She was on the crew that placed sixth in the Grand Final at the ACC Championships and picked up multiple victories during the season. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Louisville at Pitt -- Four Cards Earn Postgrad Scholarship Awards -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Travels to Pitt

Louisville women's basketball begins their final road trip with a trip to Pittsburgh tonight. Having already earned a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, the Cards can clench the 2-seed with a win tonight.

Teams: #4 Louisville vs Pittsburgh

Records: Louisville (23-3, 14-2 ACC), Pittsburgh (11-16, 2-14 ACC)

Where: "The Pete" Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.

When: 6:00 p.m. ET

TV: ACC Network Extra (online)

Radio: 790-AM WKRD

Head-to-Head Record: Louisville leads 22-2

Coaches: Jeff Walz (15th season as Louisville head coach)

                Lance White (4th season as Pittsburgh head coach)

Key Players: Louisville: Hailey Van Lith (13.6 ppg, .355 3-pt pct), Kianna Smith (11.8 ppg, 3.0 assists per game .388 3-pt pct), Emily Engstler (11.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg, .426 3-pt pt), Olivia Cochran (8.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg)

                    Pittsburgh:  Dayshanette Harris (10.0 ppg, 2.88 assists per game), .326 3-pt pct), Amber Brown (9.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Liatu King (6.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg)

Pitt is riding near the bottom of the ACC and their NCAA Tournament chances ride solely on winning the ACC Tournament. Louisville throttled Pitt 89-31 earlier this season. The Panthers' two wins in conference play came against Wake Forest at home and at Clemson in overtime.

One big change in the Pitt lineup is that leading scorer Jayla Everett was dismissed from the Panthers squad on Sunday, for unspecified reasons. She was Pitt's leading scorer.

Since the thumping earlier this year, Pitt has shown signs of improvement  (if you can call losing by 15 or less each game improvement). Overall, on the year, the Panthers have just a -3.1 scoring margin.

The one good thing Pitt is good at is drawing fouls to shoot free throws. However, they aren't good at making free throws. The Panthers rank 14th in the conference with a 64.1 free throw percentage. With Louisville's poor luck with fouls, there is reason for concern in terms of players getting in foul trouble.

Tonight's biggest concern is the mentality and attitude Louisville has going into the game. With the 1-seed in the ACC Tournament no longer possible and a tie for the ACC regular season title highly unlikely, a game against a bottom dweller can be tough to get motivated for. Still, with Jeff Walz and Co, the Cards should be more than prepared for tonight's game.

Four Cards Earn Postgraduate Scholarship Awards

UofL prides itself on academic success in its athletics and four Cards just received postgraduate scholarship awards.

Alli Bitting, Michaela Dukes, and Gabriela Leon were among 54 recipients of the 2022 Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship Award while Kianna Smith was named an honorary recipient by the ACC.

All four Cards have been on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll and have been named to their respective All-ACC Academic Teams. 

There's certainly plenty of reason to congratulate all four of them.

Weekend Events + Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Yes, our normal Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast is still on as usual this weekend. The crew on air might be a little slim as we see spring sports clashing with our normal time slot. Both lacrosse and softball are known to have early games on Saturday. Softball is down south in the Wooo Pig Clasic in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Scott Teeter's LAX squad is set for a noon start this Saturday, opening ACC play by hosting Va. Tech. Paulie is debating on whether he will hop on air or head out to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. I will be out there taking pics in the Cards' ACC opener.

Tune in Saturday to see just who is on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast at 11 a.m. Check out the CCRHP You Tube site at THIS link.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared