HVL to Represent USA in 3x3 -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hailey Van Lith Named to 3x3 National Team

The 2022 FIBA 3x3 World Cup is coming up later this month, so it seemed about time for USA Basketball to name their team. One of the players is quite familiar with the format and quite familiar to Cardinal fans: Hailey Van Lith. Van Lith was on the 2019 U18 3x3 team and was named the MVP of the tournament after the USA took gold.

Van Lith has also represented the US in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup. Both of those events were traditional 5-on-5 and the USA won gold in both. 

Van Lith is joined by Cierra Burdick (Tennessee), Lauren Cox (Baylor), and Ashley Joens (Iowa State) for the event, which runs from June 21st to June 26th in Antwerp, Belgium. The team is coached by Kara Lawson of Duke and will play their first games in pool play against New Zealand and Austria on June 22nd.

In other HVL news, she appears to be set to finally begin cashing on in what has often been proclaimed the highest earning potential in the early NIL era for a basketball player. A re-shared story posted to her Instagram hinted at an upcoming ad campaign with Dick's Sporting Goods. After long seeing professional athletes in national commercials, it seems we are on the cusp of college athletes interrupting your favorite shows and movies as well.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl and I are both out this week, but the show must go on. Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will bring you the latest in the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics, and I suspect this week's show will be focused on former Cards. Of course, there's Gabi Leon to continue gushing over, Louisville's first outdoor national champion, and Paulie may even introduce the season's first Cardinal Couple Quiz. 

As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link
Anchor (podcast host): Link
Apple Podcasts: Link
Breaker: Link
Google Podcasts: Link
Overcast (free account required): Link
Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link
RadioPublic: Link
Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!
Case

Louisville Basketball in the Summer? -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards to Compete in Red Bull USA 3v3 Tournament

The Louisville Cardinals aren't waiting until October to get back on the court together. While not every player is able to be a member of the team in the 2021 Red Bull USA Basketball 3v3 Nationals, those that are will get important playing time together. Representing the Cards in this event are MyKasa Robinson, Kianna Smith, Payton Verhulst, and Liz Dixon. One of the best things about this lineup is that it means Verhulst will get quality play time and competition with her new teammates without having to wait until the actual season rolls around. The other great thing is that if there is any basketball player made for a 3v3 tournament, it's Kasa. Hopefully this can help her get her offense on track in a more open environment.

Along with Louisville, seven other teams are competing on the women's side. Among them are four other university named teams: Kansas State, NC State, Maryland, and Oregon. The other three teams are also composed of college players, but none of those teams has more than one player from the same school. Of the non-university associated teams, only three of twelve players are still in school. None of the players on the men's side are college aged.

The event will take place in its entirety over the next two days at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Today will be pool play with the single elimination tournament taking place tomorrow. Because there are only eight teams on the women's side (there are 15 men's teams), all of the women's teams will advance out of pool play to the quarterfinals. Today's games will be used for seeding. In Louisville's pool are "Force 10", Maryland, and Oregon. The Cards will get their first game underway today at 11:05 against Force 10. They have the first game of the day on the women's side. They'll then take on Oregon at 4:55 and Maryland at 6:35. The quarterfinals begin tomorrow morning at 9:15 and the finals will be played at 2:15PM. Every game in the tournament will be streamed live on the NBA's Twitch Channel (Link here).

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour returns this week, and, for the first time in a long time, there is a chance at a full house. I only say chance because Daryl has a chance to head to Indy to watch Dana Evans play agaeinst the Fever, so we'll see if that comes to fruition. Either way, we'll have at least four as I return for the first time in a long time. We'll talk about my adventures, the latest news in UofL women's athletics, and we'll have a good old fashioned Cardinal Couple Quiz. Be sure to tune in at 11AM on the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel for the live show. As always, you can check out the replay on YouTube, and since I'm back, the podcast will return to feeds as well. I deeply apologize for its absence. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Walz Named 2019 USA Basketball Coach of the Year -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

What's Going On

There's not much happening in the UofL women's sports world currently, as things slow down around Christmastime.

Women's basketball has two more road games before an extended break.

Volleyball is down to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament and will conclude the weekend before Christmas.

Soccer and Field Hockey have concluded.  Swimming and Diving is on a break until the new year.

It gives us some time to kick back and relax but we still have a few things to report on.


Walz Named 2019 USA Basketball Coach of the Year

Adding to the long list of awards and accomplishments over his tenured career, Jeff Walz was named 2019 USA Basketball Coach of the Year.

Walz led Team USA Basketball to a 7-0 record and earned a gold medal at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bruce Weber, coach at Kansas State, split the honors with Walz.  Weber also led his men's U19 team to a 7-0 record and gold medal at the FIBA Championships.

While with Team USA, Walz helped lead his team to an average of 25.2 point differential while also ranking first in points per game field goal percentage, and blocks per game.  Paige Bueckers was named MVP of the FIBA Championships while Rhyne Howard made the all-tournament team.

With Louisville, he guided the Cards to a 32-4 record, a 1-seed, and an NCAA Tournament appearance.  He's also guided the #7 Cards to a 9-1 record to start the year.

Volleyball Presser Today

With Texas around the corner in the Sweet Sixteen for UofL Volleyball, the VolleyCards are holding a presser today at 1 p.m. to discuss the match and field questions. 

Sadly, we'll have no one in attendance but Paulie will muster some type of report on the affair for Wednesday's article, we hope. Jeff is out of town with Sammy the Shark, Case going to Bowling Green to visit Big Red and taunt the WKU Volleyball squad, I'm at the bank all day rolling pennies and denying loans and Paulie had the cryptic "I'm previously engaged" response to our group text about the event. 

They have chosen to hold the presser in the Koeber Center (basketball's home) Media Room instead of their own media room in Cardinal Arena, which I find interesting. Maybe accessibility is the underlying reason here. 1 p.m., if you have a current, valid media pass and would like to go and possibly send us a brief bit on what you hear. Of course, Paulie will deny any knowledge of your credentials if asked.



Other Items To Ponder

-- In other news, Stanford took down North Carolina in a PK shootout to win the Women's College Cup.  The Cards did not face Stanford, but they did fall to UNC 3-0 at home.

-- Go back a couple weeks ago and North Carolina field hockey took down Princeton 6-1 in the championship.  The Cards did not face Princeton but they did lose to the Tar Heels twice this year, 4-1 and 3-1.

-- Volleyball plays 2-seed Texas on Friday and women's basketball travels to Kentucky on Sunday at 1:00.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared