WALZ IN COLORADO SPRINGS WITH FIBA U19 SQUAD
Yes, it is July and with July we see women's basketball coaches scurrying here and there to watch and evaluate the next class of collegiate players competing in events for their "club" squads. One coach that won't be jumping around the nation, though, is Jeff Walz.
At least not yet.
He's busy in Colorado Springs with the USA U 19 World Cup team...getting them ready for competition in Bangkok, Thailand from July 20-28th. Last summer for Walz, it was the USA U 18 squad and several players from that team are back with Walz again to seek the USA's eighth gold medal in the event.
Not to worry about Walz missing out or not being seen by the players at the various shootouts. He's seen most of them several times before, his assistants will be present and, in the words of Walz:
"If me not being somewhere and someone crosses us off the list because I am coaching a National team, then that's the type of player we probably don't want."
Walz has his same assistants back from 2018 as well, in Cori Close (UCLA) and Natashia Adair (Delaware) for the multiple nights in Colorado Springs, Tokyo and Bangkok.
Notable on the 12-player roster is Rhyne Howard, who played for Kentucky, and was mistakenly quoted earlier this year for saying her Cats defeated Louisville last season. Others are Francesca Belibi, Aliyay Boston, Cameron Brink, Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Queen Egbo (Baylor), Naz-Hillmon Baker (Michigan), Diamond Miller, Jordan Nixon (Notre Dame), Celeste Taylor and Hailey Van Lith.
USA U 19 is one of 16 teams that will go for the Gold. They are in Group C, which also consists of Australia, South Korea and Hungary.
Group A has Canada, Lativa, Thailand and Mozambique. Group B features Argentina, Belgium, China and Mail. Group D is made up of Colombia, Germany, Japan and Spain. Walz will get to see 2019 UofL signee Norika Konno (Japan) in action and the USA squad will travel to Japan to practice with and scrimmage the Japanese squad July 13-15 before arriving in Bangkok. They also have a pair of scrimmages planned against Argentina and Germany in Bangkok before the Cup tips off on July 20th.
USA opens against Australia on the 20th. (1:15 a.m.) and takes on South Korea on the 21st (1:00 a.m.). After a day of rest they'll conclude the preliminary round against Hungary on the 23rd. (1 a.m.) All times listed are EDT.
After the preliminary round, the Round of 16 begins on July 24th. The winners advance to the quarterfinals, with the semifinals scheduled for July 27th and the gold and bronze medal games on July 28th.
Here's hoping the USA can bring back the Gold from Thailand !!!
RUN FOR THE ROSES IN LOUISVILLE
No, they're not re-running the Kentucky Derby because of Maximum Security's owners objections.
This Run for the Roses is a 32-team basketball shootout (at the top level) plus 100's more hoopsters from the seventh grade up...gathering at the K.E.C. Center here in Louisville (the place that changes names every year or so and where they have the State Fair). Top teams and talent are coming in from all over the United States for four days of hoops, starting yesterday.
Over 1000 college coaches attend the Louisville stop on the Nike EYBL event, and it features over 900 teams and 80 courts all under one roof.
If you want to go, admission is $20 a day to see the best-of-the-best in girls high school basketball, or you can get a four day event pass for $55.
The Cardinals assistants Sam Purcell, Steph Norman and Beth Burns (filling in for Jeff Walz - she hasn't been named an assistant yet) will be there, as well as in other regional venues to watch and evaluate "the next big things".
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| Olivia Cochran |
Some 2020 PROSPECTS/players that will be in attendance and names Cardinal fans might want to get to know or catch in action here in Louisville:
Olivia Cochran. TEAM AFFILIATION: FBC
Sarah Andrews. TEAM AFFILIATION: PRO SKILLS
Priscilla Williams. TEAM AFFILIATION: MISSOURI PHENOMS
Madison Scott. TEAM AFFILIATION: TEAM TAKEOVER
If you live near near Indianapolis, NIKE EYBL events are going on up there as well. In Indy, the Cardinal coaches will also be watching:
Kateri Poole TEAM AFFILIATION: NEW HEIGHTS
Maddy Westbeld. She recently named Louisville in her "final five" along with Notre Dame, UCLA, Tennessee and Ohio State. TEAM AFFILIATION: CINCY ANGELS
THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR
It'll be a skeleton crew for this morning's broadcast of The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and on Facebook Live.
Jared is turning twenties into fives at the bank, Case is sitting on the banks of the Ohio in Indiana watching boats float (that's why I'm writing the article today instead of him) and Daryl is at a lake somewhere, banking on avoiding any of the poisoned water and dead fish from the Jim Beam Distillery fire and subsequent run-off into the Kentucky River.
So it's Jeff and I donning the headphones at the "magnificent, massive, media mansion on Mellwood". You can still "bank on" a great show, though, despite the reduced numbers.
We do have stuff to discuss and I'll present our weekly quiz to Jeff in the second half of the show. Play along at home and see if you can beat Sammy the Shark's buddy.
Join us, won't you? It should be fun!
THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR
In addition to the station link above, we're available on local FM Radio, the WCHQ app and Facebook Live as well.
Have a super Saturday!
paulie
xxxxx
2019 USA BASKETBALL U19 WORLD CUP SQUAD
Out of the 30 athletes that tried out for this squad in Colorado Springs over the past week or so, 12 have been selected for Head Coach Jeff Walz and his assistants Natasha Adair and Cori Close to coach.
Cardinal WBB fans will recognize a few of the names on the 12-player roster that will go to the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand July 20-28.
The roster is listed below, in alphabetical order, with asterisks by those who have made college choices or already played for their college team)
* Francesca Belibi (Connecticut)
* Aliyah Boston (South Carolina)
* Cameron Brink (Stanford)
* Paige Bueckers (Connecticut)
Caitlan Clark (Dowling Catholic/ West Des Moines, IA)
* Queen Egbo (Baylor)
* Naz Hillmon-Baker (Michigan)
* Rhyne Howard (Kentucky)
* Jordan Nixon (Notre Dame)
* NaLyssa Smith (Baylor)
Celeste Taylor (Long Island Lutheran_ /Valley Stream, NY)
Hailey Van Lith (Cashmere H.S./Wenatchee, WA)
Some players who did try out for the squad and did not make it include...Elizabeth Dixon (Louisville), Ashley Joens, Maori Davenport and Aijha Blackwell. The last three played on the 2018 U18 squad Walz coached in Mexico City and Dixon is headed to Louisville after leaving Georgia Tech.
Howard is back and she was the MVP of the 2018 Tournament. She also plays at UK, a fact UofL fans well know and have to deal with the next three years. Hillmon-Baker and Smith also participated for USA when they won the title last year.
Out of the 12, Connecticut is represent with two on the roster. So is Baylor.
Selections were made by the USA Basketball Women's Junior National team Committee, chaired by George Washington University's head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti.
EVANS CUT FROM USA PAN AM TEAM
Another UofL WBB star, Dana Evans, tried out for the 2019 USA Pan Am team. Unfortunately, she did not make the squad.
Followers of NCAA DI women's basketball will recognize most of the names that made the squad. The roster looks very solid for Merchant and her staff and Cardinal fans will notice that Miami front-liner Bea Mompremire is on the roster.
That roster, to be coached by M.S.U.'s Suzy Merchant, is below:
Bella Alarie (Princeton)
Brittany Brewer (Texas Tech)
Chennedy Carter (Texas A&M)
Kathleen Doyle (Iowa)
Tyasha Harris (South Carolina)
Taylor Mikesell (Maryland)
Bea Mompremier (Miami)
Michaela Onyenware (UCLA)
Mikayla Pivec (Oregon St.)
Lindsey Pulliam (Northwestern)
Kiana Williams (Stanford)
Peyton Williams (Kansas St.)
WNBA NEWS
Four Cardinals still on WNBA rosters after team waivers through 5/20/19.
Myisha Hines-Allen is still on Washington's roster. Asia Durr remains with the NY Liberty. Asia Taylor a part of the Indiana roster and Arica Carter listed on Phoenix's roster.
Teams have until 5/23/19 (Thursday) to get down to a 12 player roster. The WNBA season starts May 24.
In Sunday pre-season action, Asia Taylor played 10 minutes in Indiana's 71-66 win over Dallas. A-Tayy had two points on 1-3 shooting, two steals and two rebounds. Asia Durr started for New York on Sunday against the Connecticut Sun. Nite-Nite played 19 minutes, going 0-3 from the floor and picking up two assists and two rebounds in the Liberty's 100-66 loss.
Have a terrific Tuesday!
paulie
xxxxx
SHOOK, EVANS TWO OF 33 PLAYERS INVITED
Louisville WBB players Kylee Shook and Dana Evans have been invited to try out for the USA Basketball U-19 World Cup Trials. The players will convene May 18-21 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, which also happens to be Shook's hometown. 12 players will be picked for the event...that will take place from July 22-30 in Cividale del Friuli and Udine, Italy.
Shook, as a freshman, played in all of Louisville's 35 games last year. She averaged 5.2 points and had 35 blocked shots. Shook hit double-digit points five times and put up 16 against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament. The 6'5" forward was also a 2016 McDonald's All-American
Incoming freshman Evans, in her senior year at West Side (Gary, IN) high school, led the state in scoring with 36 points. she also grabbed 7.6 rebounds, has 6.2 assists and 4.8 steals. She won a gold medal on the USA FIBA U-18 squad. A 2017 McDonald's All-America, the 5'6" point guard will be re-united with Susie McConnell-Serio, the head coach on that U-18 gold medal squad and selected as an assistant coach for this 2017 squad.
"My job on that team was to be more vocal, play great defense off the ball and get everyone involved in the offense and defense" Evans remarked about that squad that went 5-0. She averaged 8.8 points per game.
Jen Rizotti will be the head coach for the squad.
A big congratulations two these two Cardinals on the invites. A great chance for Kylee and Dana to get to know each other before they hook up on campus later this summer. And, maybe just a bit of home-style Colorado cooking for the two courtesy of Mom and Pop Shook?
BRITTANY READ NAMED ACC WOMEN'S LACROSSE DEFENDER OF THE YEAR.
The ACC gives out five individual women's lacrosse awards at the end of regular and tournament season. Louisville goalkeeper Brittany Read received the ACC Defender of the Year honor, it was announced Wednesday.
The junior was nothing short of amazing between the pipes for the LaxCards this season. She led the ACC in saves (186), save percentage (.518) and saves per game (10.88). She had a career high of 16 against Notre Dame during the season. She was earlier named to the first team All-ACC squad and received ACC Defender of the Week award twice during the regular season.
Louisville head coach Kellie Young reflects:
"There are no words to appropriately express how proud I am of Brittany. She has not only grown into an incredible goalkeeper but has matured into a strong and confidant young woman that is the pillar of this team."
Read has, indeed, come back quite strongly after having last season end rather abruptly with a torn ACL. The Cards had but one loss at the time...but ending up losing their final five games of the year without Read on the field.
The Lacrosse team awaits their fate on an NCAA Tournament bid. The participating 26 teams will be announced Sunday, May 7th.
paulie
xxxxx
