More basketball news...

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(Staff Columnist Jenny O' Bryan looks at the preseason WNIT and Louisville's involvement as well as "V-dubs" interest in Louisville WBB. Yes, it's June and we're still talking hoops! BE sure to catch further discussion on both these items on our Saturday morning broadcast at Crescent Hill Radio. Less than five months before the thrill and excitement of women's college basketball returns to the KFC YUM! Center.)



University of Louisville Women’s basketball has one remaining member of the incoming class who has yet to be looked at here at Cardinal Couple.    Starr Breedlove is not yet on campus.  I am going to forgo talking about her this week to bring you some exciting basketball news.  We will take a look at Breedlove next week. 

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It was mentioned here several weeks ago that the women’s basketball team has been invited to participate in the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament.  

The first round pairings have been released and Louisville will host Loyola University Chicago on Saturday, November 9 at The Yum Center.  The first round action kicks off Friday, November 8.

The WNIT guarantees a three game minimum format.  The sites of the second round matchups will be determined after the results of all first round games.  Second round games will be played November 10-11, semifinals November 14 and the championship on Sunday, November 17.  Consolation matches for the teams who lose in the first rounds will have brackets redrawn based on the geography of the teams in the field. 

Loyola University Chicago’s head coach, Sheryl Swoopes, will debut in her first game as a coach against the Cardinals.   Swoopes is retired from the WNBA.  Among her many accolades she holds the honor of being the first player signed in to the WNBA. 

This is quite a coaching debut for Swoopes.  She will bring her team in to one of the greatest arenas in women’s basketball, among one of the best fan bases in the country, against the Cardinal’s runner up team who return every starter.  That is a pretty big stage for one’s first game as a coach. 

Tickets to the event are a part of your season ticket package. IF you are not a season-ticket holder, why not become one today?

WBB Season ticket holder information

Click below to see the full first round bracket:
 

http://www.womensnit.com/showstory.asp?id=current&eventid=40

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Some promising recruiting news hit the internet and social media sites on Tuesday. 

2014 guard/ forward Victoria Vivians has narrowed her list of schools to 4.  The 6^th ranked player from Forest, MS, and recent Miss Basketball, includes Louisville, Kentucky, Florida and Mississippi State.

Vivians is considered the most prolific scorer in her class and scored over 1400 points, averaged 39.7 ppg , 15.1 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 block last season. 

Vivians has already made unofficial visits to Louisville, Kentucky, and Mississippi State and intends to visit Florida this weekend.  She will make official visits to all four schools this fall and hopes to make her decision in September or October. 

Vivians is quoted as saying she likes everything about all four schools, the environment, coaching staffs and styles of play.  She has over a dozen offers from other schools such at Tennessee, Baylor, Duke, and Stanford. 

Check out these two links to articles by Kelly Kline at FullCourt WBB:

http://www.fullcourt.com/prep/23361/victoria-vivians-narrows-her-list

http://www.fullcourt.com/prep/player/profile/victoria-vivians

Keep it here Cardinal fans, we will keep you abreast of all the latest information as it becomes available.  

Jenny O'Bryan

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Thursday Cardinal Couple

 

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( JEFF MCADAMS is on the ball with Thursday's CARDINAL COUPLE...bringing us soccer and basketball reports.  Cardinal Caravan is also rolling around again and Emmonnie Henderson receives a St. Louis honor.)

Soccer is on the ball

We have the first set schedule for women's fall sports, and soccer is the first across the finish line...or perhaps the first to the goal is the better metaphor.

They start out on the road with a couple of exhibition games at Vanderbilt and Purdue on August 11th and 17th.  The real season starts at home on the 23rd and 25th with games against Butler and Illinois.  

Back out on the road to play a couple of games against future conference-mates Virginia Tech and Wake Forest at the Wake Forest Invitation on August 30th and September 1st.  The road trip continues with the obligatory in-state rivalry matchup with Kentucky on the 6th, then a quick trip up to Miami (Ohio) on the 8th.

Back to Cardinal Park for another in-state with Morehead on the 13th.  Texas-San Antonio comes into town that weekend as well on the 15th.

Another conference switch-up on the 21st with the trip to the now non-conference-foes Marquette.

The conference slate starts on the 27th with Memphis coming to Louisville...now there's a blast from the past.  Then I suspect we'll get a visit from Julie Hermann on the 29th with Rutgers, which is joining the Big 10 in 2014...except for football which is apparently playing in the Big 10 this fall...I'm already confused.

A road trip to the new Texas wing of the conference with visits to SMU and Houston on October 3rd and 6th.  Followed by the Florida wing of the conference, in the form of USF and UCF, coming to visit Louisville on the 11th and 13th.

Next is a trip to Philadelphia, but in the brave new conference world, it's to play Temple instead of Villanova.  That game will happen on the 17th.

The end-of-the-season road trip wraps up with thankfully familiar foes with games at UConn and Cincinnati on October 20th and 25th.

The American Athletic Conference, or AAC, or "The American"...take your pick...takes place Halloween and November 3rd at campus sites, then concludes somewhere undecided at this point on the 8th and 10th.

Boy, this conference realignment stuff is really gonna keep us on our toes!

Speaking of Scheduling

The Cardinal Caravan has announced its 5 stops this summer over 3 days.  June 4th stops include an
11:45 start time at Kreso's Restaurant in Bardstown, KY, followed by the always mobbed visit to Captain's Quarters here in Louisville at 6:30.

Stops the next day include a visit to the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center in Bowling Green at 12:45...presumably central time since its in Bowling Green.  The evening stop is at 5:30 at Grand Reserve in Lexington.  Stay safe, people!

The final visit is at the Shelbyville Fairgrounds at 6pm on the 6th.

All of the events are free, but an RSVP is required, and can be submitted online at http://www.uoflalumni.org/caravan2013 so the folks planning the events can make sure that appropriate accommodations are available for the crowds.

We just can't stay away from Basketball

Because we just can't seem to go without talking about women's basketball, it appears that UofL will be participating in the Women's Preseason WNIT tournament.

The 16 team tournament, which will be played at participating school locations, includes Georgia State, Gonzaga, Idaho, IPFW...yay, more Mastadons...Loyola University Chicago, LSU, Mount St. Mary's University, North Carolina A&T...hope they bring their band...Oklahoma, Quinnipiac, St. Joseph's, Stephen F. Austin, Stetson, Tennessee-Martin, and Wichita State.

The tournament guarantees three games for participating teams win or lose.  The first round will be November 8th, second round games on the 10th and 11th, semifinals on the 14th, and the championship game on the 17th.  The two teams that play in the championship game will get to play 4 games, so there's plenty of motivation to play well to get that extra preseason tune-up game.

We'll claim this one is track and field

Finally, Paulie forwarded me a link to this article about incoming freshman Emmonnie Henderson's
senior year at Edwardsville, Illinois.  Henderson will, of course, play for Jeff Walz on the basketball team, but will be dual-sport, participating in track and field throwing events.

Henderson was named Female Athlete of the Year by STLhighschoolsports.com for her successes in basketball and track and field.

She'll participate in both at Louisville...her Edwardsville hoops squad went 30-1 in Illinois Class 4A basketball. In track and field, Henderson has been equally dominant as a four-time champion in the shot put and three-time champion in the discus.

In the 2013 Illinois State Championships, she set another record in the shot..while winning both events.


-Jeff McAdams

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