Monday Cardinal Couple -- McCoughtry a starter

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Angel selected as starter in WNBA All-Star game

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO growing in popularity


We've known for years just how good Atlanta Dream guard Angel McCoughtry is. It looks like the rest of the nation is jumping on the bandwagon as well. The ex-Lady Cardinal superstar has been selected as a starter in the upcoming WNBA All-Star game.

The contest will be play July 27th. at 3:30 p.m. at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. Joining Angel in the starting lineup for the East squad will be top vote-getter rookie Elena Delle Donne, Cappie Pondexter, Epiphanny Prince and Tamika Catchings. The West squad counters with rookie Brittney Griner, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi and Seimone Augustus.

Angel is pacing the Dream (10-4) with 20.2 ppg this season. The leading scorer in the WNBA last year, McCoughtry was also rookie of the year in 2009 and a starter in the game in 2011.

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Our Saturday show CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR on Crescent Hill Radio www.crescenthillradio.com got some one's attention. Checking the SOUNDCLOUD stats, it's become the highest-listened to broadcast that we've had since we began the broadcasts back in March.

What's the reason? WE can only speculate...but the broadcast link was sent to several of the coaches that appeared as guests and the link was re-tweeted on the Louisville Volleyball page.

We also featured swimming coach Arthur Albiero, Jeff Walz and soccer's Karen Ferguson Dayes.

We thought it was a pretty good show right after we did the broadcast on Saturday, but didn't expect the numbers that have followed since it hit the Soundcloud archives.

Give it a listen:

SATURDAY 7/20/13 CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO

Thanks to all that tuned in and Crescent Hill Radio for giving us a chance to share the joy and excitement of UofL womens' sports in an audio format.

We have Part II of Jeff McAdams four-part interview with head volleyball coach Anne Kordes next week, we plan a few words with head lacrosse coach Kellie Young, we'll try to catch up with Jeff Walz on the road and Jenny O'Bryan catches us up with womens' basketball recruiting news. We'll also discuss other events and happenings in the world of UofL women's sports and toss in a couple of Paulie's wacky, ficticious characters.

Join us, won't you?

-Paulie

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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Cards lead Canada to runner up finish in Lacrosse

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Foote, Morissette and Dzikewich fall to USA


Another coach that will probably be walking around on clouds on the UofL campus is head lacrosse coach Kellie Young. One former, one current and one soon to be player participated in the FIL (Federation of International Lacrosse) World Cup tournament, along with her assistant coach Cristi Foote.

The Canadians lost to USA in the title game 19-5.

Foote played at Notre Dame before taking the assistant job at Louisville, Janaye Dzikewich is a graduated senior and Kaylin Morissette will be a sophomore in the upcoming season. Stephanie McNamara is an incoming freshman who played for Australia in the Cup.

It was an impressive Cup for the Canadians. Team Canada captain Lindsey Svec saw it like this:

"Usually we're fighting our way into the bronze medal game and now we're going for the gold. There were tears. We're proud of the way we finished and obviously we would have liked to do a little better, but I think Canada lacrosse took a big step forward this week and we're excited about that."

Much like baseball is the USA's summer pastime, lacrosse has been the official summer game in Canada since
1994.

Lacrosse at Louisville is a "second semester" sport...which means they get the season underway in late winter. Coach Young has most of her starters back from last season and some very promising freshmen that are arriving on campus in a couple of weeks.

The roster looks to be possibly the strongest and most talented squad since Coach Young got lacrosse underway at Louisville seven years ago and if you haven't made it out to Louisville Lacrosse Stadium yet for the action, be sure to catch this squad in the upcoming season. Leading scorer Nikki Boltja returns...along with the fun, witty and talented Monica Negron...who can play attack. midfielder or defender. We featured Negron in one of our semi-serious, mostly goofy interviews on CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO a couple of weeks ago. She was a good sport and played along with Paulie's out-of-the-box questions

The Year of the Cardinal continues.

-Paulie

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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Moss rolling back home

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Sydney Moss "most likely" to end up at Thomas More

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO on the air today!


The news might have made the category 'biggest upsets of 2013' if it had been released before the ESPYS. Kentucky's Miss Basketball for the 2011-12 season...Sydney Moss has, it seems, decided on her next juncture after asking for and eventually receiving her release from the University of Florida.

And the winner is....Thomas More?

The old adage is that a rolling stone gathers no moss. We can't speak for Mick Jagger or Keith Richards...but apparently Thomas More gathers well.

In reports ran by The Alligator and Cincinnati.com, Moss has indicated that the small, Division III school in Northern, KY is "most likely" where she enroll and play basketball in the 2013-14 season.

Louisville and West Virginia were, by all accounts the front runners for Moss' services after she decided to leave the Gators after a successful freshman debut where she averaged 11.8 ppg and 6.8 boards. A member of the SEC All-Freshman team. Led Florida to the semifinals of the WNIT. The future for Moss in Gator Country looked bright indeed.
An invite to the USA U19 team.

Kids change their minds.

Finding a program closer to her home in Union (Boone County, KY.) was a priority. Louisville is about an hour and some change from there. West Virginia considerably further but some speculation had developed that Cincinnati...right across the Ohio River...could be a contender.

Thomas More looks to be the lucky ticket holder in the Moss Sweepstakes, though.

The small, liberal arts school doesn't have a bad hoops program. Seven straight NCAA DIII appearances but no Final Four visit.

That appears to be about to change.

At Thomas More, Moss will be able to step on the court immediately and play three years. A transfer to a Div. I school would have necessitated sitting out a season. And, like her father Randy Moss...Sydney wants to play professionally once her college days are through. Moss wanted to be closer in location to her family. Union, KY is about 10 minutes from the Thomas More campus northbound on I-75.

Ironically, Randy Moss also began his college career at Florida but the talented wide receiver ended his career at Marshall University. He was one of the most successful wide receivers in the NFL before he retired.  

The bottom line? Players need to go and participate at schools and in areas where they are happy. College isn't forced servitude..it is a learning and growing experience.

Sydney's decision caught a lot of people by surprise. Thomas More's women's basketball program probably feels like they just won the lottery. So much for the "insider in the know" who guaranteed me a couple of weeks ago that
Moss would be a Lady Card.  

From the spotlight to the limelight. From Gainesville to Crestview Hills. We can only point out that, a few years ago...a highly talented high school girls basketball player by the name of Della Donne decided to move her tack from the front stage at UConn to back home in Delaware.

That turned out pretty well. EDD torched someone for 25 a couple of nights ago in the WNBA.

So, Louisville chances of having two Syd's and two Sam's on the 2014-15 roster and staff appear to be over.

We hope Sydney finds wants she is looking for. And, don't be surprised if Thomas More goes on a three-year national championship run in DIII women's college basketball. Moss is that good. Thomas More is that lucky...

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CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR is at 11 a.m. this morning and we have a huge show in the offing for you. Interviews with Anne Kordes (Volleyball), Jeff Walz (WBB), Karen Ferguson Dayes (Soccer) and Arthur Albiero (Swimming). We'll also wrap up the WUGS, the ESPYS and Jenny will catch us up on the latest women's basketball recruiting scuttlebutt. That, and much more...we may need two hours to try and get all this information in.

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO is on Crescent Hill Radio.

www.crescenthillradio.com

Jump in the golf cart and ride along with me, Jeff, Jenny, Monkberry Moon Delight, and a few rowdy chimps today, won't you? It's also rumored that Don Paulie is disturbed again (what else is new?) and we feature a new segment... "Cooking in the Cardinal Couple Kitchen" with Chef Sal Monella.

Yikes!

Just a reminder, when at the site...be sure to pick a player (like Windows Media) to listen to the live feed. The music and such you hear when you initally go to the site is just a preview and example segement. I'm still getting blasted by Sonja for not telling her to do so...the poor dear sat by the laptop for an hour last week waiting for the broadcast.

Life can be so very unfair at times...

-Paulie

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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Transition fits Coach Al's schedule perfectly

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Swimming's Arthur Albiero ready for the future


He doesn't have an official schedule published yet and the BIG EAST logo board still hangs on the south wall in the Ralph Wright Natatorium, but Arthur Albiero (who I've re-named "Coach Al") is ready for a transition season before headed to the ACC swimming rigors. Besides the one-year stay in the AAC before joining the ACC transition...Coach Al also surmises:

"It's also a transition year for us in the sense that we have a pretty young team and large group of freshmen, so it will be a good chance for us to get them indoctrinated in the program a bit as we get them ready for stiffer competition in 2014."

Not that he is belittling or undermining the competition in the AAC. He knows the power that SMU wields in the water. He sees Cincinnati and Connecticut as having programs on the upswing. Houston will be challenging.

Although Louisville will be just a one-year tenant in The American, the facilities and impact that Louisville Swimming and Diving bring got Louisville the nod as being the host for the 2014 American Athletic Conference Tournament.

Add Kentucky, Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and North Carolina as meet opponents during the regular season and the splashers and strokers at the corner of Floyd and Warnock are looking at some very strong (and familiar) competition.

And, Coach is in a bit of transition himself...leaving Saturday to help coach in the Portugal National Championships.

Maybe by the time he gets back, the AAC will have a schedule ready for swimming. After all, you can only transition for so long...

( You can hear the full interview that this article with Arthur Albiero was based on during Saturday's CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO broadcast at 11 a.m. on Crescent Hill Radio. www.crescenthillradio.com . We also have interviews with Anne Kordes, Karen Ferguson-Dayes and Jeff Walz. You DON'T want to miss Saturday's broadcast!)

-Paulie

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And the award goes to...

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(Jeff McAdams brings us the Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE with an awards-oriented theme today. How did the Louisville WBB squad do in Best Upset? Did Coach Pitino capture the Coach award? How about Angel and the WNBA Best Player category? Monitor your devices and get out the hankies...Jeff reviews the results.)

 

The Espy for Best Upset Goes to...

FGSU.  Well, its not terribly surprising, I guess.  Despite incredible strides in gender equality in sports, very few (no?) women or women's teams won ESPYs over men or men's teams.  Louisville's women's basketball team, a 26-point underdog to Baylor didn't get the Biggest Upset ESPY, instead the award goes to 12-point underdog FGSU beating Georgetown.

"Its an honor just to be nominated," is true, of course.  And FGSU did achieve something never achieved before, a 15 seed reaching the Men's Sweet 16.  Of course, UofL's women achieved something never before achieved either, a 5 seed reaching the Women's National Championship game.  The ESPYs are voted on by fans, though, and we're still far from the day where women's athletics gets the same level of respect and awareness that the men do.

I guess that just means that we here at The Cardinal Couple have more work to do, sharing the joy and excitement of Louisville Women's Athletics.  We couldn't be more proud of the UofL Women's Basketball team, we're thrilled that they've had the experience of being in the ESPYs crowd and have gotten some of the national attention that they so richly deserve.

I'll be in my seats for their games.  Join us, won't you?

Louisville is Bringing Home Some Hardware

An Espy...

Coach Rick Pitino did win the ESPY for Best Coach/Manager that was awarded during the ESPY pre-show, and I suspect we'll have a nomination in the 2014 ESPYs for Best Comeback with Kevin Ware.

Flying High?

Angel McCoughtry was in the running for WNBA Best Player. She fell, unfortunately...to Candace Parker. We, of course, disagree with the selection...nobody does it like Angel...but we are proud of her accomplishments and will soon prove the voters wrong when she and the Atlanta Dream take the WNBA title and she garners MVP.

And a Golf trophy...

Laura Restrepo came in second place in the Judson Collegiate Golf Tournament in Roswell, GA.  This tournament has 60 of the best collegiate golfers competing.  Congratulations Laura. Not an ESPY event, but a great honor for a Louisville golfer that will participate for what looks to be a powerhouse squad for coach Courtney Trimble this season.

Cardinal Couple Radio

Check out The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on Crescent Hill Radio this Saturday at 11am.  I'm sure we'll be dissecting the Biggest Upset Award and how the UofL Women should've won it.  I also hope to have an interview with Louisville Volleyball Head Coach Anne Kordes, and I think Paulie has been spending some time on Floyd Street as well.  It should be a good show.

-Jeff McAdams

(Editor note: WE do have some great interviews lined up for Saturday. We spoke with Jeff Walz on his way to the ESPY awards, Arthur Albiero fills us in on Cardinal Swimming and Diving and Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes and I sit down for another edition of 'Kicking It With Karen' .
We're on 11 a.m. Saturday at www.crescenthillradio.com and previous broadcasts can be found in the archives section at the site. Local...up close and personal..and never boring...the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR is commercial free, thanks to our listener sponsors.  Paulie)

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Louisville Women's Basketball heads West

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Three categories in tonight's ESPY Awards at 9 p.m. on ESPN have current and former UofL hoopsters involved. Jenny O'Bryan catches us up on the BIGGEST UPSET OF THE YEAR category and the LADY CARDS nomination for their win over Baylor in the NCAA regionals. You can also vote for Pitino as Coach of the Year and Angel as best WNBA player. All three are deserving. Go vote! )  

IT is the eve of the ESPYs  (as I write this) and a contingent from Louisville Women’s Basketball has headed West.  If you are on twitter and follow the team basketball account, or any of the player’s accounts, you are seeing a photo montage of the trek. 

Bria Smith shared a Vine (for those of you not in the social media know, this is a 7 second video clip) in the wee hours of Tuesday morning announcing the departure.  Pictures and regular updates ensued from the coaching staff, each of the players heading out, as well as the basketball account. 

Coach Walz posted a picture of his new baby girl Lola, as they touched down in LA.  Sara Hammond posted a picture of an attendant waiting outside the gate with a placard with her name on it.  Pictures of lunch at Johnny Rockets, lunch on the beach, star sightings, and a pool party with all the celebrities have been captured all day long by Bria Smith, Antonita Slaughter and Sara Hammond.  Shoni Schimmel will also be arriving in LA, though she seems to have missed all the early arrival fun going on.  I have also read Jude Schimmel will also be in attendance. 

What an incredible time for these young women, and this program.  Well deserved, no doubt.  The Year of the Cardinal keeps on keeping on and I hope these young women are savoring every minute of it.  What an incredible opportunity for them, and what incredible exposure for this program! 

As much as I want and believe the win against Baylor is deserving of the biggest upset award, I am wary because it is a women’s game going up against 3 male sporting events, one of which was a football game.  Let’s keep that Ugly Duckling, Party Crasher mentality alive for one more event.   

Regardless of what happens tomorrow at the awards, Louisville takes the big stage with 3 nominations in total, the women’s team, Coach Pitino for Best Coach and Angel McCoughtry for Best WNBA player.   That is an enormous amount of exposure for one program, exposure that money can’t buy.  It is the reward of success!

Today marks the last day you can vote for our Louisville connections.   If you have not done so yet (why the heck haven’t you?),  here is the link:
 

http://espn.go.com/espys/2013/

Voting remains open until 9:00 p.m. today.  You can watch the awards this evening starting at 9:00 p.m on ESPN.    Go Cards!


-JENNY O'BRYAN

( EDITOR NOTE: We have an interview with Jeff Walz that reveals his feelings toward the nomination and other aspects of the importance of the award that will play on our Saturday Radio Show on Crescent Hill Radio. WE hope you'll tune in to catch it Saturday @ 11 a.m. or you can catch it on the Sound Cloud archived broadcast area on the home page. Link is www.crescenthillradio.com and you'll find three months of our archived broadcasts there. We wish all the Louisville entries the best of luck and success tonight in the ESPY's!)

-Paulie








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Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- USA WBB WUGS get Gold

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- USA WBB WUGS roll past Russia 90-71

- Corral, Mexico fall in final to Great Britian

- Two days left to vote for ESPY's

It was hyped to be the ultimate matchup. A Russian team that had obliterated its previous five opponents against a USA squad, also undefeated, that had undergone a blood pressure check in escaping against a determined Aussie team two days earlier. Russia and the USA in a donnybrook.

It turned out to be a rout...USA jumping out to a 13-3 lead to begin the game and never in any serious danger while winning the third consecutive gold medal for the United States in World University Games women's basketball.

Offense, it is said...fills the seats but defense wins games. The USA WUGS applied a blistering first half defense that limited Russia to 31.4% shooting and a 41-27 halftime lead

With four players in double figures and shooting 52.5% for the game, the United States led by 24 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and Russia never got closer than 15 the rest of the way.

As for Ms. Schimmel...three minutes of mop up play...gathering one assist and taking no shots. She finished the six games with a 4.6 ppg, 3 assists stat line while averaging 12.6 minutes a game. Those numbers pretty much garnered from the first three games...she saw a total of 10 minutes and no points against Brazil, Australia and Russia in the final three USA contests. 

Still, she's only the second Lady Cardinal to ever win a gold medal with USA Basketball...Angel McCoughtry preceding her in the category. On a team deep with guards, Schimmel fell to the bottom of head coach Sherri Coale's rotation..behind talented Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Bria Hartley, Odyssey Sims, Ariel Massengale, Aaryn Ellenberg and Crystal Bradford. We've expressed our thoughts on Coale's rotation...the bottom line, however is that it takes a team effort to win championships and Shoni's role, although limited, was in a team venue and concept.

Hey...there's a lot worse ways to spend two week in July. Shoni got to travel, practice against the best in women's college basketball and add to her resume. All things that will bode well for the UofL senior as she and her teammates attempt to return to the NCAA WBB Final Four. A quick turn-around for Shoni...from Kazan, Russia to the ESPY awards Wednesday night in Los Angeles...where her 2012-13 UofL team is nominated for Upset of the Year.

Could anyone blame her for wanting to take the upcoming weekend off?

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Louisville women's soccer star Charlyn Corral scored once in Mexico's 6-2 defeat to Great Britian in the WUGS women's soccer gold match.

Her goal gave Mexico a 2-1 lead at the 28 minute mark of the championship game. It was 2-2 late in the contest before the Brits exploded for four goals after the 86 minute mark.

Corral's 10 goals in six matches was four goals better than anyone else in the competition. The senior-to-be at Louisville brings the silver back to campus after a outstanding performance on the world's stage.

Could anyone blame Louisville head soccer coach Karen Ferguson Dayes for walking around campus with a big smile these days? A healthy Corral and Christine Exeter gives Louisville two prime weapons against the competition this fall. We're trying to catch up with Coach Karen for an interview for Saturday's radio show. We may have to check the stratosphere...since Coach Karen is probably walking on air lately...

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The ESPY's are Wednesday night. Two Louisville categories we think you should for for are the best coach and biggest upset. Louisville in each category, of course.

Just got off the phone with coach Jeff Walz this morning, who is driving to St. Louis to fly out for the ceremonies. He'll hook up with Jude, Shoni, Bria, Sara and Nita out there for the show.

We'll have the full phone interview on the Saturday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO on Crescent Hill Radio. A couple of teasers...

-What benefits does Coach Walz think being a candidate for an award provide for Louisville women's basketball?

-Is it Coach Walz's first trip to the ESPY's?

-Were Coach Walz and Shoni staying in touch during the WUGS?

Tune in Saturday morning for these answers and more words from Walz at 11 a.m.

www.crescenthillradio.com
 
You can also listen to last Saturday's show and previous CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO shows in the archives section at Crescent Hill Radio's homepage.

Also, when listening to the show "live" ... you do have to pick a selection (like Windows Media or another) to hear the broadcast. The preview that plays on the home page DOES NOT automatically connect you to our show. Sonja found that out the hard way last week.



--Paulie

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Two Cards in U.S. Women's Am

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Petrino, Andreas qualify for U.S. Women's Amateur

 UPDATE: USA Women's Basketball WUGS win the gold over Russia 90-71.
Shoni gets three minutes of mop up.

Mexico women's soccer finished with silver, Corral scores once. We'll have the full stories in TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE...


Two golfers for the University of Louisville women's golf team have qualified for the 113th U.S. Women's Amateur Championship set for Aug. 5-11th at The Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, SC.

Junior Katie Petrino and incoming junior transfer Haley Andreas are two of 156 players that will vye for the title.

Petrino qualified on July 1st. with a 71 in sectional qualifying at Kiawah Island, SC. She was ranked fourth on the Cardinal women's golf squad last season.

Andreas transfers in from Arizona where she played for the Wildcats for two years. Her qualifying came Thursday with a 73 in Dayton, OH.

It's the second year in a row Petrino has qualfied for the Women's Am.

WE wish both the best in the upcoming tournament and also in American Athletic Conference (we think) competition this upcoming season. The site for the AAC does list golf as one of the conference sports...but makes no distinction bewteen men's and women's sports in it.

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USA Women's basketball WUGS take on Russia for the gold today at 1:30 p.m. in Kazan, Russia. ESPNU will have the coverage. Louisville's Shoni Schimmel is a participant on the 12 player roster.

Get the gold, girls!

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Cardinal women's soccer forward Charlyn Corral will be going for the gold also in the WUGS finals for Mexico against Great Britian. She has nine goals in the games...tops by far for leading scorer title.

Louisville women's soccer gets underway against Vandy in Nashville for an exhibition game on August 12th.

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Don't forget to vote for the ESPY's at www.espn.com Louisville WBB is a candidate for biggest upset for the year for their win over Baylor in the NCAA Regionals.

-Paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Women's WUGS escape against Australia 79-78

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Bradford's follow allows USA to reach final vs. Russia

Crystal Bradford. Who knew?

She was the girl who made the USA Women's basketball World University Games squad that caused us to raise our eyebrows and wonder aloud here at CARDINAL COUPLE. Was a guard from Central Michigan really better than Bria Smith?

What could she add to a team that had Bria Hartley, Odyssey Sims, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Ariel Massengale and Shoni Schimmel already in the backcourt.

Turns out, she sent USA to the finals against Russia with a follow-up of her own miss with 14 seconds to put the USA WUGS ahead for good in a game that seemed to be wrapped up for the Americans with seven minutes left in the final quarter and a 71-54 lead.

Meet Crystal Bradford.

Bradford tells the story of the final basket:

"We had an offense that was already set up with a play but we didn't execute it, so at this point we started cutting. I saw that if I cut, I would be open. When I got the ball, it was time to go. I sidestepped and saw I was open. I thought my first shot was going in, so I didn't expect to get the rebound, but it came off and I grabbed the rebound. I knew I had to go up strong. I didn't even want to shoot free throws. And I went up, and I made it an I was excited."

Sims drives to the hoop with the stagger of a
drunken sailor on shore leave.

The final fourteen seconds provided their own drama. Aussie Marianna Tolo took a close-in jumper with eight second left on the clock. It rolled off. Odyssey Sims apparently had the rebound but a jump ball was called, Australia had "the arrow" and one more chance. "Toto" took another jumper. Another miss. Another Sims rebounds and game over.

"Toto" became the wicked witch in the final seven minutes
for the Aussies.

Key fact: Aussie "big" Marianne Tolo only played 21 minutes because of foul trouble. She was instrumental for them down the stretch in erasing the USA lead in the final quarter. Still, 16 points and seven boards. Give her five more minutes on the court and Team USA is playing for the bronze instead of the gold Monday.

Eight points in the final seven minutes for a USA squad that trailed at halftime. Missed opportunity galore...including  a missed free throw by Bradford with 54 second left that would have tied it.


Sheri's hairstyle for the WUGS games
nowhere as nice as this photo.

No, this one wasn't pretty and hats off to an Aussie team that never gave up and gave USA all they wanted in the first quarter with leads of 17-6 and 20-13. But, you survive and advance with a few breaks and Sherri Coale's team gave Odyssey Sims a happy 21st. birthday gift an a date Monday night with powerful Russia.



Plaisance a def baller!

Sims led USA with 20 points. Hartley added 14, Mosqueda-Lewis 12 (with 11 rebounds) and Theresa Plaisance chipped in 10. Bradford ended up with nine.

And Shoni Schimmel? Goose eggs. Never took the warmup off. All we can do is wonder why...she didn't appear to be injured and all of the 11 other girls on the squad saw action. Controversy between her and Coale? It was disappointing to see her anchored to the bench the entire time when the USA's other guards weren't exactly burning the nets up. USA shot 38.9% for the game (28-72) and couldn't seem to buy a three-pointer for most of the contest.

I'm calling you out, Ms. Coale. Zero minutes for Shoni and just one minute for Reshanda Grey of California, an awesome defenser and rebounder? Letting a 17 point lead flush down the toilet? Getting outrebounded by eight? Can we get Geno, Walz or Doug Bruno on a flight to Kazan?



Will the "no-Sho" saga continue Monday?

Nevertheless, Shoni has a chance to get a gold medal if USA can turn the tables on a very strong, talented and disciplined Russian squad.

Game time is 1:30 p.m. Monday on ESPNU and we can only hope that they find two announcers to call it that actually know a little something about basketball. The chimp and princess who handled the USA vs. Australia on-air duties for "the U" Saturday must have been attending their first-ever basketball game.

Another reason why Jeff, Jenny and I need a play-by-play gig in women's sports. We can determine why the clock has stopped, who committed the foul and read jersey numbers pretty accurately.

Whatever. GO USA!

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Be sure and vote for all three UofL contenders in the ESPY awards over at www.espn.com

Voting closes Wednesday night...so don't delay, vote today! We feel that the Lady Cards upset win over Baylor in the NCAA Tournament is the hugest upset in the history of College WBB...but the gals are going up against men's sports' upsets over the last year...so your vote is needed!

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The epitome of tackiness...

Cardinal Couple Radio from yesterday is now up on the SoundCloud at:

 www.crescenthillradio.com

It was a very good show yesterday and we need you...the fans and listeners to support and encourage Jeff McAdams as he tries to duplicate the Arianna Freeman workout we discussed on the broadcast.

E-mail Jeff at cardinalcouple@twc.com and give him props.

And, as promised...here's a picture of my airbrushed hat I bought from one of the 5,000 air brush guys who are set up in Gatlinburg. Don't worry, we have NO plans for offering these for sale. Fact is, we probably couldn't give them away...but since there are no duplicates of this original creation from some guy named Skip...the point is moot.

First member of the Paulie Fan Club...

Skip works at the t-shirt shop in the Reagan Terrace Mall in case you want to make the drive to Tennessee and get your own designer Cardinal Couple cap...or if you want to beat him senseless for allowing me to buy one, tell me how I wanted it to look and then wear it in public.

I should have stayed in the free moonshine tasting store...

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-Paulie

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Saturday Cardinal Couple

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- WUGS win, Aussies next

- Dunbar on a lot of radars

- Corral stays hot for Mexico WUGS

- Big Wol carrying the hot bat for Great Britian

- Radio Today!

( Paulie is back from the woods! A great time with family and friends...got some trout fishing and rest in and really hated coming back...thanks to JEFF and JENNY for carrying the ball in my absence!)

The USA women's basketball WUGS ran over Sweden after a close beginning 103-72. Gotta wonder what is up with Shoni Schimmel...Sheri Coale played her a scant seven minutes (lowest on the team for the game) and she gathered just one assist and no points in the win.

WUGS take on the Aussies today at 1 p.m. Louisville time in semifinal action.

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We mentioned Kortney Dunbar a few days ago and her blip on the college recruiting radar is getting bigger all the time. The senior-to-be at Edwardsville, IL and former teammate of Emmonnie Henderson gets a great write-up at the link below. Give it a read. WE love this quote:

"That's why I like talking to Emmonnie. When we went to Louisville as a team for workouts I asked her about the workouts and how she narrowed it down."

Let's hope the conversations continue as teammates beginning in 2014.

LINK:

KORTNEY DUNBAR

(Due to my techinal maladies, the link doesn't take you directly to the article. Just type in Kortney Dunbar in the search engine for the site and it'll show up...)

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Charlyn Corral continues to get her kicks with the Mexico WUGS soccer team. She had two goals in Mexico's 3-0 win Thursday over Korea. She has seven goals so far in four matches and is the leading scorer in the entire tournament by two goals over the rest of the WUGS soccer players.  

Mexico faces South Africa in the semifinals Saturday.

Lookin' good for Karen Ferguson Dayes and the UofL Women's soccer team! Keep shooting and scoring Charlyn!

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Alicja Wolny may have graduated from Louisville, but she's still swinging the bat like she did for the softball squad last season. In the European Softball Championships, she led Great Britain to the playoffs and helped the squad to fifth place.

In eight games, Wolny hit a blistering .529 and drove in 11 runs while scoring nine. She also drew five walks.

Great Britian finished 6-2 and just missed the opportunity to go to the 2014 World Championships. Their losses came against Russia and Italy.

The Big Wol still has it...we're pretty sure most of Europe will be glad when she gets back stateside...they probably haven't seen a bombardment like that since WWII. 

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CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO Saturday morning (today!) at 11 a.m. on Crescent Hill Radio. Since Jeff and Jenny have been running the website most of the week, I'll be leaning heavily on them to get us through the show.

That'll probably please a lot of listeners who think I talk too much on the broadcasts.

Should be fun. Drop in and join us, won't you?

www.crescenthillradio.com

-Paulie

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