Scott Teeter Lacrosse Interview -- WBB News and Notes -- Cards prepare for Miami -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LARGER ROSTER, PLENTY OF TALENTED NEWCOMERS FOR 2020 LACROSSE

A chance yesterday to sit down with UofL head Lacrosse coach Scott Teeter and get a look at what the 2020 squad and schedule will be like. A very informative and quite detailed look at LAX at Louisville and how they'll look awaits you as you listen to the link. 

Coach and I discussed last year, returning and new players, the schedulea nd other important aspects of what the Cards will face and endeavor to accomplish in the ACC and out-of-conference matches this season.


Also, a bit of Paulie buffoonery...I threw Coach Teeter off guard when I asked about the second set of twin sisters on the squad. In my preparation for the interview, I looked at a lot of ACC rosters, and managed to get my Louisville and  Notre Dame roster sheets mixed up.

So, the question about the "Louisville twins that don't exist" temporarily had Coach a bit in askance about this roster development that he had no idea about or existed for for his squad. The Cards still have the Blalock sisters, but the Scutaro twins will toil for the Irish -- not UofL. 

It happens when you reach my age. Fortunately, we overcame the gaffe and finished strong. 

Louisville Lacrosse enters their third season under the direction of Teeter and his talented assistants Kay Morissette and Renee Poullott. We eagerly look forward to what they will accomplish home and  away against a VERY tough schedule, in-conference and out. 

The Cards open 2020 play at Cincinnati on Sunday, Feb. 9th. They'll return to start the home schedule Saturday Feb. 15th against Denver. All-in-all nine home games at the LLS. It should be exciting, we suggest:  C'mon out ! 


LINK TO INTERVIEW:  SCOTT TEETER INTERVIEW


CARDS WBB TRAVELS TO MIAMI


Tonight at the later-than-normal start time of 8 p.m., Louisville WBB puts their 3-0 ACC and 14-1 overall record on the line in Coral Gables, FL against the Miami Hurricanes.

The Canes have listed ALL-ACC and preseason conference player of the year Bea Mompremier as a "day-to-day" prospect for the contest. She did not play in UM's last outing against FSU because of an injured foot. Coach Walz feels she'll probably be on the court to face the Cards and has prepared his squad for that possibility. 

The Canes are a talented team, regardless on whether "Bea" plays or not. Mykea Gray, Kelsey Marshall and Endia Banks are all proven scorers and Brianna Jackson (no, this isn't the ex-UofL star) and Jamir Huston are powerful rebounders that could give the Cards fits on both ends of the court. Miami out-rebounded FSU, the first team to do that all season, and the Canes have only been out-rebounded twice this year. 

Let's not forget UM came into the KFC YUM! Center and defeated Louisville last year, the Cards first of just two home losses in the 2018-19 season. Both Gray and Bea played in that one. Hof and Cornelius may be gone, but, this version of the Canes is still very strong.  

Don't let the current Miami two-game losing streak fool you. This will, in my opinion, eventually be a top 25 team and a dangerous ACC and NCAA Tournament matchup. 

The boards are the key, and Louisville needs to get productive scoring out of Jaz, Dana. We'd love to see Kylee have a huge contest and also see Mompremier watching this one from the bench.  

If you missed yesterday's link to the weekly Walz and Dana interviews, I put up my audio of them for you to sample today: 

LINK:  JAZ INTERVIEW

LINK:  JEFF WALZ PRESSER 1/8/20


MORE ON WBB

-- Dana Evans has been named to the John Wooden mid-season Top 25 list. Evans is the second-leading scorer in the ACC at 18.5 points per contest. 

-- The USA women's national team roster has been named and Angel McCoughtry is on it. The team comes to Louisville on  Sunday, Feb 2nd to take on the Cards in their final exhibition before entering the qualifying stage for the Olympics in 2020. 

 In addition to McCoughtry, fans will be treated to an all-star line-up as the roster will feature: Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Layshia Clarendon (Connecticut Sun), Skylar Diggins-Smith (Dallas Wings), Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx), Chelsea Gray (Los Angeles Sparks), Kayla McBride (Las Vegas Aces), Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks), Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces), Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) and A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces). 



paulie
xxxxx

Swimming and Diving Update -- Walz and JJ Presser -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JARED LOOKS AT LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S SWIM AND DIVE

Swimming and Diving is typically considered a joint men's and women's sport but since we focus on Louisville women's sports we will just discuss women's swimming and diving.

The Cards, who, like most other teams, took a hiatus over the holiday break, sit at 11th in the nation.  Their season started in early October which featured meets against Xavier, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Purdue, Texas, and Indiana.  They also competed in meets featuring several teams at NC State and SMU.

The back half of the year features meets against Northwestern, Kentucky, and Indiana (again).  They'll host the Louisville Invitational in February with the ACC Championships and NCAA Championships  not far behind.

There is no current NCAA Champion as Kelsi (Worrell) Dahlia has been graduated for a few years and Mallory Comerford graduated last year.

Molly Fears has powered the diving team thus far this season.  Her most recent title was placing first
in the 1-meter at the NC State/GAC Invitational.

Grace Oglesby has been on fire and won several butterfly events in the meets against IU and Texas.

Sophie Cattermole currently holds the fastest time in the country in the 1650 freestyle.  She now owns the pool record at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.

As the swimming and diving events continue in the upcoming weeks we will continue to give updates.  Home meets are free and open to the public including a January 25 meet against rival Kentucky.


IN OTHER NEWS...

In other news, women's basketball visits Miami tomorrow night.  Tip-off is later than normal, with the opponents squaring off at 8:00 p.m.  This game appears to be on ACC Network Extra, so you can tune in online or through the ESPN app to watch them play. We also recommend the radio call from Nick Curran and Adrienne Johnson on Cards Radio WKRD 790. Their play-by-play and analysis is always spot-on and insightful.

-- Paulie will sit down with Coach Scott Teeter to talk lacrosse today and will have all you need to know about their conversation tomorrow...including a link to hear the words.

-- Jeff Walz held his weekly presser today at 12:15 p.m. and he was accompanied by Jazmine Jones.  The senior from Tallahassee, FL recently joined the 1000 point club and is the 30th Cardinal WBB student-athlete to achieve this milestone. The link for that is here: NOTE: There is a brief pause between Jones and Walz, but, be paitent..he eventually does come on.

JONES AND WALZ PRESSER 1/8/20

Tomorrow, we'll provide you with a Paulie preview of the Canes vs. Cards, in addition to the Scott Teeter interview. .

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lacrosse Releases 2020 Schedule -- Hartlage Wins in Orlando -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

2020 Lacrosse  Schedule

Lacrosse has finally released their schedule with the season one month away.  The 17-game schedule is set to begin Feb. 9.

The Cards did not hold back on scheduling a tough slate.  Conference play is always difficult when playing in the ACC but even the non-conference lineup presents plenty of challenges.

Seven of the opponents on the schedule made the 26-team 2019 tournament including runner-up Boston College.

Louisville's season starts on Feb. 9, when they travel up I-71 to Cincinnati.

They'll come home for a pair of home games against Denver and Marquette on Feb. 15 and 17.

A road trip next for the Laxers with a match at Michigan on Feb. 21 and a match at Vanderbilt on Feb. 25.

The Cards close out February with their first ACC match against Virginia Tech on the 29th.

They'll remain home to kick off March when they face Longwood on March 3.

ACC play resumes when the Cards visit North Carolina March 5.

The zig-zag home and away game pattern will continue as Louisville comes right back home to host Niagra March 9.

Back on the road just a few days later when they visit Delaware March 12.

Louisville will have a slight break before returning home to host Butler on March 17.

In a rare neutral site match, Louisville and Syracuse will face off in Bradenton, Fla., on March 21.

The Cards get a full week to recover before hosting Virginia on March 28.

It won't be long after that before they visit Ohio State to close out the month of March on the 31st.

April will be nothing but conference play beginning with a match against Boston College the LLS on April 4.

The final road test will come against Duke on April 11.

Louisville gets a week break before Senior Day against Notre Dame on April 18.

Scott Teeter enters his third year at the reins of the program.  The once heavy-freshmen class has become juniors.

The roster features 34 players.  Over half of that comes from this season's 19 student-athlete freshmen class.  There are four sophomores, nine juniors, and two seniors.

The three players from Kentucky are all freshmen hailing from Louisville.  Jordan Trabue (GK) and Maggie Foster (Defender) come in from Eastern High School and Ashley Osborne (Midfielder/Defender) joins the Cards from Ballard High School.

There are also three Canadian players on the roster.  Senior Brenna Shanahan Mississauga, Ontario, and followed Teeter from Canisius.  Hannah Morris hails from Orillia, Ontario.  Nicole Perroni is a freshman from Whitby, Ontario.

The Cards went 6-11 in 2018 and 5-13 in 2019.  I think this is the year they break the .500 mark and finish around 9-8.

Keep an eye out later in the week as Paulie sits down with Coach Teeter to talk about the upcoming season.  We will try to bring as much coverage as we can although some of the midday/ midweek games may prove to be difficult.  However, many of the matches will be aired on the ACC Network or ACC Network Extra.


Hartlage Wins in Orlando 

Louisville women's golfer Lauren Hartlage won the Orlando International Amateur tournament over the weekend by four stokes, recording a 210 for the 54-hole event.

She led from Day One, and the only golfer in the field of 83 to shoot under par in the event, carding 11 birdies and only five bogeys. The second day of the event had a two-hour weather delay but she managed even par 72 despite the soggy weather.

The senior from Elizabethtown ended the event with a one-under-par 71 and her score was the lowest score of the day. Two other Cardinals participated in the event -- seniors Meghan Nay and Delaney Shah.

The Cards begin spring play as a squad February 17th, in the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, FL.


Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB Cards overcome slow start to turn back Duke 60-55 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JAZ DOUBLE-DOUBLE KEYS WBB WIN AGAINST DUKE

Despite a slow start Sunday against Duke, that had Louisville WBB trailing by 13 at one point in the first quarter, the Cards eventually put it together and scored the last five points in a 60-55 win over conference foe Duke in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 10123 fans. 

It was hardly the start Cardinal fans nor players probably envisioned. Duke jumped out to a early 10-2 lead and held their largest lead of the contest at 20-7 with three minutes left in the opening quarter.

Senior Duke guard Haley Gorecki was hitting from all over the court, spurring on Duke's 64.3% shooting (9 for 14) in the opening period, Jade Williams was mastering the board at both ends of the court and the Cards were having trouble offensively, except for Jazmine Jones, against the highly aggressive Blue Devil zone defense. "Jonesie" was keeping Louisville from total humiliation with 10 first quarter points, and Louisville did cut the lead to 10 -- to trail 22-12 after the first ten minutes...but it was obvious that the Cards needed some answers and a response to the visitors defense. 

They began the comeback by switching to a four-guard offense. Yacine Diop joined Dana Evans, Jazmine Jones and Elizabeth Balogun on the hardwood for the next ten minutes and Bionca Dunham and Kylee Shook rotated at the post. The switch in tactics also proved valuable on defense, as Louisville held the Duke squad to just nine second quarter points, and the Cards did trim the Blue Devil lead to five at one point in the stretch before hitting the halftime break behind 31-25 to Joanne P McCauley's crew.

I'm missing the Saints v Vikings for this?" 

Jones led all scorers with 14 points in the half, Diop turned in a strong second half, relatively speaking, with six points...but Evans, Dunham and Shook were still scoreless. Duke was still shooting over 50% (13-25) and the Cards weren't quite at 40% from the floor yet. Duke was dominating the paint offensively with 20 points inside, compared to Louisville's 12. Evans had missed six threes and the immediate fix that the fans were hoping for after the slow start was beginning to look like it might be a lengthy work-in-progress. 

Things did began optimistically in the third, when "J.J." canned a three to start action. Duke recovered though, and still held a 37-31 lead with seven minutes left in the period. 

How would the Cards respond? 

Louisville made a run to get back within it two to close the quarter. Two Jones free throws, followed by an inside jumper from her, a timely Mykasa Robinson bucket and another Jones jumper led to a 8-2 run that pulled the Cards within two.

Liz Dixon tied the contest with 3:10 left in the third session with a strong inside score and "E" gave the Cards the lead 20 seconds later....cashing in on a jumper. Unfortunately, a sprain ankle after just five minutes prevented any futher court action for her. But the bucket was big. because...


It was Louisville's first lead of the night at 41-39. 

Duke managed to nail three jumpers in the final 2:30 of the third, and Dana Evans tallied her first score of the night with 16 seconds left in the session. After three quarters, it was 45-43 Blue Devils, but the Cards were coming back. Jaz had 24 points after 30 minutes, still leading the Cardinal charge. 


Dana Evans took control of the fourth quarter for the Cards. A huge three pointer from her three minutes in the final quarter put Louisville ahead 49-47. Two Jaz free throws increased it to 51-47 . It was starting to look good for the Cards, but..

Duke was not done.

They kept pace with Louisville for the next several minutes and then went on a 4-0 run that had them tied up with the Cards, following a Azana Baines jumper and Kyra Lambert mid-range connect. 1:06 showed on the clock. It was 55-55 and it was crunch time for both squads. 

Louisville was deliberate on the following possession. Working the shot clock down, the Cards found Dana open for a three after a nice Dunham pick and she delivered another huge three with 36 seconds to go to give Louisville a 58-55 advantage. A very clutch bucket that sent the KFC YUM! crowd into a frenzy.

That shooter's mentality, whether the night was going good or bad, came through for the Michael Jackson fan from the same hometown and Dana's "make" forced the Duke squad into a retaliatory situation with a diminishing clock. 

A three from Duke following the Cards score fell short and into the hands of Jaz. Duke fouled but the Cards were not in the bonus yet (something that Duke's coach "P" deliberately touched on the post-game presser, these lack of fouls called on the Cards) Another foul, this time on Bionca...with 16 seconds left...sent her to the line and the "Philly force" sank both attempts. A desperation three by Duke with 10 seconds missed, Jazz corralled the miss (for her tenth rebound). It was over and it was a "W" for the Cards. They stared "the Devils" directly in the eyes and didn't shy away. 

The Cards had found a way to win to go to 14-1 on the season and 3-0 in the ACC. Another Cardiac Cards performance, yes, but the "Dookies" deserve a lot of credit for coming in to the YUM!, giving Louisville fits most of the game with Gorecki, Baines, Lambert and Odom's efforts and never giving up. 60-55, in a comeback effort from the Cards that was three quarters in the making.

 A 17-10 scoring edge by Louisville in the fourth and 35-24 second half advantage indicates that the Cards put on the defensive clamps and got a strong performance from the bench in Diop and Robinson. 


THE FRED REPORT

Cards like Fred Astaire, dancing their
way out of danger with drama. 

FREE THROWS --  Veteran ref Billy Smith's crew laid off the whistles yesterday, with just 20 total fouls called. 14 on Duke and only six on the Cards. It led to 9-11 free throw shooting (81.8%) for Louisville (Jaz going 6-7) and 4-4 for Duke. I'll award a Capital "F" for Louisville's efforts, Louisville made 5-6 in the pivotal fourth quarter....Bionca hitting the "insurance-type policy" two at the end. 

REBOUNDS -- Duke won the battle of the board 34-33 but let's give huge props to Jazz, who had 10 rebounds to solidify her "double-double" for the afternoon. Duke is "long", jumps well and aggressive in the paint. Credit "E" for eight grabs and I'll go with a "small case "r" here based on the effort. No other Cardinal had more than three. 


EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville played good basketball for the final three quarters but the disappearance of Kylee being a huge factor and early "less-than-spectacular" court performance from everyone but Jaz was disappointing. Yes, Dana rallied to have a decent fourth quarter, but I can only offer a lower-case "e" here, the fantastic finish the saving grace for a team that looked to be in deep trouble after 10 minutes.

DEFENSE -- When you consider that the Cards created 14 turnovers, got six steals and allowed just 33 points in the final 30 minutes, it doesn't look all that bad. Louisville got punished in the paint, though, by Duke's offense (34-26), so it's a mixed bag. I'll usually award some kind of letter if the Cards hold an opponent to less than 60 points for the game, though, and I'll offer a small-case "d" for doing that.  

FINAL FRED TALLY"  F-r-e-d


THEY SAID IT:

We got the post-game audio-video from Jared Anderson for Coach Walz, Jaz Jones and Dana Evans for you. Our wayward "photog" was too busy watching the Saints lose in the break room after the WBB game to capture a very revealing post-game presser from Duke head coach Joanne P. McCauley and star Haley Gorecki. So you'll have to settle for my audio-only on that, or go to another link I found on You Tube.

It is what it is, and, I'm going to have to start keeping Jared on a leash post-game to ensure we can provide both parties for you in full form. 

Louisville post-game link:  WALZ, JAZ and DANA

Duke post-game audio link:  COACH JOANNE P AND HALEY

Duke post-game video:  COACH P AND HALEY POST-GAME VIDEO



  


IN CONCLUSION...

Some of the WW II veterans honored were sitting behind
Sonja and I. They were loud and having fun ! 

An old Navy air force saying might be appropriate on an afternoon where war veterans were honored and vetted. It goes 

"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing". 

It applies to Sunday's contest. Tough conditions early, turbulence throughout the flight but a safe and happy landing for the Cardinals. It may have been Jazmine Jones' best game of the season and fitting that she reach and pass the 1,000 career points milestone with yesterday's effort. And, she was unware of reaching the milestone until after the game. 

Just when I boldly stated Saturday that it had appeared the Cards had "jelled" after their win at Clemson, it looks like they may need to go back in the freezer for additional jelling. The comeback and defensive effort for the last three quarters strong and admirable, Jones's dependability great to see, but, I...and probably you...want to see 40 minutes of positive consistency for several games in a row. Louisville needs a re-appearance of Kylee Shook in the paint, too. Four guards against Miami probably isn't going to work. 

Jeff Walz warned after the Syracuse game that there would be a lot of these nail-biter types of contests for Louisville inside the ACC schedule this year. And, Coach is right, so far.  Two out of the first three ACC tilts could have gone either way for his squad. 

Miami, on Thursday, will be another test that will probably raise blood pressure in some of you. The Canes will be looking to avenge a home loss Sunday to FSU 73-62 yesterday when they bring the Cards to Coral Gables. At 9-5, a solid season for Katie Meyer's bunch and they have the preseason ACC Player of the Year in Bea Mompremier.

At least the dynamic Dutch duo of Corneilus and Hof have moved on.Those two were huge in Miami's defeat of Louisville last year. 

Get out the parachute and life preserver for this one. It might be a bumpy flight for JJ Airlines and crew down South, but, if anything...this Cardinal team has learned how to weather rough conditions and score more points than the opponent, which, of course --is the basic concept of the game. 

(EXCELLENT PHOTOS FROM JARED ANDERSON TODAY) 


paulie
xxxxx

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Gameday vs Duke

WBB vs Duke

The Cards play host at the KFC Yum! Center today against Joanne P. McCallie and her Duke Blue Devils.

The Dukies come in to town with an overall record of 7-6, and a 1-1 conference record.  We discussed the Blue Devils, and their schedule/results on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour yesterday.  Frankly, we weren't that impressed.  I try to stay positive and respectful of opponents, particularly conference opponents, but sometimes you just have to call it what it is.

The most impressive win on the Duke schedule is against ACC basement dweller Boston College.  Let that sink in a minute.  The next best wins are against...UNLV?  High Point?  We're not talking college basketball elite, here.  Loses come from Texas A&M, Northwestern, a 43 point pasting by South Carolina (which, at least is a good team, but...43 points.), and...checks notes...FGCU?  Yikes.

Duke, and McCallie, has had some good players in the past, and I've always considered her a good recruiter, and potentially good coach on the practice court.  I've also gone on record as believing that she is not a good on-floor coach, particularly with respect to clock management, and drawing up plays for particular situations.  I will acknowledge that I may be spoiled to the absolute genius, or should I say mad scientist, of Jeff Walz in those categories.

So, who do we need to be watching for on this Duke team?

The biggest scoring threat is Haley Gorecki, averaging 17.5 points per game.  She's followed up by Leaonna Odom, and Miela Goodchild, with 14.1 and 11.0, respectively.  Gorecki also dishes well, with nearly double the assists of Odom, with the second highest totals on the team.  Shot blocking is led by Onome Akinbode-James, but she has only 13 on the season.  Compare that to Kylee Shook's 34, and E Balogun's 17, and I like our presence in the paint.  Duke leads opponents overall (but, again, look at strength of schedule) in the steals and blocks stats categories, but trails in turn-overs and assists.

The game is at 2 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center and will be aired on the ACC Network, so you have the option of either streaming, or linear TV for this one...and, always a good choice...Nick and A.J.. on Cards Radio 790 WKRD. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Well, there's no actual radio involved anymore, and things are a bit barebones at the moment, and we had some sort of audio routing issue yesterday, but the CCRH is alive and kicking.  We'll sort out the audio issues, and we're still considering options for when and where to do the show.  The location we were in yesterday probably has the best setup for audio for us, but Saturday mornings are the busiest time of the week for the facility (it's used for far more than just podcasting!). 

We're considering a possible change to the show time, perhaps to Tuesday night?  We do feel very strongly about maintaining the live broadcast aspect of it, but we kinda feel like the actual time frame of that live broadcast is not as important.  Let us know what you think in the comments.

In this inaugural podcast broadcast, we dove into the latest basketball win at Clemson, and previewed this afternoon's Duke contest.  You can laugh along with us as we get adjusted to a new facility, and setup.

And, for the next benefit of switching to Youtube, I can post here, not just a link to the broadcast, but can embed the broadcast itself.

Again, apologies for the audio issues, we'll get that figured out, and I hope you enjoy the latest show.  Click subscribe and ring the bell to be notified of future shows.  I know we're excited for the possibilities that we have with this setup and format.  We'll continue to grow and develop, that I promise.

-- 

JMcA

A Brief Look at the Cards "Mid-Season"; New Cardinal Couple Radio Hour -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Open Conference Play Strong

After Thursday's victory, Louisville now sits at 13-1 (2-0) on the season. The sole loss remains the head-scratching effort against Ohio State, but there have been a couple of clunkers that the Cards have survived. Neither of those have come in conference play. Louisville looked unstoppable in the first half of play against Clemson, despite the effort tailing off a bit in the second. Against Syracuse, things weren't quite as dominant as we may hope for every Louisville game, but the Cards still got it done and looked mostly controlled for the fourth quarter. The Orange took a very brief lead late, but Louisville was able to turn that around quickly and hold onto the win. 

Moving forward, Louisville will play a very interesting conference schedule. For the remainder of the regular season, the Cards will have no more than two consecutive games on the road or at home. This could prove to be very good for Louisville. No extended road trips helps to prevent road weariness, and no extended home stands could help to prevent the development of complacency before leaving home once more. It may seem like this will lead to additional travel, but between games that are more than two or three days apart, the team will usually return to Louisville anyway, so this should not increase the travel load significantly. Next up is Duke, at home, on Sunday.

Mid-Season CASE Report

There haven't been very many CASE Reports so far this year, and with every remaining regular season game being scheduled for a Thursday or Sunday, the CASE Report will continue to be sidelined. I figured now would be a good time to look at how the Cards have seemed collectively to this point in the season based on my made-up metrics. We can take another look at the end of the year to see if the Cards improved or declined and whether or not the metrics were indicative of success. This could get a bit weird because it's collective stats instead of game-by-game, but it should remain pretty straightforward for the most part.

C-Care: Care looks at Louisville's management of the basketball. We want to know that the Cards are turning it over fewer times than the opponent (which is easy to find out) and whether or not they far outperform the competition (which is a bit more complicated). The Cards have committed 209 turnovers so far this season, which is an average of 14.9 per game. That average isn't great, but the Cards are performing better than opponents who have 242 turnovers (17.3 per game). There's half a letter. Louisville's opponents have not been particularly adept at forcing turnovers, though. Only three opponents appear in the top 100 in that category, and their highest ranked opponent, Kentucky (13) is 50 spots higher than the next, WKU. Three opponents force fewer turnovers per game than Louisville's season average. Based on their season averages, Louisville opponents would be expected to force just 236.5 turnovers. The Cards are below that number, but have committed 88% of expected turnovers. We were looking for 65%. Lowercase 'c'.

A-Assists: Next we are looking for assist numbers. Anecdotally, Louisville has seemed decent at passing the ball. The high turnover rate will make it very challenging to get an uppercase letter here, though. We're looking for a 50% assist rate and 2.0 Assist-to-Turnover ratio. With 215 assists, we can't get the 2.0 ATO (Cards are at 1.03), but we do get just over the 50% assist rate. With 400 made baskets this season, Louisville is assisting on 53.8% of shots. Lowercase 'a'.

S-Steals: The most straightforward of the categories is steals. Jeff Walz plays a pretty aggressive brand of defense, so Louisville should achieve a benchmark of 7.5 per game and beat the opponent. The Cards have not excelled in this stat so far this season, with just 98 steals. That's only 6 more than the opponent at 92. It's also only 7 per game; we'd need 7 more to get the average up to the benchmark. Lowercase 's'.

E-Efficiency: How are the Cards shooting? We're looking for 45% from the floor and 75% from the line. The 400 made shots have come on 897 attempts, leading the Cards to miss the benchmark by just .4% (44.6%). That's fewer than ten missed shots difference. Close, but not quite there. The 34.6% shooting from three may be contributing, but just a few great shooting nights should put the Cards back on track. As for free throws, Louisville achieves the benchmark by nearly as close a margin by which they missed the field goal bench mark. 163-214 is good for 76.2% from the line. Despite seeming like a fairly low number, most teams aren't shooting well from the line this year. Louisville is 29th in the country and just 7.6% off of the leader, William and Mary. The Cards are just 4.5% behind second place Lipscomb. Lowercase 'e'.

And so the Cards have hit the midseason mark with a c-a-s-e. That feels correct. We have a lot of expectations for this team, and, outside of the win over Oregon, the Cards just haven't felt like they're playing their best basketball. With the conference season just getting underway, the Cards have a lot of games left to play against familiar teams. I'd expect them to improve in some of these categories as they become better prepared for their opponents and the newcomers continue to become more comfortable with the team.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

That's right, we're keeping the name. If you've been following along with the show recently or the site over the last couple of weeks, you'll know that the WCHQ era has come to an end. This ending was not just for the CCRH, but for the station as a whole, as maintenance of the station became unsustainable. It was a great effort put forth by those in charge, and we were happy to be a part of WCHQ's weekly lineup. However, we weren't ready to put down the mics when the station shuttered earlier this week. The show will no longer be on the radio, but we will still bring you a weekly talk show about Louisville women's athletics. The show will still be broadcast live, but via internet streaming only. We are trying out Youtube Live first, but we will see if that sticks. The show will be available after the live recording both on Youtube, and pushed out as a podcast to various podcast platforms. 

As for changes to the actual show, there are going to be a few. First, we have not quite solidified our place with our new hosts. That means there will be some uncertainty around the show's start time early on. For example, today, the show will be live at 1PM instead of 11AM. It is our goal to maintain the 11AM start time for the show on a weekly basis, but our live stream being independent of a radio schedule allows us a bit of flexibility. This flexibility brings forth the second change. The CCRH does not have to strictly be an hour. If things are light, we can bring you the show we want without dragging things on just to fill a timeslot. Similarly, as things get more busy, we'll be able to present all the information and analysis without shortchanging any teams or ideas. We're very excited about these possibilities.

The last change I can think of right now is that we are losing the protection of a radio license. We'll be able to say whatever we want without the FCC looming over the radio station (though we'll still look to keep the show family friendly) but copyright protections exist. Most of our music was able to be played because of our radio station ties, but we don't exactly have free rein to just play a bunch of music on our live stream without permission. That's a great way to get your Youtube Channel shut down. If you remember, there was a brief time that WCHQ attempted to move to Youtube instead of Facebook Live. They were ultimately forced back to FB because of copyright claims despite their radio status. All that is to say that we'll be looking for royalty free music for intros and the like, and the show may feel a bit empty as far as songs go early on. 

So that's the low down on the future of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. We're committed to continuing this gig, so we hope you'll join us. Jeff should be able to include podcast links once we have put out an episode or two if you prefer to subscribe there, but if you want to listen/watch live or stick to Youtube, look no farther. Our Youtube channel, which you should subscribe to, can be found here: Cardinal Couple Youtube. Today's show link is here: 01/04/20 Cardinal Couple. You'll be able to watch the show live in either the browser or on any Youtube app. As a reminder, today's show will be at 1PM, but we'll hope to get back live at 11AM starting next week.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

WBB Cards Clobber Clemson 75-50 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DANA EVANS GOES FOR 27 IN 25-POINT WIN

A fast start last night in Clemson, SC propelled the Louisville women's basketball team to an early lead and Louisville never looked back in the ACC win against the Tigers. Dana Evans led all scorers with 27 points, Elizabeth "E" Balogun totaled 15 in the first 20 minutes and the Cards (13-1, 2-0) romped their way to a 75-50 triumph. 

Early on, it was Balogun 7 - Clemson 2 as the Chattanooga sophomore led a 10-0 Cardinal that put UofL up 12-2 after an Evans three made it 12-2 with 5:17 remaining in the first quarter. It was open season on hunting and bagging threes in the first ten minutes, Louisville sank five of them, and had no trouble in establishing a 25-12 run in the first session. 


The Cards came out hot in the second quarter as well, stretching a 32-16 lead to 44-22 after four straight threes in a two-minute sequence from Balogun and Evans. After buckets by Evans, E and Jazmine Jones, the Cards held their largest lead of the first half at 50-22 with 38 seconds remaining. It was a half to remember, the Cards made 10 threes, Balogun and Evans were responsible for 39 of Louisville's 50 first half points and UofL was shooting 56% (29-52) from the floor and 50% (10-20) from three-point range. Louisville won the second quarter 25-10.


I'll get into this a little later on in today's column, but I'll say it was the Cards finest effort for one half this season. 

It was a large defensive effort for Walz's squad in the first twenty minutes. They held the Tigers to 24% shooting, just one three-pointer and held Clemson scoreless the final 3:43 of the half. 50-22 at the break and the Tigers walked back to the locker room stunned, searching for answers and hardly looked like the team that had defeated Notre Dame by 16 a few nights ago in South Bend.  

The pace slowed a bit in the final two quarters. Although Louisville won the third 15-10 to take a 65-32 lead, Clemson was fighting for pride and starting to make a few stops and plays. Yacine Diop, Norika Konno, Elizabeth Dixon and Kasa Robinson eventually entered the action and the first three mentioned in the sub sequence scored the final six points of the third to extend the lead to 33 at the end of the quarter. Clemson's Kendall Spray, the ACC Player of the Week last week, had just one made three in the game. 


Walz did a lot of experimentation with player combinations in the fourth period. 

Clemson took advantage of the situation and went on a 8-0 lead midway through the final quarter to cut the Cardinal advantage to 24 at 66-42 with 6:11 to play. Walz re-inserted three starters to stem the tide and, aided by Norika Konno's five- fourth quarter points, Louisville sailed to a 75-50 win, despite getting out-scored 18-10 in the fourth and scoring just one point in the first five minutes of final quarter action.

An incredible night for the Gary, IN junior. Dana going 10-20 from the floor, seven of the makes being threes and also adding three rebounds and four assists. Balogun was just as incredible, going 6-10 from the floor in only 20 minutes of action.


THE FRED REPORT

Fred "Mr Rogers" would have probably
sung "It's a Beautiful Night in the Tiger Den"
after last night's UofL performance

FREE THROWS -- If there was a lack of something in last night's contest, it was called fouls. Only 27 in the contest and just 10 by Clemson. The Cards went seven for nine (77.8%) from the line, Dana never went to the line and four players took two each. Free throws definitely weren't a factor last night. We'll award a CAPITAL "F" for the Cards effort, albeit a brief one, from the charity stripe. 

REBOUNDS -- Surprising at first glance, Louisville lost the boards battle 47-40 to the Tigers. Upon further review, there were several sequences in the game where Clemson took four or so shots before connecting, so that "puffed" the stats. And, UofL did win the defensive boards battle 26-25. Kylee had 10 grabs, eight on the defensive end and Liz was responsible for five in just 16 minutes. I can't award a letter here, but unique circumstances and the Cards first half shooting excellence skew this stat. 

EFFICIENCY/EXECUTION -- Louisville passed the ball well, found the open player and ran the offense well for most of the contest. Yacine led the "bakery" stat with four turnovers, but, all in all, the Cards fared well in getting done what had to be done. 23 points off turnovers and the Cards ran the transition game quite well. Here's your CAPITAL "E". 

DEFENSE -- A wonderful performance in the first three quarters, no doubt. 20 turnovers for the Tigers and Louisville blocked seven shots, led by "E"'s five. 18-62 shooting for Clemson and just three fast break points. Maybe the most remarkable stat was the 1-8 three-point shooting Clemson managed. 50 points for the Tigers....and just 32 after three quarters. The defense (doesn't) rest, your honor, and we have come to a decision. A CAPITAL "D" for the shut down effort by UofL when the Tigers had the ball. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-E-D


SO...

Debate it if you will, but I'll call that first half the finest one Louisville has produced all season.

The Cards looked like a team that could go very, very far in the NCAA Tournament for 20 minutes last night.

Maybe. I'm a little disappointed that the "killer" instinct seemed to wane in the final twenty (Clemson won the second half 28-25), but...let's face it, this one was over early and (in my opinion) the sparse crowd of 1196 didn't have much at all to rally around most of the night. In deference, they're Football crazy these days down there, with National Championship dreams permeating the city and campus and, rightfully so. 

A chance to get a little extended playing time for the Cardinal reserves and that's always good, especially when it is an ACC opponent. Those opportunities may not present themselves much in the future. Coach Walz expressed pleasure in his post-game remarks about the win.

Has the jello finally jelled? 

The Tiger (maybe) mirroring the look in Clemson fans eyes
and on their faces after last night's game. 

Last night, the jello was served -- or, more like forced down the throat -- to a Clemson squad coming off a huge win on the road. 

The Cards saw the 5-9 version of Clemson, not the road-warriors who gave Notre Dame their first home loss in ACC history.

 No matter, they kept shoveling the gelatin down the Tigers pie-hole and it was refreshing to see. 

Let's hope second helpings are plentiful out of the Cardinal refrigerator as the Cards continue to explore the menu in the ACC establishment. 

Duke comes up next for the Cards, a visit to the KFC YUM Center on Sunday 2 p.m. Coach Walz wants 12-13,000 in attendance for this one. You got it in you, Cardinal fans? 


JUST IN

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour will live on. 

Although it won't be on the radio, Jeff McAdams has set up a podcast format for us that will debut Saturday, 1 p.m. on You Tube. 

We kept the name, in tribute to the years of our broadcasting efforts, despite there being an absence of a radio station you can turn on to listen to us. My guys tell me podcasting is the wave of the future. I hope you follow us over to the venue change. 

Please join us at:  youtube.com/watch?v=x5ZYz6Z7140  for our first broadcast. Case Hoskins will go into more detail about our transformation and continuance in his Saturday column. It should be informative and interesting !! 


paulie
xxxxx

Back to Business -- WBB Visits Clemson -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Travel to Clemson

Now that the year has begun it is time to get back to business. Louisville Women's basketball plans to do just that when they visit Clemson tonight.  The Cards and Tigers will top off at 7:00 p.m., ET.  The game is slated to be aired on ACC Network Extra, or you can tune into Nick Curran and AJ on the radio on Cards Radio WKRD 790 AM.

The Tigers play their home games in Littlejohn Arena. I would expect a decent crowd for this one, with the Cards coming in as a top 10 squad and the general excitement about Clemson Sports playing a factor as well. Their football squad is playing for the National Championship and sometimes other programs will bring in highly ranked programs fot recognition and a cameo temperance to fire up the fan base and bolster attendance.

Attendance usually hovers around the 1400 mark for home games in Littlejohn. They did bring in almost 4300 against Alabama State (Education Day event) and 2830 for South Carolina.

Probably got a bad mushroom. The Clemson Tiger is
simply known as The Tiger, no nickname
. He needs sunglasses 

Louisville improved to 12-1 after a scare against Syracuse in the ACC opener.  The Cards have won
their last two conference road openers and are 15-1 on the road against the ACC the last two years.

Clemson (5-8) had a rough start to the year but has won two of their last three and sit at 1-1 in conference play.  Most recently, they went to South Bend and walked away with a 16-point win.  They gave Notre Dame their first home conference loss since joining the ACC in 2013.

Other than getting beat by South Carolina pretty badly the Tigers have been competitive in games.  The killer has been offense.  They've topped 70 points just five times in 13 outings.

Clemson averages 62.8 points per game.  Their shooting is pretty effective with a .404 mark from the field and .292 mark from three-point range.  Three-point shooting is not Clemson's go-to, as they have only made 59 on the year.  Turnovers have been a problem for the Tigers, who have 283 on the year, nearly 22 per game.

Scoring has been by committee with no particular player being the go to.  Kobi Thornton (13.5 points per game), Amari Robinson (11.& ppg), and Kendall Spray (10.2 ppg) have been the three top scorers with seven other players averaging between three and six points per game.  Thornton was a second team All-ACC member last season.

Spray has been the only deep range threat, making 34 treys and shooting 35%.  Her 34 three's ranks fifth in the ACC.  No one else has made more than nine.She was also ACC Player of the Week last week.

Thornton and Robinson have led the rebounding charge with 6.5 and 6.7 per game, respectively.  As a team, Clemson averages nearly 41 rebounds per game, two and a half more than their opponents.

Louisville owns the series with a 7-3 advantage.  They've also won seven straight, all coming since
the Cards joined the ACC.  The most recent meeting was in the ACC tournament, where the two teams went head-to-head for most of the game before the Cards pulled out a 75-67 win.

Our good friend Arthur should be in attendance and most likely fired up, now that he has returned from a thrilling Fiesta Bowl.  Perhaps he will make a cameo while we're watching the game from our phones and computers.

All in all, the Tigers are in a second year of a rebuild with head coach Amanda Butler, who we've pictured here. We're not sure if she's surfing, skateboarding or just trying to negotiate the walk from the bar to the car at the end of New Year's Eve...but she is a talented coach when not wind-surfing and the Tigers could pose a huge threat if Louisville stays with their recent "play to the level of their opponent" mode.

Planning ahead, the Cards return home this coming Sunday for a tip-off against Duke at 2:00 p.m.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Happy New Year -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FROM ALL OF US: 



HAPPY NEW YEAR !!