Case had a great article yesterday about all of the former UofL players in the WNBA being active on Friday, including on opposite sides of the court from each other. Today? Well, the WNBA was in action yesterday, but no former Cards. A quick rundown of the action: The Atlanta Dream came up short against the Dallas Wings, 85-75; The Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun put on an offensive clinic, with the Sky coming out on top 100-93; and finally probably the best game of the day, the Sue Bird-less Seattle Storm were nonetheless victorious over the Phoenix Mercury.
Cards will be in action today, though. Angel McCoughtry and the Las Vegas Aces will take the court at 5pm vs Jaz Jones, Kylee Shook, and the New York Liberty. For the nightcap, Myisha Hines-Allen and The Washington Mystics look to avoid falling below .500 against the Indiana Fever at 7pm on ESPN2. The other game today doesn't have any Cards in it, but includes a great match-up of some excellent veteran WNBA players with Sylvia Fowles and the Minnesota Lynx taking on Candace Parker and The Los Angeles Sparks. That on tips at 3pm on ESPN.
More Sports Fall
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced yesterday that they are postponing all fall sports, with the intention to play in the spring.
What relevance is this to UofL women's sports, which is the core of what we cover here? Nothing directly, however it is likely that the MAC was influenced by the recent news out of Louisville of 29 players testing positive for Covid-19 after an off-campus party.
Additionally, most commentary and analysis suggests that the MAC could be the first domino to fall of other conferences making much the same decision. Previously, of FBS Football schools and conferences, only UConn, who competes independently in FBS, had announced cancellation of Football for the fall. No Division I schools or conferences had previously announced a cancellation or postponement of all fall sports.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
If you're looking for competition, the Cardinal Couple Crew have you covered as we continue the CCRH summer quiz. We had a full house for this one, with Jared, Case, myself, and Paulie all a part of the fun. Jared continued his dominance over Case and I. Can you beat him? Give it a try.
WNBA coverage, the latest on Covid-19 updates, including discussion of "The Party" at UofL and the implications of it also were on the agenda, and more.
It may seem like we are giving outsized attention to the WNBA here at Cardinal Couple, but as our readers generally enjoy Louisville women's college basketball and there isn't much of that or any other fall sport to talk about, it falls to talk about former Cards. I hope you'll humor us as it's a blessing to at least have some topic to talk about with consistency.
Anyway, last night saw a matchup between former Cardinal teammates in Jaz Jones, Kylee Shook, and Myisha Hines-Allen. Paulie gave a preview of this one yesterday, so I'm sure you were already prepared for the update. In an upset, the New York Liberty actually found their first win against a pretty strong Washington squad. The Mystics have struggled recently, though, as last night's loss was their third straight. It was a low scoring affair, only 140 total points, and both teams struggled shooting the ball, finishing with under 40%. The main difference came at from beyond the arc, where the Liberty absolutely destroyed the Mystics, making 12-32 while the Mystics shot just 4-16. NY outscored Washington in 3 out of 4 quarters and only one quarter saw a team score twenty or more points (NY; 2nd; 22).
As for the Louisville connection, the impact wasn't really there on either team. MHA got the start, as she has in every game so far for Washington, but only played 26 minutes. She picked up five fouls and had the worst +/- on the floor at -11. She did finish with 12 points, 8 rebounds, an assist, and a steal, but it was a fairly forgettable game for Hines-Allen, who has been working on becoming a breakout star. On the winning side, Jones and Shook were even quieter. The two combined for just 19 minutes and Jones had their only three points, with a two pointer and a made free throw. Jones did add four rebounds and an assist to clarify that she is not just a scorer. Shook, unfortunately, struggled to make any impact at all, going 0-3 from the floor and goose-egging the rest of the stat sheet during her time on the floor. The positive for Shook's night is that she was +1 in her time on the floor, so she contributed defensively if nothing else.
The two New York Cards will hope that this first win can lead to a renaissance for the team. They'll also be looking to maximize their future minutes and ensure their place on next year's roster. Hines-Allen, on the other hand, will be trying to turn things around. After starting out 3-0, the Mystics are now 3-3 and tied for sixth in the league. With plenty of games left to play, there's time for them to get things turned around, but wait too long and the gap to the league leaders will only grow.
As for the other Cardinal in action last night, Angel McCoughtry lit it up for the Aces in a close win over the LA Sparks. Las Vegas has now won three straight and sit at 4-2. McCoughtry finished with 24 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals. At +13, she was far and away the highest rated player in +/- and nearly led the game in scoring (A'ja Wilson finished with 26). Angel set out this season looking to show that she wasn't ready to hang them up yet after injuries threatened to derail her career and games like last night show that she is still one of the best players in the league.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Another week has come and gone and boooooy has there been some news. Tune in at 11AM as we discuss all that has gone on over the last week in Louisville women's athletics. As is our mission, we'll do our best to keep it focused on the joy and excitement portion. I believe we'll also continue our weekly quiz, as there is still no game action to preview or review, but as the summer draws nearer to a close, we'll have to see how much longer the quizzes go on. The show can be heard live at 11 on the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel or catch the recorded stream any time after the show ends.
We took a brief departure from following our Louisville WNBA Cards yesterday -- to review the events, actions and programs that were involved and that caused COVID-19 to strike the UofL campus among the student-athletes. And,
As far as previewing anything for last night, no Cardinal WBB players were in action in the WNBA triple-header.
Just to catch you up, the Sue Bird-less Seattle Storm had to walk out of the bubble feeling very lucky Thursday evening. They blew an almost-20 point lead in the final quarter but still managed to down Atlanta 93-92.
Did anyone mention former Texas A&M star Chennedy Carter might be sorta good? The rookie blistered Seattle for 35 points in 36 minutes last night.
In other games. the Connecticut Sun clipped the Dallas Wings 91-68. Dallas playing the role of Icarus and flying too close to the Sun, I suppose.
Phoenix is overcoming their slow league start quite nicely and is now 5-2 with a win over Chicago in a battle of 4-2 teams. When you have Diana Taurasi and Brit Griner putting in 22 points each for you, you're probably going to win most nights out.
Tonight is the fun night for fans of ex-UofL WBB greats, though.
The games begin at 6 p.m. when our neighbors to the north (the Indiana Fever) look to get back to .500 against a Minnesota Lynx team that comes at you most nights with Napheesa Collier and Sylvia Fowles. "Big Syl" is averaging a double-double but sat out the Lynx last game -- a win over New York -- with a calf injury.
Then, at 7 p.m. match of three Cardinals, when Jaz Jones and Kylee Shook look for their first win as New York Liberty players against Myisha and the Washington Mystics. After a scorching start to the season, the Mystics (3-2) have cooled off a bit in their last two games -- falling to You can't point the finger of blame on "Mooks" though...Myisha Hines-Allen is averaging 17.6 points per game and 9,6 rebounds.
This should be a fun one, watching Myisha go up against Kylee. Maybe the Liberty will see fit to giving Kylee and Jaz a bit more time on the court. I mean, seriously...your team is 0-5 Walt Hopkins....what do you have to lose? The two have already created a few highlight reel moments with their passing and scoring and deserved the extra minutes...(in my humble opinion, of course...I'm not ready to replace Hopkins or Deb Antonelli as a font of knowledge).
Angel and the Aces get the night game (9 p.m.) and it should be a great one with two 3-2 teams going at each other. The Los Angeles Sparks are the opponent and it's Candace Parker vs.Angel McCoughtry ! Angel is averaging 14.4 points per game in five contests and looking like the Angel of old.
Viewing opportunities for tonight's games:with our Cardinals are on ESPN 2.
SOFTBALL ADDS GRADUATE MANAGER
University of Louisville softball coach Holly Aprile has announced that Hannah Dossett will join her staff as a graduate manager starting in August 2020. "We are very grateful to have Hannah join our staff as a graduate manager," said Aprile. "Hannah embodies our core values and brings a ton of great experience to our program as a former ACC Academic Honor Roll student-athlete. Her work ethic and knowledge base will be a very positive addition to our staff." Dossett, a native of Warsaw, Ky., was a four-year starter at Syracuse, suiting up for the Orange from 2016 through 2019. Throughout her career, the catcher/infielder helped Syracuse to 109 victories and four ACC Championship appearances and stands tied for third on the program's all-time list for sacrifice flies with six. In 2016, Dossett made an immediate impact during her rookie season, starting all 52 games and tallying five home runs, 10 doubles and a triple while driving in 23 RBI and scoring 23 runs. In 2019, she registered a career-best .289 season batting average. Dossett represented the softball team on the Syracuse Student-Athlete Advisory in all four of her seasons. She was also successful in the classroom as a four-time ACC All-Academic Honor Roll and Syracuse Dean's List selection. She earned her bachelor's degree in business management from Syracuse in 2019.
Paulie gave us an afternoon update yesterday after UofL released breaking news of suspending four fall sports. 29 members from volleyball, field hockey, women's soccer, and men's soccer tested positive for COVID-19 while many more were exposed.
The news later came out that the outbreak was traced back to an off-campus party. The location of the party was not announced, although many people speculated one of the off-campus housing locations.
Those fall sports will be suspended from activities for the next 14 days and all who tested positive will self quarantine. UofL issued a statement that all the proper procedures would be followed.
We haven't even gotten to the true season before we saw our first major outbreak. The chances of playing a full season seem even more slim. It's easy for the virus to spread throughout a team and we yesterday how quickly the number of people exposed can add up.
Having a party goes against recommendations by health officials right now. For UofL, it looks bad after they talked about how every precaution was made and each sport was in their own bubble.
For fans, the hope of having a fall sports season looks even more out of reach. We have already seen outbreaks in sports that have started back up like MLB and NBA.
Of course, I am disappointed in what happened, mostly in the manner of how it happened. But I also can see things from the viewpoint of the student-athletes.
I was a college student not too long ago. I was young and didn't always make the best decisions. I wanted to have fun and live life. I felt invincible at times. Many of the friends you make in college you don't see in person again when you graduate. People move all over the country or around the world. Your time with them is limited to just a few years so you try to make the most of the time you have.
"Well, sir, we were looking for the bingo...
So my guess of what happened is this: the student-athletes were bored back on campus. They wanted to hang out with their friends. Feeling young and invincible, they thought nothing of the virus or the idea of it cross-spreading among different teams. These teenagers and young adults just wanted to have fun with their friends while they had free time (don't forget that student-athletes are some of the busiest people in the world).
In the end, we all make mistakes and have to learn from them.
We should see these programs pick operations back up in two weeks, still a month before their first scheduled games.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville has temporarily suspended all team-related activities for the fall sports of men's and women's soccer, field hockey and volleyball. The decision was made after 29 members of the four teams tested positive for COVID-19 while multiple other teammates and student-athletes from other sports were potentially exposed to the virus and remain in quarantine due to contact tracing.
Following department policies and protocols, the primary source of the positive tests, and its exposure, was traced primarily to an off-campus party. Though all student-athletes have been well-educated about the dangers of social gatherings to themselves and to others, UofL leaders have again reinforced the necessity to adhere to state, local, and Center for Disease Control (CDC) medical guidelines and procedures for the health and safety of all.
Team members from the four sports programs who have not tested positive or been identified through contact tracing may be permitted to return to workouts on campus beginning Monday, Aug. 10, pending testing results. The suspension of activities began on Monday, Aug. 3
One of those rare nights tonight where we get to see all four of the Cardinal WBB WNBA professionals on the court on the same evening.
Beginning at 7 p.m., it'll be Jazmine Jones and Kylee Shook looking for their first win in the WNBA for the New York Liberty against a Minnesota Lynx squad that has started well with a 3-1 record.
Let's face it, New York has some shoes to fill without rookie Sabrina Ionescu at point. Whether Layshia Clarendon is the answer at point remains to be seen. Kia Nurse can score, she proved that against the Mercury with 17 points, but just one assist raises a few questions.
Jazmine Jones is a talented, athletic guard but lacks the point guard experience, having played with some great ones at Louisville and never having to be the point. It might be a long night for the Liberty. I'd like to see a few more minutes for Kylee tonight and see if that three-point shot she had at Louisville is still an effective weapon.
NBA TV will show this contest
Then, at 8 p.m., we get a special bonus when it's Angel McCoughtry and her Las Vegas Aces agains Myisha Hines Allen and her Washington Mystics.
A win for Myisha (named the Player of the Week for the WNBA) and her squad would tie them for first place in the standings. They'll have a tough task against the potent duo of Angel an A'ja on the Mystics, though and Ariel Atkins has been filling up the bucket, too for DC.
ESPN2 will show the contest.
In "news of the weird", what in the wide world of sports is going on in Atlanta? Is team owner and U.S. senator appointee Kelly Loeffler deliberately trying to upset an entire league and its fan base?
Last night, teams were sporting shirts urging votes for Loeffler's November opponent Raphael Warnock. This one's just getting started, friends.
We still have five months left in 2020. Grab your popcorn and have a seat.
WNBA STANDINGS
Chicago 4-1
Seattle 4-1
Washington 3-1
Minnesota 3-1
Phoenix 3-2
Las Vegas 2-2
Los Angeles 2-2
Indiana 2-2
Dallas 2-2
Atlanta 2-3
New York 0-4
Connecticut 0-5
REQUESTED
I've had several requests for the video of the UofL WBB players in practice that was made mention of in Walz's latest teleconference. Here ya go, link below:
Jeff Walz sat down on video chat with media yesterday to talk about what the program is doing. He covered a wide variety of questions ranging from the end of last season up to what may happen this coming season.
One of the big notes he made is that he is allowing players to go home after workouts before the season starts. When they return to campus, they will take the proper procedures to handle coming back and prepare for the season.
Walz praised the creativity of sports performance coach Kaitlynn Jones. She contacted the players to see what equipment they had at home and devised workout plans for each member of the program that worked with what they had at home.
The program has been relaxed and understanding with players' and coaches' concerns. That includes comfort levels of being in the gym or weight room as well as even any choices to sit out the upcoming season.
We did get an update on the incoming players with how they are adjusting to the college basketball level. So far so good, is the vibe Coach gave off.
The idea of the four guard lineup was tossed out there again. We should be seeing plenty of fast-paced, uptempo games this coming season.
Walz specifically mentioned the intense battles going on between senior guard Dana Evans and freshman Hailey Van Lith when they go one-on-one. They are intense and competitive but also beneficial to each student-athlete. They discuss with each other what they are doing to try and stop each other and ways they are looking to score against each other. This can only be quite beneficial when they go up against rival guard tandems in the ACC later this fall. The philosophy would most likely be...:"Hey, I've had Dana (or Hailey) pushing me to my limits for four months now, this guard from (pick your schol should be a piece of cake to score on."
A huge shout-out to Nick Evans for putting the video conference together, especially coming off recent hip surgery.
An up and down Sunday for fans of the University of Louisville women's basketball players participating in WNBA action Sunday.
Action started with the winless New York Liberty facing Phoenix. A tough start for New York, with the shots not falling early and the Liberty digging a hole for themselves in the first half -- trailing by as many as 16 and ending first half action on the short end of a 41-27 contest.
New York came out determined to make a contest of it, though, to start the second half and went on a 18-3 third quarter run to cut the Phoenix lead to two at 55-53 after an Amanda Zahui B three with about three minutes left in the quarter.
Phoenix, however was able to regroup and rolled off 17 0f the next 19 points to build a 72-55 lead. In the fourth quarter, maybe the fatigue factor and most certainly poor shooting for New York proved disastrous. Phoenix dominated the final quarter 34-11 and took the contest 96-67.
Cardinal Jazmine Jones came off the bench to log 21 minutes for the Liberty and scored three points, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and dished pout four assists. Kylee Shook saw 14 minutes in a reserve role and produced seven points, five rebounds and had an assist.
Shooting woes for New York, playing their first full game without Sabrina Ionescu were a key culprit in the loss -- the Liberty went just 18-73 from the floor (24.7%) and 5-35 from three-point range (14.3%) and those numbers aren't going to win a team any games.
In the nightcap, Angel McCoughtry and the Las Vegas Aces had strong 1st and 3rd quarters and that was enough to get by the Dallas Wings 79-70.
A relatively quiet night for Angel, she played just 15 minutes as a starter and was good for four points, four rebounds and three assists. Her teammates had five in double figures, though, with A'ja Wilson leading the way with 19 points.
Las Vegas jumped out to an early 9-0 lead and never trailed in the contest.
A showdown awaits Wednesday for the Aces (2-2) on Wednesday when they take on Washington (3-1) at 5 p.m.
WALZ TELECONFERENCE TODAY AT 1:30
Jeff Walz will update the media today at 1:30 with news on the 2020-21 University of Louisville women's basketball squad and their summer workouts.
We'll monitor the teleconference and Jared Anderson will have a full report on it, plus a listening link, in his Tuesday column.
The Cardinals' ACC Network Takeover is complete, and while I'm sure this will shock everyone, the Cards won every game shown!
After a couple of men's games, with Soccer vs Georgetown, and Baseball vs IU, the women took over for the afternoon. That section of the takeover started off with the Softball victory to win the series against FSU in 2019. Next up was the UofL shellacking of Notre Dame in the KFC Yum! Center. Finally, because beating Notre Dame never gets old, the Volleyball match from this fall in South Bend where we come back from a 2-0 set deficit and the season-ending injury of Melanie McHenry to win the match in five.
There were some edits in the games, to various degrees, to help fit as many competitions in during the day as possible. Baseball got some cuts to get it down to about three hours. Softball had a couple of early edits, cutting out some scoreless play, but the later part of the game with UofL's full comeback and Rebecca Chung's walk off triple for the victory being shown in full. WBB got out of the editing room with only dead-ball time being cut. Volleyball had some pretty major chunks of play removed, including nearly all of the 2nd set. They did leave most of the last three sets intact, which were the sets UofL won.
If you missed any of the play, the replays are available through the ESPN streaming setup, and the basketball and volleyball matches are available online elsewhere *cough*Youtube*cough*.
The takeover wrapped with a men's basketball game against Pitt from 2009 when neither team was a part of the ACC, and a football game against Mississippi State.
WNBA Update
The wubble is still going strong and healthy, with some really great games going on.
In action yesterday, the Washington Mystics, with Myisha Hines-Allen, took their first loss in a nail-biter to the Chicago Sky. The Mystics came into the game the last undefeated team in the WNBA, so at this point, everyone has taken a hit, but the Mystics are still looking pretty good in the overall standings.
This one came down to the last minute, with the Sky getting the 88-86 win. With about 45 seconds left, Aerial Powers hit a free throw for the Mystics to tie it up. Cheyenne Parker would get a lay up for the Sky and Ariel Atkins buried two foul shots to tie it again at 86. The Sky would get their final lead when Parker hit a shot, got the and-one, but would miss the foul shot. The Mystics called a timeout with 5.9 seconds left to draw up a play, but that didn't go to plan when the crafty Courtney Vandersloot would steal a pass to end the game.
Three Cards are back in action today as the frenetic WNBA schedule keeps advancing. The New York Liberty, with Kylee Shook and Jazmine Jones, wil be action at 1 against the Phoenix Mercury. The Las Vegas Aces, with Angel McCoughtry will follow at 6 p.m. against the Dallas Wings. Both games on NBA TV, as far as we know.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour was live again. Jared was busy being gainfully employed, but did listen in a bit as we streamed. Meanwhile Case, Paulie, and myself held down the fort.
WNBA updates, a rundown of the ACC Network takeover, NCAA and conference scheduling in the age of Covid-19 were a part of the show. We talked about the new Athletes Unlimited Pro volleyball league that will be kicking off in Nashville in February, and their...interesting...format. And lastly, we had the Cardinal Couple Quiz and in a stunning turn of events, I finally won one! The toothpick holding bear will rest in my possession until Jared returns to try and take it from me.
Can you do better on the quiz (which was about CardsWBB in the WNBA) than my final score of 60?
Former UofL basketball stars have been making the most of their chances to shine in the “wubble,” with the most recent example coming for Jazmine Jones yesterday evening. Earlier this week, it was Myisha Hines-Allen scoring a career high and Kylee Shook scoring her first career basket. Yesterday was Jaz’s day, as she led the team with 20 points. Unfortunately, the Liberty fell to 0-4 on the season with the loss to the Atlanta Dream, but it was always going to be tough going for them without Asia Durr (sitting out due COVID concerns), particularly if Sabrina Ionescu is out. Ionescu turned her ankle pretty badly when she stepped on a defender’s foot attempting a move while bringing the ball up court. She went down immediately and clutched at the back of her ankle, which is never a good sign. According to The Athletic, last night’s X-Rays came back negative and it is just a severe sprain.
In the absence of the high profile guard, Jaz Jones’ opportunities increased and she made the most of her 21 minutes. As mentioned previously, Jones led the team with 20 points (Willoughby finished with 14, Clarendon with 16, and Ionescu had 10 before her exit) and she added in an assist and a rebound. We’re used to seeing Jones active all over the court so to see her get so much time and only one rebound is a bit surprising, but she is also playing a different role at this level than she did at UofL. If Ionescu is going to be out for any significant amount of time, Jones may see more time in a guard spot, which will hopefully continue to build her confidence and increase her threat level on the court.
While Jones stole the show, Kylee Shook did have a pretty good night of her own last night. Shook finished with nine points, four rebounds, and two assists in 23 minutes. The Liberty are an incredibly young team, and their youth shows at times against the other teams, but for our former Cards to make the most of their chances on the court is a wonderful sign of their potential going forward in their WNBA careers. NY gets their next shot at their first win of the season tomorrow when they take on the Phoenix Mercury. The Mercury are 1-2 on the season, with their first win coming yesterday against the Las Vegas Aces, home to another former Card in Angle McCoughtry.
Happy Birthday Dana
From former Cards to current, we’d like to wish a happy birthday to Dana Evans. The rising senior looks to be a star in her final season with UofL and will likely look to continue that stardom at the next level. For her birthday, I hope she gets the gift of a guaranteed season in some form or another for her senior year. The question of NCAA waivers is sure to come up if things don’t get under control sooner rather than later, but that would lead to questions about who would come back? Evans would be sure to graduate this year, and she has put together plenty of tape for coaches at the next level to determine her value to their organization. If the 2020-21 season were to be canceled, have we seen Dana Evans play her last game as a Cardinal?
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
We’re back again this week for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. Normally, we’d be getting geared up for the fall sports season as the calendar turns to August. However, we’ll have to wait a bit longer with the announcement that ACC sports will be held off until September 11th. As such, we will continue the weekly quizzes as well as bring you all of the joy and excitement of Louisville women’s athletics. Tune in at 11AM to the Cardinal Couple YouTube channel for the live stream or any time after about 12:30 for the recorded version.
