Recent News in CardNation -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Spring Sports Media Day Approaches

If you needed any further confirmation that Louisville's spring sports were just around the corner (after we've been beating you over the head with softball and lacrosse chatter during basketball season, I'm not sure how you could), UofL has announced its spring sports media day for Tuesday, January 23rd. Interestingly, this is the second media day for "spring" sports in as many weeks. This past week, the tennis, swimming, track and field, and rowing programs took part in the first of the season. Next week's media day will feature diving (why they were split, I'm not sure), golf, lacrosse, and softball. As the most available of us during the day, media days are usually covered by Paulie. We're going to do our best to maintain Cardinal Couple's coverage of the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics, though, and make sure the programs feel our support.

Sam Untiedt Commits to Volleyball

It appears that Louisville's long run of a local libero may soon come to a close. The Cards have one more year with Elena Scott, which we certainly shouldn't take for granted, but after that, it looks like the streak of liberos from Louisville that started when Molly Sauer took over the position from Roxanne McVey in the mid 2010s will end. While there are certainly capable hands learning from Scott and ready to take over, it will be interesting to not see Assumption or Mercy listed as the school for Louisville's star defender.

This news comes as the Cards round out their 2024 class with the addition of Samantha Untiedt, a 5'8" libero from Okabena, Minnesota. Last season saw a load of accolades for Untiedt. She was named to the AAU National All-American team and USA Volleyball named her to the All-Tournament team. With her high school team, she was named to the Minnesota All-State and All-State Academic teams. Associate Head Coach Dan Meske said of Untiedt, "She is an elite backrow player who also has the ability to set..." Sound familiar?

Untiedt will join a crowded, but young, defensive room. With Ceci Rush and Ayden Bartlett graduating, the list of players behind Elena Scott will be three rising sophomores and Untiedt. Her competition for the 2025 starting position will be Kamden Schrand, Jessica Drapp, and Molly Urban. Schrand saw a fair amount of play time in 2023, primarily as a serving specialist. If you wanted to extend the "local" title, Schrand would be the closest to fitting that bill, as she comes from Villa Hills, KY and attended Notre Dame Academy. We may still see other freshmen join that battle going into 2025, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on.

T&F See Continued Success at "Home"

Since everyone in Kentucky wants to hold their events at the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, Louisville track and field continues to impress in the venue they're quite comfortable with, since they call it home. This weekend's meet was no different, with the Cards picking up seven victories (five on the women's side), 19 podiums, and 14 personal-bests in the one-day Bellarmine Open yesterday. Louisville also set four meet records. 

Alba Cuns Iglesias had a strong day, winning the long jump and the triple jump. Louisville stood on the top two podium steps of the long jump, with Maya Follmer coming second, and they occupied all three podium spots in the triple jump. The Cards placed four in the top-five of that event, with Sophia Day, Rachel Darden, and Riley Burger coming in second, third, and fifth, respectively. Soledad Jean placed second in the high jump for Louisville, and Natalie Lark and Lydia Stuart set personal bests to place third and fourth in the invitational pole vault.

It wasn't just field events where Louisville was strong. Olivia Jenkins won two events, placing first in the 60m and the 200m sprints. Makenzie Bell came in fourth in the 200m, later claiming first in the 400m. Taylor Boggess stood on the 400m podium with Bell as she placed third in the event.

After Jayden Ulrich was named the ACC Women's Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, Louisville took the women's shot put event off this week. Ulrich set a conference-best 15.97m throw in last week's meet. 

In the weight throw, Zoe Yeast was the top performer for Louisville this week, placing third with a 17.32m result. Ajla Basic from WKU won the event with an 18.70m heave. That effort put Basic in a tie for 64th for the best throw in the country this year.

Louisville will host their only true home meet of the indoor season next week when they take part in the PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational. Next week's meet is one of four US meets on the World Athletics Indoor Tour, so participation will be high. After that, Louisville will take part in their fourth straight weekend event at the NHSLC when Bellarmine plays host once more. The team will split on that February 2nd date, as they'll also participate in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic 2/2-2/3 in Albuquerque. That event will give them some experience at the venue ahead of the USATF Indoor Championships being held in Albuquerque on the 16th and 17th. Between those two, Louisville will be on the road in BC on the 9th and 10th, presumably as another sighter event for the ACC Indoor Championships in Boston February 22nd-24th. The NCAA Indoor Championships are also in Boston on March 8th and 9th.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four in the virtual studio this week, a full house, all things considered. Yesterday's weather in Louisville and the turn back to frigid temperatures have done a good job of keeping our hosts at home and available for the show. We'll talk big Louisville basketball wins and look ahead to the matchups to come. There's also plenty of news to cover, so we should have new issue filling the hour. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Images from gocards.com.

WBB clobbers Clemson 81-64 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

GoOoOoOOd Friday morning to you readers, thanks for coming back for the recap of the Cardinals WBB vs Clemson.  

Stay warm and healthy during these cold winter days.  I've been trying to hibernate as much as possible.  The only time I left the house last weekend was for Sunday's WBB game vs Wake Forest where I got to sit with Case for the game and it was great to see him again and have someone new to vent to about my qualms with the spirit squads.  

 

Photos: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals remain undefeated as they went south for a matchup with the Clemson Tigers and showed out for an 81-64 win moving to 5-0 in the ACC and 16-2 on the season.

Jada Curry lead for Louisville and had a career high 19 points on 8-13 from the field, 3-6 from 3-point land, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and only 1 turnover. Louisville had 4 players score in double digits -- Kiki Jefferson had 17 points going 6-9 with 4 rebounds and 8 assists, Olivia Cochran had 12 points and 6 rebounds and Sydney Taylor had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Sydney Taylor spent the most time on the floor with 32 minutes logged.

Clemson's Dayshanette Harris lead for the Tigers going 9-14 from the field and 7-10 from the line for 25 points and 7 assists.



WBB

Photos: Jared Anderson

End of 1Q 26-13 Cards

FG %
9-13 69.2% Cards
6-15 40% Clemson
Reb. 8-5 Cards
3-pt %
3-5 60% Cards
1-8 12.5% Clemson


Louisville shot lights out to start the game as the two teams tried to secure the momentum but the Cardinals took over hitting 4 of their first 5 shots while forcing Clemson to turn it over 6 times.



End of 2Q 21-19 Cards

FG %
9-16 56.3% Cards
5-11 45.5% Clemson
Reb. 8-7 Clemson
3-pt %
2-7 28.6% Cards
1-4 25% Clemson


UofL maintained it's lead on the Tigers by forcing turnovers. The Cards had 18 points off both turnovers and the bench in the first half while Clemson managed only 3 points in both categories.

HALF 47-32 Cards


End of 3Q 19-9 Cards

FG %
8-16 50% Cards
4-14 28.6% Clemson
Reb. 13-6 Cards
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
1-7 14.3% Clemson

UofL went on a 13-0 run over a more than 7 minutes period during this quarter and also pulled down 13 rebounds in the quarter.


End of 4Q 23-15 Clemson

FG %
5-14 35.7% Cards
8-15 53.3% Clemson
Reb. 10 all
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
2-6 33.3% Clemson

Clemson would go on 11-0 run and pull it within 16 with about 7 minutes left in the game. The closest they would get it would be 13 points with more than 3 minutes left on the clock. It was a 20 point lead for Louisville before Clemson banked a 3 with a couple seconds on the clock.

UP NEXT

Louisville vs #23 North Carolina
2 p.m.  ACCN

FRED REPORT

Iconic rocker Fred Durst coming atchya this week for the report!!! 

FREE THROWS --   Louisville was 11-17 good for 64.7% at the charity stripe.  Not good enough for our 70% requirement to pass the letter grade but it was not an awful night at the line for the Cards.  Cochran lead for the team making all 4 of her attempts.   lower case f

REBOUNDING -- The Cards dominated the boards 38-29 overall with Sydney Taylor leading with 8.  I would still like to see Olivia improve in this category as I think a deep post season run would require a forceful impact in the paint. Capital R 

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  It was a balanced scoring effort for UofL against the Tigers with almost 5 players in scoring in double digits.  The Cards shot 53% from the field and had 20 assists on 31 buckets made.   Jada Curry is still in her buzzer beater era as she hit a break away layup to end the half again.  She totaled 14 points in the first half.  Capital E

DEFENSE -- Clemson shot 42 and 41% from the field in the first and second halves.  The Tigers spent alot of time shooting threes and not alot of time making them. UofL held the two leading scorers to a total of 20 points but let the next leading scorer go off for 25 points but she ended up fouling out with just under 3 minutes left to play.  CAPITAL D 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  f_R_E_D

 

Thoughts?

This team looks like they are having fun and putting the game of basketball first.   Its alot of fun to watch.  

As always 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

 

WBB vs Clemson Preview -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello and Happy Thursday to you all.


Its Daryl with the full coverage of WBB vs Clemson this week!

Photos: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals are off to a 4-0 start in ACC play and are the only team left in the conference to be undefeated through the first few weeks.



Kiki Jefferson leads the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game this year. She has scored in double figures in 11 of her last 12 games and continues to be one of the best free throw shooters in the country.    

Jefferson played only 16 minutes in the win over Wake Forest on Sunday where she finished 3-8 from the field for 10 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists. Her limited minutes could be contributed to the sizable Louisville lead as well as she may have landed incorrectly on a play under the basket and needed to gingerly walk off the court for a break. Either way, there has been no announcement of injury for Kiki and the Cardinal faithful should expect to see her inserted back into the starting lineup.


GAME DAY

Louisville at Clemson

Date: Thursday, January 18

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Available on ACCNX

Series History: Louisville leads 11-3 (4-1 home, 5-1 away, 2-1 neutral)

Series History w/Walz: Louisville leads 11-0 (home 4-0, away 5-0, neutral 2-0)

The last time these two teams met, the Cards won 81-69 back on 2/12/2023 at the KFC Yum! Center.

Photos: Jared Anderson

Clemson comes into Thursday's matchup with a 8-9 overall record and are 1-4 in ACC play this season. The Tigers also completed in the Van and Betty Chancellor Classic back in November down in Texas.   Clemson was on the Van Chancellor side of the tournament and finished 1-2 after a win over Arkansas Pine-Bluff (92-66) and dropped games against Mississippi State (78-81) and Tulsa (64-74). 

The Tigers have faced one common ACC opponent of the Cardinals so far this season. Clemson defeated Duke in their ACC opener back on Dec. 7 and the Cardinals defeated Duke 61-44 on Jan. 4 for the program's 1,000 all-time victory. Thursday's game will pair two of the better shooting teams in the ACC and the country. Louisville ranks 30th nationally and is shooting 45.9 percent from the floor. Clemson is 44th nationally and they shoot 45.4 percent on the year.

Amari Robinson leads the Tigers this season in scoring with 18.2 ppg and rebounding with 6.8 rpg. In her last two games, Robinson notched a double-double at Georgia Tech (19 points, 10 rebounds) and followed that up by scoring a career-high 37 points on 14-19 shooting in just 27 minutes.

Ruby Whitehorn is averaging 15.8 points per game, shooting 50% from the floor, 41% from beyond the arc, all while grabbing five rebounds and 1.8 steals per contest.

Dayshanette Harris, a fifth-year transfer from Pitt, is having a career year. Harris is scoring 11.1 points per game and is shooting at the best clip of her career. She’s shooting career highs of 46% from the floor and 37% from three-point land.

Thoughts?

Louisville will really have to turn up the defense and keep the Tigers from scoring easy buckets to avoid any missteps in the march to an ACC title.  Olivia Cochran will have to continue to show dominance under the basket.  I would like to see her grab a few more boards than she has grabbed only 3 and 4 in the last couple showings and will be going up against 6-3 Jr Makayla Elmore for Clemson in the paint.   

Keep Paul in your thoughts as he continues to recover at home.   We hope to see him back out on the sidelines again soon!! 

As Always 

Go Cards

~Daryl 

Less Than One Month Until Lacrosse and Softball -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We step aside from Louisville women's basketball for just a moment to look ahead to the upcoming schedules for lacrosse and softball.

Lacrosse

Louisville lacrosse begins their season on February 9 at Denver. They remain out in the Centennial State to face Colorado two days later. The Cards opened last season with these same two teams, falling 5-4 to then-#9 Denver before cruising past then-#25 Colorado 12-5. The Cards ended the 2023 season 5-12, their worst win percentage since 2019.

The Cards return several key players from last season and hope to continue rebuilding the program. We hope to cover as many home games as possible. Midweek, midday games make it tough for both fans and media to attend.

Softball

Louisville softball had a successful season last year where the Cards finished fourth in the conference and made the NCAA Tournament. They went 36-20 and reached their highest win total since 2014. They'll spend the first month of this coming season down south following the warmer weather.

For Louisville, many key players graduated or hit the transfer portal, but they were able to reload with the upcoming freshmen class and found ways to use the transfer portal in their favor. We plan to attend most of the home games this year. A majority of home games are on weekends, which is helpful to attract a larger crfowd.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

Jared

ACC Shakeup -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville is Last Undefeated Team in ACC Play

It took less than three weeks for Louisville to become the final ACC team without a blemish on their conference record. The Cards improved to 4-0 with a blowout victory over Wake Forest over a weekend.

Virginia Tech, the only other team that hadn't lost in conference play, fell to Florida State over the weekend to fall to 4-1. They are joined by other one-loss teams in Florida State, Syracuse, North Carolina, and NC State.

Before the new year, NC State and Virginia Tech appeared to be the top two teams in a loaded ACC. The Wolfpack have posted strong wins against ranked teams like UConn, Colorado, and Florida State. Virginia Tech brought back Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore, who helped lead the Hokies to a Final Four last year.

Florida State is another of the one loss teams. They lost to NC State before defeating Virginia Tech a few games later. Ta'Niya Latson, last season's ACC Freshman of the Year, is back to full health and has helped the Seminoles to a Top 25 ranking.

North Carolina is another team sitting high in the ACC right now. They stumbled a few times in the non-conference slate of the schedule, mostly against teams that have a good chance at making the NCAA Tournament. Their only conference loss was to Florida State. The Tar Heels returned key players in Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby.

Syracuse is the surprising team still hovering near the top of the conference. They upset Notre Dame to close out the 2023 calendar year but got beat by North Carolina pretty soundly. Perhaps second-year coach Felisha Legette-Jack is on the verge of bringing the Orange back to their glory days.

Notre Dame was projected as one of the top contenders in the ACC this season... and they probably still are. Injuries have not been kind to the Irish. Olivia Miles still has yet to dress this season after a late-season injury last year. Sonia Citron missed much of this season and recently returned. KK Bransford has missed some time this year too. Hannah Hidalgo has stepped up and made a strong case for ACC Freshman of the Year. A healthy Notre Dame could still make a run for the conference title.

There are still plenty of games remaining so anything can happen and I fully expect more surprises to come in the next few weeks.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB Dumps Demon Deacons -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Remain Undefeated in ACC

After a less than stellar first quarter, which Olivia Cochran attributed postgame to low energy by the team all week long, Louisville broke the game open in the second and went on to beat Wake Forest 83-62. On a day that saw Florida State knock off Virginia Tech in Tallahassee, Louisville's win moves them to the top step all alone as the only undefeated team in the ACC. As Cochran, Nyla Harris, and Jeff Walz all agreed after the game: any team can have your number on any given night in this league. The Cards will learn from today's win and look to stay atop their new perch.

As I mentioned, Louisville's start was rather sluggish. The Cards got off to what looked like a fast start, with O scoring the game's first points just ten seconds in. A Wake Forest miss prompted Daryl to lean over and suggest Louisville may jump out to a 10-0 lead as they did in the last game. I was less convinced, seeing as the Deacs appeared to reach the basket quite simply despite the miss. Sydney Taylor was sent to the line on Louisville's second possession and hit one of two free throws. Misses bookended the Cards' 11 free throws in the first half as they made nine in a row starting with Taylor's second. 

As it turned out, I was right about Louisville's inability to repeat their previous game's start. Cochran made two free throws after a Wake jumper before the Demon Deacons' first three of the game tied it at five. It seemed a bit of a sloppy start defensively, but the Cards seemed to turn it around with a steal leading to a fast break layup followed by a forced bad shot at the end of the shot clock. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the case. Wake Forest kept at it, heading to the line for six free throws (hitting all of them) and shooting 3-8 from behind the arc (2-3 inside it) to finish with 19 points. The Cards could force just five turnovers, equaling the number they committed, and scored only 20 points of their own. The quarter ended rather unfortunately, with Louisville looking to score the last basket of the stanza to go up by six or seven and instead giving up a steal that led to a buzzer beating three at the other end. The shot was quite ugly, and banked in, but it was well before the clock hit zero. The real question was whether or not the shooter's foot was on the line, and the refs headed to the monitor. With it being called a three on the floor, the replay couldn't overturn it and the quarter ended 20-19.

The second quarter was the one Walz said he'd like the team to find more consistently. It was one like the fourth quarter of the Pitt game, and it put the game rather out of reach. Louisville improved on their 5/12 shooting with a 9/16 performance, knocking down three 3s and turned it over just twice. Defensively, the effort was much better as well. Wake took just two free throws and shot just 3-11 from the floor and was 0-4 from beyond the arc. The Cards forced seven turnovers and won the quarter 26-8. Honestly, there isn't much more to say about the second. Louisville dominated the quarter the way they should have dominated the game. It was fun to watch and the team clearly fed off the crowd's energy. A 46-27 halftime score looked much more impressive than the score at the quarter break. 

Louisville returned somewhere to the middle in the third quarter. They once more scored 20 points, matching the first quarter mark, but allowed Wake to find a bit more offense with 14. The Demon Deacons shot an even 40% from the floor and behind the three-point line, while Louisville shot over 50% for the second quarter in a row. The Cards were 2-2 from three, but slipped a bit from the free throw line with just a 4-7 performance. Louisville's lead was never really threatened, as the closest Wake could get was within 16 points. The Cards pushed that lead to its peak on a bit of a goofy play. 

As the clock ticked down, Louisville's pep band initiated a fake countdown to throw off the Wake offense. As the band got down below five, Jayda Curry slipped the ball from Wake's Kaia Harrison. With momentum on their side, the band didn't quite stop counting. In their efforts to confuse Wake, the band appeared to confuse Curry as she launched a shot from midcourt and the band shouted one. I feel quite confident that Curry may have been a bit irritated when she looked up to follow the ball to see four seconds remaining on the clock. Walz later said that Curry has been putting in the work in the gym to get up shots and when you put the work in in the gym, sometimes that work pays off with luck going your way. Such was the case as the ball went in to give Louisville a 25-point lead heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was one to forget. It prompted notes from both Nyla Harris and Jeff Walz in their post game comments about not letting mistakes snowball. Walz worked to get the bench more minutes, causing -22.5 bettors to sweat all the way to their loss. Hennie van Schaik returned to the floor with six minutes played in the fourth quarter. While those minutes looked to start off great with a block/steal, they soured immediately as she threw the ball immediately to the lagging Wake defender. The turnover was the first of six for Louisville in the fourth quarter. They entered that fourth quarter with just 10 in the game. Walz noted after the game that there are some turnovers you just have to live with. He specifically called out a travel that came after an offensive rebound amidst three defenders. The only way to avoid that turnover is to not get the offensive rebound, which isn't something he wants to coach. Those kinds of turnovers are ok. The kind that opened the fourth quarter and was repeated twice later in the quarter are not.

Louisville still shot 47% from the floor in the fourth and were 2-3 from three (including Elif Istanbulluoglu's second three of the year). However, Wake's shooting was made simpler with Louisville's turnovers and they were 53% from the floor. They had just two turnovers in the quarter and outscored the Cards 21-17. Walz appeared ok with the result, despite the turnovers, as he was able to get quality time for more players. Every player dressed played with HVS totaling the fewest minutes. Alexia Mobley was the only other player with single digit minutes, finishing with nine. Everyone else played at least 17 minutes. That kind of court time is invaluable with the team still working to find themselves and build on their cohesion. Olivia reminded us after the game that they were just getting started and we would see plenty more as they continued to gel. 

In the end, a 21-point win is nothing to shrug at. Louisville was balanced offensively once more, with six players in double figures. Rebounds were spread out as well, with all but one player snagging at least one board and no player grabbing more than five. Jayda Curry and Olivia Cochran led the team with 12 points apiece, while Taylor scored 11 and Harris, Kiki Jefferson, and Merissah Russell all added 10. Elif put up nine of her own. Notably, Harris was 5-5 from the floor and Cochran and Jefferson were a combined 10-10 from the line. 

A game recap isn't complete without a FRED Report, though I'll spare you the CASE Report this time. 

F - Free Throws: Despite a hot start in this category, sitting at 9-10 at one point, Louisville hit just five of their remaining ten foul shots, finishing 14-20. That's 70%, good for a lowercase f. 

The CC Crew's execution wasn't lacking.
This picture took significant effort
due to the commitment of the refs
and/or cheerleaders to prevent
it by getting in the way.

R - Rebounds: Louisville had a size advantage in this game, but it didn't exactly show on the boards. Louisville had a three-rebound advantage in each half, and they were outscored in second chance points despite pulling down more offensive rebounds. I'll still award a lowercase r for a six-board win, but I'll note that I contested it internally.

E - Effort/Execution: Sixteen turnovers isn't great. Even with the ones Walz noted are livable, you'd like to see the number come down, especially with the lapses in the fourth quarter. However, after the slow start to the game, the Cards never seemed to be sleepwalking. They worked for loose balls and rebounds, even if they didn't pull them down or had slips on defense. I'll award a lowercase e here, with the caveat that it's based almost entirely on effort. The execution was lacking.

D - Defense: Wake scored 62 points, which isn't great, but 40 of those came in the first and fourth quarters. Louisville's defense was mercurial, sometimes looking stifling and others looking lost. The Demon Deacons shot 43% from the floor, and at least part of that was because Louisville players missed the scout. They and Walz both said so. For that reason, no letter. 

That's a final of f-r-e-_. Louisville will need to do better as they hit the road for games against Clemson and UNC. The bad thing is that it's a bit of a short turnaround to get the issues fixed. The good thing is that they're aware they need to fix them. Hopefully the Cards will take their off day to celebrate a win and being in the lead of the conference before locking in on Tuesday and Wednesday to hold that lead. Louisville is back in action Thursday night against Clemson on ACC Network Extra. Tip off is at 7PM.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Basketball at Center Stage - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Basketball vs Wake Forest

I was about to write that Basketball continues its trek through the mid-pack of the ACC, but with the last outing being against Pitt, and today's vs Wake Forest...yeah, they're not the mid-pack.  It gets a bit better with Clemson upcoming, but alas if you're breaking the conference into thirds, which is how I tend to think about it, Clemson is still in the bottom chunk.  It won't be until the UNC match that we get back to the mid-pack.

In any case, we do have a game against Wake Forest today.  The Demon Deacons are tied for last in the conference with Virginia and Pitt all at 0-4, with Wake having the worst out-of-conference schedule of the three boasting only four wins in 16 outings.  So who did those wins come against?  Wofford (75-65), Saint Louis (94-66), Norfolk State (51-46), and Marshall (66-59).  Safe to say that they haven't been building much of an NCAA tournament resume there.

They're rolling into the KFC Yum! Center on a four game losing streak, all in-conference, and to be fair, they have mostly faced the absolute best of the best in the ACC so far, so let's give them some grace and consider that they may be better than their 0-4 record would suggest, and it'll improve as they start meeting up with mid and bottom pack ACC teams.  But so far, their losses have been to Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Syracuse, numbers 1, 3, and 5 in the conference.  And a Miami team (10th) that may also be better than their record gives them credit for if their play against us is any guide.

The Deacs have a trio of player scoring roughly 10 pts/game.  Kaia Harrison is the points leader on the team, 161, at a 10.1 per game clip.  Elise Williams scores a slightly higher rate, 10.3, but missed a game, leaving her total just a touch short of Harrison's, 154.  Malaya Cowles is the third of the trio, also with a total of 154, but spread out over all 16 games, drops her rate to 9.6 points per game.

So let's call this meeting another chance for the Cards to tune up, and work on some of the smaller things that are still tripping them up on occasion.  I think mostly it will be a test to see if they can keep their level of play together when facing a lesser skilled opponent.  We've seen that this Cardinals team has trouble putting together a full 40 minutes of solid, high intensity play, and to be fair, it's hard to maintain that level and edge against a team that's just not competing well, but it's something that this team still needs to learn to do.

2 o'clock is the start time, ACC Network linear is the TV coverage (Jenn Hildreth and Helen Williams will be on the call), and of course, the wonderful Cortnee Walton and Nick Curran have the radio call on 93.9FM in the Louisville area, and I presume that's streamable somewhere.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

AN "OLDIE" with Sonja and no Daryl

Case, Daryl, and I had a fun chat on the CCRHP yesterday.  I'm not sure how we managed to spend an hour or so talking about a single basketball game, but we mostly did.  OK, there were some tangents and early off-topic chatter, so probably more like 40 minutes, but still, it was a good discussion and fun time.

Check it out at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Louisville-WBB-Keeps-Winning-e2edae5

-- 

JMcA

News and Notes -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

We're getting closer to the end of that weird stretch of the winter where it feels like there should be more to talk about than basketball but it's not quite as much as you'd like to think. However, we aren't there yet. There are some other goings-on to discuss, though, so let's look at a few.

Opening Day of Rod McCravy Memorial Invite a Success

Louisville track and field have gotten off to a fairly hot start in indoor and that continues at their home facility of the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center. The event continues today starting at 11am, but the Cards saw success in yesterday's opening events.

The long jump was a strong event for Louisville on both sides of the locker room. Jeremiah Willis (1) and Jake Burkey (3) were both on the podium and scored top-ten nation-wide jumps. Synclair Savage came up fourth while Lucy Fellows put up a fifth-place finish in her collegiate debut.

Out on the track, a couple of Louisville women had good results in the medium distance category. Lauren Bettencourt placed fourth in the 1000m with a time that was fifth-fastest in program history. MacKenzie Bell finished sixth in the 600m with the third-fastest run for UofL all-time.

Fall Learfield Directors' Cup Results

With the final football polls in, the Learfield Directors' Cup standings for the fall 2023 season could be finalized. Louisville finds itself placed 13th in the country with 244 total points. Louisville is one of nine ACC schools in the top 25, the most of any conference. Ironically, the PAC-12 (the conference that will be dissolving in short order) has the second most with five. 

Louisville's 244 points come from four teams that reached the postseason: volleyball, field hockey, football, and men's soccer. Volleyball amassed the most points (83) by finishing fifth. Field hockey also finished fifth, but there were fewer points on offer, so they earned 65. Football's 18th place in the final rankings netted 56 points and men's soccer finishing 17th in the NCAA tournament earned them 50. 

Leading the way in the overall standings is North Carolina. The Heels have 372.5 points, primarily contributed to by their field hockey title and top-10 finishes in men's and women's soccer and men's cross country. Stanford is hot on their heels, with 371 points, and Texas (344) and Notre Dame (343) are not far behind. 

ACC Women's Soccer Moves Up to Next Level

The Learfield Cup isn't the only thing being dominated by the ACC currently. The NWSL draft was last night, and while the University of Louisville didn't have any players selected, the ACC had a busy night. Coincidentally, Racing Louisville didn't take any ACC players with their four picks (Reilyn Turner - UCLA, Emma Sears - Ohio State, Sam Cary - Iowa, Madison White - Texas Tech), but that didn't stop the conference from being represented by 19 of the 56 selections. Future conference member Stanford, added three selections with two coming in the first round. 

UNC had the most players drafted of any team. The Heels saw the first two players off the board (Ally Sentnor and Savy King) and had a third selected before the first round was over. In total, six players were drafted from the team that finished fourth in the conference and fell in the Elite Eight. Clemson had four players selected while ACC and NCAA Champion Florida State had three. Notre Dame and Pitt each had two players selected and UVA and NC State had one player each. The team with the second most draftees was actually BYU, who had five players selected. 

Louisville will be looking for more from their women's soccer squads in 2024. Note the plural. I expect we'll be looking for improvement from UofL for sure, as they look to add players to the list of draftees and rejoin the ACC and NCAA tournament conversations. People will also expect more out of Racing. The team no longer has the "new car smell," and fans are anxious for success in the league. Cardinal fans will be disappointed to no longer see Emina Ekic on the sidelines, but we'll hope for another hometown hero to join the fold in due time.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Though we made it through well enough last week, Jeff and I will be happy to have more than the two of us on this week's show. Daryl is back in action after what seems like an eternity away (it probably hasn't been quite that long), but we're still without Jared as the Louisville men's team is at home at noon again this week. Our primary focus will once more be WBB, as it's that time of year. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Crush Pitt -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hot Start, Late Surge Fuel Cards to Blowout Win

Louisville opened the game on a 14-0 run and outscored Pitt 26-6 in the fourth quarter to earn a 74-44 victory. Sydney Taylor scored a team high 13 points on three made three-pointers. Pitt's Liatu King was limited to six points after being in foul trouble most of the night.

Kiki Jefferson and Olivia Cochran each scored 10 points. Nyla Harris led the Cards with six rebounds.

Pitt cut the Louisville lead to two late in the second quarter. The Cards would go into half on a mini 7-2 run highlighted by Jayda Curry's buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Louisville's lead extended to 10 at the end of the third quarter and the Cards blew the door open early into the fourth quarter. Pitt went scoreless for a 3:55 stretch in the middle of the quarter and then was held without a point for the final 2:01.

FRED Report

(Shredded Fred...the picture of my former grade school principal found shredded in the school dumpster. Someone said it was by a jealous teacher. I have no clue.)

Free Throws: Louisville shot 7-10 from the charity stripe. 70% is an okay number but we hope to see better. Lowercase "l".

Rebounds: The Cards won the rebounding battle by two. Harris was the top rebounder for Louisville with four other Cardinals earning four boards apiece. We'd like to see better results than a two rebound edge but a lowercase "r" is okay.

Effort/Efficiency: 20 assists on 30 made field goals is a beautiful mark to see. The Cards also limited their turnovers to 13 and remained out of foul trouble. No Cardinal had more than three fouls. UofL shot over 50% from the field. Capital "E".

Defense: Pitt was held to 44 points and never scored more than 14 points in any quarter. When it mattered down the stretch, Louisville limited the Panthers to six points in the final quarter. Pitt had more turnovers (24) than made shots (16). Capital "D".

f-r-E-D isn't a bad result for a 30-point win.

Louisville improves to 14-2 on the season and 3-0 in the ACC. The Cards return home on Sunday for a 2:00 pm game against Wake Forest.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Louisville Gears Up to Face Pitt -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Return From Bye Week With Trip Up North

#15 Louisville returns from their bye week over the weekend to resume conference play with a trip to Pittsburgh. The Cards and Panthers have an early 6:00pm tip-off and the game will air on ACC Network.

Pitt enters the game with a 6-10 record while starting ACC play 0-3. They've lost to Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, and Georgia Tech. Their last two losses have come by a combined 15 points while their loss to Virginia Tech was by 50.

The Cards have started the season 13-2 with their first two ACC games being wins. UofL defeated Miami and Duke before having an early conference bye week.

Liatu King is one of the top players in the country with 20.3 points per game. That mark is top in the ACC. King is also averaging 10.0 rebounds per game for a double-double. Aislin Malcolm is the Panthers' second top scoring with 10.8 per game.

An interesting tidbit about this game is Pitt's current head coach Tory Verdi coached Louisville's Sydney Taylor when both were previously at UMass. Verdi accepted the head coach position for the Panthers in the offseason while Taylor decided to use her COVID-19 year of eligibility at Louisville.

Louisville is dominating the all-time series 25-2. The Cards have won 21 straight against the Panthers including a 76-69 win last season.

After their trip up north on Thursday, UofL will head back home to face Wake Forest on Sunday at 2:00pm.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared