Previewing Lady Cards vs. Nova

CARDINAL COUPLE presents SATURDAY.

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-CARDS travel to Villanova

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-Louisville numbers in BIG EAST.

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-Weekly Panera Winner.

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-DaMarcus Smith...the winner is...

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Becky Burke, pictured here, travels to her home state of Pennsylvania for a Sunday, 2 p.m. matchup vs. BIG EAST opponent Villanova. The Wildcats aren't having the best of seasons so far...0-8 in BIG EAST play and 8-13 overall. They've lost their last five in a row...dropping their most recent game at MARQUETTE on Tuesday.

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The Wildcats are led by sophomore forward Laura Sweeney, who averages 10.5 ppg and 6.0 rebounds. Rachel Roberts, a 5'9" sophomore guard, contributes 8.9 a game. Senior Heather Scanlon led the team in scoring in Villanova's last outing with 15 points. Villanova leads the BIG EAST in turnovers with 14.3 a game...14th nationally...but they also lead the BIG EAST in free throw percentage (78.8%) which is third nationally.

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The Wildcats are coached by Harry Perretta, in his 32nd year as head coach at Villanova. He was 594-372 lifetime at the school and has never been a head coach anywhere else. They play their home games in The Pavilion in Philadelphia. Last year, 'Nova went 14-16 and lost to Louisville 53-50 in Freedom Hall. Louisville is 5-0 all time against the Wildcats...Jeff Walz 3-0.

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For Louisville, it's a chance to show they can put together a good win on the road. Louisville hasn't notched a "W" on the road since the final game of the Dual in the Desert (Dec. 20th.) against Nebraska. The Cards are 1-3 on the road in BIG EAST play...defeating Cincy and falling to UConn, Notre Dame and Marquette. Monique Reid leads Louisville with 16.2 ppg and Shoni Schimmel follows with 15.8 a game.

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This is another one that could boil down to how well Louisville can do in the paint. The Wildcats play excellent perimeter defense and have shut down two opponents this year with zero makes from beyond the arc. Louisville leads the BIG EAST with 7.6 made 3 pointers per game. Villanova ranks right behind them with 7.4 made a game. Despite having 6'2" Sweeney and 6'3" Scanlon in the paint... the Wildcats are at the bottom of the BIG EAST in both offensive and defensive rebounds per game. Sounds like a good time to unleash Keisha Hines, Sherrone Vails and Asia Taylor and also utilize Monique Reid's great ability to drive, penetrate and make the close in jumper or layup.

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Rebounding, crashing the boards...a big key for Sunday. I'd like to see the front line players sit down and have a "Beyond Scared Straight" session with former Lady Card greats Candyce Bingham and Yuliya Tokova. Those two knew how to get to the boards, keep someone off the boards and find someone open underneath the boards. Both are in Louisville right now. Suit up and show this current bunch of Lady Cards how to screen out, get position and make a simple putback off a missed shot.....#5 and C.B.....

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Some statistical rankings for UofL in the BIG EAST:

-Scoring offense...5th (75.6 a game).

-Scoring margin...6th (+14.6 a game)

-Scoring defense...12th (61.0 a game)

-Field Goal percentage ...4th (.453)

-Field Goal defense percentage...13th (.394)

-Free Throw percentage...11th (.658)

-3 Point percentage...2nd (.361)

-3 Point defense percentage...14th (.315)

-Rebounding...13th (37.5 a game)

-Rebounds allowed...1oth (36.0 a game)

-Rebounding Margin...10th (+1.5 a game)

-Blocked shots...10th (4.0 per game)

-Assists...5th (16.3)

-Steals...2nd (12.4)

-Turnover Margin...2nd (opponents 23.0 - Louisville 17.3 +5.7 a game)

-3 Point FG Made...1st (168 for season).

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Congratulations to William Brown for the winning PANERA entry for the week. William likes the Poplar Level Road location because it is close to the UofL Campus, where he attends. HE also says...

"My parents gave me PANERA Gift Cards for Christmas and here it is February and I'm almost out of them!"

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We hope the $10 you get from us for being this week's winner helps...William!

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Want in? E-mail us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com and tell us about your favorite Panera. $10 bucks in Gift Cards for just sending an e-mail? Is this a great country or what?

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We got a kick about this humorous way to distinguish whether to use there, their or they're in a situation....

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Their next game is at UK. They're going to kick Wildcat butt up there.

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Make it so.....

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The majority of you reading this probably know by now that standout Seneca High School quarterback DaMarcus Smith announced Friday afternoon that he had faxed his letter of intent to Central Florida University. Smith was considered to be solidly in the UofL recruiting class of 2011 until Miami, Florida quarterback Teddy Bridgewater became a Cardinal. Then, Smith made a trip to the Orlando campus and reportedly "fell in love" with the place. Here's a take on this whole weird scenario of events from Paul...

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Damarcus Smith to University of Central Florida? Surprising but not totally unexpected. Did he look eyeball to eyeball with Teddy Bridgewater and realize he didn't measure up? He says "No". All of a sudden, the job which had been all but penciled in and promised to him at UofL as a freshman starting quarterback was toast. Couple that with the fact that Smith couldn't gain early admission to Louisville...Bridgewater is now on campus and will participate in spring drills and is bringing half of south Florida with him...you get the picture.

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Man stares into the abyss and when he finds out something is staring back...he wimps out and heads to a C-USA school. Sorry about the play on Hal Holbrook's sage advice to Charlie Sheen in the movie 'Wall Street" but it fits. Smith goes to UCF, who has argueably the best QB in C-USA...and who just finished his freshman year...and probably totes his Mom with him. He could get two years of field time...providing he redshirts his freshman year. He says the QB is shifting to another position next year. This just keeps getting better and better. No BCS guarantees, playing for a senile head coach in George O'Leary...but it'll be frost free and sunny. Disney World is right down the street. The Orlando Magic are fun to watch.

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I think it's a great idea that Damarcus is headed south. Those thrilling matchups with Tulane, Rice and Memphis are a huge lure. It makes perfect "business" sense to me..as Smith mentioned in his signing day press conference. We had a lot of fun watching him guide the Seneca offense and there is no doubt he can hurl a football with accuracy and great distance. I wish him well and hope he obtains what he is after.

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Whatever that is...

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