Monday Cardinal Couple -- Marion County pair headed to WKU?

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- WKU a new player in the hunt for Epps, Goodin-Rogers? 

We don't normally engage in a lot of speculation and rumor-mongering here at CARDINAL COUPLE. This one may have some teeth to it, though.

Zach Greenwell, a sports reporter for the Bowling Green Daily News, is reporting that Kyvin Goodin-Rogers has talked with WKU head women's basketball coach Michelle Clark-Heard. 

According to Trent Milby, head coach of the Marion Country girls' basketball team..where Epps and Goodin-Rogers will play their senior season...Epps has not had contact with Clark-Heard, but the two have re-confirmed their interest to play basketball together in college. 

They've also had contact with Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio State University, according to Milby. 

The puzzling world of recruiting...

Nothing wrong with the five schools mentioned above. UK has become a force in the SEC and Matthew Mitchell has opened another spot on the roster with the dismissal of seldom-used guard Bre-shay Ali. MTSU recently got a verbal from China Dow from Christian Academy in Louisville.

They love their women's basketball in Murfreesboro. They have success, too.

 Indiana is looking to rebuild with new head coach Curt Miller after a rough 6-24 season last year. Ohio State went 24-7 last season before bowing out to Florida in the first round of the NCAA. 

Big Ten women's hoops isn't quite at the level of the SEC or BIG EAST, but not a bad place to spend four years.

The WKU angle is intriguing. Michelle Clark-Heard was heavily involved in the recruiting of Epps and Goodin-Rogers while an assistant at Louisville. WKU hoops is looking for a re-birth of sorts after a 9-21 campaign in 2011-12. Chances are the playing time would come early and frequently for both. You can't blame Clark-Heard for trying to get the best talent available for her squad. She's added one of our favorite assistant coaches in Greg Collins. WKU was a women's basketball power back back in the seventies.

Paul Sanderford led them to the Final Four in the nineties. NCAA runner-up to Stanford in 1992. The Hilltoppers beat Louisville ten straight times from 1984-2002. 

It's 2012. Can Clark-Heard, a WKU grad and player who made four straight NCAA appearances, right the ship on "the Hill"? And, would Epps and Goodin-Rogers give credibility to a program struggling to get back on it's feet? 

Epps and Goodin-Rogers have been highly publicized as the one-two punch that has led Marion County to several Sweet Sixteen appearances in Ky Girls High School Basketball but no state titles. Sold on the Louisville program following the Cards march through the NCAA Tournament in 2009, the duo verballed at the end of their sophomore year.

What a difference a year makes. 

WKU participates in the Sun Belt Conference, a far cry from the elite BIG EAST, SEC or BIG TEN conferences as far as fan base and NCAA successes go. Do Epps and Goodin-Rogers really want to take their talents to a school that plays Troy, Louisiana-Monroe, North Texas and South Alabama each year? Or is it a case of seeing who was at Louisville, who might be coming and figuring out that playing time may be hard to come by. 

Maybe I'm dense here...but if you've got a spot waiting on a team that plays in front of the second-largest crowds in NCAA women's basketball, a program basking in the sunlight of an alumni who's the leading scorer in the WNBA and tearing up the Olympics and a squad who has perhaps the brightest young coach in NCAA women's basketball...why do you suddenly decide you want to set that aside and check out schools that are an after-thought on their campuses and in their cities?  

Gotta a feeling that this is just the first "epps" isode in the tale of the two who passed on the "Ville" to see if the grass is greener on the other side of the hill...

Let's hope they don't end up like Jack and Jill...

Hmmm...playing in front of a packed house in South Bend on Sunday afternoon against the Irish or a Tuesday night road trip to Lafayette, LA to hook up against the Ragin' Cajuns? Tough call.

Link to Greenwell's article below:

Goodin-Rogers, Epps

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Tough weekend for Hansen and Shackleford in stakes races this weekend. What did we learn? Hansen needs to stay at a mile and one-sixteenth or shorter races and Shackleford doesn't like the mud. 

The blue tail on Hansen...ok, it's cute. Dye that tail Cardinal Red and he wins for fun. In wild and wonderful West Virginia, he ran fourth in the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Race Track and Casino. Maybe he stopped to play roulette? Maybe the last two furlongs he was running through West Virginia football fans...  

Sometimes dumb luck is better than no luck at all. A last minute decision to wager a 1 thru 5 $1 exacta box and 1 thru 5 .50 cent trifecta box at Saratoga turned $50 into $569.35. You just never know on a muddy track and Shackleford was 0 for 3 in previous attempts on a "off" track. Still figured he might "hit the board" but the payout increased dramatically when he finished dead last. Especially with a 36-1 shot winning. 

Not bad work for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
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