Cardinal Couple

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Jeff McAdams catches us up on Lacrosse, Softball, his recruiting efforts and the real MVP of the Purdue game in today's CARDINAL COUPLE edition. Be sure to look for him in the Crescent Hill Easter Parade Saturday on Frankfort Ave...he'll be driving the jeep full of chimps tossing bananas and soft-boiled eggs at the crowd (or to the crowd) lined along the parade route. We're hoping he told parade officials about the entry.) 

Also, today's photo montage is from Austin Lassell's work at The Cardinal -- UofL's student newspaper. We gratefully acknowledge his fine work and thank him and The Cardinal for allowing us to present these action shots of the Purdue game to you! You can discover more of his work at The Cardinal or at his site www.austinlassell.com

 

*** Upcoming Spring Sports Events

*** Good Carl Gets an Honor or Two

*** A Story of a New WBB Season Ticket Holder?

*** Asia Taylor as MVP of the Purdue Game?

Spring Sports Schedule Update

After a multi-game visit to the mid-Atlantic seaboard, tangling with two quality opponents, Lacrosse gets a week break with no games this weekend.  The mid-Atlantic visit included competition with Loyola (Md.) and Georgetown, both ranked teams.  The Cards dropped both games, but both were very hard fought and respectable showings.  With those losses, Louisville Lacrosse has dropped back just out of the rankings once again, but are continuing to receive votes.  The next matchup brings #7 ranked Notre Dame into town for the first Cardinal home Lacrosse game since March 6th.  Almost a month without competing on the UofL Lacrosse Stadium, with the first draw next Friday (not tomorrow), the 5th at 5pm.

Softball, on the other hand, has a busy week ahead of them.  Syracuse comes for a three game visit
starting Friday afternoon with a double-header at 2pm and 4pm, and a followup on Saturday at noon.  Then, Wednesday the 3rd, at 6pm, the Kentucky Wildcats come to play.  With a ranking of 20 or 21, and a first week RPI of 8, our Lexington friends are not a team to be trifled with.  This should be a good game, with Louisville sitting on #11 rankings and a 10th place RPI.  I believe the Kentucky game is a ticketed game, so don't expect to come waltzing into Ulmer like you normally do for a game.

Good Carl Gets an Honor or Two

Caralisa "Carl" Connell has come into some critique from Paulie and I for being hot and cold in her pitching.  Sometimes she's amazing, but sometimes we're glad Rachel Le Coq is around for relief duties.

It seems that we've seen more of "Good Carl" than "Bad Carl" recently, a trend that will get no complaints around these parts, of course.  This week in particular, Caralisa Connell was named to Big East Pitcher of the Week, and has also picked up the CollegeSportsMadness.com National Pitcher of the Week honor.

Here's to hoping we see more of "Good Carl" in the coming weeks.

A Story of a New WBB Season Ticket Holder?

I believe it was at the Women's Basketball Tip-Off luncheon that Jeff Walz encouraged the crowd to bring friends to basketball games, saying that, if we could get people to come to a game, he felt like it would be entertaining enough that people would want to then buy season tickets.  I certainly believe that UofL Women's Basketball is one the best values for entertainment dollars around, and my family has been season tickets holders for a number of years now based on that exact scenario...we decided to go to a UofL vs UConn game back in the days when Katie Olson and Jazz Covington were playing.  We had such a great time that we got season tickets starting the next year.  Despite this experience, I questioned how often that reaction to coming to a game really happened.  I'm more of a believer, now.

I, on Tuesday, was having a water-cooler conversation with a relatively new employee at my place of employment...except we weren't at an actual water-cooler...just having a random conversation in the hallway, so I guess it was a figurative-water-cooler conversation.  Let's, unimaginatively, say this co-worker's name is "Bob".  Another co-worker who's very well known as a UofL fan walked by.  We'll equally unimaginatively call him, "Glenn".  I asked Glenn, as he walked by if he was going to the game, mentioned the $5 endzone ticket promotion they were doing.  Glenn said he wasn't going to be able to make it due to other committments.  Bob, however, perked up his ears at the idea of $5 tickets to the game.  Bob and his wife had already lined someone up to watch the kids and were looking for something interesting, and hopefully not terribly expensive, to do that evening.  $5 tickets to a basketball game at the KFC Yum! Center during tournament time seemed like a great idea.  I filled him in on the details and he said he thought it sounded like a good idea and that he'd suggest it to his wife and that he thought they would probably go.

I made my way by his office yesterday morning (Wednesday) and asked if they had gone to the game.  The response was effusive.  He and his wife and his mother-in-law had gone to the game and had end-zone tickets and they loved it.  They had a wonderful time.  Bob immediately asked about season ticket prices and almost didn't believe me when I told him how little I paid for my season tickets.  He was equally floored when I told him where my tickets were and that other tickets in other sections of seating would be even less expensive.  We then proceeded to talk about the Louisville team, and about how the women's game is a little different from the men's (no 10-second backcourt violation...30 vs 35 second shot clock...generally awful officiating, though not usually as bad as it was for that game...how all of this combined to change the overall feel of the game).  At the end of the conversation, Bob said he thought they would probably get season tickets for next year.

Huh, it really does work.

Asia Taylor as MVP of the Purdue Game?

Maybe the most pivotal moment of the whole contest between Purdue and UofL may have gone largely unnoticed Tuesday night.

Before the game, Asia Taylor was standing near the scorer's table with a couple of the other injured UofL players.  Dee Kantner, the head official for the evening, approached and said something to Asia
that I couldn't hear from my seats.  Asia got a surprised look on her face and made some sort of comment in response.  Dee responded in a way that seemed reassuring.  At that point, Asia picked a couple of basketballs off of the cart of balls used for warm-ups, looked them over, bounced them a couple of times, considered them further, and then handed one of them to Dee.

Dee checked the ball over, bounced it a couple of times, nodded, and promptly went on to use that ball as the game ball.

I think congratulations are owed to Asia Taylor, number 31, who's judicious selection of the game ball, may very well have played a critical role in the advancement of our Louisville Cardinals to the Sweet 16 over Purdue Tuesday night.

Of course, it might have had something to do with Sara Hammond's double-double, but I'd like to think that it wouldn't have been possible without Asia Taylor's critical contribution.

Way to go ATayy, you're tops in my book.

--Jeff McAdams

(Great story on ATayy and the newest Cardinal fans. We're pretty sure...based on the practice reports we're getting...that #31 will be picking up a lot of MVP honors for games in 2013-14 if she can keep up with the progress we're hearing that she's displaying during practice. Good job, Asia and you are still Sonja's favorite Lady Card. And, apparantly the darling of a lot of other fans' out there as well...)

Friday Cardinal Couple -- A bigger matter

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- UofL WBB "bigs" need to be BIG in next five games.

- Softball opens early in the Jacksonville Classic

                   
                  ********** GAME REPORT **********

Cards up 7-1 in sixth against Bethune-Cookman and still batting. Five run inning so far. Connell tossing a four-hitter. Cards go on to win 8-1 to go to 6-1 on the year.

                       ******** GAME FINAL********

Louisville 8 - Stony Brook 0.  The Cards got a complete game and just three hits  allowed pitching performance from Rachel LeCoq and produced 14 hits in the win this morning. They face Bethune-Cookman at 11:45. We'll have a report on that one later and a full recap of both in the Saturday C.C. edition.

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When you look at the current University of Louisville women's basketball roster, the nine players currently available to Jeff Walz consist of six guards, a center and two forwards. The starting lineup of late has consisted of Sherrone Vails, Bria Smith, Shoni Schimmel, Sara Hammond and Nita Slaughter...the "S" troops, as we like to call them here at CARDINAL COUPLE. The way we see it, Louisville actually has four "bigs" available for front line play currently, with Slaughter...listed as a guard, seeing a lot of time at the "4" or power forward position. Along with Vails, Cortnee Walton and Hammond, they are the "bigs" Walz has available to battle with the front lines of the next five opponents left on the regular season schedule.

DePaul, USF, Villanova, Seton Hall and Syracuse. The first (USF), second (SU) sixth (DePaul), fourteenth (Seton Hall) and fifteenth (Villanova) ranked rebounding teams in the BIG EAST. DePaul, we know from an earlier encounter. Katherine Harry is a rebounder extraordinaire. By far the best missed shot-grabber in the league. USF's Alisha Jenkins has shown she can track down mis-fired attempts as well. Villanova has Laura Sweeney to grab the caroms off the back-board. Syracuse looks to Kayla Alexander, Elashier Hall and Carman Tyson-Thomas to clean the glass. Seton Hall is pretty much rebound-by committee with no one player in the BIG EAST top twenty, like all the players listed above.

How many Louisville players are in the top-twenty in rebounding in the BIG EAST? One. Sara Hammond, 13th. with slightly over six a game.

Not big numbers for the Louisville "bigs". Against BIG EAST competition, Louisville is tenth in the league in rebounding offense and sixth in rebounds allowed. As of 2/7/13, the Cards had a +0.6 margin in rebounding against BIG EAST foes in nine games. Given the lopsided numbers in the Notre Dame game, that's probably no longer a + number.

It's time for the Louisville "bigs" to step up big. If you look at the 200 minutes per team that you have on the court in a game ( 5 players @ 40 per player), Hammond averages 23.8 minutes a game, Slaughter 25.6, Vails 14.6 and Walton 12.6. Since Slaughter spends some time at wing...out of the three main paint players for Louisville, only Hammond sees more than half the game in the paint.

Of course, different factors can come into play in any given game. Hammond is foul prone, yet she leads the team in rebounds. Vails is third in fouls (Smith is second), but plays 10 minutes less a contest than Hammond does.

For Louisville to break the .500 mark (3-2) in the next five games, the "bigs" are going to have to increase efficiency and get some stops inside. Believe it or not, a guard (Smith) lead the team in blocked shots.

There's no doubt that without Taylor, Dyer and Mo available currently for Walz...the three best rebounders on the squad are watching from the bench. It's time for the other "bigs" to step it up. The balance of the season and conference tournament seeding hangs on how well or poorly they perform.

Players are going to miss shots in games...we all know that. Louisville is shooting  45% on the year, which means they miss a little over half the shots they fire up. 

The difference in winning and losing is which team comes up with the ball after they...or the opponent...misses shots. Not surprisingly, in four of the five losses for Walz's team this season, they have been out-rebounded. Kentucky grabbed 37 rebounds, UofL 34. Colorado won the boards battle 44-32. At Hartford, it was Huskies 46-39 on the misses, Notre Dame controlled the backboard 44-23. Only against DePaul have the Cards won the boards battle but lost the game...a stunning 45-32 edge for UofL.

Control the boards, control the game.


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They get things poppin' early down in the Sunshine State.

Louisville softball opens play in the Jacksonville University Softball Classic at the yawning and stretching time of 9:45 a.m. against Stony Brook today. The sluggers go into their next contest right after that with a 11:45 tilt against Bethune-Cookman.

At 4-1, it's been the Cardinal offensive attack that has been the reason for winning. They set a school record with 21 hit against Minnesota on Sunday and plated 16 runs.

Jacksonville is also home of the world's greatest southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Let's hope UofL can fly like Free Bird's over the competition, doesn't Gimme Three Steps to any base-runners and has a safe trip back through Sweet Home Alabama. They'll also play in a Saturday Night Special against Ohio State and Jacksonville...ending on Sunday against Stony Brook again. What's Your Name, Little Girls? Why it's CARDINAL SOFTBALL! Tuesday's Gone...time to win some games! Even a Simple Man can tell that Louisville Softball has more power than LG&E... 

(Apologies for all the Skynyrd song references...listening to their Greatest Hits CD this morning...)


-Paulie

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Friday Cardinal Couple-Asia cleared for practice

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Asia Taylor cleared for practice

-Cards vs DePaul Saturday

-Some changes...

University of Louisville women's basketball team senior forward Asia Taylor has been cleared by physicians for practice with the squad. Asia averaged 5.6 ppg and 4.8 rebounds last year for the Cards, starting the last 13 games of the season and 20 overall for UofL in 2011-12.

Taylor suffered a hip injury over the summer and had surgery to repair it. Her return has been a highly anticipated event, along with Tia Gibbs...who also suffered a hip injury. Those darn hippies! Gibbs has begun running again, but there is no definite timeline yet on when she will return to full-time practice.

Good to have A-Tayy back. One of the most popular Lady Cards, Asia has been working hard for her return and we hope she can return soon to actual playing time for the Cards.

Her season highs were 14 points against Villanova and 13 rebounds vs. St. John's. Taylor achieved double figure scoring six times last season and grabbed 10 boards or more four times.

Her return to action gives Louisville needed additional strength on a front line that lost Shawnta Dyer a few games back with a season-ending knee injury. It also made Cardinal Couple co-owner Sonja extremely happy...Taylor has been her favorite player since the Columbus, OH native arrived on the campus back in the fall of 2009.

Our best take on Taylor's return is that she'll gradually be worked back into playing time minutes as her strength and basketball stamina returns. A fierce rebounder and lock-down defender, Taylor has seemed to save her best performances at UofL over the past three seasons for games at the end of the year. Prone to foul trouble at times because of her defensive aggressiveness, Taylor nevertheless provies Walz with another body to toss in the game to mix it up on the boards.

Taylor's experience and hustle will be a valuable commodity for Jeff Walz's squad as the Cards go into BIG EAST play. The Cards were looking rather stretched in available paint performers at times this season with Dyer's absence, Reid's knee issues and Walton's sore back. If the latter two get back to full strength and Taylor can eventually contribute effectively, it gives UofL a strong base of six players (Hammond, Vails, Reid, Taylor, Walton, Slaughter) who can go to the boards and provide inside scoring for the team.

Welcome back, A-Tayy! It'll be good to see #31 menacing the opponents on the court again.

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Louisville will face DePaul in Chicago Saturday at 6 p.m. to open BIG EAST conference play. We've heard reports that this one will be broadcast by the BIG EAST Network and picked up by WHAS TV locally.

It's the first of 16 BIG EAST conference games for the Cards before the BIG EAST Tournament. How do you think the Cards will do? We have a poll set up on the left side of the site where you can vote.

We'll have a full pre-game report and post-game wrap up here at CARDINAL COUPLE Saturday.

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We are experimenting with some format and accessibility changes here at Cardinal Couple. Nothing major that you, the reader, will probably notice...but a few things that will help us in the daily upkeep and posting of the site.

We have been plagued with an issue of site security from some wacko loan shark company in England that takes great pleasure in bombarding older posts here at Cardinal Couple with comments that are vague, nebulous and seemingly complimentary...but always end with a link to their website. We warn you NOT to "click on" these spams. We can usually catch and delete these if they make it through our firewalls...but they do tend to clog up our e-mails received at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

Why a English loan company would want to offer high-interest loan opportunities to a primarily American readership is beyond us, but we never really understood the disco era either...

As Gilda Radner used to say...'It's always something."  We appreciate your paitence and understand as we fiddle about.
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Media Day at the YUM!

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MORE TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

******BREAKING NEWS******

ALEXIS MONTGOMERY HAS  COMITTED TO LOUISVILLE!

Just got the tweet...Talented Oregon player is a Cardinal!

She's Mercedes Russell's best friend. Does it mean what we all hope it means?

Russell announces at 5:30 p.m.

The champagne is chilled.

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The University of Louisville women's basketball team had their Media Day today at the KFC YUM! Center and Coach Walz, the staff and players were on hand to speak and answer questions.

Jeff Walz addresses the media Tuesday

Shortly after noon, Coach Walz opened up the floor to questions and spent about a half hour answering them.

-- Walz spoke of the effort that Megan Deines, Sara Hammond and Bria Smith had put in over the summer...commenting that he'd never seen three players put so much work into their games in the offseason.

C.B. and Nicole set up chairs.

--Things he will be watching against Eckerd College tomorrow night are rebounding and defense. Reluctant at first to name a starting lineup, he eventually suggested that fans would see Shoni, Bria and Sara probably start and it was up for grabs after that.  

--Walz has been impressed with the freshmen so far and indicated that Deines would see significant time at the wing. He also mentioned that they'd been bringing Cortnee Walton along slowly the last two weeks because of a heel bruise.

Team lines up fo team photo

--He's hoping to have Asia back out on the court by Thanksgiving and Mo at 100% by the start of BIG EAST play.

A lot of "new" media in attendance today and some questions asked that all Cardinal Couple readers have known the answers to for months.

We hit the floor about 12:30 and the players started trickling out onto the court after that. First out was Monique Reid, who was surrounded by the TV guys and patiently answered questions about her injury, her hopes, her role and amount of playing time.

I decided to take a different approach and went around and asked some of the players some fun and different questions. I think they enjoyed it. Here we go...


What would you go trick-or-treating as?


Shelby  - A witch
Megan  - Cat Woman
Tia - Beyonce
Mo - A vampire
Bria - A fairy
Nita - Kim Lee (which drew a round of laughter)
Asia - Jeff Walz
Sara - Captain America
Coach Cam - Mr. Jeff Walz. 

Which Candy would you look for first in your trick-or-treat bag at the end of the night?

Shelby - Sweet Tarts
Megan - Twix
Tia - Reese's Cups
Mo - Bubble Gum
Bria - Sour Patch
Nita - Skittles
Asia - Sour Gummi Worms
Sara - Kit Kat
Coach Cam - Milky Way

Which KFC YUM! Center concert would you attend this weekend...Justin Bieber or Bruce Springsteen?


Shelby - Justin
Megan - Justin
Tia - Biebes!
Mo - Never heard of Bruce and doesn't like Justin, so she'd stay home.
Bria - Justin. Hands down! 
Nita - J.B
Asia - Who's Bruce Springsteen?
Sara - Justin
Coach Cam - Bruce Springsteen, without a doubt. Seen him before and go definitely go again. 

If you could steal one of your teammates skills, what would it be?

Mo - Nita's shooting ability
Bria - The way Nita shoots
Nita - Asia's jumping ability
Asia - Sherrone's shot blocking
Sara - Shoni's passing skills.

We'll be back later with recruiting news. We're hearing that Alexis Montgomery is announcing at 4 p.m. Eastern today...
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The season tips off

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Cardinal fans fill YUM! Center for tip-off luncheon.

(Columnist Jenny O'Bryan brings us the report on the 2012-13 WBB Tip-Off Luncheon. It was a grand affair and good to see all the UofL fans in attendance!)

Coach Jeff Walz was the keynote speaker.

The Women’s Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon was a sold out affair at 700 fans strong!  This is fitting given that one of the themes of the day was fan attendance, the goal to take the top spot for fan attendance this year and selling out our home opener against Texas A&M on Friday, November 9. 

Master of ceremonies Matt Andrews

Coach Walz was the speaker for the day and spoke of his gratitude for all that has come before, to make today’s team possible.  The team is not happy with how the season ended and felt like they gave one away, against Maryland, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.   The team has taken this to heart and it has shown in the work during the off season.  The team is “hungry and their goal is to make it to New Orleans” where the Final Four is next April. 

A-Tayy (Asia Taylor) looking splendid!

Coach talked quite a bit about what a great group of kids he has on his current roster and how they have bought in to what he is trying to do.   He spoke about how Louisville has, and continues, to recruit great young women.  “These are great young women, they make you proud, they make good decisions and are good people.  Not only are we recruiting good players, but good people, too”. 

Columnists Sandy Walker and Jenny O'Bryan

Coach Walz talked about his appreciation for Louisville fans as it relates to recruiting.  He stated that when showing highlights to recruits, they can’t believe the numbers of people that are at games.  Often he gets asked if it was a double-header game, and the men are coming in behind the women’s game, thus the number of fans.  In keeping with this thought, one of the goals of this season is to take the top spot in fan attendance in the country. 

L to R: Tom Peterson, Jack Horan, CARDINAL COUPLE
Columnist Jeff McAdams and Dick Palmer

Again talking about recruiting, Coach Walz talked about not only selling the women’s basketball program to potential recruits, but the athletic department as a whole.  With the football team, men and women’s soccer and basketball teams being ranked, volleyball ranked, and swimming and diving also being preseason ranked.  These are just the fall sports!   The strength of the Athletic Department as a whole is untouched by any other in the country and is a strong drawing point for potential recruits. 

The regular season opens on Friday, November 9 against Texas A&M against what is projected to be two top ten teams in the season’s opening rankings.  This opening night match up is the strongest opening game match of the season.  It is a red out game and the goal is to sell out the arena, 22,000 strong.

Fans pose with Monny, Megan and Bria

The exhibition match on Halloween night is free and open to the public.  Coach indicated half the battle is getting first timers in the door to see a game, once there, he feels confident they will come back.  With that in mind our job as fans is to bring friends, family and neighbors to a free night out and watch the Cards start the season.  (Having had a family pack of 4 tickets the last 5-6 years, I have taken many friends to the games.  Many of those friends are now season ticket holders themselves!  I can attest to the success of the conversion rate of first timers to season ticket holders!)

Jenny and Jeff

The season is here.  The team is ready and hungry.  Our job is to bring our friends and family, and help sell out the arena.  We are a week away from a sneak peek of our favorite women’s basketball team, and just a little over two weeks away from the regular season opener.  Hope to see you there Card Fans, with friends in tow!



Central Cardinal Club member Chuck Horrel gives us an "L" 

Al Greener's most excellent pep band!

(Editor's Comments: Over and over yesterday, I heard the comments that this year's event was much bigger than last year's and that the crowd seemed more energized and excited about the upcoming season. CARDINAL fans should be excited. The season could be a magical one and a return to the FINAL FOUR not out of the question. Events like this are usually not a source of in-depth analysis or breakdown of the upcoming season...more a general introduction and discussion of the team and season that lies ahead...but CARDINAL athletics are on a major roll right now and Jeff Walz paid tribute to several other UofL teams in his opening remarks....namely football, men's basketball and volleyball. He also mentioned that he and the coaches made the overall success of Cardinal Athletics a key component in the recruiting philosophy that they use when meeting with a prospective student-athlete. We say, "Why Not?" This makes perfect sense. Louisville is the best college sports town around and the facilities for athletics and beyond are unmatched. We look forward to an exciting and successful season for the LADY CARDS and we'll be here every step of the way to provide you with in-depth, factual, up-to-date and relevant coverage of the team, coaches and season.

-Paul Sykes, Co-Owner/Senior Columnist

Chuck poses with the affable Shoni Schimmel!

Jenny's great overview pic of the capacity crowd!

Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball tips and more basketball recruiting news

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Jenny's Volleyball Quiz

-Two more recruits on the Louisville WBB list. 

-Happy Birthday Asia Taylor! 

( Cardinal Couple Columnist Jenny O' Bryan tests your volleyball knowledge today and introduces us to two more excellent women's basketball players that will be visiting the campus in early September. Your serve!)  

Volleyball tips off the season this Friday against Western Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. at YUM Center in the Active Ankle Challenge.  Play continues on Saturday with play against Morehead State at 11:00 a.m. and Penn State in the evening at 7:30 p.m.

In an effort to get you ready for the tip, try your knowledge at this brief quiz.  Answers will follow at the bottom of the article.  No looking ahead!

1) The specialized defensive player in the back row wears a different colored uniform. What is her position called?

A) libero

B)the fashion challenged

C) the captain

2) When the receiving team wins the point it is called:

         A) volley

         B) rotation

         C) side out

        

3) When a player successfully passes a spiked or hard hit ball it is called

         A) self defense

         B) a dig

         C) a spike

Cardinal Sports Report's Howie Lindsey likes to
dress up for Volleyball matches. 

4) A successful hit by an attacker that results in a point usually executed by hitting the ball off of a block or down on to the opponents floor is called

         A) a dig

         B) a kill

         C) a rally

          

5) A dig in which the player gets the ball up by placing a flat hand on the ground (palm down) and letting the ball bounce off the back of her hand is called

      A) lucky

      B) flat

      C) pancake

6) A serve that hits the floor in bounds, is shanked or cannot be handled by the receiving team, immediately resulting in a point for the serving team is called

         A) an ace

         B) a kill

         C) a mulligan or do-over

7) A maneuver in which a player dives for the ball and in a tumbling, shoulder first motion quickly returns to her feet is called

      A) a sushi roll

      B) a roll

      C) stop, drop and roll

8) The act of changing position in volleyball in a clockwise motion is called

      A) substitution

      B) controlled chaos

      C) rotation

9) The player who is responsible for getting the second ball to the hitter is called

      A) blocker

      B) setter

      C) libero

10)  In college a match is won when a team has won

      A) one set

      B) two sets

      C) three sets 


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This is a busy time in recruiting for basketball.  Many players are making official and unofficial visits.  It has come to my attention that two more players in the class of 2013 have scheduled official visits.  Both of these names are new to me as players involved with Louisville.  Both are guards who are said to be scorers on the wing. 

Both players will be taking their official visit with Louisville Sept. 7-9. 

Imani Wright is currently ranked #31 with Hoopgurlz and is a 5-11 guard who hails from Texas.    Hoopgurlz states that Wright “can create her own offense, best at scoring off of the dribble but can take it to the rim as well and has a knack for scoring in big moments. “ 

Brianna Ruiz is currently ranked #65 with Hoopgurlz and is a 5-10 guard who hails from California.  Ruiz as described by Hoopgurlz as a “versatile perimeter player with a deep range and scorer on the wing,  she has length and quickness and can get by defenders and in to the lane.”  She is described as a player that has a “nose for the ball”. 

As visits begin we wish Coach Walz and the program well as they shape the future of the Louisville Women’s Basketball. 

Keep it tuned here...readers for up to date information.  As always, we will let you know what we know, when we know it. 

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Quiz answers:

So, how did you do?

Here are the answers:

1) A- libero

2) C- side out

3) B- a dig

4) B- a kill

5) C- pancake

6) A- an ace

7) B- a roll

8) C- rotation

9) B- setter

10) C- 3 sets

Scoring:

0: you must have copied Bill the Goat or Coco's answers...Go to Coach Kordes and ask her how many laps you should run.
1-4: you could use some schooling in volleyball.  Go to the games this weekend at YUM Center, you will learn something.

5-8: not too bad.  Go to the volleyball games this weekend at YUM and hone your volleyball knowledge

9-10: you know your stuff!  Head down to YUM this weekend and take in a few matches of volleyball.  You may have a future on the sideline or in the lineup!

( Nice work today by Jenny in getting us prepared for Louisville Volleyball and filling us in on women's basketball recruits! As far as our actual scores on the quiz...Paul got 9 out of 10...missed #2. Sonja 7 out of 10...missed #1, #2 and #10. Timmy the Intern graded his own paper and said he got twelve questions right. Gotta watch him 24/7....)

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Finally, a special Sonja birthday poem for Cardinal hoopster Asia Taylor.

Happy Birthday Asia!
Today's a special day
We're counting the days and hours
Till you get to play!

We hope you get lots of presents
And a birthday card or two
Maybe even a ham and pineapple pizza
Especially for you!

We all enjoy our birthday
(Even though I don't count mine anymore)
SO...HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 
And get out there and hit the floor! 
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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Catching up on women's hoops news

(Not trying to emulate or replace Sandy's laundry day today but here are some recent updates on Louisville women's basketball. 

MONNY NIAMKE

Original 2012 target Monny Niamke will be on campus at UofL by the end of the week and will be taking classes at UofL in the fall. She spent her freshman year at Lindsey Wilson and was the starting point guard. She's also mentioned the possibility of running track her first year at Louisville. Basketball mandates that she sit out a year in that sport because of the transfer but she's eligible for track (or lacrosse, we guess.. but we hope she doesn't decide to take the sport up.) 

SHAWNTA DYER

(Photo by Charlie Springer - Card Game)

The sophomore forward recently had sports hernia surgery and will be out for six to eight weeks. This puts her timeline right around the start of October basketball practices for the squad. 

Dyer came on strong for the Cards at the end of last season and was expected to be a valuable contributor to the Lady Cards on the front line this season. Hopefully, she'll be healed and ready to go for the opener Friday, November 8th against Texas A&M in the KFC YUM! Center

ASIA TAYLOR

Our buddy A Tayy continues to rehab from her hip surgery and is expected to be available for UofL in early December. Whether she'll be up to speed and ready to go against the Kentucky Wildcats in the YUM! on Sunday, Dec 2nd. is unknown yet...but it looks she'll be ready to go for BIG EAST play if all goes as expected. 

Taylor started 20 games for Louisville last season and was second on the squad in rebounding behind Dyer. Tough to imagine not having those two...get well soon ladies! 

MONIQUE REID AND TIA GIBBS

Three survivors. Three teammates.
(Photo by Charlie Springer - Card Game)

Both continue to prepare for the season after sitting out last year with injuries. For Gibbs, it was first the shoulder, then the hip...but she's out and jogging. in her recent apperance at Cardinal Caravan, she indicated she's excited about the upcoming season and ready to get on the court.

Mo Reid is also preparing for October practices and spending a lot of time in the gym shooting and getting in playing shape. She's good to go with the knee that made it necessary for her to sit out the majority of the 2011-12 season and her scoring presence inside will be most welcome.

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SANIYA CHONG AND ALEX HARRIS

Highly ranked Class of 2013 recruits Saniya Chong and Alexandra Harris are scheduled to make visit to UofL. Harris is tentatively scheduled to visit Sept., 15th and we're hearing that the date has also been presented to Chong as a good day to be on campus. Cardinal target Emmonie Henderson has picked Oct. 26th. as the day she'll visit Louisville. 

Plenty of activities for the ladies to take part in on Sept. 15th. Louisville football at PJCS and two volleyball games at their future home...the KFC YUM! Center. 

Russell, Henderson, Chong, Harris...the Cards are on the lists of some very talented and highly regarded high school basketball players...

The four above, along with Niamke, would add greatly to an already very strong 2013-14 Louisville roster. Not saying that all five will be in the red and black. Not saying that Louisville is the leader for each girl's services.

But, when you look at the facilities, the campus, the coaches and staff, fan fervor and the popularity of women's college basketball in our fair city...how do you or why would you say "No?" 

SCHEDULE IS COMING

The women's basketball schedule should be published in a few days. We do know that the UK game is scheduled for Sunday, Dec 2nd. in the KFC YUM Center. (The Cats begin their exhibition season against Bellarmine.) We also know that UofL will start regular season play by hosting powerhouse Texas A&M in the YUM. We'll post the schedule when it becomes available and have it listed on the left side of the site also. 



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