Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- Cards test Huskies tonight

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


FINAL: UCONN 72 - LOUISVILLE 58

Shoni with 14 in a losing effort to #2 UConn. Cards fought hard and UConn had to leave the starters in most of the way. Jenny will have the recap in the Wednesday CARDINAL COUPLE.

-Connecticut hosts Lady Cards tonight in Hartford.

(Quentin Voigt provides the pre-game scout of Louisville's opponent tonight...the mighty UConn Huskies. Paulie's comments follow. Tip is at 9 p.m. CBS Sports Network has the feed. Cards Radio 790 locally. )

Jitterbugging With Geno's Gals

Maybe UofL could get Angel
to strangle Geno tonight?

Geno Aureimma, head coach of the UConn Huskies women's basketball team, has assembled a juggernaut-like basketball squad made up of Hoopgurlz #1 and #2 rated players combined with top-50 role players from across the country. Coach Auriemma has sprinkled his magic "go get 'em" dust over them to up their intensity on the nasty scale and turned them loose. Season to date, they are hitting shots at a rate of 50.2% from the court and holding foes to 29.9%.

From 3-point range, UConn's starters connect almost 50% of the time. If fouled, they'll sink 3 out of 4 on average. The Huskies commit a scant 14.7 turnovers a game, create 23.5 assists and grab 41.7 rebound per outing while allowing just 31.5 grabs by the opponent.

The stars of the team are many. Kalena Mosqueda-Lewis averages 16.9 ppg and the 6'0" forward grabs around 4 rebounds a night. 6'4" forward Brianna Stewart scores 14 ppg and nabs over 7 rebound a game. 6'5" post Stefanie Dolson puts in 12.9 ppg and accounts for 6.5 rebounds per contest. 5'11" guard Kelly Faris adds 10.4 ppg. 5'7" guard Bria Hartley comes up with 10.4 an outing as well. Guard Caroline Doty is 17 for 49 from three-point range, third best on the squad. Kiah Stokes a shot-blocking threat who also can burn you from multiple locations on the XL Center floor.

Like a rude partner on the dance floor, these Connecticut girls will attempt to lead at every given opportunity and each break. They are accustomed to winning by large margins and have slipped up only once this year in 14 games, a narrow 73-72 loss to the visiting Irish of Notre Dame. They visited and romped Stanford by 26, who beat Baylor earlier in the season.

So, how do you slay the giant? Keeping them within range on the scoreboard is a must, which means preventing streaks and runs offensively. Going toe-to-toe on the boards must happen. Creating and scoring off turnovers is important. Making a final stab late in the game if close enough to win. In short, having...by far...the best game of your season. Difficult, but not imposible.

Bring home the win, Louisville.

-Quentin Voigt

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When you look at the Cards 14-3 record, you notice two things. First, no one has blown the doors off Louisville this season. A mere 11 points are the difference between a 3-loss and undefeated season. Second, the Cards have not lost a game this year where Sara Hammond has been the leading scorer.

And, that will be the difference maker tonight. I'm not worried about how the Cards guards will match up with Geno's. They'll be fine. Not sweating the fact that UConn leads the BIG EAST in threes made. Louisville will get out and pressure the shots.

Inside. The paint. How will the combination of Hammond, Reid, Slaughter, Vails and Walton mix it up on the boards with the BIG EAST's leading defensive rebounding squad. Will they be able to get Hammond scoring from inside? Will Mo be able to get her patented "catch and bank for two from the block" working? Can Slaughter go up against the taller Huskies and give the Cards some tough rebounding? Can Smith rotate down and grab a few?

I like the combo of Bria Smith and Shoni in the Cards backcourt. We're liable to see it most of the 40 minutes that this one will go tonight, sans foul trouble, of course.
They'll get their points, too.

This one will be decided from five feet in tonight. The Cards are second in the league in rebounding defense to...UConn. The Cards are third in the league in rebounding margin (+10.3). Guess who's second?

Control the paint, win the game. Get caught watching it dry and get an "L" painted on you. Block out, hit the boards and play interior defense 

Do I think Louisville actually has a chance tonight against UConn, in Hartford? Strangely enough, I do. No one is expecting a close game. No pressure on the Cards. Play strong, play positive and throw a few Rutgers-like elbows and forearms to show you aren't scared or intimidated.  

And rebound.

-Paulie

(CARDINAL COUPLE COLUMNIST JENNY O'BRYAN WILL HAVR THE RECAP FOR THE WEDNESDAY EDITON OF CARDINAL COUPLE. GOOD LUCK CARDS!)

Cardinal Couple Thursday Edition - Big East Standings Check

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Staff columnist Jeff McAdams yawns, stretches, hits the snooze button one more time and then has a dream about the Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE article due. We're not sure, but he think Rip Van Winkle was patterned after him. But, when he does finally get around to posting, he's golden. Jeff looks at the BIG EAST WBB today and a volleyball addition. Then goes back in for a nap...The beauty of CARDINAL COUPLE is that there are no deadlines, no rush-rush articles or screaming editors. Just a bunch of chimps who somehow ended up with a website and the ability to type. Enjoy!)


(I was all set...had my schedule for the day laid out...to write up the Friday edition of the Cardinal Couple...then I went back and checked my email and saw that I was slated to write today's edition, not Friday.  You can just call me Mr. Organized.)

Big East Standings

Its very early in conference play, of course, but let's check on the Big East Rankings...mostly because its fun to see UConn not be in one of the very top spots.  Rankings are very jumbled this early on since there haven't been many games played by each team yet, so wins and loses are radically magnified in their impact on rankings right now.

Tied for first place at 2-0 is Notre Dame, Seton Hall, and Villanova.  Notre Dame clearly deserves the lofty rankings.  Seton Hall beat Cincinnati and Pitt, which suggests that they're not a team to be totally rolled over this year, but they haven't contended with any real powerhouses yet.  Villanova knocked off Cincinnati and DePaul...and beat DePaul in convincing fashion...so let's keep an eye on Villanova this year...usually not a powerhouse of a team, but maybe they've got something to them this year?

Tied for fourth is Syracuse and St. Johns at 1-0.  Syracuse got a solid win over Marquette, and St. Johns won a close game against Rutgers.  Hard to draw too much of a conclusion here, although after seeing Rutgers a couple of days ago, I'll be keeping something of an eye on St. Johns as well.

Tied for sixth are the 1-1 teams.  That includes the Cardinals, of course with the win over Rutgers and the loss to DePaul.  Also with us in the sixth spot are UConn, DePaul and Georgetown.  UConn, as I'm sure most of our readers are aware, lost a hot contested matchup against Notre Dame, so no shame there, and they will certainly climb back up in the rankings.  Their win was last night with a pretty lopsided score over Georgetown.  DePaul, well, let's not dwell on their win, but their loss was to Villanova as mentioned above, so they are clearly a beatable team.  Lastly, Georgetown, as mentioned, got pummeled by UConn, which shocks no one I'm sure, and they beat up on Providence for the conference opener.  Neither of those games shines much light on how good of a team Gtown is.

In 10th place, we see the 0-1 teams.  South Florida, Pitt, Marquette, and Providence.  Only Providence has a losing non-conference schedule, so as always with Big East women's basketball, it would be unwise to look past any games with USF, Pitt, and Marquette.

That leaves Rutgers and Cincinnati in the basement, tied for 14th, at 0-2.  Rutgers looked like they're a better team than that on Tuesday, despite the loss.  Cincinnati, with losses to Seton Hall and Villanova doesn't look to be much of a contender, but this early, you just can't tell.

The Big East looks to be a powerhouse conference again this year, though those days are numbers with slated departures from the conference.

Spring Enrollments

I'm only aware of one women's athlete that has enrolled in the spring semester.  And, of course, since I'm writing about it, that means its a volleyball player.

Javoni Faucette graduated from Francis Howell Union High School in St. Charles Missouri in three and a half years...quite an accomplishment...and has started here at Louisville for the spring semester.  Congratulations Javoni, and welcome to Louisville.

If anyone is aware of any other spring enrollments for athletes in other sports, we'd love to hear about them in the comments.


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(CARDINAL COUPLE has gone to a word verification system for comments. We were tired of having to catch and delete spammers who were clogging out comments e-mail box with spam advertising for toliet items, cheap loans, Cigarettes, perverse sexual items and sites and toasters from Target. You still DO NOT HAVE TO REGISTER to comment at Cardinal Couple. You just have to be able to type in a few characters to prove you're not a bot and are a human. Timmy the Intern, Co-Co  Cletus and Bill the Goat are incensed beyond belief. Thank you for your understanding.)

iinthetownwhereiwasbornlivesamanwhosailedtheseaandhetoldusofhislifeinthelandbenaththedeepskyofbluandseaofgreenweallliveinayellowsubmarine

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Staff predictions on the Louisville WBB season

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Staff predictions on the upcoming Lady Cards in the BIG EAST

We asked our staff writers to join Sonja and I in predicting how Louisville would do in the BIG EAST this year. Here's what we came up with:

(Note: the majority of these came in after the loss to DePaul)

We also tossed in a tie-breaker. What color shirt will Coach Walz wear Tuesday night against Rutgers?

Paul

I predict a 13-3 record in the BIG EAST for Louisville. I see losses to UConn, Notre Dame and Syracuse. The Cards will win several very close ones (I thought we'd squeak by at DePaul by 2-4) but I see double-digit losses to UConn and Notre Dame. The Syracuse game is one I put a lot of thought into. It's the final game in regular season play and we're 1-3 up there lifetime. The 'Cuse could be battling for a tournament berth by then and they might just squeak by us in that one. In order for me to go 13-3, we better win.

Walz will be in a white, long sleeve dress shirt Tuesday night. Lookin' GQ.


Sonja

10-6 is what I come up with. I predicted the loss at DePaul. We beat them in the KFC YUM! Center. I also see losses to Notre Dame, UConn, Rutgers, St. John and at USF.

Coach is in a red shirt Tuesday.


Jeff M.


I'm tempted to wait until Sunday to turn this in, but I'll go ahead and step out on a limb.

I think we drop 3 games. UConn and Notre Dame and DePaul. I think we've got a chance to win one of these, but my prediction is that we lose three.

I think we also could drop one somewhere else, but I'm not sure where...maybe to DePaul again if they're a little more healthy. Of course, I hope we're healthy then too.

On Walz, I'll go with a light blue thin vertical striped shirt.


Sandy

I show a 12-4 BIG EAST record. I also start with a loss as I would have picked last night's DePaul game as a win for us. If for no other reason, out of loyality and being hopeful.

I don't feel good about us on the road this year and with both UConn and Notre Dame on the road, I show losses in home arenas at Hartford and in South Bend. I predict a split with USF winning at home and losing in Tampa. I also show a final season loss at Syracuse. Hope I am wrong about the Syracuse loss as even with a good Big East Tournament this would particularly hurt our NCAA Tournament draw, which we don't need after finally receiving home games in the first two rounds.

(No shirt selection by Sandy. She's busy enough, we surmise, with her own weekly laundry concerns.)


Jenny

I am going 13-3. Louisville loses the rest of the way to UConn and Notre Dame. I had a wild hair we could beat Notre Dame, then Dyer went down and ND beat UConn. Maybe if we have Asia back by then...we can give ND a run for their money.

(Jenny did not have a shirt selection for Coach either. We interpret that to mean she thinks he'll go shirtless, in order to create a diversion for the Rutgers players and C Viv.)


Mark

I'll say we will go 11-5 with losses to UConn, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Villanova and South Florida. We had to rally last year to beat USF at home. Play them twice this year -- most likely will lose the road game.

Walz wears a black shirt against Rutgers.


OK, there you have it. We've laid it on the line for all to see. Got a different take on it? Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

(We should note, in all fairness, that Timmy the Intern turned in a 0-16 selection, but had Seton Hall scrawled across it. Bill the Goat made 11 marks with his hoof in the dirt. Co-Co just handed us a picture of Shoni and then started jumping and running wildly around the CARDINAL COUPLE conference room. Darn chimps!)

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NOTE: This is the 1200th post for CARDINAL COUPLE.  We'd like to thank our writers, staff and readers for their
patronage and loyality. We had a top-five hit count on Sunday's article about the DePaul game. We appreciate you!
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Wednesday Cardinal Couple - Big East play begins

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Louisville WBB nears BIG EAST Conference schedule

-Football Cards play in Sugar Bowl tonight

( Jenny O'Bryan brings us the Wednesday Edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. We're glad she's feeling better and back on the laptop!)

With the New Year comes conference play.  Big East play starts on Saturday, January 5th.      

Below is a link to current Big East standings along with the schedules of each team, thus far. Louisville is 12-2 going into the Saturday matchup and will look to avenge a 86-61 loss that the Blue Demons stuck on the Lady Cards the last time the Cards visited McGrath-Phillips arena in Chicago. The Blue Demons had five in double figures in the rout, routinely beat the Cards in the transition game all night and Katherine Harry grabbed 20 rebounds in the dismantling.

http://www.bigeast.org/portals/5/fls/19400/stats/wbasketball/2012-2013/confsked.htm

This will be the last time in the foreseeable future that Louisville will face some longtime rivals in Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers and BIG EAST schools Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown, St John's, Villanova, Marquette, USF and DePaul.  

 

Seven of the fifteen teams are already in to double-digit wins for the season with only Connecticut remaining undefeated.    The rugged play of the Big East is upon us.  For all of you who have been worried about the “soft” out of conference schedule, well, no more. 

Atop the conference, as has been historically typical, is Connecticut.  Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville round out the top 4.   This conference ranking is based on W-L percentages, so, I expect things will readjust very quickly as we get in to conference play and the competition steps up for a lot of teams.  For instance, Syracuse is off to a 12-1 start, but has played no top 25 teams.   I am not saying they are not good, just that so far this season, they do not seem to have been very tested. 

Saturday’s line up of games to kick off Big East play provides the opportunity to watch some really good basketball.  There are 5 games to open the conference, and likely the toughest of the day to be UConn vs. Notre Dame, to that in a minute. 

As we know, Louisville travels to DePaul to face the Blue Demons at home.  Coach Doug Bruno spent his summer as an assistant to the US Women’s Olympic team.   While the Blue Demons are currently not ranked, they are getting votes and are always very, very dangerous at home.  Look for veteran players, Kentucky native Anna Martin (senior) and Katherine Harry to provide the biggest challenges to the Cardinals. 

In what may be the marquee matchup for the day, depending on whom you ask is Notre Dame at Connecticut.   Notre Dame graduated 3 of their starters in Novosel, Mallory and Peters.  While returning Diggins and others, their lineup took a big hit to graduation.  The flip side to that, Connecticut graduated only Tiffany Hayes and added the # 1 recruiting class in the country in Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck.  After Connecticut’s rout of Stanford this past weekend, I look forward to watching this game and seeing this rivalry matchup early in the season.  Looks to be nationally televised, too.  So, catch it on TV at 4:00 and then tune in to Cards Radio to listen in on the Louisville game at 6:00 p.m. 

Providence will face Georgetown, Seton Hall will face Pittsburgh and Marquette will face Syracuse in the other 3 games in the Big East. 

It is time to buckle up Cards fans.  Big East play is here and things are about to get a lot tougher for our Cardinals.  I think they are up for the challenge, but no opponent can be overlooked!

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Finally, in other news, Louisville Football plays tonight in the Sugar Bowl.  While Cardinal Couple dedicates it coverage to primarily women’s sports, rest assured that we are all rooting for our Cards in Lou Orleans!  Check out any number of our favorite sites (on the left side of the page) for all your football coverage.   As Cardinal football fans like to say, “Get on the train”.  This is a big time game, on a national stage. Cards a 14-point underdog. We have nothing to lose. Go, Teddy, go!

Stay classy, Lou Orleans, stay classy.  Go Cards!!

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Finally, in the "News of the Weird" department, we received a call from ESPN yesterday inquiring if we'd like to do a "skype" with them on the upcoming Sugar Bowl game. At 11 p.m.

We politely told the caller we were a women's sports site and although we will be cheering for the Cards, we probably weren't knowledgable enough to deliver a factual report. Plus, we don't have "skype". 

If we did, we probably would have rounded up Co-Co, Cletus, Jenny, Sandy, Jeff, William Frawley, Mondo Vendo, MArkie MArk, Timmy the Intern, Bud Goode, Sonja and I and delivered a version of the 12 Days of Christmas.

Or put Jeff Walz's last post game interview to a operatic format.

Always thinking, always confused. It's not just a motto, it's a way of life here.
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Monday Cardinal Couple - A Big East update

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- BIG EAST ROLLING ALONG IN NON-CONFERENCE SLATE

With the start of BIG EAST conference play less than two weeks away, we thought we'd take a look at how the 15 teams are doing so far. Here's the latest standings:

UConn     10-0                          Georgetown  7-4
Syracuse  11-1                          Pittsburgh    7-4
N.D          9-1                           Marquette     6-5
Villanova  9-1                           St. John        5-5
Louisville 11-2                          Seton Hall     5-5
USF          9-2                           Providence    3-8
DePaul     10-3
Rutgers    8-3
Cincy       7-3



No real surprises at the top of the leaderboards...although Villanova at 9-1 is mildly surprising. They've also held opponents to 50 or less points in seven of their ten games.

Superstar Skylar Diggins returns for Notre Dame

The BIG EAST is 117-50 in games so far and Muffet McGraw recently got her 800th. career win. Agnes Berenato (Pitt) also recorded her 159th. win, tops in Pittsburgh women's basketball history.

After Tennessee State on 12/31/12, the Cards will go into conference play on the road at DePaul on Jan. 5th. Rutgers visits the YUM! Center on Jan 8th., Louisville hits Providence on Jan. 12th. and UConn on the 15th. A tough start to the conference for Louisville...but none of the games in the BIG EAST appear to be easy this season.

Katherine Harry controls the boards for DePaul

Louisville was a combined 1-4 against these four BIG EAST schools in the regular season last year...the lone win coming against DePaul 75-62 in the YUM! Center. DePaul has Brittany Hrynko, Katherine Harry and Anna Martin back from last year's 23-11 squad that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Cards are on a few days of Christmas break currently. Although there aren't any scheduled practices until a few days after Christmas, Coach Walz and the staff have asked the girls to run and get some shots up while at home. We like the idea that they do get to spend some time with their loved ones this time of year and wish all the Louisville Cardinals...along with our readers...a very Merry Christmas!
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BIG EAST Media Days offer few surprises for WBB

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards picked 3rd in preseason coaches poll

- Skylar Diggins chosen Preseason player of the year. Shoni unanimous pick for first team.

- Cards on the mend

Connecticut gets 12 out of 15 first place votes to repeat as regular-season champ.

The coaches of the BIG EAST have spoken and come up with a very predictable preseason prediction of how they think the BIG EAST WBB teams will finish the 2012-13 season. 

UConn, with 12 of the 15 first place votes, is picked to repeat as the regular season champs. Notre Dame got the other three first place votes in the poll...where coaches weren't allowed to vote for their own squads for first.

Louisville finished third in the contest, followed by St. John's. The Cards enter the season after finishing up last year bowing out to Maryland in second round NCAA Tournament action. The entire results are below:

1. Connecticut  194 (points)         9. USF  97
2. Notre Dame  182                    10. Villanova  78
3. Louisville  167                         11. Marquette  75
4. St. John's  144                        12. Cincinnati  61
5. Rutgers 138                            13. Pittsburgh  31
6. DePaul  127                            13. Seton Hall  31
7. Syracuse  105                         15. Providence 25
8. Georgetown  104

Shoni an unanimous pick for BIG EAST First Team

Another predictable was the naming of Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins as the Preseason Player of the Year, an honor she was also named to last season. Diggins averaged 17.1 points last year for the Irish.

Shoni Schimmel was named to the BIG EAST First team, one of five players unanimously picked for the squad. She was the only Cardinal selected for the honor, although Monique Reid did get honorable mention selection. The others on the First Team:

Stefanie Dolson, Connecticut, Jr., C
Bria Hartley, Connecticut, Jr., G
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Connecticut, So., F
Anna Martin, DePaul, Sr., G
Sugar Rodgers, Georgetown, Sr., G
Shoni Schimmel, Louisville, Jr., G
Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame, Sr., G
Monique Oliver, Rutgers, Sr., F/C
Nadirah McKenith, St. John's, Sr., G
Shennika Smith, St. John's, Sr., G
Kayla Alexander, Syracuse, Sr., C

Louisville's Schimmel was a first-team All-BIG EAST selection at the end of last year and led Louisville with 14.3 ppg and 4.7 assists. Schimmel is also on the Wade Watch list as one of the top 25 players in DI womens' college basketball.

Louisville begins action on Oct., 31st. with an exhibition game against Eckerd College.

Walz laments preseason injuries

If the women's basketball locker room in Cardinal Arena resembles a M*A*S*H unit, it's because five Lady Cards are currently in various stage of rehab and healing from injuries.

Tia Gibbs is still a couple of weeks away from contact...recovering from the shoulder injury and hip trouble that kept her out of the 2011-12 season.

Monique Reid is practicing but not going at full speed yet as she continues to heal from the knee injury that sidelined her last season after nine games. 

Asia Taylor will be out until mid-December. She's on the mend from a torn hip labrum suffered over the summer.

Shawnta Dyer will be out for a week or so...sidelined because of a sports hernia.

Cortnee Walton should be back next week, currently hobbled with a foot stress reaction.

Maybe  the Cards should re-design their practice jerseys to display the A.M.A. insignia instead of the Cardinal Bird...

The good news in the injury list is that none of these are being listed as career-ending injuries. Throughout a season, every team in Division I WBB is going to have their share of dings, dents and down-time for players. It's the nature of the game. Hopefully, Louisville is getting theirs out of the way early and will not be plagued with them as the team rolls into BIG EAST and tournament play.
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Tuesday CARDINAL COUPLE -- What say you, Geno?

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Geno Auriemma faces lawsuit over alleged advances.


We're used to reading about the Connecticut Huskies and Geno Auriemma when it comes to college women's basketball. They've been the most successful team in the BIG EAST since formation of the league. They're usually sitting atop the league standings when the BIG EAST Tournament rolls around. They've placed enough players in the WNBA to field a separate division fueled by just former Husky players. 

Auriemma in contemplation mode

A new headline grabber, though, is associated with the program. The UConn head coach and U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball skipper has been named in an employment discrimination suit filed by a security official for the Olympic team who claims she was removed from her assignment after she rebuffed Auriemma's advances after leaving an elevator.


Wonder if Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" was the background music? 


Kelley Hardwick claims that Geno followed her and another woman into an hotel elevator after leaving a hotel bar and talking to them in the lobby of the same hotel in Yekaterinburg, Russia during October 2009. 


He then, according to Hardwick, "came up behind her, took hold of her left arm, and...as she turned...he forcibly tried to kiss her on the mouth" after she left the elevator and as she was inserting her key into her hotel room door. 

Geno goes for Angel's left
arm. Note the look of surprise
on Ms. McCoughtry's face.

Hardwick claims she stopped the advances, shoving him away and saying:


"What are you doing? You better check yourself before you get hurt!" 


She then, reportedly 'grabbed his face and mushed him'.


We're not sure what mushing is, in terms of that incident. We do know that mushing is common up in the northern regions of our planet and huskies are often used on sleighs where mushing takes place. We can only assume that Hardwick tried to ride Geno down the hotel hallway, mushing his face as a means of getting him to mush? 


Somehow, that just doesn't make sense.   

The winters in Connecticut probably allow mushing
to take place. 

If there had been any BIG EAST women's basketball referees present (especially Bonita Spence or Dennis DeMayo) the whistle would have come out and Auriemma would have been called for a foul. We're guessing the scenario (if it actually happened) was that Geno was trying to prevent Hardwick from making a spin move and driving to his left. Grabbing the arm will get you a whistle every time. We briefly thought about contacting UofL Assistant SID Kim Pemberton and asking if we could talk to Shoni, Bria or any of the Lady Cards guards about avoiding grabs while playing defense. 

Shoni indicates that she may have been
grabbed on the right arm. They're always
fouling Shoni, aren't they? Call 'em, ref !!

We didn't make the call to Kim. Those girls are busy enough and so is Kim. We watched, instead, some highlights of the 2011-12 BIG EAST Tournament. Sure enough, you grab another player and you get the whistle. If the refs see it, of course. Sometimes, they don't.  


Concerning the alleged hallway incident...Auriemma denies Hardwick's claim:


"This claim is beyond false. I will defend myself to the fullest, and I'm confident that the truth will ultimately prevail. In the meantime, I remain focused on representing the United States this summer and getting our team ready to compete for the gold medal."

How you get 'beyond false' is also an area we're not clear about. It might be like the 'strenuously object' scene from the movie A Few Good Men..where Demi Moore stridently tries to block testimony. We're not sure if we want to drag her, Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson into this quite yet, though...so we'll let that go for the time being.  


So, it's a case of 'He Said, She Said' and there are no witnesses that saw the supposed hotel hallway hub-bub. 

Jimmy Cagney prefers to mush with grapefruits

We get the general 'drift' (also associated with mushing and huskies) here: 


1) Hardwick loses job. 2) Hardwick thinks Geno had something to do with it. 3) Hardwick spills the beans on a incident that may or may not have happened. 4) Geno denies. 5) Laywers get rich. 6) UConn, Geno and mushing get drug through the mud.
7) Mushing now has several definitions.


Of course, we're no strangers to coaches involved with ladies here in Louisville. Google 'Pitino and Sypher'. 

Kelley Hardwick...did she
mush or not?

If it happened, Geno needs to 'face up' ( no pun intended ) and admit it. If it didn't, Hardwick needs to recant and apologize for trying to slander one of the most successful basketball coaches of all-time. 


All of a sudden, the 2012 Summer Olympic basketball events have picked up an issue that the "talking heads" who will broadcast the events can chew on. 


We "mush on"...wondering if they have or will eventually check the hallway security cameras and see if the alleged event was recorded or not. If they have hallway security cameras in the Yekaterinburg hotel in question, of course.


They can, then, do a booth review. 


As they say in the NFL...indisputable evidence is what we're looking for here. And if the hand doesn't hit, you must acquit...


(A call to CARDINAL COUPLE legal counsel Miranda Wright got the terse reply..."Innocent until proven guilty and I'm billing you for legal advice." ) Great...


Link below for the New York Times report:


Geno
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Monday CARDINAL COUPLE...Softball goes to 27-0! CARDINAL COUPLE WBB Awards...Down to the NCAA WBB Great Eight

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Softball downs Pitt 2-1 to go to 27-0


-CARDINAL COUPLE'S WBB Awards


-And then there were eight


Louisville softball is now 27-0 after getting their third come from behind victory over Pittsburgh this weekend. CARDS WIN! 2-1.


Jordan Trimble smashed a two RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Cards the win. 


Neither team scored in the game until the sixth inning...a pitcher's duel between UofL's Caralisa Connell and Pitt's Savannah King. Pitt drew first blood with a Yvette Bravo double scoring Holly Stevens after five scoreless innings. 

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the sixth, Louisville started the inning with Katie Keller getting a single and taking second when Taner Fowler reached first on a fielders' error. Alicja Wolny drew a base on balls to set up Trimble's blast...which scored Keller and Fowler to make it 2-1 Cards.


Tori Collins came on in relief in the top of the seventh and struck out the first two batters she faced before hitting Pitt's Maggie Sevilla with a pitch. She then struck out pinch-hitter Keli Gaynor to end the game.

Leonard gave up one run on only two hits in six innings and recorded one strike out to improve her record to 6-0. The Cards got their two runs on five hits. 


Louisville travels to Lexington to face UK for a game on Wednesday, March 28th. 


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The 2nd annual CARDINAL COUPLE WBB Awards ballots have been counted and our illustrious staff of columnists and writers have come up with these five selections. 

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER goes to sophomore Shoni Schimmel. Her leadership and scoring won a lot of games for Louisville this year and she was almost an unanimous choice for the award. Becky Burke finished second in the voting. Schimmel won our freshman of the year balloting last year. Monique Reid took MVP last year.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER is junior Asia Taylor. Her second half of the season rise to power impressed the majority of our voters and she narrowly takes the award over sophomore Nita Slaughter. Becky Burke took the award last year. 

FAN FAVORITE for 2011-12 lands with junior Shelby Harper. As the "fan voice" for UofL women's sports, we here at CARDINAL COUPLE notice things like that and when the "spark plug" entered game this year...you could tell the crowd got excited. Second place went to Becky Burke. Harper won the award last year as well. They love ya, Shelby. So do we.

MOST VALUABLE NEWCOMER gets awarded to Bria Smith. The freshman stepped into a starting role after Tia Gibbs was injured and had a solid season for UofL at guard. Not easy coming in and being thrust into a starting role right at the start of your college career..but Smith handled with style, grace and skill. A close second for this one goes to Shawnta Dyer.

100% EFFORT AWARD ends up in Shawnta Dyer's possession. This was an unanimous vote by the panel and Dyer's efforts and hustle were well noted throughout the year...but especially after the departure of Cierra Warren. We awarded second place to the other nine players on the UofL squad. Tia Gibbs won the award last year. 


The awards carry no trophies, plaques or monetary value. They are a reflection of ours and a way to say thank you to these young women and the efforts this year. All 10 of you...and Tia and Monique, too...are winners everyday in our book! 


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Down to eight surviving teams in the NCAA Women's basketball tournament and no real surprises her with any of them. Baylor, Duke, Stanford, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Maryland, Connecticut and Kentucky. All #1 and #2 seeds. Gone is last year's champ Texas A&M and the other #3 seeds St. John's, Miami and Delaware.


The next two nights will set a Final Four for the Denver tournament. Anyone picking against the Lady Bears, Irish, Huskies and Cardinal to be the participants out there? And, will Geno Auriemma ( a younger Geno pictured above) finally calm down?  
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UCONN takes BIG EAST Championship game

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-UCONN wins BIG EAST Tournament


-PDX Phil takes "Pick 'Em" Challenge


-Where, oh where will the Lady Cards go?


The University of Connecticut used a late second half run to take the BIG EAST Tournament's championship game last night...defeating Notre Dame 63-54. 


All-tournament team was McBride (ND), Peters (ND), Dolson (Conn), Hartley (Conn) and Smith (no, not Louisville...St. John's). Most Outstanding Player went to Mosqueda-Lewis. WE can't argue with any of these.


The referee crew was "3D" last night. Dennis DeMayo, Dee Kanter and Denise Brooks. Rumor is that Bonita Spence showed up ready for duty and they stuffed her in her locker.  

"Gee, I've only got 12,000 fans here!
Wonder if the guys are playing tonight?"

Read all about it in the papers, or access the stats, stories and comments on-line. HOOPFEED has a nice write-up and it's accessible on the left side of our site. All we're going to say about last night's game...after congratulating the Huskies on their accomplishment...is this:


It is time to get the BIG EAST Tournament out of Hartford every year. WE'D like to see the annual showdown become an event that hits the road for the future. Different site every year. Naturally, we'd like to see the KFC YUM! Center get into the mix, but there are plenty other BIG EAST schools that have venues, either on campus or in their cities, that could host the event and seat more than what the XL Center holds.


It's time...it's been time for a long time...to stop giving Connecticut a home court advantage year after year in this event. It's all part of that BIG EAST and UConn infatuation...walking along with their hand in each other's pocket while the rest of the conference members watch in disgust and disapproval.


Will Notre Dame losing knock them out of a #1 seed? 
WE don't see that happening. Who replaces them? Kentucky, Duke, Tennessee, Delaware? Not bloody likely!


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CONGRATULATIONS to PDX PHIL, who won the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em Challenge! He went 14-1 with his picks and wins the 4-way tie because he had the winning team and picked all four of the semi-final contestants. 

No trophy, Phil...but a PANERA
CARD! Congratulations!

Shoot us an e-mail, Phil, with your mailing address and we'll get that PANERA Card in the mail to you. 


Second went to Smitty. He was 14-1 also, had UConn winning...but only 3 of the 4 semi-finalist.


It was a blast and we thank all those who participated. Same time, next year? 


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The NCAA Women's Tournament brackets will be announced on Selection Monday at 7 p.m. on ESPN. We've been checking out a few of the Bracketology scenarios out there and hope that the Cards can pull off a 5 or 6 seed. 

We hope that the Lady Cards DO NOT
have to travel to Chapel Hill for the first
two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. 

We saw one that we hope doesn't come to fruition. Louisville is a #5 seed (we're OK with that) but they're slotted against North Carolina. In Chapel Hill, where the Tar Heels play their home games. Are you serious? Are you kidding us?  


It's one thing to have to play on a lower seed's home court. We get that. The Lady Cards did it last year in Cincinnati, at Xavier and did OK, we well remember. But to have to go in as a lower seed and play on the higher seed's home court? It stinks and air freshener isn't going to help.


Cincinnati is also about a two hour drive from Louisville and several thousand Lady Cards made the trek. Chapel Hill isn't a two hour trip, not even by plane and car from Louisville. To give a #12 seed such advantage? It reminds us of how the selection committee gave Gonzaga, a high seed, not only the first two rounds...but the next two rounds. Sure, they moved the third and fourth rounds down the street but...really? 


Makes you wonder if we could pull off such shenanigans here in Louisville with two games at Freedom Hall, then two games at the KFC YUM! Center? 


North Carolina may not be the powerhouse of previous years, but who feared Gonzaga last year? Yes, dear reader...a huge home crowd does make a bit of a difference. Wait until next year when Louisville and the KFC YUM! Center get rounds 1 and 2, if you don't believe me. 


Let's hope this scenario doesn't happen....this travesty of Louisville going to the Dean Dome. 


And, tongue in cheek here...who would Cierra Warren cheer for in a UNC vs. UofL match-up?  


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