Notre Dame Post Mortem Report

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( CARDINAL COUPLE Columnist Sandy Walker provides today's report on the homicide in South Bend last night. )


The washing machine broke so while CoCo and her repair team spends time trying to determine what parts to order...the Cardinal Couple Corporate Office gave Sandy the substitute assignment of reporting on the Notre Dame game post mortem instead of the week off.   After last night’s game I think a trip to the coin laundry to sanitize last night’s game uniforms is in order as it appears that the accumulation of team injuries have finally caught up with Walz's women.

As Cardinal broadcaster Adrienne Johnson said, the freshly minted # 10 nationally ranked Louisville got a “good butt-whipping” from #2 ranked Notre Dame.  The Monday night ESPN2 featured contest initially showed a slight promise of a true competition but it was not to be as this being the 13^th meeting between these teams was truly a bad sign.

To be successful, Louisville as a team, needed to take play with confidence, care of the ball, show aggression on defense without fouling and to control the glass.  The Cards did have what could be considered season best play from a few individuals for short-lived periods of time.  Otherwise, as a whole, 1 out of 4 of these goals would have been an improvement over what occurred.  Pick a statistic, any statistic.   No real additional explanations are needed.


 

                      Notre Dame          Louisville

Turnovers          19                            19                                                     

Rebounds          44                             23

Free Throws    19/26  for 73%             3/7 for 43%

Steals             11                               9

Field Goals     34/60  for 57%            27/62 for 44%

Team Fouls            8                        18

Assists                  25                        17

Basketball IQ       100 %                     Audit

                                                                        

Points               93                    64

Yes, there were brief periods of good play by a few where the pace was definitely increased upon Jude’s entry into the game. Her poised 33 minutes of play was shown by her total of 2 turnovers and 8 points.   Bria Smith, who had 18 points (10 in the first half) 4 rebounds and 5 steals was everywhere and played with a solid aggression which caught the attention of everyone.  The addition of Antonita Slaughter’s 16 points along with Shoni’s 13 just were not enough.  There was a brief 8-2 run by the cards at 9:20 in the first half which brought UofL to within 5 with the ball and a score of 17-22.  Louisville moved into the half time break still with a breath of life remaining as the 45-35 score gave us hope of a strong first 5 minutes of play which might turn things around.    

Their 2^nd half brief run at 17:44 which brought them within 7 at 47-40 could not be sustained as in only 2 additional minutes of play the spread had increased to 17 as the Cards' 40 was met by Notre Dame’s 57. All American and top 4 national player Skylar Diggins, who finished with 21 points, 7 assists and 4 steals pretty much schooled Louisville in what complete game play looked like.

In his post game interview Jeff pretty much summed the game up by saying the Cards just did not play tough enough either physically or mentally.  To win against a team like Notre Dame, play must more closely resemble football than chess.

Fortunately, the Cards have a few BIG EAST games left from which to position themselves for the upcoming end of season tournament.  The first opportunity for the women to regroup is this Sunday’s 1:30 game at the KFC YUM! Center when they have the opportunity to reverse their earlier misfortunes against DePaul.  Yes, the game is being shown on ESPNU but the women need your presence at the game, not on your recliner.

Last night’s ND crowd at the sold-out South Bend game absolutely contributed to the chaos which rained down upon our team.  It is time to return the favor as well as to show the nation what a Louisville women’s basketball crowd looks like.   UofL's recent slippage to number 3 in the nation for attendance is just not acceptable and ...now more than ever, this team needs us.

Sandy

 

Editor's Comments...So, let's go to South Bend, fail to block out, rebound or defend and see how that does. And, that pretty well sums up the final 17 minutes of last night's trouncing of the Louisville WBB squad by Skylar, Natalie and the other Muffet marauders. Sonja couldn't understand why Shoni was sitting when the Irish were pulling away. I explained to her that "matador defense" went out of style a few years ago. For a team that had only been allowing 53.1 points per game, the Cards looked like a squad that didn't realize it's OK to guard someone when they drive the lane with the basketball. It's become a dangerous sequence this season...go on the road, play a quality opponent, get your lunch taken from you.

Fortunately, the Cards finish the regular season with three in the KFC YUM! Center and only two in hostile territory...two dangerous ones, though, in Syracuse and Villanova. Walz mentioned in the post-game eulogy last night that he hoped all the television sets in Louisville were out of order last night. Something is broken, coach...but it isn't the cable service. The Wizard of Oz's Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion could have done a better job containing UND's front line last night. Put Toto and Jude out there, and you may keep the Wicked Witches of the West under 80...

The Cards probably looked the best when it was four guards and Nita on the court. Anyone know of any 6'0" and under leagues that these five could sign up for?

Issuing this amber alert. The post position at UofL has gone missing. If seen, return to the basketball offices on the 2nd floor of the S.A.C. on campus, please.

20-5 is a great record. This team has overcome injuries and played with heart and courage many times this year. Last night was a clunker. It happens. These next five are all winnable. They are also, potentially...all losable as well, except for Seton Hall. A 25-5 regular-season record would be outstanding. 21-9 would be OK, but may not be 4th seed NCAA Tournament or BIG EAST Tournament worthy.

Whatcha got left, Lady Cards?  

-Paulie

Monday pinch hitting

 

Monday Substitute - Wins for Field Hockey and Soccer

Word is that Paul and Sonja are back, but are cleaning up after the block party we threw Friday night...either that or Paul is fighting some computer troubles, I'm not sure.  Either way, let me see if I can help out a little bit and post an update on Sunday events.

(Editor note...a laptop crash and no PC has us at the mercy of the public library for the next couple of days. We're not sure exactly what happened but Co-Co covering it in banana pudding and trying to feed it to Bill the Gaot probably didn't help any.)

Field Hockey wins convincingly at Kent State

Kent State struck first, early, on a penalty corner, but it was all Cards after that.  The Golden Flashes and the Cards got their first penalty corners, and goals, at 3 minutes and 5 minutes respectively, but that would be the only time Kent State produced.  The Cards picked up another score just before halftime and took the 2-1 lead into the break.

After halftime, the Cards picked up two goals within about a minute and still didn't look back from the 4-1 lead.  Chalking up another point 6 minutes later, and then sneaking one in with less than a minute left in play.

The Field Hockey team next travels to #2 ranked Syracuse on Saturday, and #21 Albany on Sunday.

Soccer puts a hurting on St. John's

It was a high scoring affair for the women's soccer team when they faced St. John's here at Cardinal Park.  The soccer team hasn't scored 6 or more points in a game in eight years.  They get style points for holding St. John's scoreless in the process.

The scoring was fairly evenly spread out in the first half, with goals coming in the 8th, 30th, and 42nd minutes, taking a 3-0 lead into the break.

The Cards scored a bit more rapid fire in the second half...finding the back of the net in the 52nd, 59th, and 61st minutes to finish out the 6-0 win over the Red Storm.

Next up, the soccer teams racks up some frequent flyer miles with a road trip to #21 Marquette Friday night at 8pm, then heading south to USF for a 1p.m. start on Sunday.

Volleyball suffers a setback

Notre Dame came into the KFC Yum! Center with an 8-5 record, but 4 of those 5 losses were to ranked teams.  This is never a team you want to take for granted.

The Cards got off to a good start, with mistake free hitting, great digging, and more than a few service errors from Notre Dame. 

Taking the first set 25-16, they got it done with commendable .350 hitting.

Some cracks started showing in the second set where the Cardinals hitting eased off to .256, but still managed to take the set 25-22.

After the break, the Irish got the defensive game on the right track, with great digging, and some good blocking at the net.  A game of runs, Notre Dame claimed it in the end at 20-25.

Louisville started to look a bit ragged in the 4th set, but lots of scrambling and out-of-system play kept the score pretty close.  The Cards reached match point, but Notre Dame didn't give up and scored 5 straight points to snatch the set victory away at 24-26.

The score pretty much tells the tale for the 5th set.  Notre Dame controlled it from start to finish, taking the game, and match, with a 3-15 score.

One piece of good news is that this match saw Gwen Rucker's return to the court with some limited playing time.  With four kills, and two miscues on nine attempts, and three shared blocks it was a good effort, and I'm sure everyone is glad she's feeling better.

Other commendable play came from Brooke "Stomp" Mattingly who tallied up 12 kills, with only three errors on 28 attempts, for a respectable .321 hitting percentage.  She also got credits for two digs, and a share of four blocks.

Lastly, Caitlin Welch topped her career dig effort with 35.  Records like this may be a bit bitter-sweet since they almost always come from five set matches, and the team would much prefer to bring home a win in three or four sets, but nonetheless, "C-Dub" continues to play very well in the libero role and should be recognized for the crucial role she plays for the team.

Volleyball is also getting their share of frequent flyer miles as well with their own Friday/Sunday road trip to South Florida and Pittsburgh.
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