Cards win in overtime!

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-CARDS PULL OUT THRILLER OVER RUTGERS IN OVERTIME

(Staff Columnist Jenny O'Bryan provides this excellent recap of Louisville WBB's exciting victory over the Scarlet Knights. )

Louisville Women’s Basketball opened Big East play at home Tuesday evening against a tough, physical Rutgers team who was 9-5, 0-1.  The game started rough, slow and ugly for the Cardinals.  Rutgers defense had the Cards stymied offensively, and once again unforced turnovers made it a painful first half of basketball to watch.

The Cards managed to throw the ball away, walk, double dribble, have a foot on an out of bounds line and get a 3 second violation to create just some of the first half turnovers.  I have to say, Coach Walz has not been joking when he has talked about how hard you have to work to turn the ball over as much as our beloved Cardinals. 

The Scarlet Knights opened the game with strong shooting, combined with the Cards inability to cover in the paint, giving the Scarlet Knights 20 of their first half 28 points in the paint.   They opened the game 8-11 from the field and took a commanding first half lead.   The Cards, on the other hand, could not buy a bucket and went a dismal 3-13 in the first 12 or so minutes of play.   It wasn’t until about 8 minutes left in the first half that the Cards started an offensive run that closed the gap and had Rutgers going into halftime with just a 28-24 lead. 

Mo Reid scored 8 first half points off the bench and Shoni added 5 to help the spark the Cards offensive run.   The Cardinals also lived at the line during the first half going a blistering 10-12 in the first half.  Now that is a Cardinal halftime stat to be proud of!  Rutgers did not get to the line at all during the first half with Louisville only committing two fouls the entire first half. 

Both myself and my immediate neighbors at the game feel like Bria Smith kept Louisville in the game the first half, and throughout really, with her intense defensive effort.  Her final stat line for the game included 7 steals.  This number seems low considering all the deflected balls and interrupted passes that Bria had a hand in.   Were it not for Bria’s defensive effort, which helped to fuel the Cards offense, as well as sidelining Rutgers and limiting shots during their possessions, Louisville would have found themselves in a much bigger hole going in to halftime.  

Rutgers came out of halftime and made their first four shots, seemingly starting the second half much like the first, very hot.  With Bria’s stellar defense throughout the game, the rest of the team’s defensive effort picked up as well.   A strong second half defense from the team, a consistent effort from a stable 5 on the court, was what the Cardinals needed to chip away at the lead. 

The line up for most of the second half for the Cardinals was Hammond, Reid and Slaughter, alongside Smith and S. Schimmel.   Smith spent a fair amount of the second half at the point allowing Schimmel mobility around the court thus creating more offensive opportunities for her.    These five provided the defensive effort, and just enough offensive shooting, to bring the Cardinals roaring back in the second half. 

With under a minute left in regulation and a score of 50-49 (Cardinal lead) Erica Wheeler of Rutgers shoots a long three, which was very well defended, to give Rutgers the two- point lead.   I immediately thought of the UK game, the difference being this shot was well defended.  History would not repeat itself at The YUM Center tonight though, as the Cardinals made their way down court and with what looked like a 3 point shot from Shoni (called a 2 pointer), the game is tied with 7 seconds to go, 52-52.  It was a big time shot from Shoni, and likely was one of the biggest of the night for the sharp-shooter.  Keeping with the theme of the night, Mo Reid stole the inbounds pass and proceeds to dribble around the court trying to burn the clock.  (From our vantage point, none of us could see how the Cardinals got the ball back after Shoni having made the shot to tie it.  It was also obvious that Mo must have thought Shoni’s shot was a 3, thus giving Louisville a 1 point lead, and her intention to run out the clock).  With the bench screaming to shoot, Mo feeds the ball to Slaughter and a whistle is blown and time expires. 

It was a stressful few minutes as the referees congregated and determined it was an inadvertent whistle, putting 2 seconds back on the clock and giving Louisville the opportunity to win it in regulation.  Hammond had the ball slapped away, time expired, and the Cardinals were headed to overtime with the score knotted up at 52.   My neighbors and I were exhausted in the stands by this time and could not imagine how the players and coaches must have felt.

Louisville opened over time play and dominated it, scoring the first two buckets on threes from Slaughter and Hammond.  The Cardinals would go on to shoot from the line 6 more times in overtime.  Slaughter was sent to the line twice, hitting 3-4, Mo twice going 2-4, Shoni once hitting both and Bria once hitting 1-2.  The Cards went on to win the game, in overtime, 66-57. 

What we liked:

-Defensive intensity- The great defensive effort throughout the game was led by Bria Smith, with strong contributions from the team.  Bria led the way defensively in this game and was by far my player of the game.  Her defensive effort kept Louisville in the game the first half, and eventually fueled the Cards victory!  Excellent work ladies!

-Free throw shooting- The Cards made it to the line for 30 shots!  The Cardinals went a sizzling 10-12 in the first half keeping them in the game.  Overall the Cards went 21-30 for a 70% percentage for the game.  Keep this stat rising, it wins games!

-Clean game- The Cards committed only 2 first half fouls and a total of 8 for the game.  Rutgers only got to the line for two shots the entire game, in the second half.  Excellent defense played cleanly will win games, and tonight is a great example of this. 

- Mo Reid!-  Having been battling the flu for what is now two games, Mo has played back-to-back games in excellent fashion.  While I do not wish illness upon her, she has responded and stepped up big when the team has needed her.  Congrats on two excellent games under poor health conditions, Mo!

What we did not like:

-Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.   Cards were able to get a handle on this, eventually.  The Cards gave it away a total of 17 times tonight.   17 turnovers to 8 assists will not normally win you games.  The Cards pulled it out tonight, but these two stats have to change.

-Defense in the paint-  With injuries, the most recent to Shawnta Dyer,  Mo Reid not at full recovery and Asia still not out on the court, our paint presence has to be able to step up.  It took most, if not all, of the first half to figure out how to stop the interior presence of Rutgers.  This needs to happen quicker.  The UCONNS and ND’s in the Big East will bury you in the first half if this is not figured out sooner.  The good news is it was figured out, just need to get to it quicker.  20 of Rutgers first half 28 points were scored in the paint.  It would have been a whole different game if this were figured out sooner.

The Cardinals got a big win in a home game that had to be won.  It was hard fought.  It was not always pretty, but a win none-the-less.  This team has been battling significant injuries for two seasons now.  There is a lot of heart and a lot of fight in this team.   I am happy for the win, but even more proud of this team for battling the adversity.  Keep at it Cards.

Safe travels as the team heads out to Providence, and then Connecticut.  To use Coach Walz’s language, maybe we can sneak a win in on the road.
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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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Lady Cards to play three games in Canada in August

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THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE...

-Lady Cards to face three opponents in Canada

-Evaluation period ahead for college coaches

-Rutgers has another one transfer out

The University of Louisville women's basketball team will face three opponents in their Canadian trip this August. The Lady Cards will face The University of British Columbia on August 11th. (9:30 p.m.EDT), Trinity Western University on Aug 12th., (9:00 p.m) and University of Fraser Valley on Aug. 13th. (9 p.m.).

Plans are for the team to meet in Vancouver on Aug. 4th to begin the tour. Louisville was granted an extra ten days of practice to prepare for the trip and did practice 10 days in June before taking the month of July off.

Here is a look at each of the three Cardinal opponents :

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Kristjana Young is a 6'0" guard for the British Columbia
Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds went 20-11 overall (17-7 in conference) in the 2010-11 season.

They also took an extended tour during the preseason...playing in the Fo Guang Cup (Taiwan) and going 2-3 against teams from Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan.

They were 4-0 against the Cardinals other two upcoming opponents during this Canadian trip...beating Trinity Western 78-67 on the road and 74-45 and Fraser Valley 60-49 and 72-49 at home.

B.C. was eliminated in the postseason Canada West playoff quarterfinals by Alberta 80-74 and 73- 60 in late February.

TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY

The 2010-11 Trinity Western squad.

The Lady Cards will face a young TWU Spartan team in their second Canadian contest. TWU signed seven freshmen to the 2011-12 roster recently. The 2010-11 season was rough for the Spartans...they went 3-25 and did not play in the Canadian post-season tournament. TWU was 0-4 against the other two teams Louisville is playing...losing to Fraser Valley 68-65 and 67-56 at home and 78-67 and 74-45 on the road at British Columbia.  

University of Fraser Valley

The 2010-11 University of Fraser Valley roster.

The Cards third opponent is the Fraser Valley Cascades, who went 20-16 in the 2010-11 season. The Cascades advanced further than the other two teams that Louisville will play in Canada...advancing out of the Canada West playoffs by beating Winnipeg in a best two out of three series and playing in the Canada West final four...where they lost to Saskatchewan 88-59 and Alberta 77-64 in the Bronze Medal game. The Cascades also played in the CIS National Regional tournament where Toronto eliminated them 78-69.

The Cascades were 2-2 against the other two Cardinal opponents (see above) and also hosted a pre-season exhibition in 2010..hosting Texas Tech (L-41-78), Texas A&M ( L-61-100 and 74-88)and Kwantien Polytech University (W-85-27)
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With about four weeks to go before the exhibition slate begins, Jeff Walz...like many other college basketball coaches...has an evaluation period now to evaluate future talent at various hoopfests, AAU tournaments and shootouts. The month of  July stacks up like this for women's college basketball coaches:

July 6-15. Evaluation period
July 16-21.  Dead period
July 22-31. Evaluation period

What do these terms mean?

An evaluation period is the time a college coach may watch a prospective student-athlete play or visit the high school but cannot have any in-person conversations with the possible recruit or the parents of the recruit off the college's campus. The prospective student-athlete and the parents can visit a college campus during this period and a coach may call or write during this period.

A dead period is a time where the college coach may not have any in-person contact with a prospective student-athlete or the prospects parents at any time. The coach may write or call (once a week) during this period. Coaches cannot:

-make in-person recruiting contacts
-conduct in-person evaluations on or off campus
-schedule official campus visits
-allow unofficial campus visits

A prominent recruiting writer/expert once described the month of July to me as "when all the college coaches are my friends. They hate and berate me for what I write 11 months a year...but in July, they call, text and e-mail the %$#@ out of me....because I can talk to the kids, cover the territory and tell them who was watching who...where and when."
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Julie Paunovic leaves Rutgers (Photo by Saed Hindash
The Star-Ledger)

BIG EAST member Rutgers loses a third player out of their women's basketball program via the transfer route. Julie Paunovic, a junior college transfer who played the second half of the 2010-11 season for C.Viv Stringer will leave the program. From Austrialia, the reserve guard played in 13 games for the Scarlet Knights...averaging 3.5 minutes, 0.8 points and 0.2 rebounds.

She is the third player to leave the program this off-season to leave Rutgers. Freshmen guard Daisha Simmons and freshman forward Briana Hutchen have also departed after the Scarlet Knights 20-13 season.

Not to worry, Rutgers has 11 players still on the roster for the 2011-12 season...adding five recruits that were ranked as the fifth best recruiting class in the nation. Two McDonald's All-Americans are a part of that class...Betnijah Laney and Briyona Canty.

The Scarlet Knights return all five starters from last year's team. 

WE talked with a former assistant women's basketball coach recently and asked him what he thought were the determining factors causing transfers. He came up with five primary reasons.

-Unhappy with playing time
-Being "recruited over" i.e. better players arriving on campus
-Dis-satisfaction with coaching styles
-Practice situations
-Personal issues with teammates or staff

He commented:

"Sometimes a fit of a player and a program just doesn't work out. The goals and aspirations don't match and you really don't want an unhappy player on your roster. We always wished our girls that transferred out of the program the best of luck and appreciated what they did for us, in most cases, while they were a part of the program. It's a part of the game. Only five that can be on the court for you at the same time and you've sometimes got 6-7 on the bench. They handle it in different ways and some decide to go where the competition level isn't as demanding and they can play instead of sit."
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