Monday Cardinal Couple - UofL women ready for ACC Golf?

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Cards and ACC women's golf

-Louisville WBB 9-1. Not too shabby.

When the Louisville Cardinals join the ACC in 2014, the women's golf team will have three established veterans on the squad and three promising members of the 2013 recruiting class.

Katie Petrino, Emily Haas and Sara Karlsson will be seniors then and all three have been steady contributors since their arrival on campus. Coach Courtney Trimble has also inked three golfers due to arrive on campus next fall who have very impressive credentials.

Louise Oxner

Louise Oxner, from Greenville, SC is a Palmetto state two time champion. Emily Kurey out of Alpharetta, GA was second in the state last year and has won four major junior golf events throughout the south over the past couple of years. Shannon Gramley, from Shady Side Academy, PA is a two-time Pennsylvania state champ. These three look to be golfers that can come in and contribute right away for Trimble and the Cards and will have a year of experience in their bags when the Cards join the ACC.

Emily Kurey

Women's golf is a little different than the other ACC (and BIG EAST) sports in the nature of the season. Teams play in classics and tournaments and there are no two-team contests...like basketball, softball or field hockey have. The schools gather for a tournament at the end of the season to determine the conference champ...but there is no regular season title at stake.

The ACC had nine schools field teams (including Maryland) in 2012 and Duke won the ACC Women's Golf Championship. Seven of the teams qualified for the NCAA tournament regionals.

Shannon Gramley

Besides Duke...UNC, NC State, Virginia, Florida State, Wake Forest, Miami and Boston College field teams. Duke was ranked #4 as of November 30th...UNC #9, Virginia #16 and NC State #19. Notre Dame will add to ACC strength, ranked #17. The Cards were #58. Future members Syracuse or Pitt do not field field women's golf teams.

Emily Haas

How the tournaments and events that Louisville will participate in over the next couple of years set up probably won't change too much. The level of competition come tournament time, though...looks to be much stronger than the Cards have been facing in the BIG EAST...where they finished third in the tournament this fall.

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The Louisville women's basketball team (9-1) is ranked at #8 in the nation as the Cards prepare to spend a little time on Fall semester finals...then games on Friday and then next Tuesday and Friday before getting 10 days off for Christmas break.

Despite this success, there has been dialouge here (and on other sites) about the effectiveness of Jeff Walz's coaching style. Namely, the game against Kentucky...where the Cats came back from a 14 point deficit to win in the KFC YUM! Center.

Coach Walz will tell you that he will do what he and the staff feel is necessary to win games. We agree and trust fully in the options and style of play that the Lady Cards employ in their contests.

Witness the DePaul Blue Demons. They went into the Kentucky game Friday night with Doug Bruno (DePaul head coach) thinking they could run with UK.

Big mistake. UK 96 - DePaul 64.

Louisville, on the other hand, knew the Cats strength and turned it into a defensive struggle. They held UK to 48 points...their lowest point total of the year. Even Baylor gave up 51 to UK.

(Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game)

Walz has also developed his bench into players that can come in and produce immediately. Witness the improvement of Jude Schimmel and Nita Slaughter this season. Sherrone Vails and Cortnee Walton had strong games against Valpo and there's nothing to suggest that those two won't continue to contribute as the season goes on.

Still, the griping about Walz continues.

We hope the Louisville women's basketball fans realize what a great coach and staff the Lady Cards have. We hope that they are here a long time. The women's college basketball world realizes it...with Bethann Ord and Michelle Clark-Heard getting head coaching jobs after several years of Walz's tuteledge. Cam Newbauer is being groomed for a head coaching spot down the road as well and so is Samantha Williams. Both will make great head coaches someday. Stephanie Norman has been with Walz since he arrived here. Coach Steph is equally responsible for the Cards success over the last five years and she's probably had offers to have her own program as well. We'd hate to see her go as well.

The old adage is that you don't miss what you've got until it's gone. We hope we don't have to worry about that in regards to the UofL head coach and his staff for a very long time.

Sonja and I have sat through the lean years of Louisville women's basketball in the past. We endured the losses to Western, UK and lesser schools like FIU, Oakland, Evansville and Chattanooga. We have no desire to re-visit those days. We're confident that under the leadership of Jeff and staff, we won't.

The Cardinal football team implores you to "get on the train". We ask you to "enjoy the Sho" and quit tearing down the "Walz". (Sorry about the steal from the late President Reagan when he pleaded "Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbechev" )

9-1. #8 in the nation. Not too shabby, Cardinal fans. Beats a double-digit loss to UNC-Charlotte any day of the week. We recall travelling to Muncie, IN back in 2002 to see the UofL women's team play Ball State in the first round of the WNIT and lose. That's when things were rough. Sometimes a glimpse into the past makes one realize how good you've got it currently. 

You've got it good, Cardinal WBB fans. Appreciate it.
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2012 Top Ten girls basketball recruits...What do the Lady Cards need in 2012?....Watson on Campus?

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Looking at the 2012 Girls basketball top ten prospects

-Do the Lady Cards need a great 2012 recruiting class?

-Cortnee Walton on campus?



 WE had several questions and e-mails lately about the 2012 high school girls recruiting class top picks and whether UofL was in the running for them. We aren't huge on recruiting here at CARDINAL COUPLE...the average, everyday fan doesn't seem to get excited about it unless it's headline material and (honestly) you can spend lots of hours tracking down a potential recruiting that may be 2 or 3 years away from ever donning a college jersey. WE remember several years ago when it looked like the top three players in Louisville were headed to three different schools...Monique Reid looked the best of the trio and was headed to Louisville. WE were disappointed that Tia Gibbs was siding with Vanderbilt but got our wish further down the road when she transferred back to the "Ville." The one we couldn't figure out was Ceira Ricketts heading to Arkansas to play for Tom Collen. She's had a great career there but Arkansas is an after-thought when it comes to SEC basketball. If Ricketts had chosen UofL, chances are that Becky Burke wouldn't have de-committed from South Carolina and come to the Cardinals. Sometimes, things work out for the best. 

WE have run a list of Hoop Gurlz Top 10 2012 recruits for you, though...and note that there are still five undecided players. Never say never when Walz is on the road...

1) Breanna Stewart. F. New York. Has verballed to UConn.
2) Moriah Jefferson. PG. Texas. Also verballed to UConn.
3) Alexis Jones. PG. Texas. Undecided.
4) Jewell Loyd. G. Illinois. Has verballed to Notre Dame
5) Jordan Adams. G. California. Listing Cal., UCLA, USC, Notre Dame and Tennessee.
6) Alyson Beebe. P. California. Has verballed to Stanford.
7) Malina Howard. P. Ohio. Undecided.
8) Rachel Hollivay. P. Mississippi. Undecided.
9) Bashanna Graves. F. Tennessee. Has verballed to Tennessee.
10) Alexis Prince. W. Florida. Undecided.

The list tells us several things. First, it looks like Geno and UConn haven't lost any of their recruiting magic. Next, there are no Kentucky players on the list. In fact, only two Kentucky players in the current top 100 for 2012. We refuse to believe that. Maybe Hoop Gurlz forgot how to cross the Ohio River. Sydney Moss (#38th), Jenna Crittendon, April Wilson (#81) and Bre Elder aren't chicken feed. I'd take the four of them...add the Roush's from Mercy Academy and play any other five on Hoop Gurlz top 100 list. And, I bet I'd win.

Finally, things can change. We'll look at the top ten list is time next year and see if all ten are still there.

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The question of what will the Lady Cards and Jeff Walz need out of the class of 2012 is next. Two Lady Cards are graduating after the 2011-12 season...Monique Reid and Becky Burke. Figure in the almost expected 2-3 transfers out of the program (we hope not...but it's a developing pattern over the last 4 years) and gaps could occur. We're thinking that front line help could be the priority here...and a few 6'1" or taller leapers are never a bad thing to have at your disposal.

Remember that Monny Niamke is expected to join the Cards in 2012, so an additional 2-3

Is Sam looking for big girls? We suspect she is...

board-bangers would seem to make sense. You never pass on good guards or wings, obviously...but looking at the potential 2012-13 returning Louisville roster indicates
point guard, "2" guard, and wing still look to be in pretty good shape. One would assume that Walz has Samantha Williams spending her waking hours familiarizing herself with what's out there and making Cardinal contact.

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Cortnee Walton: A future Lady Card?

One possibility might be 6'3" front liner Cortnee (Stringbean) Walton, from St. Mary's High School in Phoenix, AZ. She's currently ranked #41 in the class of 2012 but there is plenty of upside to her game. She was in Louisville over the weekend, participating with her AAU team (Arizona Warriors) in the FILA Juniors tournament at the Basketball Skills Academy and was to visit the UofL campus on August 1st. Supposedly, over 300 college coaches attended the tournament.

Her game is described as "strong inside, rebounds well, above average defense and takes the ball to the basket with authority."

Louisville is one of several on her list so far, joining Georgia Tech, Duke Washington, Miami and St. John's.

With the Cardinals current depth inside of just 6 players...and two of those potential wings down the road...one would think Louisville might be an attractive choice for Walton. Not seeing the usual powers like UConn, Tenn. Stanford and Baylor on her list bodes well for the Cards as well.

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Samantha Williams joins Lady Cards staff, Monique Reid invited to USA tryouts

CARDINAL COUPLE TUESDAY:

-Samantha Williams joins Cardinal staff

-Reid selected to try out for USA Women's

Hoops World University team.

-GO Louisville Cards?

Former Duke University assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Samantha Williams is the newest addition to Jeff Walz's Lady Cardinal basketball staff. Williams is a Louisville native, having played her high school hoops at Manual and graduating in 1992. She was named to several All-American and top 25 teams. She replaces Bethann Ord, who is now the head coach at Weber State. Walz commented on the hire:

"We are elated to have someone from Louisville with a resume that embodies success join our staff. Samantha Williams brings us a wealth of experience in recruiting and on court instruction. This is a blockbuster hire that brings with it a measure of national exposure and affirms that Louisville is a destination of prestige and honor. Her addition to the staff bolsters our already strong presence across the country and confirms my belief that this is one of the best up and coming programs in the country. I know the fan base here in Louisville will enjoy having one of their own return to help us pursue our ultimate goal of a national championship."

Williams had been at Duke for four years under Joanne P. McCallie as the recruiting coordinator. She followed McCallie to Duke from Michigan State and McCallie recruited her to play her college basketball at Auburn when McCallie was an assistant there. Williams also spent several years as an assistant for Doug Bruno at DePaul. She was influential in getting the #1 class in women's college basketball to Duke last year.

Why the departure from Duke to the "Ville"? The Duke camp is staying pretty quiet about her leaving and Williams offered no reason for the change in scenery. Duke women's basketball has suffered some previous seasons where they've not matched the success of fellow ACC schools North Carolina and Maryland, though...and an insider to the Duke WBB program has hinted that the relationship between McCallie and Williams had become 'contentious' recently. Williams is excited to be headed to Louisville. She talked about her hire:

" I'm honored and excited about joining Coach Walz's staff at Louisville. Having grown up in Louisville, I've been able to witness the development and growth of the program. Coach Walz is one of the brightest basketball minds in the game and with the commitment to women's basketball by the administration, the future continues to be very bright. After being able to spend some time with Coach Walz and his staff recently, I am looking forward to joining their family atmosphere and was impressed with the closeness of the program. I'm also excited to be back coaching in the BIG EAST...arguably the toughest conference in the nation."

We hinted at this move several days ago here at CARDINAL COUPLE. The more information we received about the potential hire, the more we became convinced that is was going to happen. Long time Cardinal fan Jonathan Drury expressed his feelings to us about the possibilities of Samantha joining the staff: 

"This is hardly a lateral transfer. She's got the chance to be coaching in an arena that is the second in attendance in women's college basketball. She's recruiting for a team that is in the best conference in the nation. Look, we all know how hard Walz has worked over the last four years...bringing in all the talent that he has...Reid, the Schimmels, Hammond, Tay...it goes on and on. Now, you've got twice the recruiting strength! All the Cards need to do now is get to a level where they're competing with Connecticut, DePaul and Notre Dame each year for the BIG EAST title...because success, in the end, is the biggest recruiting tool of all." 

This is the first coaching hire Walz has made since bringing in the original staff of Stephanie Norman, Michelle Clark-Heard and Bethann Ord. Looks like he stepped up to the line and got nothing but net....
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Louisville's MONIQUE REID is one of thirty five invited to the USA Basketball Women's World University Games Team Trials. She'll compete in the try-outs at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO May 22-25.

Reid will be in some pretty lofty company out in the west. A few of her competitors...

-From the BIG EAST: Skylar Diggins, Devereaux Peters, Natalie Novosel (Notre Dame). Keisha Hampton (DePaul). Sugar Rodgers (Georgetown). April Sykes (Rutgers). 1/5th. of the competitiors from the BIG EAST. WE like that!

-Stanford has the Ogwumike sisters attending and Texas A&M has three participants...Kelsey Bone, Sydney Carter and Tyra White. Louisville Iroquois graduate and current UK star A'dia Mathies also received an invite.

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Recently, we've received several e-mails about an aggregate website called GO LOUISVILLE CARDS. Seems that articles we have been doing and sharing with other websites are finding their way on this site...but we have no idea who the site manager/owner is or what their e-mail address is. This site does not contact or consult with us on ANY UofL women's sports news...but will run things we write "second hand." A good example is the article we did for Charlie Springer's UofL Card Game site about Bria Smith.

Robert Redford and Paul Newman starred in
the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"
One of the classic lines from the film was the recurring
phrase.."Who are those guys?" We're wondering
the same here at CARDINAL COUPLE about
GO LOUISVILLE CARDS...

We have no clue about site but are disdainful about the apparent lack of coverage on UofL Women's Sports by Go Louisville Cards....as well as ignoring the fan voice for UofL women's sports..Therefore, here at CARDINAL COUPLE... we would advise our readers to refrain from visiting until WE can find out more about this site and their reluctance to acknowledge US. Other sites that use information we distribute and publish are good about giving credit where credit is due. These folks aren't.

If we are granted more information about this site...we'll make a determination and decision on whether to include on our "Sites we Recommend" Until then, be advised that WE are not directly responsible for any CARDINAL COUPLE related items that are seen on this site. They've been snatched. We understand all about aggregate sites...we get posted on them all the time...but they do acknowledge us. And, it isn't about the "hits" or the "click thru's". We're doing just fine in those categories, thank you...

Whoever runs this mystery site can contact us in our comments section here (they don't have a comments section on their site) or by e-mailing us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com Don't make us send Tommy Boy out on a fact-finding mission. Or, as CARDINAL COUPLE Special Correspondent David Watson quips:

"Those who can't write...aggregate."
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Softball loses at Syracuse. McCarty wins shot put...and more!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY SUNDAY TO
CARDINAL COUPLE READERS!

-Softball drops two to the 'Cuse

-McCarty takes shot put in BIG EAST

Championships.

-Golf finishes 12th in Regional

-Samantha Williams to Louisville?

-WE recap Derby (with a slight headache)

The University of Louisville softball team dropped a double-header at Syracuse yesterday that dropped them back into fifth place in the BIG EAST standings. Lack of bats was the culprit in the opener...the Cards going down 3-0 and lack of pitching the nemesis in Game 2 with a 9-5 loss.

Despite Tori Collins eight strike out, three hits allowed performance in the first game, the Cards could manage only five hits against Syracuse ace Jenna Caira. The 'Cuse got all they would need in the bottom of the first when Collins gave up a base loaded walk to make it 1-0. A two run blast in the fourth by Veronica Grant put the 3-0 final score on the board.

Louisville tried to rally in the sixth when Katie Keller and Jennifer Esteban reached on singles with one out...but Caira got the next two to end the inning. Louisville knocked on the door again in the seventh...with bases loaded with one out after Alicja Wolny and Esteban singled and Taner Fowler reached first after getting hit by a pitch...but Caira got the final two outs again without the Cards getting to the plate.

Chelsea Bemis smashed a three run homer but
it wasn't enough to get Louisville the win.

In game two, Louisville jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first, aided by a Chelsea Bemis three run homer...but the Orange responded with two runs in the first and five runs off Tori Collins in the bottom of the second on back to back home runs from the 'Cuse to lead 7-4 after two.  

The Cuse outscored Louisville 2-1 the rest of the way...a solo homer by Katie Kohl in the bottom of the sixth securing the win.

The teams play again Sunday at 11 a.m.

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D'Ana McCarty won the shot put in second day competition in the BIG EAST Championships at Jumbo Elliott Track and Field Complex on the Villanova campus. The Cards fared well in the event...Khadija Abdullah taking second, Chinwe Okoro finishing third and Amashi Kendall seventh. The Louisville women's track team leads the Championships going into the final day by six over USF. 50-44.

Other Lady Cards having success were Rachel Gehert (2nd in the long jump finals) and Gabrielle Jackson (3rd in the 400 meter hurdles). Louisville's women have won the event each year since 2007. Good luck today....Lady Cards!

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Louisville women's golfers ended up in 12th. place in the NCAA East Regional. The top eight teams advanced to the Championships. Sara-Maude Juneau recorded the best finish for the Louisville team...a final day 71 that gave her a 220 over three days. Other Cardinal finishes:

Laura Anderson. 72 in her final 18 holes for a 222
Anna-Karin Ljungstrom. 74 final day and a 229 total.
Maria Castellanos. 79 third round for a 231.
Tara Lyons. 84 last round and a 240.

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Samantha Williams to the Lady Cards?
Rumors are that she is...

Rumor mills are linking Duke women's basketball assistant coach Samantha Williams with the open coaching position for the Lady Cards. Nothing out of the Louisville camp yet about this...Williams is highly regarded as a recruiting coordinator and has served four years for Joanne P. McCallie at Duke. McCallie originally hired Williams at Michigan State and Samantha moved to the ACC school with her when McCallie took the head coaching job in 2007.  

Williams graduated from Louisville Manual High School and was a Parade and Street and Smith All-American before going to Auburn to play for McCallie....then an assistant. When McCallie left to take the head coaching job at Maine...Williams remained at Auburn and had four outstanding years playing for the SEC school.

Louisville has an open assistant coaching position...created when assistant Bethann Ord accepted the head coaching job at Weber State. The Cards have three confirmed freshmen arriving on he UofL campus for the 2011-12 season in Esther Monny Niamke, Jude Schimmel and Sara Hammond and are waiting on a decision from Bria Smith...who reportedly is down to Louisville or Tennessee in her choices. She is expected to announce May 10th., at the New York Daily News Sports Awards banquet at B.B.King's Bar and Restaurant.
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The 137th Kentucky Derby has come and gone and, in a surprise upset, ANIMAL KINGDOM,  passed the field in the Churchill stretch and won by two lengths over Paul's choice NEHRO. Wagering for the day didn't go exactly as planned...Sonja's pick DIALED IN tuned out when the 19 runners turned for home.

Animal Kingdom was the best on Saturday
by winning the KY DERBY.

Paul took a nice profit on across the board wagering on NEHRU but a couple of exactas and trifectas failed to include Johnny Velazquez on the #16 ANIMAL KINGDOM.

 A nice return on investment if you had the 20-1 runner who hadn't raced on a dirt surface in four lifetime starts before trying the Derby. His win in the Spiral Stakes at Turfway on the polytrack was impressive...but most felt that no previous dirt track experience would keep him out of the winner's circle. Most were wrong.

Velazquez was primed and ready to go and we were very pleased to see him win the 9th race on 13-1 shot AIKENITE. It allowed us to "play on the track's money" the rest of the way. Another horse who parlayed a polytrack win in his last race to a win next time out on the dirt. Shoulda seen the signs...

ANIMAL KINGDOM and NEHRO are both headed to the second round of the Triple Crown of Horse Racing in two weeks...the Preakness...held at Maryland's Pimlico Race Track.
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