Skipping Laundry and Going to Tonights B-ball Game

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Tuesday brings us Sandy Walker's transition fast-break through the world of Womens' Sports at UofL. Our hearts go out to Shawnta Dyer, the versatile Cardinal front-liner done for the season with an ACL and MCL injury to her left knee.)

TONIGHT AT THE KFC YUM! CENTER

Our 9-2 Louisville women return home tonight as part of an away and home agreement with Washington State and also welcomes the return of leading rebounder Sara Hammond.  Tipoff is 7:00 and begins a 3 game home stand which will complete the 2012 calendar of games for this year’s team. The Cougars 3-5 record is deceptive as they are fresh off a Saturday 62-55 upset win over 20^th ranked Ohio State.  Last year it took a Shawnta’ Dyer breakout 16 point game and a late game surge by the Louisville team to pull off a 75-71 win.   

Dyer is done for the season. An ACL and MCL injury to her left knee...suffered in practice Sunday will have her on the sidelines for the rest of the season. A starter of late on the front line, Dyer had 14 points in the Cards loss to Oregon. WE wish her a full and complete recovery.  

 

The women need your attendance and support so take a break from the pre-holiday madness and continue to be a part of the growing national recognition of Louisville as a women’s sports town.  If you just can’t be there you can tune into WHAS (Channels 11.2, Insight 432, Comcast 207 or you can listen in at WKRD 790 and @ www.GoCards.com with Louisville’s own Matt Andrews and Adrienne Johnson call of the game.

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GAMES ON TV THIS WEEK




 

Tuesday December 18

Tennessee at Baylor Tennessee at Baylor Southeastern Big 12 ESPN 8 p.m.

UC Santa Barbara at BYU UC Santa Barbara at BYU Big West West Coast BYUtv 4 p.m.

Ole Miss at Cleveland St. Ole Miss at Cleveland St. Southeastern Horizon horizonleague.com 7 p.m.

Butler at IUPUI Butler at IUPUI Atlantic 10 The Summit HTSN 7 p.m.

New Mexico at New Mexico St. New Mexico at New Mexico St. Western Athletic Mountain West AggieVision 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday December 19

Missouri St. at Iowa Missouri St. at Iowa Missouri Valley Big Ten BTN.com 6:30 p.m.

Georgia at TCU Georgia at TCU Southeastern Big 12 FSSW 8 p.m.

Western Ky. at Wright St. Western Ky. at Wright St. Sun Belt Horizon horizonleague.com 5:30 p.m.

Stanford at South Carolina Stanford at South Carolina Pac-12 Southeastern FSS/FSC 7:30 p.m.

Grambling at LSU Grambling at LSU Southwestern Southeastern CST 8 p.m.

Thursday December 20

Duquesne at West Virginia Duquesne at West Virginia Atlantic 10 Big 12 Root Sports 7 p.m.

East Tenn. St. at Iowa St. East Tenn St. at Iowa St. Atlantic Sun Big 12 Cyclones TV 8 p.m.

Valparaiso at Michigan Valparaiso at Michigan Horizon Big Ten BTN 6 p.m.

Oral Roberts at Nebraska Oral Roberts at Nebraksa Southland Big Ten BTN.com 8 p.m.

UC Riverside at Oklahoma UC Riverside at Oklahoma Big West Big 12 SSTV web stream 8 p.m.

Cornell at Texas Cornell at Texas Ivy League Big 12 LHN 8 p.m.

Akron at Youngstown St. Akron at Youngstown St. Mid-American Horizon horizonleague.com 7:05 p.m.

Oral Roberts at Nebraska Oral Roberts at Nebraksa Southland Big Ten BTN.com 8 p.m.

Thursday 20-Dec Seattle at BYU Seattle at BYU Western Athletic West Coast BYUtv 5 p.m.

Friday December 21

Washington at Georgia Tech Washington at Georgia Tech Pac-12 Atlantic Coast ESPN3 12 p.m.

Xavier at Indiana Xavier at Indiana Atlantic Coast Big Ten BTN.com TBA

Illinois St. at Illinois Illinois St. at Illinois Missouri Valley Big Ten BTN.com 8 p.m.

Southern U. at Ohio St. Southern U. at Ohio St. Southwestern Big Ten BTN.com 7 p.m.

IUPUI at Purdue IUPUI at Purdue The Summit Big Ten BTN.com 12 p.m.

Saturday December 22

Duke at Southern California Duke at Southern California Atlantic Coast Pac-12 Pac-12 3 p.m.

Tex.-Pan American at TCU Tex.-Pan American at TCU Independents Big 12 FrogVision 3 p.m.

Madonna (Mich.) at Detroit Madonna (Mich.) at Detroit No Classification Horizon horizonleague.com 2 p.m.

Northern Ill. at Ill.-Chicago Northern Illinois at Ill.-Chicago Mid-American Horizon horizonleague.com 2 p.m.

New Hampshire at Cleveland St. New Hampshire at Cleveland St. America East Horizon horizonleague.com 2 p.m.

Chicago St. at Loyola Chicago Chicago St. at Loyola Chicago Independents Horizon horizonleague.com 3 p.m.

Stanford at Tennessee Stanford at Tennessee Pac-12 Southeastern SPSO 4 p.m.

Sunday December 23

NJIT at Penn St. NJIT at Penn St. Independents Big Ten BTN.com 1:30 p.m.

 

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ANGEL CONTINUES TO GIVE BACK TO LOUISVILLE

 

Angel McCoughtry, Louisville’s undisputed all time top Louisville player is giving back to Louisville. She has founded the Angel McCoughtry Dream Foundation, who announced a personal contribution of a $15,000 grant to fund educational and learning.  Information is available at her website http://angel35dreamfoundation.com/.  “AMDR is committed to helping youth gain a positive experience by choosing sports as an instrument to compete athletically, as they strive to be enriched as lifetime learners.” Her “Team Angel Basketball Camp included a stop in Louisville last August.

 

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2013 FULL COURT TOP RANKED RECRUITS

 

Full Court has published their updated top 50 player rankings for the 2013 class.  The top 10 are indicated below with the remainder found at http://www.fullcourt.com/prep/2013players. Rankings are determined by the independent, panel of Clay Kallam, Bob Corwin, Dan Olson, Kelvin Powell and Kelly Kline  One interesting observation is that Diamond De Shields has taken over the number one class ranking from former Louisville recruit Mercedes Russell.

1	Diamond DeShields	Guard	Norcross, GA
2	Mercedes Russell	Center	Springfield, OR
3	Kaela Davis	Guard	Suwanee, GA
4	Taya Reimer	Forward	Fishers, IN
5	Oderah Chidom	Forward	Oakland, CA
6	Tyler Scaife	Point Guard	Little Rock, AR
7	Linnae Harper	Point Guard	Chicago
8	Rebecca Greenwell	Guard	Owensboro, KY
9	Kailee Johnson	Forward	Portland, OR
10	Erica McCall	Forward	Bakersfield, CA

2014 FULL COURT TOP RANKED RECRUITS

The Full Court Fresh 50 for the 2014 class is interesting in that only 8 are currently indicated as having given a verbal commitment to a college and none of the top 10 have done so.  The complete list can be found at http://www.fullcourt.com/prep/2014players.

1	Brianna Turner	Forward	Pearland, TX
2	Aja Wilson	Wing	Hopkins, SC
3	Jordin Canada	Point Guard	Los Angeles, CA
4	Kelsey Mitchell	Point Guard	Cincinnati, OH
5	LaJanna Drummer	Forward	Inglewood, CA
6	Jatari White	Center	Charlotte, NC
7	Azura Stevens	Forward	Raliegh, NC
8	Gabby Green	Guard	Oakland, CA
9	Bianca Cuevas	Point Guard	Bronx, NY
10	Sierra Calhoun	Guard	Brooklyn, NY

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SOFTBALL

 

Saturday January 26 at 7:30 is scheduled for the 2013 Softball Team’s Class Act Federal Credit Union Bullpen Club Dinner. Olympian Danielle Lawrie will be the keynote speaker which will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
 

Last year’s team completed a program-best 55-5 season which included winning  of the BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles.   10^th year head Coach Sandy Pearsall’s team opens this year’s season at the UNLV Sportco Kickoff Classic Feb. 8-10. Louisville returns seven starters and 12 letter winners.
 

Banquet, team and season information can be found at http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/121012aab.html.
 

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LACROSSE

 

I know it sound crazy but it truly is not too early to add to your 2013 calendar the Lacrosse teams first match will be against Canisius on February 10, 2013 which will be held at the U of L Lacrosse Stadium.  Coach Kellie Young has announced her 2013 schedule at  http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-lacros/spec-rel/121012aaa.html which includes 9 home games.

 

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ROWING

 

This month Rowing announced the signing of 9 new additions during the sports early signing period.  Write ups of each new player in the 2017 graduation class can be found at  http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-rowing/spec-rel/120512aaa.html.

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SWIMMING AND DIVING

 

Ralph  Wright Natatorium

The swimming and diving team continues their season with Lindsey Stephens being selected as the Louisville Student-Athlete of the Week.  Check out the teams Media Guide @ http://www.guide.provations.com/louisville/swimming2013#pg1.  Their season continues at home on January 12 vs. Cincinnati at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.  

Arthur Albiero

Coach Arthur Albiero is in his 7^th season. 

Something  you may not know is that the Ralph Wright Natatorium is available for use by the public for daily, monthly, semester or annual fee amounts.   Membership information can be found at http://louisville.edu/athletics/natatorium/membership.html.

 

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TENNIS

Coach Mark Beckham

Not to be outdone by swimming’s cold weather schedule, the Tennis team features their next match on January 20 vs Xavier and Morehead State.  It will begin at 10:00 at Louisville’s Home court, the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.  Recruiting has been a part of Head Coach Mark Beckham

recent schedule as he has announced the signing of Cassie Pough of Miramar, Florida and Gabrielle Paul of London, England. Check out complete current team information at http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/112912aaa.html.

 

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TRACK and FIELD

 



Michelle Theophille

Margret Harris

At the team's December 7 first meet of the year Louisville’s Margret Harris won the 60m finals behind a collegiate-best 60m mark of 7.38. Her time is currently the third fastest at the Division I level. The Lancaster, Texas, native also took second with a leap of 5.60m/18-4.50

Earlier this month Margret Harris and Michelle Theophille

 

swept the BIG EAST track and field's weekly awards with Harris being name as the BIG EAST Women's Track Athlete of the Week.  The indoor schedule for Track continues on January 11 as our team will compete in the Kentucky Invitational at Lexington, KY.  Team information can be found at   http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-track/spec-rel/121112aaa.html
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Sunday Cardinal Couple - Cards 96 - Valpo 40

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards vaporize Valparaiso by 56.

Adorable kids provided the National Anthem

If someone had suggested before the game tonight that Louisville would put up 96 points, win by 56 and Shoni Schimmel would have only two of them...we might have wondered about their mental state or sobriety. With five other Cards in double figures, though...that was the scenario tonight in the KFC YUM! Center....Louisville jumping out to a 33-4 lead in the first 10 minutes of the first half and rolling past the Crusaders 96-40.

Maybe it was the starting lineup change. Breaking from the traditional starting five we've seen most of the season, Sherrone Vails and Antonita Slaughter joined Megan Deines, Shoni Schimmel and Shawnta Dyer at half-court for the opening tip and Louisville proceeded to score the first seven points of the game.

No post-UK letdown tonight.

Dyer and Slaughter were responsible for the first five points and after a Jude Schimmel three, it was 15-2 Louisville three minutes into the game. The Cards would roll that up to 22-4 when Monique Reid connected on two free throws with 13:15 left. It was 35-4 when Megan Deines nailed a layup with 9:44 to go and the only thing left to debate on press row was if the Cards could get to 100 tonight.

The Crusader offensive eventually got rolling but Louisville kept pace. Two Bria Smith free throws with 4:34 remaining made it 44-14. A rare three from Vails put Louisville ahead 50-17 at the 1:21 mark and Vails nailed a jumper with 12 second left in the half to send Louisville to the locker room up 55-19.

They had cookies in the media room at halftime. They probably ran out of turnovers...Valpo had 15 of them in the first half...Louisville only two.

Two Louie's!

All the Cards but Shoni scored in the first half...Slaughter's nine leading the way. Jude added eight, Vails and Reid with seven, Deines and Dyer six each, Hammond five, Harper three and Walton and Smith two each. 

Louisville had 30 points in the paint, Valpo 10. The Cards had 25 points off turnovers, led 16-2 on 2nd chance points and grabbed 23 boards to Valpo's 15.

Walz started the same five that began the game in the second half...but with different results. The Crusaders jumped out on a 6-2 run in the first 2:30...which necessitated a 30 second Louisville time-out and five new players on the court. The combination of Walton, Jude, Harper, Hammond and Reid took off on a 7-2 run over the next 2:30...capped by a 1-2 performance by Walton at the free throw line with 15:13 to go to make it 64-29.

It was one of two free throws the Cards would miss in 40 minutes...going 18 for 20 from the charity stripe.

Shoni became the last Cardinal to score...after a jumper in the paint went in at the 9:42 mark....making it 72-30

Louisville led 75-30 with 9:14 left after a Vails score and free throw and 82-33 when Slaughter hit a jumper with 5:54 left on the clock. It was 90-40 with 2:49 remaining after a Walton layup and Jude Schimmel completed the Cards' 8-0 game ending run with a steal and layup with 44 seconds to go.

Cards win 96-40

Sara Hammond led the balanced Cardinal attack with 13 points and eight rebounds. Slaughter finished with 13 also and Jude, Dyer and Vails scoring 12 each. Dyer added 10 rebounds to record a double-double. Deines and Reid finished with nine each, Walton seven, Harper five, Shoni and Smith two each.

That's right...the usual starting point and two guard for the Cards combined for four points. Smith did not see playing time in the second half...sore knee the report on her.

Louisville shot 45% from the floor (36-80) and 33% from the arc (6-18)...missing all seven three point attempts in the final twenty minutes. The Cards won the rebounding battle 45-28, forced 31 Crusader turnovers while committing just nine of their own and had twenty steals.

THINGS WE LIKED

1) 18-20 from the foul line. We ask each game for 70%. We got 90% tonight. Well done, ladies!

2) 6-11 three point shooting in the first half against a team that came into the game allowing 24.8% by opponents.

3) 38-4 advantage on fast break points for the Cards 

4) A 45-28 advantage on the boards by Louisville.

5) Only nine fouls for the entire game...four of them by Walton. The starters committed one.

THINGS TO WORK ON

1) 40 minutes of consistency. The 6-2 run by Valparaiso to begin the second half was aided by two quick Cardinal turnovers and two missed three-pointers.

2) Keeping Sonja awake during 56 point wins.

SUMMATION

The Cards came out with the foot on the accelerator and didn't let up. The lineup change, due in part because of Smith's sore knee and Hammond's late arrival because of a family matter, clicked and worked well together. But, it was Valpo. Would it do the same against a DePaul or Notre Dame? Hard to say, but games like this are fun to watch and it's always good to see Shelby sink a three. Shoni's low point total surprising but it came on a night where she really wasn't needed. Jude's big night a ever-growing sign that she's improved dramatically since her freshman year. The Louisville front line combined for 66 points and 34 boards.

The Cards take to the road next out for a trip to Colorado and a game against the surprising 8-0 Buffaloes Friday night. Louisville at 9-1 and Colorado possibly at 10-0 after Tuesday's upcoming game. It should be a great battle!


Post game Walz interview link below

http://www.gocards.com/allaccess/?media=357511



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HELLO?

This vid from earlier in the day at the Rick Pitino press conference. Coach takes a call for Bob Domine, who was using his cell phone to record Pitino's remarks.

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Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Valpo to face Lady Cards

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Crusaders face Cards Saturday night in KFC YUM! Center

-Where are we going?

The Valparaiso Crusaders travel down I-65 to face #8 Louisville in the KFC YUM! Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. Valpo (3-5) plays in the Horizon League and is coming off a 82-73 win over IPFW on Tuesday night in Ft. Wayne.

Coach Dorrow

This will be the first meeting ever between the schools in women's college basketball. First-year head coach Tracey Dorrow took the program over in April 2012 after spending 14 years as the head coach at Ferris State University ( no, not Ferris Buehler U).

Valpo has never defeated a BIG EAST team...currently 0-52 against the conference. They did open the season with a win over Indiana University. They were on a five-game losing streak before the win over IPFW...falling to IUPUI, Butler, Duke and W. Illinois on the road and St. Louis at home.

Lange can put up big numbers

Senior forward Gina Lange is one of the scoring threats for the Crusaders and had 18 points against IPFW. Other scoring threats are junior Tabitha Geradot, Shaquira Scott and Charae Richardson.

The Crusaders are tough defenders of the three-pointer. Opponents are shooting just .248 from beyond the arc this season. They also rebound well for a team whose tallest player is just 6'1". They average +3.1 rebounds more than their opponents this year and have grabbed at least 11 offensive rebounds in each of their eight game this season.

So, how will Louisville react in their first game since the loss to UK? Walz has had several days of practice to work on the things that plagued Louisville in the latter part of the second half against Kentucky...namely free throw shooting and the guards getting the ball inside to the bigs. Since Valpo does defend the three well...inside scoring will be a priority and Louisville would be well served to engage the press and create turnovers to get the transition game active early.

The Cards have been notoriously slow starters in a few games this season and this could well be another night of that if they can't get shots to fall early. Offensively, Valpo can't throw much at Jeff Walz's squad that they haven't seen already this year...and with a decided height advantage...if the Cards can take care of the little things like blocking out, going after loose balls and getting second-chance baskets, they should be able to win this one pretty convincingly tonight.

If the guards can solve the Crusaders' defensive pressure, they should be able to get the ball to bigs Monique Reid, Sara Hammond and Shawnta Dyer for close-in opportunities.

We'll be back later tonight (or Sunday morning) with a game recap.

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Had to share this one with you. Someome has some 'xplainin' to do...Lucy!

"this place doesn't look like Charlotte at all. Where are we?"

Got a call this morning from no other than Louisville head football coach Charlie Strong (one of those automated message thingies) He was inviting me to join him on December 27 in Charlotte for the Belk Bowl.

Been there, done that.

Word of advice to the UofL Ticket office. Promoting this event might hurt Sugar Bowl ticket sales. Or, it is a secret, cryptic message from Coach...indicating that he's job-hunting again and considering a job opportunity with one of the Belk Bowk
teams?

We did the Belk Bowl last year. A cold, raw nasty day. Tailgating in 30 degree temperatures and 30 mph winds was brutal.

Advice to Cardinal football fans. If Charlie calls you, decline the offer. New Orleans will be warmer and the stadium is a dome.
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