Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Shoni more than just a talented basketball player.

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Junior Shoni Schimmel more than just a talented basketball player.


-USA WBB rolls past China 114-66. 


(We continue with our look at the 2012-13 University of Louisville women's basketball team. We've reached the junior class and today's featured player is Shoni Schimmel.) 

Our guess is if you asked a UofL sports fan to name a player on the women's basketball team, the name Shoni Schimmel would get the majority of responses.  


If you asked which women's basketball player spoke the the Title IX conference in Washington, DC in late June...the answer is Shoni Schimmel also. 


Who was the star of a 90 minute documentary about life and basketball on and off the Umatilla Indian Reservation? Shoni Schimmel.


Maybe the most ballyhooed recruit (so far) in the history of UofL women's basketball, the Mission, OR. junior has been in the media limelight since her freshman year in high school. 


She has not disappointed. 

During her freshman year, she was second leading scorer on the squad with 15.1 ppg. Few Cardinal women's basketball fans will ever forget her 33-point explosion against Xavier in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2011. All-American freshman honors. Honorable mention All-Big East. The daring, precocious guard that had fans shaking their heads and smiling in disbelief after seeing her passing, shots and overall play. 


Louisville WBB fans...meet "Sho-time".


Last year saw her lead the Lady Cards with 14.3 ppg. Leading the 15 times in scoring during the season. Engineering another second round apperance in the NCAA and narrowly losing to a talented Maryland squad.  

Ask her and she'll tell you she used to consider herself "just a basketball player." The Shoni Schimmel of 2012-13 is much more than that. A shining example to children of all ages that shows hard work, perseverance and dedication can make dreams come true. The catalyst in bringing a large fan base from the Pacific Northwest to the Louisville WBB team. The smiling, hyperactive lynch-pin on a Cardinal womens' basketball team that is getting plenty of pre-season hype as a top-10 contender. 


She is team first and foremost, though. She'll tell you of the importance of team chemistry, of pressure defense, of the transition game and rebounding. 


As she goes into her junior year, she will continue to "sho" Cardinal fans and opponents the skills and basketball play that have matured into a overall team player. Take your eyes off her and she's knocking in a long range three. Lighten up on the defense and she's whipping a no-look pass to an open post player. Get lazy with the ball and she's streaking by you with a steal and headed for a layup. 


You've just been "Schimmeled" 

"I knew what I was recruiting. She could have gone and played anywhere, but she couldn't have played for anybody." -- Jeff Walz on Shoni.


Basketball can be a funny game. Sometimes the shots won't fall, the refs seems biased against you and the ball seems to bounce directly into the opponents' hands on each loose ball. Overcoming the bad breaks is the sign of a disciplined, talented and mature team. 


The team that Shoni will lead into the 2012-13 season is a disciplined, talented and mature group. A team that will be a force to reckon with in the BIG EAST. Gone is Becky Burke but back are Tia Gibbs and Monique Reid. Asia Taylor temporarily hobbled but Cortnee Walton and Megan Deines on board. 


 Shoni is the charismatic, flamboyant and volatile

spark that drives the engine of the Cardinal attack. A key to stopping in any opposing coach's pre game chalk-talk. Maybe the only player assured of being a starer in the 2012-13 lineup. 


Media and fans will sometimes talk about "the face" of the program...the one player who embodies and represents the squad. It's a discretionary and subjective tag...our guess is that most would select Shoni for the role of "face". We also expect that Shoni would turn around and tell you that there is no "face" to the squad...that it's a team effort, a team victory, a team cause and a team philosophy.  


On and off the court. From the "rez" to meeting the "prez". Shoni handles it all with the same grace, skill and confidence.  


THE SCHIMMEL STATS:


 Year      Games      Starts     Points  Rebs.   Assists  P.P.G


2010-11  35          35        528     125    172     15.1
2011-12  31          31        444     139    146     14.3 


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USA Olympic team with another lopsided win today...tying their all time point total with a 114-66
win over China. This one close early, China leading 28-25 with 1:30 left in first quarter. 


Then...

Angel assist to cut it to one. Angel steal and layup. USA up by one. Candace Parker steal and pass to a streaking Angel to make it 31-28. 


A 17-2 run that had USA off and away to a 61-36 1st half lead. Angel with five steals and six first half points.


She'd finish with 16 in 20 minutes. Five steals and six assists. D. Taurasi leading the Americans with 22. USA finishes pool play a perfect 5-0. Canada next, on Tuesday.  
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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Title IX thoughts


-Lacrosse Stadium


-Makayla Epps


-Megan Deines


(Sandy Walker brings us the Monday C.C. David Watson, your normal Monday columnist is on vacation for a couple of weeks and 'in an area where bandwidth is the size associated with your ball cap'.  Here's Sandy!) 


In a continued acknowledgment of the celebration of 40 years since the passage of Title IX in the United States we must stay aware.  More work is needed as examples of inequitable treatment of women, including those in athletics are constantly available.

I absolutely believe that in these days of continued seeking of athletic equity between the sexes that airline seating for athletes should not be determined by team ranking.  I am pleased to report that discrimination based upon a team’s ranking does not appear to apply to Olympic teams flying to London.   

Recent news has shown Japan’s women’s world-beating soccer team was flown to London in premium economy seating while on the same flight the lower ranked men’s soccer team enjoyed business class and...while making sure not to be outclassed by Japan...Australia has “one upped” Japan. They flew their women’s basketball team (winners of silver medals in the last 3 Olympics) an upgraded premium economy while the men’s basketball team (who have never won an Olympic medal) flew business class.  Representatives attempted to indicate that the difference in accommodations was partially based upon the player heights while no one could explain how this consideration was made with women’s star player, Liz Cambage, standing 203 cm (6’8”) tall while two of the men’s team stand at 188 and 183 cm.

Apparently sprint cycling in Australia better understands equity as the male and female team members all traveled to Europe from their home country in economy class. 

What I want to know is – where do these players manage to store away their knees and legs during the flight as we are all aware of the joke the airlines consider to be adequate seating and leg space.


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In case you have not yet attended a U of L women’s Lacrosse game please take a look at the facilities.  The 2 million dollar Lacrosse Stadium was completed in 2006 and features a “FieldTurf” surface for play.  There is plenty of comfortable seating with a 12’X 20’ Daktronics Video Wall and Scoreboard.  I was unaware and pleasantly surprised at my learning of another top end U of L athletic facility. The YUM! Center is located on your right after you pass through Cardinal Park.

Check it out at : http://www.uoflsports.com/facilities/lou-facilities-lacrosse-stadium.html

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More news surfacing about the 2013 UofL WBB class. Looks like Makayla Epps (Marion County High School, Lebanon, KY) has re-opened her recruiting. 


The tricky game of recruiting. 


WE expect that we'll hear much more about this in the upcoming days. 


We would also remind our readers that we have no insight into what recruits, prospects and talent that is currently hot and in demand with the UofL coaches...because they can't talk about them until the LOI is signed and received. 


If you want rampart rumor speculation, you're at the wrong website. 


Seeing Epps with her knee iced up during the Walz Elite Skills camp raised a question or two. Her game is solid, opening her recruiting up gives her the chance to take a few more trips and see what is out there and she has said for a long time she wants to play her college ball with her teammate at Marion County Kyvin Goodin-Rogers....who de-committed from Louisville earlier this year. As we are fond of saying here at CARDINAL COUPLE: 


"We know nothing." 


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Clip below features Cardinal WBB freshman Megan Deines speaking about her family. 


Thanks to Doug A. for the link!




Megan Deines

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Sandy W
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Tuesday Cardinal Couple -- LAUNDRY BAG - AGAIN

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Sandy Walker's column


( If it's Tuesday, it must be Sandy time. Today she fills us in on several different aspects of womens' sports. Enjoy! ) 




It is again Tuesday and once more I am unable to focus on just one subject relating to women’s athletics so for a 2^nd week I am bringing out my Laundry Bag of news.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

The first mark of my season basketball calendar begins with EKU.  I can’t guarantee that it will be the first game of the season but surely one of the first of the 2012-2013 UL women’s basketball games will be on November 28, 2012 when we will host EKU at the YUM arena.

TITLE IX

Once again as a part of the 40^th anniversary celebration of Title IX another documentary will debut on June 23, 2012.   A video with the subheadline , The“Sporting Chance” celebrates the laws anniversary.  “The NCAA, in conjunction with ESPN and Creative Street Entertainment, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX and recognize individuals who helped shape the ground-breaking equity law with the documentary premiere Sporting Chance presented by Northwestern Mutual. The documentary will debut on ESPN2 at noon ET June 23, the anniversary date of Title IX.” 

Details and the complete article can be found at http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2012-06-11/title-ix-documentary-debuts-june-23.  The promotional webpage http://www.sportingchancetitleix.com/ states that “Opportunity is just the beginning” where “ Through personal narratives and historical perspective, this is the story told in Sporting Chance.”

Whatever your personal opinion of the law might be; as someone who grew up in the atmosphere where in high school the gym became available to the girls basketball team only after late into the evening when the pee-wee leagues were finished or at 6 in the morning before anyone else wanted it – I promise you that the progress we have seen to date would still be many years into the future.

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Louie the Cardinal Announces Summer Social Media Plan

Beginning June 18 and for the next 8 weeks, Louie begins his social media plan of the summer as a way to keep fans connected with University Activities and Schedules.  Check out http://www.uoflsports.com/genrel/061412aad.html  where different interactive components for each day will be posted using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.   Fans will also have the opportunity to win prizes.  The page states a following of more than 129,000 fans on Facebook and 15,000 Twitter followers, with the Cardinals having the  30 largest social media followings among NCAA Division I schools.  Let’s help to fix that problem by either joining or causing others to join and increase our ranking to our rightful position of  number 1.

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ESPN BIG EAST PREDICTIONS

ESPN's 25 “teams to watch” in 2012-13, the sports network named four BIG EAST teams in the top 11. Connecticut was predicted as No. 2, Notre Dame as No. 8, St. John's at No. 10 and Louisville at No. 11. Of Sports Illustrated's top-10 teams for 2012-13, three were from the BIG EAST with Connecticut listed as No. 2, Louisville at No. 4 and Notre Dame at No. 9. 

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SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID?

This week’s article in Teen Ink which contains Teen’s opinions 
http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/sports/article/15153/Paying-College-Athletes/
Should-College-Athletes-Be-Paid...essay by peapod416 of Louisville, KY has picked up a contribution by University of Louisville’s Bria Smith and Monique Reid.  “This is a hot topic especially during the NCAA tournament. Even the popular IPhone application, Instagram has recently put this hot topic on display.”


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ith the premiere of the one-hour do

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SHELBY HARPER INTERVIEW

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Check out this week’s women’s basketball member interview with Shelby Harper at http://www.uoflsports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/061412aaa.html   When asked “What will be the team's strength this upcoming season” she replied  “I think our strength will be pushing the ball in transition” and has a person al goal to lead the team in assists and steals in at least one of this years games.


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SEASON TICKETS

Specific seat selection not yet available but you can go to http://www.uoflsports.com/tickets/lou-tickets-w-baskbl.html  to make known your wish to purchase season tickets and relocation requests are for the 2012-13 season. My memory is that last year we had over 8,000 purchased season tickets so anyone interested in guaranteeing their seats for next year should check this out as soon as possible.
 

“The University of Louisville Athletic Ticket Office is currently accepting applications for the 2012-13 Louisville women's basketball season! If you are interested in obtaining Louisville women's basketball season tickets for the 2012-13 season and would like to be formally placed on the season ticket request list, please complete a season ticket application or relocation request and follow the submission instructions provided on the form. “   You also can contact UL Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. by phone (502-852-5863) or e-mail (ticketoffice@louisville.edu.  Those who have made their wishes known should be contacted starting late in the summer.


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ANGEL McCOUGHTRY  DOCUMENTARY

Michelle Smith reports that filmmaker Stephen Philms plans to produce a TV/movie documentary about Angel’s life called, living the dream.  

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-opinion/6961467/wnba-playoffs-angel-mccoughtry-living-dream

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LEFT SIDE OF THE SITE SUBMISSION OF THE DAY

Moody's downgrades KFC Yum! Center bonds to junk status.  See

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120531/BUSINESS/305310063/Moody-s-downgrades-KFC-Yum-Center-bonds-junk-status?nclick_check=1

The bonds issued to build the KFC Yum! Center are now classified as “junk” status by Moody’s Investors Service – goes to show why investor services and others in similar businesses have such a good historical track record of telling others how to invest their money.  NOT!

Sandy W.

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