All Entries Tagged With: "Dez Byrd"
Injury Expected To Sideline Dez Byrd
Coach Jeff Walz told Card Game’s Sonja Sykes that Byrd will play in the opening home game Sunday against Tennessee Tech at Freedom Hall and will travel to Cancun for the Caribbean Challenge Tournament on Thanksgiving weekend. “We will see how she does after that but it looks like she will have to have surgery early December that will keep her out for the year,” he said.
Byrd has been visibly slowed by the knee injury that incurred late last season in her team’s march to the NCAA championship game, won by UConn. She played less than 25 minutes in each of U of L’s first two games. The Lady Cards are 1-1.
Lady Cards One More Time
By Paul Sykes
About a thousand fans showed up on Fourth Street Live to celebrate one more time the University of Louisville’s women’s basketball team’s incredible march through the NCAA Tournament. Despite the overcast, gloomy skies, the atmosphere was a bright and cheerful one….with the national champion Lady Birds doing dance routines and the Cardinal Pep Band playing for the crowd.
Coach Jeff Walz and the players talked of the march to the Arch being just the beginning of success in Lady Cards hoops for the future. It was also a time for “thank you’s” being exchanged between the players and fans. The players were still busily signing autographs when I left, and it was good to see the tons of young people there, the the future of women’s basketball at the Ville.
“It’s been the best two years of my life,” exclaimed senior forward Candyce Bingham. Her valuable contributions to the Cards will be missed. Replacing the offense generated by her and All-American forward Angel McCoughtry will be one of the many things that coach Jeff Walz and his staff will have to contend with during the 2009-2010 season.
Dez Byrd took a positive and optimistic approach to the upcoming season. “We are family on this team and the new recruits will find that out. Look at what this year’s group of freshmen did, and we’ve got some great ones coming in.” Byrd wouldn’t comment on next year’s speculated change to shooting guard, saying only that “he (Coach Walz) will make the best decision for the team. If he needs me to put it up, I’ve got no problem with that”
Longtime fan Tommy Wilson recalled the magical journey. “I thought at the start of the year that we’d be OK…maybe make it into the tournament and win a couple…but as I saw this team grow and continue to win, I thought…hey, we could play with anyone in the country. Except UConn. Still, second place is pretty special. I think it’s the beginning of great teams for the Lady Cards every year.”
Good times, great memories and the promise of a bright future.
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