Remarkable.
Main Street will be alive again Friday evening, one of many events again attracting basketball-crazy fans to downtown Louisville. Restaurants and bars packed with customers, the streets with cars, the sidewalks with pedestrians.
The University of Louisville women’s team will be the main attraction. All 22,000 seats have been committed.
The first women’s game in the new KFC Yum! Center, UofL taking on Tennessee, rated fourth in pre-season rankings.
After a nightmarish, injury-plagued season last year, Coach Jeff Walz is eager to return to the level he achieved during his first season when he guided the UofL women to the NCAA championship game.
While struggling at times to put a starting lineup together, Jeff Walz was criss-crossing the country in search of talent. He promised following the final regular season game that UofL fans would never have to endure a similar experience.
Walz is on the right track, having landed a top five recruiting class and some gifted transfers to go with a group of tested and hardened veterans.
A full house is as much a tribute to him as it is a celebration of a new home for women’s basketball.
The good thing about a sellout in Louisville is one can always find a better seat if the one you purchased is less than ideal.
We hope all 22,000 show up. According to sources at UofL, there was a free tickets for UofL students to attend the game. The number is not known. Also, Tennessee Lady Vols fans tend to follow Pat Summit and the Orange fervently and with a Friday night game and UT football pitiful this year…expect a few of them in the rafters.
Still, it is a remarkable and fantastic tribute to the Louisville sports fan base. Remember, there is early football Saturday at PJCS against USF. a Men’s basketball exhibition game on Thursday night in KFC YUM! High school playoff football on Friday night.
This full house is a dream fulfilled for Jeff Walz. Coach would mention the game during any conversation about women’s basketball at UofL.
The Vols are #4 in the nation, according to some pollsters. They are a veteran team…strong at the guard spots and aggressive on the boards. Perhaps the most recognizable face in college women’s basketball belongs to “UT” Pat. LADY VOLS basketball in a religion in and around Knoxville. They won’t be shook, nervous or tenative in front of a full KFC YUM. Pat doesn’t allow that. Pat. the “P” should stand for perfection.
Expect her to be gracious, congenial and affable before the tip. Once the ball goes up, though…it’s one mission, one purpose and a one track mind. With Pat, there are no excuses, no comfortable leads and certainly no laziness. Players lose locker room privledges. Players begin practice the day after the NCAA Tournament is done.
It should be a lot of fun, this Friday. Go early. Tour the KFC YUM and be in your seat by 6:45 p.m. That’s when Angel returns to have her jersey honored and raised to the arena rafters. #35 deserves your attendance and respect. Without her, Louisville women’s basketball just might not be the popular item it is today.