by Paul Sykes

Jeff Walz looked at the University of Louisville women’s basketball team’s four upcoming basketball games early last week, shook his head and smiled. “Big East. Nothing comes easy.”

At the halfway mark of this gauntlet, though, the Lady Cards are 2-0. An impressive win over a veteran St. John’s squad in the KFC Yum! Center last Tuesday and a masterful escape from a brutal  bunch of Pittburgh basketbrawlers on Sunday in front of nearly 10,000 UofL fans.

Skylar Diggins awaits Cards at South Bend

The road awaits, a trail pockmarked with potholes and ruts.

  • Wednesday finds Louisville in South Bend against 14th-ranked Notre Dame, which barely lost 79-76 to UConn at home Saturday. The Irish, with a 13-4 won-lost record, are deep, talented and experienced. Their losses are to No. 1 Baylor, No. 2 UConn, No. 10 Kentucky,  and No. 15 UCLA but have wins over Wake Forest, Purdue and Gonzaga.
  • Skylar Diggins drives the Irish train and the talented point guard may be the best in the Big East. Her teammates — Natalie Novosel, Devereaux Peters, Brittany Mallory and Natalie Achonwa all rank in the top 20 in multiple conference stats. The Irish are #1 in turnover margin, creating 7.9 more per outing and lead the league in steals, with 15.2 per game.
  • Louisville then heads to the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut for a noon Saturday showdown against UConn. You know the leader of this bunch. Maya Moore is All-American, All-BIG EAST, All-World and better than 80% of the current WNBA players.
  • UConn may have lost to an inspired Stanford team by 12 on the West coast, but it just might have been the wake up call needed to get them to refocused.  UConn plays smart, never beats itself and pressure opponents for  40 minutes.
    The Lady Cards get a week off after the UConn game. They’ll need it.
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By Paul Sykes

Paul Sykes owns Paul Sykes Advertising and does contract work for other advertising and publishing firms. The proud husband of Sonja, he has a fascination with bears, bars and Cardinal sports. He's also the moderator of CardinalCouple.blogspot.com

2 thoughts on “Notre Dame, UConn loom for Lady Cards”
  1. I was referring to the 2-0 as in the four game gauntlet the article was about. You are correct. Louisville is 3-0 in conference play…with wins over Cincinnati, St. John’s and Pitt. Read the article more carefully next time, Crieghton or Coach Walz will have you running the stairs at the KFC YUM during the next home game you attend…

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