The Hoagland Team at RE/MAX Premier Properties Presents: The 3-2-1
This is your 3-2-1, where we break down three things we learned this week, two questions we have and give one prediction.
The content is brought to you by The Hoagland Team at RE/MAX Premier Properties.
We are proud to partner with Matthew Hoagland and his team as they will be the presenting sponsor of this feature.
Matthew has helped my family through the process of buying and selling houses, and he can do the same for you.
Contact Matthew:
502-297-1797
or
matthewhoagland@outlook.com
As a reminder, be sure to mention CardinalSports.com when you contact him.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:
1. Louisville men's basketball regressed this week.
After putting together a three-game stretch of consistent play, things returned to the way have been for most of the year for Kenny Payne's squad.
Dating back to February 11th, when Louisville went toe-to-toe with a top-15 team in Miami, up until the win at home against Clemson, you could confidently say this team was improving.
On the road, on February 11th, Louisville gave Miami, arguably the best team in the ACC, all they could handle for the majority of the 40 minutes. That's a step in the right direction.
The next game, the Cardinals returned home to play a top-10 team in Virginia. Louisville had a lead in the first half, took Virginia's best shot, and had a chance to send it into overtime. That's a step in the right direction.
Following two close losses against the ACC's best, Louisville put together a complete performance on February 18th against Clemson on a night where the 2013 team was honored. Clemson has been respectable for most of the season, and Louisville handled them.
This three-game stretch was a sign of life. It gave fans something to grasp onto. The good will that had been built up over the last two weeks is more than likely in the rear-view mirror after the two most-recent losses.
Sure, there's no shame in going down to Cameron Indoor and simply losing to a better team.
However, when you parlay that loss into a lackluster performance in Atlanta against a dreadful Georgia Tech team, the frustration quickly returns.
There's no excuse for allowing Georgia Tech to lead 52-34 at the 17:44 mark of the second half. Louisville should have competed much harder, and executed much better.
However, Louisville hasn't taken advantage of lengthy layoffs. The Cardinals, with four-plus days off are now 1-7 ATS and 0-8 outright. (Chris Hatfield)
This week, Louisville men's basketball regressed.
2. Despite the loss to Notre Dame, Louisville women's basketball secured a top-four seed in the ACC Tournament.
It wasn't the senior day that Louisville fans had hoped for as Notre Dame came into the KFC Yum! Center and took down the Cardinals.
Louisville honored six seniors on Sunday: Morgan Jones, Chrislyn Carr, Josie Williams, Norika Konno, Mykasa Robinson, and Liz Dixon.
Louisville ended the second quarter on a 7-2 run and took a 33-24 lead into the half. Notre Dame, despite losing its best player, rallied and cut the Louisville lead to three at the end of the third quarter.
Louisville led 46-43 at that point, but couldn't get anything going on offense, and stalled out as Notre Dame took control.
Hailey Van Lith led the way for the Cardinals as she poured in 23 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists.
The junior has scored 17 points or more in each of her last seven games.
Mykasa Robinson tied a career-high with nine rebounds to go with five assists, six points and three steals.
Even though Louisville dropped the crucial revenge game against the Irish, the Cardinals still landed as the No. 4 seed in the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Louisville will get a double bye and if the top seed advances, the Cardinals will face the fifth-seeded Florida State Seminoles.
Their first game will be in the quarterfinals on Friday at 11 a.m. ET on the ACC Network.
If Louisville were to win, they would play on Saturday at noon on the ACC Network.
Louisville is safely in the NCAA Tournament, but a run in Greensboro would do wonders for Jeff Walz and company as far as which seed line they could up on.
3. Louisville baseball is red-hot to start the season.
Louisville swept Bucknell to open the season, and then took down Xavier in a mid-week bout to begin the year 4-0.
The Cardinals didn't slow down as they welcomed Bowling Green to Jim Patterson Stadium for a three-game series this weekend.
Louisville won 2-1 on Friday thanks to Ryan Hawks, who was dominant on the mound for the second-straight Friday. The junior gave up just one unearned run over seven innings, while striking out eight.
Louisville suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, dropping a 6-9 game to Bowling Green.
However, Louisville came back on Sunday in a major way to take the series. Louisville plated 14 runs.
Louisville racked up 14 runs on 15 hits and allowed just one run on the mound for the third time in seven games.
Patrick Forbes went 3-for-4 day, driving in two and scoring twice.
Five other Cardinals had two-hit days including Ryan McCoy who hit his fourth home-run on the year.
Louisville is now 6-1, and is ranked as high as No. 4 in the country.
The Cardinals close out their eight-game home-stand to open the season on Tuesday with Eastern Kentucky coming to Jim Patterson Stadium.
The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
TWO QUESTIONS:
1. How many players return from the 2022-2023 roster for Kenny Payne?
This is the question that everyone is asking themselves as the regular season winds down, and as the season continues to be a wash.
How much of this roster us turned over? Who stays? Who goes?
And as of right now, I wish I had more clarity for you all. But the truth is that I don't have any idea who will be back.
What I do know is that Louisville (as of now) has three 2023 prospects coming in: Kaleb Glenn, Curtis Williams, and Koron Davis, who is from the junior college ranks.
It's probably safe to assume that Emmanuel Okorafor will return. Beyond that, I really don't know.
El Ellis has another year of eligibility, and you would think that Kenny Payne and his staff would love to have him back.
JJ Traynor has flashed over the last month, and looks to be a guy that can be a piece of next year's roster.
Mike James and Kamari Lands are two lengthy wings who have had their moments.
Sydney Curry and Roosevelt Wheeler have been major disappointments, and I would venture to say they will move on.
Devin Ree and Fabio Basili were brought in by this staff, but can Louisville afford to have two scholarships taken up by guys that haven't seen the floor on a four-win team?
The dominoes will start falling as soon as Louisville loses in the ACC Tournament.
2. Is Jeff Brohm on the verge of adding yet another difference maker from the transfer portal?
ONE PREDICTION: Louisville will land the commitment of five-star 2023 prospect Dennis Evans.
I put in a FutureCast in favor of Louisville to land five-star center Dennis Evans. Evans is the No. 11 overall player in the Rivals 2023 class.
Going by Rivals, at No. 11, Evans would be the highest-ranked prospect to commit and play for Louisville since Samardo Samuels, who was No. 9 overall in the 2008 class.
Stay tuned.