Walz: Cardinals showing improvement already

Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz said his team will need to improve quickly to be ready for a brutally tough schedule this season.

The Cardinals, coming off another Sweet 16 appearance last season, return preseason All-American candidates Myisha Hines-Allen and Asia Durr and a host of young talent.

Louisville will need Hines-Allen and Durr to be at top form early in the season with tests agains Ohio State, South Dakota State, Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the first four weeks of the season.

"It will be a challenge for our team because there is not going to be a lot of prep time in between games," Walz said, noting the stretch of four games in eight days in early December.

Walz also put a non-conference showdown with superpower UConn in the middle of a very tough ACC slate.

"We have a lot of talented teams," Walz said. "That's the thing about the ACC is that every team has a lot of talent. There aren't going to be any games where you just go out there knowing you'll win."

Walz said he has been pleased with what he has seen so far from his team.

"We have had three weeks of really good practice," Walz said. "We have seen a lot of improvement from our returning players, and a lot from our younger players as well."

"We have seen some good things from our players in practice, but we need to see who can make the transition to playing when the lights come on. I have seen a lot of practice All-Americans, but it's all about what you can do in games."

Walz said sophomore guard Jazmine Jones and junior forward Sam Fuehring have shown tremendous improvement in practices. The Cardinals' coach said Jones and Fuehring are keys to Louisville's improvement along with freshman high school All-American Dana Evans.

"I'm expecting Dana to score, and she knows that, but I am also excited because she knows what we want on the offensive end, running the offense," Walz said. Walz mentioned Evans first when he was asked about good defenders on this year's team.

On a sour note, Walz confirmed freshman Lindsey Duvall will miss the season with knee surgery. She was a High School All-American.