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LADY RAIDER BB #11 Middle Tennessee vs #6 Louisville, 12:30PM CT, Friday, March 22, 2024 (ESPN2)

SpaceRaider

Blue Raider Legend
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Jul 22, 2001
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God's Country
Baton Rouge, LA, Pete Maravich Assembly Center

LOUISVILLE
Location Louisville, Ky.
Founded / Enrollment 1798 / 22,298
Nickname / Colors Cardinals / Red and Black
Conference Atlantic Coast
Home Court (Capacity) KFC Yum! Center (22,090)
Record: 24-9, 12-6
ACCLast Game: L, 68-77 vs. No. 4 Notre Dame
Current Streak: L1
Scoring Margin: +10.5
Head Coach: Jeff Walz
Record at UL: 465-134 (17th year)
International Record: 19-1 (.950)
Career Record: 484-135 (.782)
Leading Scorer: Kiki Jefferson (12.5)
Leading Rebounder: Nyla Harris (6.6)
Assists Leader: Nina Rickards (2.5)
Blocks Leader: Olivia Cochran (0.6)
Steals Leader: Olivia Cochran (1.4)

Date: Friday, March 22
Time: 12:30 p.m. CT
Site: Baton Rouge, La. | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (13,125)
TV: ESPN 2 (Dave O'Brien, play-by-play; Christy Thomaskutty, analyst)
Radio: goblueraiders.com
Series History: Louisville leads 6-2 (3-1 home, 3-1 road)
Last Meeting: L, 49-67 (Dec. 4, 2022 at Murfreesboro, Tenn.)








 
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some highlights from last season's win



last season's game thread

 
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This is probably the toughest 3-14 & 6-11 bracket in the entire tournament. Somewhat disappointed Richmond got a 10 seed over MT. Louisville has good size up & down their roster. We can combat their team height (8 players between 6' 1" & 6' 5") in the paint, but coach must allow Iullia & Nas to team up at times down low.
 
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Hard as it is to believe there is a definite positive about this selection. And yes there is one. Last year Middle Tennessee was tabbed the "immediate" upset special by practically ever prognosticator out there. With that tag being placed on MT all of the pressure to win went to the Blue Raiders. If we remember, Colorado was almost thought of as the underdog from the initial announcement.
Now here we are with a much more complete team that literally no one in the country will give a chance, even in its 1st round match against the Card's. We need to use that this year.
We're one of the best teams out there that no one suspects has a chance. If used properly that can be a huge weapon.
 
Another positive is your playing a program your familiar with. It can be a challenge coming up with a thorough scouting report on the fly, even more so if they do things you can't replicate in practice
 
here's what espn says about the Cardinals

Louisville Cardinals

Under coach Jeff Walz, Louisville (24-9) has been the bedrock of consistency. Since joining the ACC, the Cardinals boast a conference-best 82.1% win percentage in league play, advanced to the quarterfinals at a minimum in each ACC tournament and have compiled 14 consecutive 20-win seasons, the fifth-longest active streak in the country.

That consistency extended to 2023-24, even as Walz assembled a new-look team after transfer departures and arrivals in the offseason. Second-team all-ACC post Olivia Cochran brings experience as a four-year player for Walz, as she's flanked in the starting five by three transfers (and another off the bench). The Cardinals don't have a singular offensive centerpiece but are balanced with five players who've scored 1,000 points in their career (including fellow all-conference second-team guard Kiki Jefferson with over 2,000).

Walz has led his teams to six consecutive Sweet 16s -- including last year when the Cardinals also had to hit the road for early-round NCAA tournament games and upset Texas. The Cardinals will need to clean up their turnover issue, something that plagued them in the ACC tournament, to extend the streak.
 
here's espn's description of the Lady Raiders:


Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

One of the steadiest mid-major programs in women's basketball, Middle Tennessee (29-4) makes its 21st NCAA tournament appearance (third in the past four years) and 12th under coach Rick Insell. With a 67-51 win over Liberty in the championship game, the Blue Raiders secured their 19th consecutive victory, becoming the second team in CUSA history to go undefeated through the regular season and conference tournament.

Middle Tennessee last lost on Dec. 30 to Grand Canyon, before that playing Princeton and Michigan tight (both losses) and snagging a signature win against Tennessee (which was missing Jackson). All five of the team's starters earned spots on all-CUSA teams, headlined by player of the year and tournament MVP Savannah Wheeler (17.4 PPG, 5.0 APG).

A huge milestone for the Blue Raiders would be to win a NCAA tournament game; they are 5-20 all-time in the event, the worst record among teams with 20-plus NCAA tournament games, and last advanced to the second round in 2007.
 
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Massive opportunity. We know we can beat them - last years game as example - and that was when they had Van Lith.
 
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ESPN didn't show a specific time, but flashed on the screen TBA Friday. Looks like MT & Louisville will tip off game 1, followed by LSU & Rice.
 
Joel Kinnaman Yes GIF by Apple TV+
 
I mean, she's not wrong. She was at the Murphy Center last year when we blew them out!
 
FWIW, Louisville beat Liberty by 9 at the beginning of the season and did have a few losses to unranked teams. Hopefully Liberty helped us out a little bit
 
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.
Middle Tennessee is considered one of the top Mass Communications institutions in the entire South East. Can someone for crying out loud have an available microphone for each speaker? If we're having 3 speakers seated side by side, have 3 microphones!! This is not 1954 at the Grand Ole Opry, nor are we a Division III school on a shoestring budget.
If we want to appear like a Power 5 such as CRI says we are then give the man & his players an extra damn microphone! It has been like this for every single post game interview every game every year. Players & coaches constantly having to shift one mic around for every question is ludicrous.
For that matter turn up the audio on the questions from the press. 50% of the time this past year we have no idea what the question is that the coach or players are responding too.
 
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Middle Tennessee is considered one of the top Mass Communications institutions in the entire South East. Can someone for crying out loud have an available microphone for each speaker? If we're having 3 speakers seated side by side, have 3 microphones!! This is not 1954 at the Grand Ole Opry, nor are we a Division III school on a shoestring budget.
If we want to appear like a Power 5 such as CRI says we are then give the man & his players an extra damn microphone! It has been like this for every single post game interview every game every year. Players & coaches constantly having to shift one mic around for every question is ludicrous.
For that matter turn up the audio on the questions from the press. 50% of the time this past year we have no idea what the question is that the coach or players are responding too.
Amen!
 
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Middle Tennessee is considered one of the top Mass Communications institutions in the entire South East. Can someone for crying out loud have an available microphone for each speaker? If we're having 3 speakers seated side by side, have 3 microphones!! This is not 1954 at the Grand Ole Opry, nor are we a Division III school on a shoestring budget.
If we want to appear like a Power 5 such as CRI says we are then give the man & his players an extra damn microphone! It has been like this for every single post game interview every game every year. Players & coaches constantly having to shift one mic around for every question is ludicrous.
For that matter turn up the audio on the questions from the press. 50% of the time this past year we have no idea what the question is that the coach or players are responding too.

The school as a whole has been plagued by a parasitic workforce content with mediocrity.
 
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Middle Tennessee is considered one of the top Mass Communications institutions in the entire South East. Can someone for crying out loud have an available microphone for each speaker? If we're having 3 speakers seated side by side, have 3 microphones!! This is not 1954 at the Grand Ole Opry, nor are we a Division III school on a shoestring budget.
If we want to appear like a Power 5 such as CRI says we are then give the man & his players an extra damn microphone! It has been like this for every single post game interview every game every year. Players & coaches constantly having to shift one mic around for every question is ludicrous.
For that matter turn up the audio on the questions from the press. 50% of the time this past year we have no idea what the question is that the coach or players are responding too.

Such a minor thing, but I was thinking the exact same thing when they were passing the microphone back and forth; just seems small time for some reason.
 
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Such a minor thing, but I was thinking the exact same thing when they were passing the microphone back and forth; just seems small time for some reason.
They had 3 mics, one for each person, at the CUSA press conferences in Huntsville...
 
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Anyone going to be at The Boulevard game day? Me & couple of buddies will be their cheering the ladies on.
 
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I hope Louisville is overlooking us for that juicy matchup with LSU. Could give us an edge if they are.
I noticed that Louisville was not playing all that well at the last part of their schedule, going 5-6 in their last 11 games... Amazing, that given that, the Cards were still ranked nationally in both polls (23/25) at the end of the regular season.


@3NC State
L77-67
vs12Notre Dame
W73-66

@23Syracuse
L73-72

@Boston College
W69-67

vs12Virginia Tech
L86-70

@Georgia Tech
W80-62

vsVirginia
L73-68

vsFlorida St
W70-55

@17Notre Dame
L74-58

vsBoston College
W58-55

vs14Notre Dame
L77-68
 
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