LOUISVILLE
2017-2018
WOMEN’S
BASKETBALL
PREVIEW
ON THE VERGE OF
SOMETHING SPECIAL
BY JEFF NUNN OF CARDINALSPORTSZONE.COM
Head coach Jeff Walz and his lady Cards are
coming off another trip to the sweet 16. It was
their seventh straight year making the NCAA
tournament and ninth out of the ten years that
Jeff Walz has been coaching at Louisville. And
it appears that they are poised for what could
be a very special year. Another sweet sixteen
appearance will not be considered a successful
year. This team has title aspirations and they are
on a mission.
The lady Cards finished the 2016-17 season
with a 29-8 record. From that team, they return
their top two scorers, Asia Durr and Myisha
Hines-Allen, along with 2 juniors, 4 sophomores
and the 4th ranked recruiting class. Gone from
last season are starters Mariya Moore (12.0
ppg), Briahanna Jackson (6.1ppg) and Corinne
Walton (2.6ppg).
But the most important returning piece to
this steaming freight train is their engine, Head
Coach Jeff Walz.
There were many rumors circulating around
Louisville that if Athletic Director Tom Jurich
was let go, many of the coaches he hired would
soon leave as well. Walz put that fear to rest at
the annual women’s basketball Tip Off Luncheon
where he said he would be remiss if he didn’t
“give a shout out to Tom” because 11 years ago he
“sold me on the University of Louisville – sold me
on what this place could become as a women’s
basketball program.”
Walz also said he is forever grateful to Jurich
for giving him the opportunity and that he wasn’t
leaving because “Tom sold me on Louisville –
not Tom – on Louisville, because that’s what he
cared about.”
Walz went on to say that “Louisville is home
to me” and “I plan to retire here or get fired h ere.
It’s one or the other.”
Walz is the winningest coach in Louisville
women’s program history with a 263-93 (.739)
record. Louisville had never won 30 games in a
season in its previous 32 years. Walz coached
Louisville to a program-record 34 victories in
2008-09 and then 33 wins in 2013-14.
He has two national runner-up finishes (2009,
2013), three Elite Eight appearances (2009, 2013,
2014), seven trips to the Sweet 16 and nine
NCAA Tournament appearances in his 10 years
at Louisville. I have been on record saying that I
believe Walz will win a national title in the next
three years and multiple titles before he retires.
Could this be the year?
It doesn’t hurt that Walz has two of the ESPN
Top 25 women’s basketball players for 2017-18
season on his team. Junior Asia Durr comes in at
No. 7 on the list while senior Myisha Hines-Allen
is ranked No. 24.
Durr, who averaged 19.2 points, 3.4 rebounds,
1.8 assists and 1.3 steals last season as a
sophomore, was the highest-rated recruit to sign
at Louisville in school history. In her sophomore
year, she was voted to the all-ACC Tournament
first team, selected to the Blue Ribbon Panel
and coaches’ all-ACC first team, named to the
Naismith Trophy Top 30, which recognizes the
national player of the year, and the Wooden
Award Midseason Top 25. She also was selected
to the midseason list for the Ann Meyers Drysdale
Award, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s
player of the year honor. Durr also became
Louisville’s 28th 1,000-point scorer and broke
the program’s single-season record with 119
3-pointers.
Entering her junior year, she has been selected
as the 2017-18 Atlantic Coast Conference
Preseason Player of the Year, as voted on by
the league’s coaches. The Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Durr
is one of 20 watch list candidates for the 2018
Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, which is an annual
award that recognizes the top shooting guard in
women’s NCAA Division I college basketball. She
was also named to the College Sports Madness
Preseason All-American Team. It appears that
she is going to have a great year and is already a
professional level talent.
Myisha Hines-Allen is entering her senior
season as a woman on a mission. She is a physical
inside player who will work the perfect inside-
outside game with Durr. She will be a major
factor in the success of this team as well as being
counted on as the team leader.
As a sophomore, Hines-Allen was named ACC
Player of the Year, averaging 17.6 points on 54.7
percent shooting and 8.4 rebounds. As a junior,
she only averaged 13.9 points as teams began to
game plan around her, but that allowed her to
learn how to become an even better rebounder.
She also had 17 double-doubles, which ranked
12th in the country.
Coach Walz has said that she has often started
the season off slowly only to pick it up as the
season goes along. If they want to be a great
team, she has to bring it from the start.
It appears as though Hines-Allen has received
the message as she enters the season in the best
shape of her career at Louisville. She also has
worked hard on becoming more efficient with
her mid-range shot.
While Louisville’s success will rely heavily on
its two leaders, it will also need a lot of steady
contributions from junior Sam Fuehring and
sophomores Jazmine Jones and Kylee Shook.
The Cards have four sophomores who saw the
court last season, and they will all need to take a
step forward to help develop the depth required
to make a deep tournament run. They also have
three very talented freshmen who are capable
of playing major minutes right away. This deep
team may not need them to contribute early, but
I’m sure Coach Walz will find minutes for them
so he can add even more weapons to his arsenal.
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