It’s been a busy off-season for the University of Louisville basketball players, both on the men’s as well as women’s teams.
That is with the highly prestigious annual World University Games, in which the U.S. basketball team features stand out card Luke Hancock; in addition Indiana has both Yogi Ferrell and Will Sheehey on the highly selective squad coached by Davidson College head coach Bob McKillop.
In addition, Hancock was selected as the U.S. Flag Bearer in the event, an honor which the athlete graciously accepted.
The team has defeated UAE, the Czech Republic, and Sweden in the games being held in Kazan, Russia. On the flip side they did suffer defeats to Australia and Canada. The series is set to conclude Tuesday, July 16th.
Meanwhile, women’s superstar Shoni Schimmel has played a major part in the U.S. women’s team, coached by Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale.
The lady’s team has claimed victories over Mali, the Czech Republic and Brazil and the series is set to conclude today.
This year the games actually mark a first and that is the first time they will be broadcast on TV nationally in the U.S., as ESPN has been covering the event.
Also at the games, Louisville standout Montrezl Harrell led the U.S. team in the U19 division of the World University Games to a gold medal defeating Serbia in the Czech Republic. This is only the third time that the U.S. has won this tournament in twenty six years.
Meanwhile, following the NBA draft former Card Peyton Siva has been getting broken into the NBA, as he suits up with the Detroit Pistons. Siva has even played a few minutes in the big leagues as the rookie on the team.
Elsewhere, Siva teammate Gorgui Dieng has joined the Minnesota Timberwolves to a great deal of excitement. T’Wolf coach, Flip Saunders has said that he believes Dieng to be already ready for the NBA style of play. In addition, Saunders noted Dieng’s defensive ability in regards to anchoring a team on that side of the floor.
And in yet more accolades news the Lady Cards have been nominated for the increasingly prestigious ESPY awards, in the category of biggest upset for their tournament victory over Baylor; also in the running is Florida Gulfcoast’s surprise win against Georgetown in the men’s tournament, Boxer Juan Manuel Marquez over legend Manny Pacqiaou, and Texas A&M’s upset against Alabama in football.
Also nominated is men’s coach Rick Pitino in the category of Best Coach/Manager going up against NFL coach Bruce Arians, NCAA women’s coach Geno Auriemma, John Danowski of Duke Lacrosse, and Eric Spoelstra of the NBA champion Miami Heat.
Image courtesy of USA Basketball
