By RUSS BROWN • Photos by: UofL Athletics
The Louisville women’s basketball team will begin its 2024-25 season on an international stage and hope to end it much closer to home, in the Amalie Arena in Tampa, where the 2025 Final Four will be held.
But first things first. The Cardinals’ debut will come in Paris on Nov. 4, when they take on projected Top-25 UCLA in the Aflac Oui-Play Event in Adidas Arena. The teams will be part of a doubleheader with Southern Cal and Ole Miss.
It will be just the second time during Walz’s tenure that UofL has opened at a neutral venue, having started the 2021-22 season in South Dakota. But its the second straight year for a foreign trip. The Cards represented the U.S. in the 2023 Global Jam in Toronto and brought home the gold medal.
“What a great experience this opportunity is going to be for us, to be able to travel over to Paris and play a very, very talented UCLA basketball team,” Walz said when the game was announced this summer. “It’s going to be a great way to start. So really excited to put our brand out there, all the while playing in a fiercely competitive game against UCLA. I think our women’s basketball program has grown to a point where, you know, we’re always in the talk with the top programs in the country.”
UofL experienced a rare hiccup last year when it was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament despite being the No. 6 seed, 71-69 by No. 11 Middle Tennessee, the earliest exit ever under Walz, who is beginning his 18th season at the helm.
“I’ll never apologize for what we’ve done here,” he said. “To make the NCAA Tournament fifteen years; we’ve been to twelve Sweet Sixteens, eight Elite Eights and four Final Fours. I don’t think that’s bad.”
Walz, who will turn 53 this month, owns a 464-135 (.775) record at Louisville and has guided the Cards to two Final Fours and three Elite Eights in the last six full seasons (the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the pandemic). UofL also went to the 2009 and 2013 Final Four, finishing runner-up both times.
Walz is counting on a team of seasoned veterans and a flashy freshman class that is ranked sixth in the nation to revise the program’s habit of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament following a disappointing finish last season. The class includes a trio of star players and four in the ESPN Top 100.
Most of the newcomers have been on campus since May. The final piece of the highly-ranked class was 5-10 guard Imari Berry from Clarksville, Tenn., who chose the Cards over Kentucky and North Carolina. A McDonald’s All-American and the No. 16 overall prospect in the 2024 class, she averaged 23.8 points per game as a senior and was Tennessee’s Gatorade Player of the Year. She originally signed with Clemson, but asked for her release when the Tigers’ coach was fired. She had also been recruited by UConn and South Carolina.
Walz signed another McDonald’s All-American in 6-0 forward Mackenly Randolph, the daughter of former Michigan State star and NBA standout Zach Randolph who chose Louisville over Notre Dame and the Spartans. Her high school teammate at Sierra Canyon High in Chatsworth, Calif., 5-9 guard Izela Arenas, is also her teammate at UofL. Arenas, ranked No. 88 by ESPN, is the daughter of former Arizona and NBA star Gilbert Arenas.
Others in the class are: 5-10 guard Tajianna Roberts of San Diego, Calif., who is ranked No. 24 in the class. She chose the Cards over UK, Duke, Virginia Tech and Cal; small forward Anaya Hardy out of Detroit; Sacred Heart guard Reagan Bender; 6-4 Australian center Isla Juffermans;and Ja’Leah Williams a 5-9 senior transfer from Pompano Beach, Fla., where she was an outstanding defensive player during her three years as a starter, but also contributed 7.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
They’ll join a solid group of returnees headed by 6-3 graduate forward Oliva Cochran, who averaged 10.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last year and led the team in blocks and steals with 47 in each case. Others back are 6-2 junior forward Nyla Harris (10.4 ppg, 6.6 rpb); senior guard Jayda Curry, who averaged 9.2 ppg and was the team’s best 3-point shooter at .388; and 6-3 sophomore forward Elif Istanbulluoglu from Istanbul (2.6 ppg., 2.2 rpg), who played in all 34 games last season.
Istanbulluoglu was a member of the Turkish National team in the FIBA U20 Championships in Lithuania this summer, averaging 10.7 ppg., and Walz was an assistant coach. She also played on the U18 team, averaging 11.0 ppg and 10.7 rpg.
“We’re going to be young, but I’ve been very encouraged about what I’ve seen so far, and there’s no doubt we’ll make great strides from now until that first game,” Walz said. “With seven new players, it’s big for us to have the returning players who can show them, ‘This is how we do it.’ I know the returners are excited about what’s in front of them. And all these kids we’ve added, they’re not only great players, they’re great people. In these times you’re in now with NIL, with the portal, you’re just trying to figure out, who can you get? Who can you afford? But I’m really happy with the class we have coming in, and all our returning players.”
In addition to UCLA, other marquee opponents on Louisville’s non-conference schedule include Kentucky (Nov. 16 in Lexington), Colorado (Nov. 30 in Boulder, Colo.), Oklahoma (Dec. 4 in the SEC/ACC Challenge in the KFC Yum! Center), UConn (Dec. 7 in the Women’s Champions Classic in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.), and Memphis (Dec. 21 in the FedEx Forum).
The complete ACC schedule hadn’t been announced prior to the Voice-Tribune’s publication date, but UofL will open its conference schedule on Dec. 15 against NC State in the Yum!.
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