Jeff Walz believes next year's Louisville team can be 'special' - even without Asia Durr

Danielle Lerner
Courier Journal

Jeff Walz admits he is a bad neighbor. 

The Louisville women's basketball coach said he mowed his lawn at 8 a.m. Tuesday, and he still had a piece of grass in his hair when he sat down for a season wrap-up press conference later that morning. 

"I had the mower out, the weed eater going," Walz said. "It's supposed to rain this afternoon! We're up and at 'em, people."

It's a task he rarely had time for during the season, although Walz has kept busy so far this offseason. 

Since the Cardinals' season ended March 31, Walz has been to New York to see Asia Durr, Arica Carter and Sam Fuehring selected in the WNBA Draft, to Colorado for a skiing vacation (most of which he spent on the phone recruiting), to Los Angeles to support Durr at the Wooden Awards, back to Louisville to host and sign three transfer players, and back to Colorado once more. 

As May rolls in and the summer recruiting calendar starts to fill up, Walz and his staff turn their attention to the 2019-20 season, when Louisville will have to fill the void left by the most successful senior class in program history and adjust to accommodate six new players. 

That transition will take place with the added weight of compensating for what many fans billed as an underachieving 2018-19 season after No. 1 seed Louisville lost to No. 2 seed UConn in an unfavorable Sweet 16 draw. 

More Cards:Spend Oaks Day playing basketball with Angel McCoughtry and Asia Durr

Walz said he understands the disappointment but is confident in next season's roster. 

"When there's no expectations for us to be good, then there's some concerns," Walz said. "It's going to be a team that I think is going to take a little bit of time to jell, but once we get a good feel for each other, I think we have a chance to be special." 

Incoming freshmen Nyah Green (6-foot-1 guard), Ramani Parker (6-foot-4 forward) and Norika Konno (5-foot-10 guard) make up a top-15 signing class.

Kianna Smith (6-foot guard) will sit out the season after transferring from Cal. Walz hopes to find out in the next couple months whether Georgia Tech transfers Liz Dixon (6-foot-5 forward) and Elizabeth Balogun (6-foot-1 guard) will be immediately eligible. 

Louisville also returns a core that includes point guard Dana Evans, combo guard Jazmine Jones and post players Kylee Shook and Bionca Dunham. 

Five of the six new players will be on campus in June; Konno plans to arrive in August after she finishes competing with the Japan U19 national team. 

Walz said the Cards will continue to play the same high-scoring, fast-paced style that has been a trademark of his Louisville teams. Although Louisville might take a dip in 3-point shooting after losing Durr and Carter, Walz hopes rebounding will become more of a strength with the addition of Parker, redshirt sophomore Molly Lockhart and possibly Dixon and Balogun. 

The biggest question mark as of now is who will step up to provide leadership in the absence of Durr, Carter and Fuehring. 

Jones, Evans and Shook seem like early candidates to take the reins, but Walz isn't counting out any other returners or newcomers, either. 

"What I challenge our returners with is, we graduated three players that I really never had to worry, when they came to practice every day, what I was going to get in terms of effort," Walz said. "If you had a bad day off the court are you going to carry that into practice? And that’s what we can't have if we want to be special."

More Cards:Louisville's Jeff Walz selected for sixth USA Basketball coaching gig

The situation is similar to the one Louisville navigated at the start of last season after graduating WNBA draft pick Myisha Hines-Allen, a leader and impact player on and off the floor. 

Replacing three starters this season will be tougher, but Walz knows the key. 

"Everybody is going to have to do a little bit more." 

Danielle Lerner: 502-582-4042; dlerner@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Danielle_Lerner. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/daniellel.