LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It's lunch time, and the annual University of Louisville women's basketball tipoff luncheon at the Galt House is sold out. Meals have been served, but Cardinals' coach Jeff Walz is not at his seat.
He's in the middle of the room, not waiting tables, but thanking tables. He's greeting, shaking hands, slapping backs, cracking jokes.
In 17 years, Jeff Walz has taken Louisville to the national championship game twice, been to four Final Fours, and is the only coach in the nation to have been to the past five Elite Eights. That kind of winning brings a loyal following, but it isn't just the winning.
It's the personal touch that packs fans into venues like the Galt House on Monday, and into the KFC Yum! Center, where Louisville is among the national attendance leaders annually. Cardinal players sign autographs after every home game, win or lose.
Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz speaks to fans at the team's annual Tipoff Luncheon at the Galt House in downtown Louisville.
And you could see in the eyes of the seven newcomers who were introduced one by one before Monday's luncheon, a tinge of surprise when they looked at the size of crowd greeting them.
"I tried to skip the meal to thank everybody," Walz said. "But with the size of crowd we continually get, I only got to one half of the room. So I want to thank the other half. ... This is something that takes place because of what has gone on in the past. We have only five returning players, and seven new faces. But we still sell the place out. That's because of what's gone on here the past 17 years, because of the tradition, the history and the type of young ladies that come through here."
It's a different kind of season for Walz. He went after big-time high school targets, but lost out to bigger NIL deals. But he brings in seven transfers who can play, who have winning experience. Three of them – Kiki Jefferson (Sun Belt Player of the year in 2023 at James Madison), Sydney Taylor (Atlantic 10 at UMass) and Jayda Curry (Pac-12 at Cal) – were all-conference players last season. Point guard Nina Rickards started the past two seasons at Florida. Hennie van Schaik, a 6-3 native of the Netherlands, led CSU-Bakersfield in scoring last season.
Rickards, a native of Queens, N.Y., was like most. She had little idea what to expect from the city when she packed her bags.
"Sorry, but I thought it was just straight country, no city, nothing," she said. "So I was I was very surprised by the amount of malls you guys have here. The city, the city life, really appreciated that. You know, being from the city, I'm used to lights, the city never sleeps. But here it's better than where I was before."
Combined with returning interior players Olivia Cochran and Nyla Harris and guard Merissah Russell and Alexia Mobley, a redshirt sophomore forward who returns from injury, Walz has a group with plenty of experience and chemistry – but not a lot of time on the court together.
A victorious trip to the GLOBL Jam Tournament in Canada over the summer helped to address that, along with a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to conduct basketball camps and further bond and practice.
"You know what you're going to get with us," Walz said. "It's one thing that we hang our hat on and we take a great deal of pride in. You are going to see a hard-playing basketball team that will go out there and compete and play for each other. ... These young ladies work as hard as anybody that I've seen so far in our 17 years. I'm very impressed with the team, the chemistry we have, the attitude they come to practice with each day, and the way they treat each other."
Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz speaks to fans at the team's annual Tipoff Luncheon at the Galt House in downtown Louisville.
Louisville will begin its season ranked No. 17 nationally. It's their 14th time to be ranked in the preseason in Walz's 18 seasons, but the first time outside the top 10 since 2014.
This can be the kind of team, Walz said, that can live up to the program's lofty expectations by year's end. He warned, however, that this season could resemble last, with a team that takes a while to put things together before hitting its stride at tournament time.
"I told you all when I sat up here last year, it's going to take a little bit of time," Walz told the crowd on Monday. "And about halfway through the year, I wish my cell phone number and email weren't online. Y'all got a little restless. ... And that is the same thing that's going to take place with this year's group. You're going to see some moments of great. And then you're also going to see moments of, 'Who are they?' OK? Because that's what we see. And we're trying to get more than moments of great, but I really believe with the way they work we will."
For Walz, who has had great success with transfers over the past five years or so, this number of key newcomers itself is a new experience.
"Normally you look at a situation where you might have one or two or three new players each year," Walz said. "With seven that are now trying to figure out, 'OK, where does O (Cochran), like the ball? Does Syd like to get the ball coming off the screen going left or going right?' Those are things you normally figure out over a two- or three-year span. Now we're trying to do it within months. This ballclub is going to be a much better team come January and February than what you're going to see in these first few ballgames. But what I want to let you know is I will be highly disappointed if we don't compete at a high level."
The crowd at the University of Louisville's annual women's basketball Tipoff Luncheon at the Galt House in downtown Louisville.
And Walz knows, looking at the large ballroom crowd on Monday, he's not the only one who would be.
"Sometimes when you win and you win a lot for a long period of time, it becomes the norm," Walz said. "So all of a sudden the excitement is different. Our first year with Shoni Schimmel (in the KFC Yum! Center), we sold the place out at 22,000 playing Tennessee and it was the first game a lot of people had seen Shoni play it's like, 'Oh my god, I'm coming back.' The excitement was new, but honestly by the end of Asia (Durr's) time, it was kind of like, 'They're supposed to win. Wait for the big game to go to.'"
Then Walz made his pitch to fans, though the ones in the crowd Monday are likely in their seats every game: "We need you at all-out level. Because I'm telling you, what you're going to see is a group of young ladies that are going to work. ... Please, as I always say, bring a friend. Bring an enemy. The enemy can sit on the other side of the gym. Let's see if we can't get this thing going and keep our fans engaged. You guys are awesome. I want to try to get another 3,000 to 4,000 to come out every, single night and get this up to where that bottom bowl is completely full and we're getting 11,000 or 12,000. Thank you all so much."
Then Walz was back into the crowd, adding a personal touch to next-level success (and expectations).
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