LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Thursday night will be Senior Night for University of Louisville basketball seniors Asia Durr, Arica Carter and Sam Fuehring, but it will not be the end.
For all the emotions of Senior Night, and all three players acknowledged they will have them, the No. 3 ranked Cardinals will have a more important focal point in No. 10-ranked N.C. State, which comes into the game ranked No. 10 in the nation and just one game out of first place in the ACC with two games to play.
Louisville coach Jeff Walz likes it that way.
“We're fortunate that it can be a celebration in the fact that it's not our last home game,” he said. “We're going to have the opportunity to host a couple of NCAA Tournament games. You're looking at 16 teams that are going to get to do that. So instead of going into tomorrow saying, 'I'll never get to play in front of the fans again,' you're going to. But embrace the whole process, the whole day. Just when the ball is tipped off make sure we're ready to play.”
Louisville will need to be ready. N.C. State won its first 21 games this season and has played the Cardinals close. The Wolfpack lead the ACC in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense.
“We know N.C. State is going to be a great basketball game,” Walz said. “Our last five meetings have come down to the last two minutes of the game, every single one of them. They're a Top 10 team. They're No. 6 or 7 in the last RPI, so if we can win that game, it's definitely going to help us.”
Walz and the Cardinals are hoping to draw at least 12,900 fans for the game. If they do, they will average better than 10,000 per game in attendance for only the third time in program history.
They deserve it, because they will bid farewell to one of the most accomplished senior classes in program history. They’re three wins away from becoming the winningest class in program history. In the past two seasons, they’re 61-5, with all five of those losses coming to AP Top 25 teams, and three of them to Top 5 teams.
A quick look at the three seniors:
ASIA DURR
She’s the No. 2 scorer in program history, and became it’s fourth 2,000-point scorer earlier this season, joining Angel McCoughtry, Shoni Schimmel and Myisha Hines-Allen on the “Mout Rushmore” of Louisville women’s basketball.
She was ACC Player of the Year last season, and is once again a Wooden Award finalist. She was one of the most decorated recruits in program history as a freshman, but didn’t start a single game after having knee surgery before the season.
Her hallmarks have been dedication and work ethic. She recently shared her daily shooting routine with WDRB’s Tom Lane. But she also has used meditation to help her deal with the challenges of high performance.
Walz said some of his fondest memories of Durr will not even be for things she has done on the court.
“Asia, there's just been so much as I've watched her progression as a player and person,” he said. “Her freshman year, she hated getting in front of a microphone. She had a little stutter and she'd say, 'Gosh, coach,' and I told her, "Just talk to me you'll feel better.' We showed her tape of my first press conference and I told her, 'Look how bad that was. It's OK, just be who you are.' Those are the things we joke about. She'll come back after a press conference and say, 'It was bad tonight coach.' And I can just say, "I've been there.' But those are the moments. It's not when she scores 35 or scoring 47 at Ohio State. It's watching her now when she comes out of this room and was comfortable and says, 'It's great.' That's what you look for as a coach.”
Durr said she expects some emotions Thursday, even if it is not the end.
“I’m going to miss playing here, playing with great teammates, and playing in front of these fans,” she said. “Just being at home. I’ve been here four years. … I don’t think too much about the senior night aspect. I try to view it as just another game and stay focused, while soaking all of the other stuff in. . . . I keep saying, we’re facing a really good team. They have a great coach and they always have a great plan for us. We’ve got to be ready to play well.”
ARICA CARTER
Walz always goes back to Carter’s freshman year, when she didn’t make a single three-pointer, going 0-15 from beyond the arc. He tells the story of drawing up a play for her in the NCAA Tournament, and her getting the ball wide open for a big three and the whole bench standing up, “and she misses, and everyone sits politely back down.”
From there, Carter has improved to a 42.2-percent three-point shooter this season.
“That's really, when you look at what she's done, that's what you can look at,” Walz said. “Coming in here nobody guarded her, and now nobody wants to leave her alone.”
Carter said her thoughts tonight will turn the fans in the KFC Yum! Center.
“I’m so grateful for the fans,” she said. “We’re lucky. A lot of people don’t get this, the number of people who are cheering for us. They lift us up, and because of them we’re always striving to do more.”
Walz said that for Carter to have been around the program for five years is remarkable in a transfer-happy college basketball culture.
“I talk about AC and Sam the same way, because you don't see it very often in today's sports,” Walz said. “It's two kids who came in as freshmen, didn't play a bunch, played limited minutes as freshmen, played a little bit more as sophomores, and normally, in today's day and age, it's time to go. The grass is greener on the other side of the street, I'm getting out of here, I'm not getting what I want out of this. But those two just simply kept working, and knew they could get better if they put the time in and kept preparing themselves for when the opportunity comes, and both have breakout junior years. Instead of complaining about things after their sophomore year, they got into the gym.
They're two players that have been integral parts of a Final Four team, and of a team that's 25-2 now with hopefully a lot of games left to play.”
SAM FUEHRING
She is the team’s No. 2 scorer and top rebounder this season. Walz laughs when he remembers Fuehring’s journey. He and Fuehring have butted heads probably more than any player he’s coached. She has worked to contain her emotional outbursts on the court, but also has been a valuable force inside.
“Sam and I had a love-hate relationship for two years. I just always challenged her. She's as hard-headed as I am. We could sit out there and just beat heads against each other and it would be a perfect day of practice for her. I will say she's one of the highest IQ basketball players that we've had in the 12 years that I've been here. So she can be like, 'I know what I'm doing.' And I'll have to say, 'That's great, but this is what we want you to do.' So we would just go back and forth. But once she realized what I was trying to do for her, and this staff, she knew that we do care for her. . . .
“Sam and I go back and forth,” Walz added. “Then she'll come up and watch film, and it's a joy to watch film with her because she understands the game. She's watching and will say, 'If we do this against this team, I think we can get a layup.' That doesn't happen with everybody, and not many players want to watch film on their own or watch with a coach. They all want to watch themselves, but she'll just come in to watch the next opponent.”
Fuehring remembered, “The first two years were very hard for me mentally. I got mad, I got sad, all the emotions you could think of. It just put me in a hurricane that was really bad. People would try to cut me down, and it wouldn’t work, I would cry. My upbringing is like, my niece and my nanny passed away, and I would do everything for them. And the first two years, it wasn’t going my way and it was frustrating because I couldn’t do anything for them. I would be crying walking out of practice. I couldn’t take it. It wasn’t going my way. But my sophomore summer, I don’t know what switched, but I had a good mentality. I started moving on to next plays. I don’t know what happened. I wish I could give you the answer. I’m just really glad that I stuck to it. . . . I became a much better person and player with the help of coaches and teammates. I came through so much through the four years.”
While Walz will be more focused on the game than the goodbye, he said he will take a moment to remember.
“You’re talking about three wonderful young women who have done a ton not just for our basketball program but, I feel, for our university and our city,” Walz said. “They give back after every single game, especially at home. You look at how they sign autographs and take pictures, and it's easy after a win, but you saw them last Saturday, after a tough loss, I told them, 'You've got to switch the switch, and put a smile on your face and go thank people.' It's not as easy as people think it is, but I have to give credit to these young women. It’s a special group.”
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