LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For five straight seasons, Louisville women's basketball was parked among the sport's elite. Five straight Elite Eights. Two Final Fours. The kind of consistency few programs could match — and even fewer could afford to chase.
Then the game changed.
It became less about facilities, culture, and long-term program-building. And more about cold, hard cash.
In the current landscape of name, image and likeness deals and portal bidding wars, Louisville is no longer competing on the lead lap financially. Not with Kentucky just up the road. Not with the top teams in the ACC. And not with national powers like LSU, South Carolina, UConn, and others on this year's schedule.
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But as Jeff Walz has made clear, the standard hasn't changed.
"We've got to be that team that when people see us, they're like, 'Hey, they play hard,'" Walz told a crowd of more than 1,000 at the program's Tipoff Luncheon last week. "We've lost that the past two years. And we've got to get that back if we want to continue to move our program forward."
That message has only grown sharper.
At media day Wednesday, Walz expanded on the theme, not as a talking point, but as a baseline for survival. He's spent the last few weeks drilling toughness back into his team. Charges. Loose balls. Rebounding. Not hoping for it. Demanding it.
"If we want to win at the level we're used to winning at, then we're going to have to have that toughness," he said.
That's the formula. Not money. Not flash. Just the same thing that got Louisville there in the first place.
Defense. Grit. Loose balls. Charges. Rebounds. Relentless effort.
It used to be built-in. The program kept a steady core — players like Angel McCoughtry, Shoni Schimmel, Myisha Hines-Allen, Asia Durr, Dana Evans — and they passed that mentality down. They didn't let newcomers play soft.
Now? The turnover is constant. New faces, new countries, new styles. Walz joked Monday that he only recently got all the names down. The team has players from four continents. Several only arrived weeks ago after playing for their national teams this summer. Chemistry takes time. Toughness takes urgency.
"You're trying to change some things from some kids where they might not have had that physicality or that toughness," Walz said. "And you're trying to instill it in them."
He's not sugarcoating it.
The coaching has changed, too. Walz says he's softened over the years — or at least, he encourages more than he used to. But the standard? That hasn't changed.
"You look at some of our teams — our '09 team, our '13 team — we had some talent, but I'm not sure anybody thought we'd be playing in a national championship game. But because we were tough, we were diving after loose balls. … And when you start advancing, those games come down to one possession."
He's right. March is about margins. So is the NIL era.
Louisville isn't going to buy its way back to the Final Four. That doesn't mean it can't get there. It just means it has to do it the hard way, literally.
Walz says they've taken more charges in the past three days of practice than in the entire month prior. He wants physicality on the glass. He wants guards picking up full court. He wants players who embrace contact — not avoid it. And he's pushing his returning players like Tajianna Roberts and Imari Berry to lead the way.
"Jayda (Curry) is not out there anymore," he said. "So now the best defender might be guarding you. How are you going to handle that?"
He's also found toughness in newcomers like Laura Ziegler, a native of Denmark who averaged a double-double at St. Joseph's last season, and Ukranian forward Yevheniia Petra, who most recently played in a pro league in Spain. And there's returning junior Elif Istanbulluoglu, who played with her country's senior team, and then its U-20 team, all summer.
Louisville is also looking for McDonald's All-American Mackenly Randolph to assert herself on the front line after struggling much of last season with a foot injury.
"Elif has been doing a really nice job. She had a great summer," Walz said. "And Laura had a really good summer internationally and has obviously been more impactful her first three years at St. Joe's and is really coming into her own. I think those two are really going to be important for us. And Yev has really come in here the past month and shown her toughness. ... She's not going to back down from anyone."
This is the equation now — a mix of international experience, local investment, and internal fire. The pieces are different. The sport is different. But the path forward is familiar.
"Back to who we are," Walz said.
That won't guarantee wins. But in a landscape increasingly dominated by cash, Louisville is looking to win with commitment.
And Walz sounds ready to lead that kind of fight.
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