Louisville women’s basketball opened practice Monday afternoon, and before the Cardinals hit the floor at the Planet Fitness Kueber Center, Jeff Walz spent time laying out the shape of the 2026-27 season at his scheduled press conference.
One of the clearest themes from Walz’s comments was that this team should have plenty of options. Louisville had seven players average eight points or more last season, and Walz expects that kind of spread-out scoring to show up again.
“It’s going to be how they gel,” Walz said. “I mean, are you willing to not be the leading scorer every single night, which is what we had last year and they did a great job with it. I think our seven of our first 10 games was a different leading scorer and that’s what this year’s team could be.”
That kind of balance will matter with a roster that includes Virginia Tech transfer Carys Baker, who brings shooting and rebounding to the mix. Baker started all 33 games for the Hokies last season, led the team in minutes, and averaged 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. She also finished in the top 20 in 12 ACC statistical categories, including four top-10 placements.
Walz made it clear what stands out first.
“Carys shoots the ball - it’s pretty impressive,” Walz said. “She has an extremely quick shot, she gets it off. She rebounds the ball well.”
Another new face, LSU transfer forward Amiya Joyner, is eligible right now under a temporary restraining order tied to a case in Louisiana, and Walz said Louisville is preparing with that reality in mind while staying in constant watch of the situation.
“We’re just day by day; we’re just practicing, and we’ll go about it like, right now she’s eligible to play. If something were to change or happen that said she can’t, we’d just treat it like an injury.
It’s like, you were able to play; boom, you can’t now. We’re being very optimistic about everything we’re hearing that’s involved with her case.”
Walz said he has even been using ChatGPT to stay current on the latest developments.
“It’s day-by-day, and I just use my ChatGPT to keep me updated on the algorithm on if there are any new updates on that case,” Walz said. “Then, it just spits it out to me. Then, I have to call somebody to have to explain that to me.”
Louisville also has a coach coming back to town in November with a familiar face on the other sideline. The Cardinals play Alaska Anchorage on Nov. 21 in Anchorage, and Matt Thune, now the Seawolves’ head coach, got his start on Walz’s Louisville staff from 2012 to 2015. During that stretch, the Cardinals won at least 25 games each season, reached three Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights, and finished national runner-up in 2013.
“Being somebody who wanted the opportunity to be a head coach, I know what it means, and I know how hard it is to keep the job,” Walz said.
Walz also pointed to forward Elif Istanbulluoglu as someone who has already taken a meaningful jump and still has more room to grow. She started all 36 games last season and increased her scoring from 3.0 points as a sophomore to 10.1 as a junior. Her offseason included time with the Turkey National Team, and Walz said that experience and her work over the summer have shown up.
“She has put the time in the work in,” Walz said. “She had a really good summer great experience with the national team, and just her mindset having the success she had last year is really just helped her become the player she is right now.
And that’s what we need - we need her to take the next step. If she can make just half of the improvement that she made from sophomore to junior year from junior to senior it’s going to be really exciting to see what she does for us.”
In Other News...
Wake Forest Faces A Brutal Road Test For Gio Lopez
Louisville and Wake Forest arrive at this ACC matchup with similar early-season rsums and plenty to sort out before the league race settles in. The Cardinals are 2-1 and have leaned on a productive rushing attack while playing clean football, and the Demon Deacons are also 2-1 after showing they can hang around in competitive games. Both staffs have already spent the week talking up the challenges ahead, which is usually a sign the opener to conference play is going to demand a little more than just basic September execution.
For Wake Forest, the bigger concern is keeping Gio Lopez upright against a Louisville front that has been steady and disruptive without giving the ball away. The Cardinals have yet to put themselves in obvious trouble with turnovers, and that kind of discipline can make life uncomfortable for an offense still trying to settle in around its quarterback. How Wake Forest handles pressure will go a long way toward determining whether this turns into a manageable road test or a long afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
Louisville Enters Week 4 With ACC Momentum And One Backfield Debate
Louisville heads into Week 4 with a little more confidence after opening ACC play by beating SMU, and the next stop brings Wake Forest into the picture. The Demon Deacons are coming off a conference loss to Miami, while the Cardinals are trying to build on a win that gave their early season a cleaner look on both sides of the ball. For a team trying to establish itself in league play, this is the kind of game that can help set the tone before the schedule gets any tougher.
The more interesting subplot inside Louisvilles own locker room is in the backfield, where the carries have not told the whole story. Isaac Brown remains the more familiar name, but Keyjuan Brown has been making his case with efficiency and production that have started to sharpen the discussion around how the Cardinals should divide their workload. With Louisville carrying momentum and the matchup tilting in its favor, the only real question is how much the ground game can keep opening doors before the conference race tightens up. [Read more 🡒]
Louisvilles Fast Start Is Raising A Much Bigger Question
Louisvilles early-season picture has been a mix of promise and unfinished business, with the Cardinals showing enough offensive balance to keep piling up points while still leaving room for concern on the other side of the ball. Multiple running backs helped drive the attack, quarterback Kienholz added his own key moments, and the teams 2-1 start has already included a close loss to a top-ranked opponent, a reminder that the margin for error is thin even when the offense is humming.
The bigger question now is whether those fast starts can hold up once the pressure rises and the schedule keeps tightening, beginning with Wake Forest. Louisville has already lived through a game in which it gave up too much on the ground but still found ways to survive, so the next step is less about flash and more about consistency. If the Cardinals are going to turn this start into something bigger, they will need the same offensive variety and a defense that can keep making the right stops when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]