At Louisville, a heralded freshman class promises to lift the Cardinals to new heights

In seven games this season, a young Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball squad is 5-2 and quickly growing into a potent force. The Cardinals currently stand at No. 23 in the AP Top 25, but are certain to climb after taking down the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder on Saturday, 79-71. 

Like so many college basketball teams across the nation, Louisville has a different look this year. Head coach Jeff Walz welcomed nine new players to the ‘Ville this fall, including eight true freshmen. The newcomers include a bevy of 4 and 5-star recruits, a crop good enough to be ranked sixth best in the country by ESPN.  

The list of new players includes some celebrity names, such as Izela Arenas, daughter of NBA star Gilbert Arenas, and MacKenly Randolph, daughter of former NBA All-Star Zach Randolph.

But the real gem in this cluster of recruits may be Tajianna Roberts, a 5-foot 10 guard from San Diego, Cal. Roberts bolted onto the college basketball landscape in the opening game of the season, a high-voltage matchup against powerhouse UCLA on Nov. 4 in Paris, France.  

Roberts scored a game-high 21 points in a hard-fought loss to the Bruins, 66-59. The smooth and lengthy guard played all but four minutes of the contest, yet Roberts didn’t turn the ball over a single time. She also displayed her three-level scoring ability, draining four three-pointers and finishing an assortment of impressive drives to the hoop.

Roberts currently leads the Cardinals in scoring with 11.9 points per game. On Saturday, playing at altitude against a Colorado team that hadn’t lost a non-conference home tilt in 7 years, Roberts contributed 13 points, two assists and four steals in Louisville’s most complete performance of the young season.

After the game, Olivia Cochran, a fifth year senior and one of the most decorated players in Louisville history, sung Roberts’ praises.  

“Tajianna stepped up big time today defensively,” Cochran told The Next.  “She hit some big shots as well. [The freshmen] just all stepped up, and everybody just played their role, and we got big stops today.”

When asked to reflect on how she’s managed to be so successful so soon in her career, Roberts reflected on the merits of trusting the process.

“I think the biggest thing for me is just confidence, you know, and just trusting in myself and the work that I put in and practice day in and day [out],” Roberts told The Next.  “And I think a big thing is the trust within my teammates and my coaches, you know, they’re always telling me, you know, just continuing to instill confidence in me like you got it, we need you. So I think that’s a big, important piece for me, is the way that the leadership we have on this team, and the way we’re able to support each other, I think that’s been very good for me.”

Another freshman who’s making big contributions is Randolph, a 6-foot forward from Los Angeles. Like Roberts, Randolph has started every game for Louisville so far and has emerged as one of the most important leaders on the team.

“[S]he’s our most vocal player on the team by far,” Walz told reporters at media day on Oct. 24.  “You know, in practice, she’s talking, she’s in there, she’s talking, she’s on the side, she’s talking. It does not matter. And those are the small things I’m trying to get the rest of them to start to do on a consistent basis. So when you’ve got that in you, the ability when, hey, things might not be going great for you, but I can still talk and encourage, then it’s what leaders are made of. And that’s where I’m hoping she’ll continue to progress, have success on the basketball court, because I know what she’s going to do off the court, and that’s encouraging, [to] try and make sure everybody’s on the same page.”

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Yet another impactful freshman is Arenas, a diminutive point guard who, like Randolph, played at Sierra Canyon prep school in California before joining Walz’s impressive recruiting class at Louisville.  

Arenas hasn’t cracked the starting lineup yet, but the four-star recruit received an opportunity to play significant minutes for the first time in her young collegiate career against Colorado on Saturday. The freshman responded in a big way, scoring a season-high 11 points, grabbing three rebounds, dishing two assists, and stealing the ball twice in 27 minutes of playing time.

After the game, Walz told The Next why he decided to give Arenas a chance to shine in Boulder.

“She had three really good days of practice. I texted her the other day, you know, before we flew out here, I’m like, ‘Hey, I feel good for you because now you’ve had you put back-to-back-to-back days together, and that gives me the confidence that you can go out and do it.’ And I think she’s also realizing how hard this is in the amount of work you have to put into it if you want to be really good. And I was excited for it, because she really did work hard this past week, and then it translated to the game.”

And, there’s more. Much more. Louisville’s top recruit in 2024 arguably is Imari Berry, a 5-foot-10 guard from Clarksville, Tenn. The No. 19 overall rated recruit by ESPN, Berry was a McDonald’s All-American and the 2024 Tennessee Girls Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year.  

Berry has come off the bench to give Louisville a boost in all seven games so far this season. She’s averaging 9.9 points per game, along with four rebounds and 1.7 assists. She tallied a game-high 21 points in a 107-70 home win against Morehead State on Nov. 21.  

“Amari is making progress as we’ve gone here for the first few months,” Walz told reporters on media day. “But she is an extremely talented kid that can score the basketball. She’s a little bit too unselfish for me right now. She looks to pass before she looks to try to score. And as I’ve tried to explain to her, if you look to pass first all the time, it’s not going to be there, because nobody’s going to give you respect or [be] worried about your scoring. So I’d rather have you attack the basket, go up the score, and if help comes, make the pass … But overall, [she’s] very coachable, she wants to be elite, and she works at that level, so I’ve got great expectations for her… ”

Not every impactful newcomer for Walz is a freshman. Ja’Leah Williams, a senior transfer from Miami, has started every game for the Cardinals so far this season and leads the team in assists with 5.1 helpers per game.  

“She’s been great,” Walz said at Media Day. “She is one that can put pressure on the ball 94 feet. She’s able to, you know, disrupt an offense. We’re going to need her to do those things. I’ve talked to her, she’s got to be willing to take chances at the defensive end of the floor, come up with some steals off the ball, and not necessarily always trying to pick someone as they’re bringing up the floor. . . . So she is one that has really brought a different level of energy for us at the defensive end.”

And although the heralded freshman class is the top story at Louisville this season, Walz has a talented core of returning players to compliment the newcomers. 

The headliner in this group is Cochran, a 6-foot-3 senior whose 1,259 career points heading into the season ranks 18th all-time in Louisville history. Last week, Cochran played her 140th game in a Cardinals uniform, placing her in the top ten on the all-time list for games played at Louisville.

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Asked to reflect on these accomplishments, Cochran largely demurred.

“[I’m] just happy to be here, doing everything I can for Coach Walz and [the] staff,” Cochran told The Next after Saturday’s win over Colorado. “You know, I’m saying they take good care of me, so I look out for them as well. I’m just like I said, happy to be here.”

Overhearing this response, Tajianna Roberts felt compelled to interject.

“I think that speaks a lot to Olivia. The fans love her. She’s been here for five years. You know, when Olivia walks in, you know, the crowd loves her. And I think it’s very special. She’s been here for a long time. And I think what she’s created and showed people who she is is just something special.”

Another returner, Nyla Harris, provides a little bit of everything for Walz’s squad. A 6-foot-2 junior forward, Harris led the Cardinals last season in field goal percentage (.569), double-doubles (6), rebounds per game (6.6), and was one of four players to average over 10 points per game (10.6).  Against Colorado on Saturday, Harris led the team in minutes (31), points (14), free throws (4), rebounds (4), and blocks (1).  

At 5-2 one month into the season, the Cardinals look to be on track to contend for an ACC title and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, as they so often have done in Walz’s 17 years at the helm. But Walz certainly sees room for improvement.

“Well, we’ve got to get consistency from behind the three point line,” Walz told The Next after defeating Colorado on Saturday. “You know, we shoot the ball well in practice… [and] we shot it really well two games ago, and then we go 4-for-17 today. Our free throw shooting got a little bit better. That’s an area that we’re trying to continue to work on, and then just executing on offense, you know, setting… screens and the tempo that we play at is what we’ve really been trying to work on.”

Walz is the winningest coach in program history and has led Louisville to 15 NCAA tournament appearances, 12 Sweet 16’s, eight Elite Eight’s, four trips to the Final Four and two appearances in the national title game (2009 and 2013). Prior to his arrival, Louisville had never reached a Sweet 16.

So, what’s the ceiling for the 2024-25 Cardinals?  

“I think the freshmen, by the time we start up [play in] our conference, they’re going to be sophomores by then, because they will have played enough minutes,” Walz told The Next. “And if we can get the urgency to understand how important every possession is, it’s a team that could be, you know, one that you might not want to play come March.”

The Cardinals will complete non-conference play with two more marquee matchups, including a home tilt against No. 8 Oklahoma on Dec. 4, and then a nationally televised contest against No. 2 UConn at the Barclays Center on Dec. 7.  

When asked about how excited the Cardinals will be to play UConn before a national television audience, team captain Olivia Cochran would have none of it.

“[We’ve] got Oklahoma first. We’re worried about Oklahoma. We’re not worried about UConn right now. One game at a time, one game at a time, that’s all we got.”

It’s tempting to look at this squad with its heavy reliance on freshmen players and dismiss it as a work in progress, a unit to be reckoned with in the future perhaps, but not a present threat to the established order of UConn, UCLA, South Carolina and USC. Yet in a basketball landscape where virtually every team is a work in progress, there’s no reason to think that this Cardinals club can’t come together and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.   

Under Walz’s leadership, a blended group of freshmen and veterans is coming together fast. The excitement in seeing progress from game-to-game is palpable. And the challenging schedule is forging a battle-hardened group that is learning quickly how and what it takes to win at home or on the road. 

Jeff Walz and the Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team have never won a national championship. Something about this group implies that that’s going to change, sooner or later.

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