Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin Says Jeff Walz Was 'Outcoached' During Louisville's Elite Eight Loss
Kentucky governor Matt Bevin blames Louisville coach Jeff Walz for the team's Elite Eight loss in the women's NCAA tournament this year.
Speaking on WHAS-840, Bevin said that Walz was "outcoached" during the Cardinals' defeat against the No. 2 seeded UConn Huskies.
"I feel bad saying this, but it's true. If he'd been a little more focused on game strategy and coaching that weekend, and a little less on this kind of silliness, the better team would have won," Bevin said. "We got outcoached, straight up."
On March 30, Walz called out Bevin after the governor took to Twitter to congratulate the Kentucky men's basketball team on its trip to the Elite Eight but overlooked Louisville's similar accomplishment. The Cardinals were one win away from the Final Four after beating Oregon State 61–44 in the Sweet 16.
While Bevin did not acknowledge Walz's tweet directly, he did later praise the Cardinals. Based on the comments made Wednesday, Bevin did not take being called out lightly.
"We were expected to beat Connecticut," Bevin said of the matchup between the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals and No. 2 seed UConn Huskies in Albany, N.Y. "We should have beat Connecticut. It's disappointing because our women's team in Louisville was phenomenal. And they've been, well, outcoached. ... I've tweeted about them every single year I've been governor.
"This kind of silly distraction was an unforced error on the coaching staff's part that in hindsight they should be regretting," Bevin added. "How many texts did you see from Geno at UConn? None."
Louisville lost 80–73.
