Jeff Walz decides on Louisville's all-time starting five
Jeff Walz might get himself in troubling naming an all-time starting five during his tenure as the head coach for Louisville women’s basketball, but he settled upon five players.
The team’s Twitter account asked fans to respond with their all-time starting five last week, beginning a discussion.
Walz started with Monique Reid.
“I still say if Mo [Reid] hadn’t had that knee injury after her sophomore year, Mo could have easily been one of the top five scorers in program history,” Walz said.
Reid, who graduated from Fern Creek High School in Louisville, arrived on campus in 2008. She averaged 5.9 points and 3.8 rebounds during her freshman year as Louisville reached the NCAA national championship game for the first time in program history.
As a sophomore, Reid led the team in scoring and rebounding in 2009-10, averaging 18.4 points and 9.2 rebounds. The forward led the team in scoring for the second straight year as a junior, averaging 15.5 points.
After playing in just eight games in 2011-12 due to a season-ending injury to her left knee, Reid was granted an additional year of eligibility. She played averaged 9.2 points in her final season as Louisville reached the NCAA National Championship game in 2013.
Asia Durr and Angel McCoughtry were Walz’s next picks.
Durr was a First Team All-American and selected as the second overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft. With 2,485 points in her career, ranking second behind McCoughtry, Durr was a prolific perimeter scorer in four seasons at Louisville.
The guard was named ACC Player of the Year twice, the first player in program history to be named conference player of the year multiple times.
After averaging 10.7 points as a freshman in 2015-16, Durr became Louisville’s best scorer as a sophomore. She averaged 19.2 points and surpassed 1,000 career points.
Louisville reached the Final Four in Durr’s junior year as she scored 18.7 points per game. Durr averaged a career-best 21.2 points as a senior. She finished her career with 374 made 3-pointers.
McCoughtry is the program’s leader in career scoring, rebounding and steals. She led Louisville to its first NCAA national championship game in 2009.
McCoughtry, who was the first overall pick by the Atlanta Dream in the 2009 WNBA Draft, averaged 20.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.5 steals in her career at Louisville. McCoughtry was the 2007 Big East Player of the Year and the 2009 Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
Her career point total of 2,779 ranks in the top-30 all-time in NCAA Division I history.
Walz decided upon Shoni Schimmel as his fourth member of the all-time team.
Schimmel helped lead Louisville to the NCAA national championship game in 2013, averaging 14.2 points. As a senior, Schimmel averaged 17.1 points to become the second player in school history to score 2,000 career points.
She was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 WNBA Draft by the Atlanta Dream.
Walz wanted another forward on his team, so he settled on Myisha Hines-Allen.
Hines-Allen averaged 14.3 points and 8.1 rebounds in her four-year career at Louisville, surpassing 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
After being selected to the All-ACC Freshman Team, Hines-Allen was voted the Blue Ribbon Panel ACC Player of the Year as a sophomore. She averaged 17.6 points while shooting 54.7% from the field.
In her final season, Louisville reached the Final Four. Hines-Allen was named the ACC Tournament MVP and named to the First Team All-ACC.
“We have had some special players that have come through this program,” Walz said.
