Louisville women’s coach chides Bevin because UK men’s team got kudos that his team didn’t

University of Louisville women’s basketball head coach Jeff Walz called out Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin Saturday, after the governor congratulated the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team on advancing to the Elite Eight but didn’t immediately offer congrats to Walz’s team, which also advanced in the NCAA tournament Friday night.

The governor tweeted his congratulations to the UK team at 12:50 a.m.

Walz tweeted at the governor just before 8 a.m., saying he “thought you might want to know you have a group of young women @UofLWBB that will be playing in the Elite 8 Sunday also. I’ll make sure to let my players know you said congrats!”

The governor later congratulated the women in a tweet, saying “Congratulations to a great team @uoflwbb, as they advance to the Elite 8! So happy for my good friend @UofLPresNeeli and for all of Cards Nation.”

UofL plays Connecticut Sunday.

Walz told the Associated Press, “I was just trying to be helpful. I mean, you know, it’s our second year in a row. We went to a Final Four last year, and I’m not sure he knew there was a women’s basketball team at Louisville or in the state.

“He was tweeting at Kentucky men for advancing, and I didn’t say anything last year, and that’s fine. But I thought, you know what, these young women are pretty impressive, and I think as our governor, if you’re going to tweet at a men’s basketball team at any school, you should at least have someone hopefully letting you know that, hey, there are women that play, too, and you’ve got a pretty good program at Louisville that advanced to the Sweet 16.”