Unbeknownst to most of you, I've been attempting to parlay this gig into a hip-hop career for some time now. I've got the skills (obviously), but the only holding me back has been the reluctance of any established artist/producer in the game to take a chance on me.

Until now.

@CardChronicle It's no secret you are the #1hiphop head in the city hands down. You can deny it all you want but we all know the truth ;)

— Audio Stepchild (@audiostepchild) May 23, 2012

S/O to @CardChronicle for the support... look for Mike Rutherford to spit hot fire on the next album, mark it!

— Audio Stepchild (@audiostepchild) May 23, 2012

I've spent the past 12 hours locked in a room with nothing but a pen and a pad. Have yet to come up with any puns for the name "Russ." Am I deterred? Absolutely not.

Do you know that Nas originally went with "Santa Cruz State of Mind" on Illmatic instead of "New York State of Mind?" Did you know that I just made that up? I did. Doesn't change the fact that "Santa Cruz State of Mind" would have ruined the entire album.

Inspired.

On Wednesday it was Scout.com showing some love to Louisville's commits in its new class rankings, today it's ESPN.

First up is 2013, where the four letter network now has Anton Gill as a four-star recruit ranked 34th.

As for the class of 2014, ESPN now has Ballard star and Cardinal commit Quentin Snider ranked 26th overall and the fifth highest-rated four-star recruit.

Q (I did it) is one of just two committed players ranked in the top 30. No. 7 Trey Lyles (Indiana) is the other.

This is a solid way to spend at least 3:36 of your Thursday.

The Big East has announced a change in its men's basketball conference tournament for the 2013-14 season when the league is expected to expand to 18 members.

The tournament will no longer feature a straight "double bye" into the quarterfinals for the top four seeds. Instead, the four lowest seeded teams will square off in two "play-in" games on the Monday of tournament week, and then the tournament will proceed in standard form with the remaining 16 teams.

On the Tuesday of tournament week, the top four seeds will play the bottom four seeds in a quartet of first round games. The remaining eight teams will play their first round games on Wednesday. The quarterfinals, semifinals and final will then be played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The coaches believe that the day of rest in between the first round and the quarterfinals will provide the top four seeds with as much or more of an advantage as the current double bye set-up does.

The other proposed option was keeping the tournament form as is and excluding the bottom two teams in the league, but the Big East coaches were unanimous in their support of including all 18 teams in the tournament.

The women's tournament will also include all 18 teams, however its form will not be altered as drastically. The two play-in games will be held on the Thursday of tournament week, and then the remaining 16 teams will play out the remainder of the tournament under the current double bye format.

Top-seeded Louisville saved its ace and still took care of business against No. 8 Pittsburgh with an 8-4 win in the first round of the Big East Tournament Wednesday night.

Cardinal skipper Dan McDonnell opted to save newly-named Big East Pitcher of the Year Justin Amlung and instead gave the ball to sophomore Chad Green. Green (5-0), who had made just four mid-week starts and hadn't thrown more than 1.1 innings against a Big East foe, worked five solid innings and left the game with his team leading 4-1.

"Chad Green is a talented pitcher," McDonnell said. "We had all the confidence in the world that Chad was going to give us a quality start. ... And the key to offense is getting the two-out hits and two-strike hits. It seemed like we did a little bit of both."

The Panthers cut the U of L lead to one at 4-3, but the Cards responded with four two-out runs in the home half of the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Cole Sturgeon may have been the star of stars for Louisville on day one of the tournament. The versatile sophomore was 3-for-5 with a triple, played the first seven innings in left field, and then pitched the final two to earn his third save of the season.

The undisputed offensive MVP, however, was shortstop Alex Chittenden, who was a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish and scored a pair of runs.

"This is not the basketball tournament. You don't get a bye," McDonnell said. "There's no advantage in Big East baseball. It doesn't matter what seed you are. The top four teams get to wear the white uniform the first day. You've got to play. You've got to throw strikes, make all the plays and get timely hits, and we were able to do that tonight."

The Cards will face the winner of Wednesday's nightcap between No. 4 South Florida and No. 5 Connecticut tomorrow night at 8 p.m. The winner of that game will receive an off day on Friday and will be just one victory away from a spot in the Big East title game. Louisville took two of three from both the Bulls and Huskies during the regular season.

Over on the flip side of the bracket, the higher seeds had little trouble notching their first wins of the tournament. No. 2 St. John's pounded seventh-seeded Notre Dame 12-2, while No. 3 Seton Hall beat No. 6 Rutgers 6-1.

Baby Watson might look light, but he heavy though.

The Louisville baseball team is just about to get postseason play underway via a first round Big East Tournament tilt with eighth-seeded Pittsburgh. Conference Pitcher of the Year Justin Amlung will be on the hill for the Cards.

NBC Sports calls the CC thread on Montrezl Harrell from yesterday "epic."

Originally, my intention for this post was to speculate about how Pitino freed up that scholarship. To research some theories, I started perusing some of the Louisville sites when I stumbled upon an epic thread from Card Chronicle, speculating on where the scholarship could be coming from. Here are just a few of the best comments:

Should we live like there's no toMarra? That won't be VanTreese-y... I'd hit Rak bottom.

Rozier being ineligible would be Terryble.

Stop freaking out. Just wait and Siva.

keeping everybody on board would be impRussive.

But Ware are the scholarships coming from?

Hopefully, not from Blackshear. That would Wayne on our parade.

Better not be Gorgui. I don't give a Dieng how bad we need them.

Tough decisions, but that's the Price of excellence.

Luke for the coming announcement.

I'm Behanan to think that you're serious. I think we're out of players.

Is there no Justice anymore!? How can you say we're out of players.

I meant current players! You wanna Swop punches?

No life is all Goode.

Well done, 'Cloids.

Mike DeCourcy's lates early college basketball top 25 for next season has Louisville at No. 3 behind Indiana and...UCLA.

3. Louisville Cardinals

Why they'll finish here: Here's a declaration to ponder: Rick Pitino has coached two Louisville teams into the Final Four, and this will stand as his most talented batch of Cardinals yet. Along with proven quantities such as point guard Peyton Siva, power forward Chane Behanan and center Gorgui Dieng, Louisville now should have a healthy Wayne Blackshear and Mike Marra and a better prepared Kevin Ware available on the wings. The team's March run showed the Cardinals what they're capable of achieving. They might be a bit light on elite players to seize the national title, but they're good enough to be around to grab it if the more gifted teams let it slip.

Why they might not: Like UCLA, Louisville lacks proven 3-point shooting to help keep defenses honest. Unlike Howland, Pitino places a tremendous emphasis on long-distance offense. Even last year, when the Cardinals shot 31.8 percent from 3-point range, they fired nearly a third of their field-goal attempts from deep. Will Pitino install the necessary flexibility in his offense to make Behanan a greater weapon along the baseline?

Key player: Blackshear must become a star. He didn't play much last season because of a shoulder injury, which made his Final Four cameo against Kentucky all the more impressive. He looked like he belonged with the best in the nation - and he'd barely played beforehand.

The big realignment news of the day is the rumor out of absolutely nowhere that the Big East is expected to add either BYU or Air Force in football starting in 2015.

Green jacket, gold jacket.

ESPN lists Gorgui Dieng as the No. 2 shot-blocker in the country heading into next season.

2. Gorgui Dieng (Louisville): Withey and Anthony Davis dominated the headlines in March. But Dieng (3.2 blocks per game), a 6-foot-11 sophomore from Senegal, was a very talented shot-blocker, too. He offered a sneak preview in New Orleans by blocking four shots in the national semifinals against Kentucky. Next season, however, he'll be a star for a top-5 program.

Jeff Withey of Kansas is the only player ranked above The Gorgster.

The four-letter network also has both Teddy Bridgewater and Hakeem Smith in its list of the top ten football players in the Big East.

4. Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville. Bridgewater had a sensational freshman season, winning league Newcomer of the Year honors. Hopes are high for him to build off his impressive campaign in his second year as a starter. Louisville will do more to take advantage of his athleticism, with plans to install some hurry up offense.

6. Hakeem Smith, S, Louisville. Smith has gotten better in each of his seasons with the Cardinals, so this season should feature more of the same. In 2011, he had 84 tackles, tied for second in the league, with nine pass breakups. He also tied for second in the league with three forced fumbles and made the Big East first team.

Pitt running back Ray Graham tops the list.

Inspiring hip-hop albums: it's happening here.

Just so you know, @CardChronicle inspired the entire album. Ask @NappyRoots, they'll agree. #L1C4

— Audio Stepchild (@audiostepchild) May 23, 2012

I hear the Chicken Knowles track goes insanely hard.

In all seriousness, both Audio Stepchild and Nappy Roots are crazy talented, so that tweet is pretty cool.

The pair have also teamed up for a U of L anthem which will be played before football games this year. I've heard it, I've enjoyed it, and I've danced without pants to it.

The most Big Blue Nation thing you'll see today:

The owner of that automobile does not care for anyone who doesn't look, think or act like they do.

Four-star 2013 point guard Zach Lavine tells RecruitingSpotlight.com that he likes "UCLA, Louisville, Washington, Arizona and Memphis" in that order. Lavine is a native of Seattle, home of both Peyton Siva and Terrence Williams...but you knew that.

Terry Rozier has heard just about enough of the "is he eligible" chatter.

I'm going to Terry Rozier University! For all you haters that's SOOOOO concerned! Lol this is my life so y'all decide yours!!!

— Terry Rozier (@GodsGift_3) May 23, 2012

Series "shits" to Boston is actually probably more appropriate than what the editor meant.

Hasn't been a lot of quality basketball played there.

Andrea Adelson tackles the reason behind the Big East still being perceived as a step below the ACC in football despite statistics that tell a different story.

Andrea Adelson: The fact that the Big East has been raided twice in the last 10 years is a huge reason why. Miami was a national power at the time. Virginia Tech has been incredibly successful and so has West Virginia. College football, perhaps more than any other sport, holds onto its history and tradition. People do not look at the facts so much as the teams. Cincinnati? C-USA. Louisville? C-USA. I could go on, but you get my drift. This is still a conference in search of an identity. The ACC has programs that have at least won or played for national titles. That may have been in the way past. Unfortunately, that trumps recent success in the minds of many.

Marcus Smith grinding:

Charlie Strong has reportedly extended a scholarship offer to dual threat Quarterback DeShone Kizer from Toledo. The class of 2014 member has also received early offers from Boston College, Syracuse, Toledo and Bowling Green.

And finally, Miss Kentucky USA is a U of L graduate and also quite the Louisville sports/Card Chronicle fan. You can help give her an automatic pass into the semifinals of the Miss USA Contest by voting here.

Quentin Snider's hot start to the AAU season is already starting to pay off in terms of national attention, as the Ballard star and Louisville commit is rated as the No. 27 overall prospect in the class of 2014 according to the latest Scout.com rankings. Snider is also rated as the sixth-best point guard in the class.

Snider's Louisville Magic teammate, and former Central High star, D'Angelo Russell checks in at No. 15.

Other players of interest for Louisville fans:

Dakari Johnson (4)

Jaquan Lyle (13)

Jalen Lindsey (18)

Shaqquan Aaron (21)

Keita Bates-Diop (40)

I'm trying really hard to hold off on casually referring to Snider as "Q" until he graduates high school. I feel like it's weird until then. Unless he makes it known that he reads and enjoys the site, in which case I'll start Q'ing it up immediately.

After being placed on the cover of Sports Illustrated and given the title of "the best high school player since Lebron" earlier this month, Jabari Parker has become one of the hottest topics in non-professional basketball.

Jody Demling recently caught up with the No. 1 player in the class of 2013, who said that he is considering "about 15" schools, including Louisville. About the Cards, Parker had the following high praise:

"I like Rick Pitino and Louisville. I really like that program a lot."

Landing Parker would still appear to be a longshot, but a phenom making a comment like that about the program is still an encouraging development.