Apparently this is "Postgame Gorgs with a giant bag of gummy bears hidden under his sweatshirt."...and Jon Blanchard.

Gummy Gorgs has potential.

Obviously, the big tidbit from Rick Pitino's radio show was that Wayne Blackshear has been medically cleared to play in games, but here are a couple of other notes:

--He spent a great deal of time praising the Big East's addition of Memphis and the conference as a whole. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks at this point.

--Says Russ Smith is so bad in practice that if you watched you wouldn't understand why he ever plays in games.

--He was asked what Gorgui has been doing differently in recent weeks to stay out of foul trouble and said that he'd rather not answer.

--Said the same things about Angel and Zach that he's been saying for weeks (both are going to be great, both are getting better, both are terrible passers).

And that was about it.

Kind of a cool moment for me last night as the column I wrote about Duke/North Carolina was on the top of the Twitter national news feed both during and immediately after the game.

You'd think the fact that a piece about Louis Vuitton condoms was just three stories down would dampen my excitement, and, yeah, you'd be right because it kind of did.

Congratulations to Jerry Smith who was named and NBDL All-Star earlier this week. Jerry heads into the break averaging 17.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists for the Springfield Armor.

It appears West Virginia and the Big East are nearing a settlement that will allow the Mountaineers to leave for the Big 12 in all sports for the 2012-13 season.

Obviously, the move would leave the Big East with just seven members for the 2012 football season. One of the proposed resolutions to this problem is reportedly having Syracuse and Rutgers play each other twice. I'm not entirely sure how that proposal came to me (proximity, I assume), but it's...kind of hilarious.

It'll be interesting to see if the league can find a way to get Boise State or someone else on board right away to get back to eight teams.

Follow-up story: This would greatly increase the likelihood of Louisville going from being picked last before the season to preseason favorite in just one year.

Double follow-up story: Charlie Strong.

Charles Dickens writing about the time he spent in Louisville in 1842. He's remarkably lucid and Internet-savvy for someone his age.

Deniz Kilicili as Mr. Larson from Happy Gilmore:

Also, this is Kilicili's Twitter avatar:

Pretty sure he's familiar with the Mountaineer comparisons.

Here's a professional tip for the fellas: If you have an engaged female friend, you can pretty much guilt trip her into doing anything for you simply by saying, "you're gonna be a wife soon."

Does it make you a bad person? Oh, absolutely. But if you're already a bad person, why go to the trouble of getting off the couch to get a paper towel when there's a far easier solution to the issue right there?

Follow-up note: This DOES NOT work after the woman gets married. In fact, it's pretty much the exact opposite. When you do see her - which will be increasingly rare - she's not going to do anything for anyone in the room with a penis.

The words above are indisputable.

Rivals came out with its new top 250 for the class of 2013, and both Trinity's James Quick (194) and Jason Hatcher (221) made the cut. Trinity's Ryan White and Louisville commit Kyle Bolin (Lex Cath) fell out of the rankings.

Eric Wood sums up my thoughts quite well:

It's not just hard to believe, it's inaccurate.

Matt Hayes of the Sporting News joins the crowd of those who believe Louisville will eventually head to the Big 12.

Eventually, the Big 12 will move beyond 10 teams and add Louisville. A BCS source close to the situation told Sporting News the Big 12 is waiting for West Virginia's lawsuit with the Big East to be resolved before moving forward. Despite the Big 12's public comments, it doesn't want to be the only major conference without a championship game-and doesn't want to go much longer without the benefit of revenue the game brings.

I'm not willing to go so far as to say "it's going to happen," because God knows we've seen how quickly things can change, but I'm almost positive that right now the plan is definitely for it to happen.

Bob Huggins was pretty down today in the wake of his team's tough loss to Notre Dame on Wednesday, but he did take a brief moment to talk about Louisville.

"They're good," Huggins said. "Typical of Rick's teams, they get better this time of year. They're very versatile defensively. They can press you. They can play that 2-3 zone. They're very capable of playing man. They're going to put you in a lot of odd-numbered situations because of how well they play the pick and roll."

Jim Burr would have tossed Herb Pope for headbutting last night if Pope didn't suck at headbutting.

Pitino still wants Temple in the Big East. I still want Florida. There's only room enough for one of us in this town.

Best of luck to the 25th-ranked U of L softball team, which will open its season at a tournament in Miami on Friday.

Be careful who you ask to play through the next time you're on the golf course.

A very interesting story on Griffin Uhl, a Division-I football prospect who goes to a high school where they don't play football. Apparently Louisville is among the schools that have expressed interest.

Change the exclamation point to an interrobang and I'm buying 50:

Louisville is back in ESPN's power rankings at No. 22.

Some good stuff on Louisville signee Kevin Houchins.

"Not too many people get this opportunity," Houchins said.

Houchins (6-0, 180) thanked his parents and joked, "They raised a good son."

He picked Louisville over Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Miami of Ohio, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan.

Houchins committed to the Cardinals before the season started, then hurt his knee and missed most of the season. Louisville didn't back away from its interest in the defensive back.

"That made my commitment more solid," Houchins said. "They believe in me as a player. That really sold me on Louisville."

Atwood liked that the Cardinals didn't back away.

"They showed their character by staying with him after the knee injury," Atwood said.

The rosters for this year's McDonald's All-American game were announced Thursday. Louisville commit Terry Rozier did not make the cut.

You know who else wasn't a McDonald's All-American? Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr....Hulk Hogan.

And finally, the official word on FW is out.

"He's been cleared to play in games," Pitino told SiriusXM on Thursday. "We're shooting for another week at DePaul, but I don't want to rush him.

"He's obviously going to be very good down the road and we think he'll make an impact this year, but he won't start for us. He'll be a factor, though."

A factor in me wondering where the hell my pants went.

Arizona native Gianna Pruden says being a U of L fan motivates her to get out of bed every morning.

It's funny that she brings up beds because it looks like we have the same comforter. And it is hard to get out of.

No idea who is or isn't in the Big East anymore.

Congrats to the women's team on their valiant effort against No. 3 Connecticut last night. By all accounts the crowd was tremendous.

The other big story out of the night was Husky coach Geno Auriemma saying after the game that he hopes Louisville will give him a call to be their new head coach once Jeff Walz bolts for Tennessee. I don't think I'm alone in having zero idea what he's talking about.

Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin are still going at it over Louisville, West Virginia and the Big 12.

Each man has close ties to their university sports teams. In 1965, Manchin was awarded a scholarship to play quarterback at the university. And when he was governor in 2006, he helped launch the Coal Bowl, an annual game between West Virginia and Marshall University.

McConnell - an alum from Louisville from the class of 1964 who has a scholarship program named after him - attends virtually every home football game, decked out in his Cardinal red. He makes the rounds with fans as they tailgate before the game.

"It's right up there with campaign finance reform, which is on an intensity scale 12 out of 10," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said when asked about McConnell's passion for Louisville football.

Best episode ever.

Gerod Holliman, Keith Brown and James Burgess are on campus and happy to be here.

Lost Lettermen has LaBradford Smith at No. 7 and Darrell Griffith at No. 1 on its list of the top ten dunking guards in college basketball history.

Speaking of Griffith, the 1980 Louisville Cardinals are credited by some with being the inventors of the high-five, and the other day I was thinking about the evolution of the high-five and its significance to people my age.

Just behind walking, learning how to high-five is basically the second major motor skill people my age learned. We were taught by our parents, who then made us show off their parenting skills by performing the feat at any social gathering, which led to us having to re-perform it for every adult male in the area trying to say "hey, look how good I am with kids, babe" to his significant other without actually uttering the words. When we got a little bit older we started high-fiving with our friends, and it was cool. Then it became uncool and we all started doing our own personal "ghetto shake" rendition. High-fiiving then got cool again a little while after puberty, but only because we did it ironically. Now we're adult males, we still high-five, and none of us have any idea if we're still being ironic or not.

Whatever. High five.

Troll so hard, Digger.

We talked a little bit about it on the radio show last night, but I fully support Gisele Bundchen's vehement defending of Tom Brady when she got heckled by fans after the Super Bowl. Isn't that a spouse is supposed to do?

To take it a step further, I thought it was extremely refreshing to see a celebrity in a marriage actually acting like they genuinely care about the person they're married to. I don't know what to say, I've been looking for some sign that true love exists ever since Seal and Heidi Klum called it quits.

Yes, this is what you're missing when you don't listen to our radio show.

Speaking of our radio show, we were joined last night by CBS' Brett McMurphy, who has been the go-to-guy in the national media during this entire expansion drama. He touched on a lot of different issues, but the main note for U of L fans is that he said he does expect the Big 12 to expand, and that when that happens there's no question that they're going to invite Louisville. As for when this all might go down...no idea.

Have gotten a lot of feedback on my Duke/UNC column for SB Nation today. I'm not sure any of the U of L/UK fans who have messaged me actually read it, or at the very least, noted the word "defining" in the headline.

This would be the moment where I point out that I wrote this for the dot com a little over a month ago.

Loved hearing that there was a national shoutout to Scotty Davenport and the Bellarmine University Fighting Mike Rutherfords during the game Monday night.

Going to go ahead and assume it was all Bilas' doing since he continues to grow closer and closer to becoming my personal Jesus (Depeche Mode) every day.

Second best part of the broadcast might have been this guy:

Big 12 on the mind

Tennessee congressman Steve Cohen is pumped that Memphis is headed to the Big East, and made it a note to give Rick Pitino a quick shoutout in his statement on the matter today.

"I am thrilled that my hometown team and alma mater, the University of Memphis, is being invited to join the Big East," U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said in a statement. "Joining the Big East will not only be great for the University of Memphis, but it will be an economic catalyst for the City of Memphis.

"Thanks to Louisville coach Rick Pitino for his strong support. And congratulations to Dr. Shirley Raines and R.C. Johnson."

Derrick Caracter was waived by the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. Best of luck to him going forward.

That news reminded me of what has to be the tweet of Gary Parrish's life:

On a somewhat related note, did you see Earl Clark and Tyler Hansbrough get into it a little bit the other night? Maybe a little leftover bad blood from the '08 game.

Arizona? Man, I don't think I ever been there before (Earl Clark voice).

Rivals released its first top 100 for the class of 2013 and the consensus appears to be that it's complete crap. The fact that there are zero players from the state of Kentucky listed would seem to back that up.

Louisville's RPI rating is now all the way up to 22, and the Cards have chance to make another significant jump considering their next two games are against teams rated 26th (West Virginia) and 1st (Syracuse) in the rankings. U of L owns five victories over teams with RPIs in the top 40 - Memphis (20), Connecticut (25), Vanderbilt (29), Seton Hall (33) and Long Beach State (36).

And finally, why wouldn't you shell out 60 bucks for this piece of art? Pre-owned, shmee-shmowned.

Subheading: Louisville officially begins 2013-14 basketball season 2-0 (DePaul Day).

Here's a portion of the release from Providence:

The BIG EAST Conference has formally announced the addition of the University of Memphis, an institution with a national profile that has achieved impressive athletic success, as a full conference member. The Tigers will begin competing in the BIG EAST in the 2013-14 academic year.

The BIG EAST Conference Board of Directors, by a unanimous vote of its Presidents, extended the invitation for membership to Memphis.

The addition of Memphis brings the BIG EAST's football membership to 12 schools. Ultimately, the BIG EAST will have 17 full members. In December, the BIG EAST announced the additions of the University of Central Florida, University of Houston and Southern Methodist University as full members and Boise State University and San Diego State University as football members. In January, the Naval Academy was added as a football member.

The addition of Memphis, along with the five schools announced in December and Navy, will boost the BIG EAST's television reach to more than 31 million homes, which is nearly 28 percent of all U.S. television households. Thirteen conference members will be located among the top 30 television markets and 17 will be in the top 50.

The BIG EAST already had the largest media footprint in college athletics and the addition of Memphis makes that footprint even larger.

"Over the past decade, the University of Memphis has demonstrated an unwavering commitment of competing at the highest level in college sports," said BIG EAST Commissioner John Marinatto. "The University has positioned itself for long-term success by upgrading facilities and investing wisely in various areas of the athletic department including coaching and administration. We are confident that the addition of this outstanding athletics program located in a top 50 media market and in the heart of the nation's largest conference footprint will further propel the BIG EAST and the University of Memphis to even greater levels of success in the future."

"It is with great pleasure that we officially welcome the University of Memphis to the BIG EAST Conference," stated Judy Genshaft, University of South Florida President and Chair of the BIG EAST Board of Directors. "Our Board was very impressed with the University, its ongoing commitment to academic and athletic excellence, as well as its strong community support. We are excited about renewing old relationships, starting new ones and look forward to working together with President Raines and her team in the future."

Just a reminder than Mark Ennis and I will be back on the air tonight from 7-9 on ESPN Radio 680. You can also catch the show streaming live on ESPNLouisville.com.

We'll talk college hoops, last night's big win and have Yahoo Sports national columnist Dan Wetzel on in the first hour. Then in hour two, Brett McMurphy of CBS will join to talk about the Big East's addition of Memphis and what, if anything, it means for Louisville's potential move to the Big 12.

We'll also be taking calls from you at (502) 267-9680.

This is also your thread to talk Kentucky/Florida, Ohio State/Purdue, the Louisville ladies vs. UConn, Teen Mom 2 (Leah cheated on Corey AGAIN...girl is straight trash, y'all) or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Memphis and the Big East Conference are in the final stages of negotiations to make the Tigers an all-sports member of the conference beginning in 2013, this according to Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com.

When contacted by CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish about the move to the Big East, Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson declined comment. An official announcement of the Tigers' move to the Big East could be made as early as this week, sources said.

While the addition of Memphis is for all sports, the Tigers' men's basketball program would help offset the future losses of men's basketball powers Syracuse, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

When Memphis joins the league, it's unknown what the Big East's football and basketball membership will consist of. That's because West Virginia appears it will join the Big 12 this summer and will not honor the Big East's 27-month exit requirement. However, both WVU and the Big East have filed lawsuits against each other and a Rhode Island judge ordered the parties into non-binding mediation with a deadline of Thursday.

To me, the move sends a pretty clear message that the Big East thinks it at least probable, if not inevitable, that Louisville will be making the move to the Big 12 at some point. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Some additional thoughts on what Memphis' move to the Big East might mean for Louisville, should U of L not leave the conference, can be found here.

And the plot thickens for 73rd time.

James "Baby Gorgs" Wolff could not be more excited about tonight's game. He also made special note that he wanted to send a shootout to Sara Hammond, No. 10 on the women's team.

You're a smooth customer, BG.

Spread check: Louisville by 4.

No official word on Gorgui's status for tonight, although I'll be stunned if he doesn't start.

Side note: thank you to the many UK fans who emailed or messaged me the fact that they had seen or heard Dieng was in a walking boot today. Your selfless and genuine concern, as always, is unsurpassed.

Congrats to the Louisville baseball team, which has been selected as the preseason favorite in the Big East by Baseball America. The publication also tabbed RHP Matt Koch as its preseason Pitcher of the Year, and RHP Nick Burdi as the league's top newcomer.

U of L also announced that the Cards will be holding a preseason scrimmage on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The scrimmage is open to the public and admission is free.

Louisville jumped a spot from No. 6 to No. 5 in the new Big East bloggers power rankings.

Big Boi from Outkast is showing Cardinal love once again, wearing another U of L camo cap in a new music video.

Who is DJ Drama? Clueless like Shaggy and Scooby before commercial break.

U of L is a rising six seed in Joe Lunardi's new Bracketology. Meanwhile, the Cards jumped all the way up to a four over at SB Nation.

Congrats to Jerry Smith, who has been named the NBADL Player of the Week after averaging 26.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists in two victories last week.

Congrats to both the men's and women's swim and dive teams, which dominated Kentucky over the weekend. The men defeated the Wildcats 188-107, while the women prevailed 183-107.

U of L's class of 2012 is rated as the second best in the Big East by Rivals.

2. Louisville

? Commit List ? CardinalSport.com ? Message Board Headliner: Coach Charlie Strong is known as a dynamic recruiter, especially in Florida, but he truly proved his talents by landing linebacker Nick Dawson from Charlotte (N.C.) Phillip O' Berry. Dawson, at 6-foot-3 and 228 pounds, moves extremely well for his size, especially laterally, closes very well to the ball and has impressive instincts. Sleeper: Defensive end Pedro Sibiea committed to Louisville in December but had kept his mind open to other options. After listening to a handful of schools and taking an official visit to Minnesota, Sibiea signed with Louisville on Wednesday. After a tough showing at a few camps this summer, Sibiea turned it up a few notches during the fall and was able to show his true potential. Overview: While the Cardinals may have missed out on their expected Signing Day surprise with coach Strong at the helm, it was still a an impressive class. Leading the way is the linebacker duo of Dawson and Keith Brown, while the duo of Larry Jefferson and Sheldon Rankins adds much-needed depth to the defensive line. On offense, Abraham Garcia, DeAndre Herron and T.C. Klusman give the Cardinals a young, talented nucleus on the offensive line, while quarterback Will Gardner, running back Brandon Radcliff and wide receiverBrandon Snell form a potentially dynamic trifecta of skill players.

Seton Hall's Kevin Willard with potentially the quote of the year in college hoops: "I'm the only coach who has white guys that can't shoot."

Peyton Siva's game-winning lay-up against Vandy has advanced into the final round of the Geico College Basketball Play of the Year contest. You can vote for Peyton on Facebook by clicking here.

Louisville is the only ranked team Kentucky has played in two months. It's an interesting reminder given their constant assertions of world-domination.

No, Kevin Duffy. That's a bad Kevin Duffy.

This actually really makes me want a dog named Kevin Duffy now. "GET IN THE DAMN HOUSE, KEVIN DUFFY...Kevin Duffy just will not listen to me...KEVIN DUFFY!!"

Never forget what Connecticut did to us (or didn't do for us) on the first Saturday of December. Never forget.

Also, the Big East championship game gave them what should have been our NCAA Tournament draw.

This is for Preston...Knowles and Brown...and Meyers...he's still reeling from Vonnegut's death.

Generic game preview from ESPN.

You know a Connecticut run is coming. They're just too talented to not at least come close to putting things together. I mean there are two guaranteed NBA players on that roster (Lamb and Drummond) and at least three more (Napier, Boatwright and Oriakhi) with a legitimate shot.

If you told me right now that I had to produce a group of eight teams which included the eventual national champions, I'd still name UConn. You just have to hope that their "putting it together" didn't start with the blowout of Seton Hall and will be made official tonight.

This is a big, big game for both teams. I expect it to be rowdy.

Evan Charles was born just hours before last Saturday's game against Seton Hall, and got to experience his first Cardinal victory from the comfort of his father's ams.

Now that's how you start a Friday, people. And I'm not talking about the sweet story, I'm talking about that outfit. Literally wearing the exact same thing.

A thousand and three apologies for all the site issues late yesterday. It was a network-wide thing, but it appears the SB Nation tech people have it under control.

Apparently most of the damage from the rioting last night has been cleared up, although Frankfort Ave. is still in pretty rough shape. I'm just glad the site was restored when it was so there's still a Louisville to wake up to this morning.

Thanks for caring, 'Cloids, and thanks for sparing Andy's TV from your rage. It was a thoughtful gesture during an otherwise thoughtless occurrence.

In case you were wondering, yes I do already a pre-penned post in the event that Louisville wins a national title in football or basketball and Cardinal fans riot, and yes the second line from the previous paragraph does appear in that post.

I'm also prepared if Tom Jurich retires, Ryan Gosling is named women's basketball coach, the NCAA declares CardsFan922 eligible to play on the field hockey team, or if word comes that Brad Gianiny has contracted lupus. It's a touching tribute.

The biggest loss from the site outage was the 75% completed news and notes post that was supposed to go up last night. it's why you probably saw me out there with the rioters.

I'm not going to be able to touch on everything I did last night (phrasing), but just know that it was the greatest post in the history of Card Chronicle.

I began that tragic post with an extended spiel on Rick Bozich's Thursday column, which had U of L fans understandably upset. This spiel will be slightly shorter.

The column was an incredibly one-sided look at the Ace Wales situation, which painted both Wales and former commit DaMarcus Smith as victims cast aside by a U of L football program looking to get big and bad by bringing in top-level players from Florida.

Not once did Bozich mention or even hint at the fact that Wales has held a scholarship offer from Louisville for two years or that Smith was still wanted at U of L after Teddy Bridgewater committed. In fact, Strong even made sure that Smith was aware of Bridgewater's commitment before the news went public. There was an extremely brief mention of the shady recruiting controversies which played a considerable role in Smith's ending up at Western and which could have been completely avoided had he simply honored his commitment to Louisville, but that wasn't expounded upon.

These facts didn't really fit with the image Bozich was trying to portray, and so he opted to simply omit them. I thought the whole thing was extremely unfair and - accurate or not - read like something written solely to drum up controversy and attention.

When Chris Smith's struggles first started near the end of December, I made the statement that I wished Chris could be visited by a Dickens ghost from the future who could let him know that he's not going to play in the NBA. It's not that I don't want him to make money playing the game, it's just that it seemed obvious his focus on the future was having a negative effect on his game. He wasn't the rock solid Chris Smith from 2010-11 who only seemed to care about playing his part and picking up victories.

Apparently, the desired wave of reality has washed over Smith, and he's back to the reliable (and stylish) CS5 we all know and love.

"It's a focus thing for me," he said. "I'm not really worried about too much right now. I'm not worried about where I'm going to be in the future. That's where my little slump came from. I had a lot of thoughts going through my head. Now I'm having fun out there and not worrying about too much."

...

He said coach Rick Pitino talked to him about concentrating on the present and not the what-ifs.

"It can affect anybody a lot," Smith said. "Coach Pitino and I met, and he told me not to worry about things, just to stay positive and focused and everything will happen. It's difficult because as a person you have a thought about where you're going to be next. At the same time, you have to pull that back in and know that everything will work out."

...

"The main thing is to stay positive and keep winning," Smith said. "As long as we're winning, everyone's dreams will come true. That's something Coach talks to us about. Winning creates opportunities."

Good stuff from Michael Grant.

See? C-J love.

A friend texted me early Thursday morning with the following picture of Russ Smith sprinting across campus to class:

I don't know if you've heard, but everyday...every single day...that man is Russelin'.

Freshman corner Andrew Johnson caused a bit of a stir with a tweet yesterday guaranteeing that Louisville will win a national championship before he leaves the program. He then proceeded to get into it with several Kentucky fans who voiced their opinions on his prediction.

And then Charlie Strong found out. And now Andrew Johnson does not have a Twitter account.

The kid's excitable.

Dexter Heyman accepted the Howard Schnellenberger award for his MVP performance during this year's U of L/UK game (we won) at last night's Paul Hornung Award Banquet.

The overwhelming word from the folks in attendance was that his speech was phenomenal. Apparently it was so good that Mike Ditka (according to WAVE-3's Kent Taylor) told him afterward: "If you don't continue on in football, get your ass in politics."

Dex was a fantastic ambassador for Louisville football while he was here and he's going to achieve tremendous things in the future, regardless of what he chooses to do.

A recap of where Louisville's 2012 wound up being ranked nationally:

Rivals: 39

Scout: 41

24/7: 47

ESPN: "On the Cusp" (only ranks top 25)

Quick shoutout to Steven Riviera, the famed Miami barber responsible for Brandon Radcliff's tremendous Signing Day Cardinal cut. The man's an artist.

During the period when I was first gaining a grasp on the English language (ages 0-27), I had two older brothers who were already in high school. Suffice it to say, I learned words and combinations of words that generally aren't associated with a 3-year-old's vernacular.

During this period I was also apparently a big fan of the show "Wheel of Fortune." The only problem was that "fordoo" was as close as I could get to pronouncing "fortune."

So one night the Rutherfords are doing whatever the Rutherfords did in the mid-to-late 1980's when a completely unprepared 3-year-old Mike Rutherford is stunned to see that his favorite show is currently appearing on the television set. In a line that would be repeated countless times by my brothers in the succeeding years, the little guy points and screams: "OH GOD DAMN! WHEEL OF FORDOO!"

I bring this up only because this was my precise reaction upon reading Pat Sajak's admission that he and Vanna White sometimes used to get blitzed before the taping of their shows.

Nothing's sacred. Nothing's pure.

Kevin Houchins and his dad on Signing Day:

And DeAndre Herron making it official whilst wearing Card garb:

A report from a Rhode Island publication says that Nerlens Noel is leaning towards picking Providence. Les Miles playing Hamlet off-Broadway is probably more believable, but what if he did end up at PC? Ed Cooley would have one the top five recruiting classes in the country...and with that hair.

That same Nerlens Noel post gives an update on Jakar Sampson, a 2012 player Louisville is still pursuing.

GoLocalProv.com also talked with another PC recruit at the tournament Thursday. Brewster Academy's Jakarr Sampson scored 22 points in his team's win over St. John's Northwest Military Academy (Wisconsin) Thursday afternoon.

Sampson was the best player on the floor which included the likes of Michigan-bound big man Mitch McGary (#21 on ESPNU's Top 100), NC State committee TJ Warren (#28 on ESPNU's Top 100) and guard Aaron Thomas who is headed to Florida State.

Sampson told GoLocalProv.com that he is being heavily recruited by many top schools such as Kansas, Louisville and Providence among others. He did say that he has plans for an upcoming visit to Kansas in the coming weeks and wants to visit Providence as well.

Landing Sampson would be a much bigger deal than I think people realize. He would be a huge asset right away.

A good AP story on Louisville's recruiting class and the success Charlie Strong has had in the Miami area.

A solid off-the-court honor for both Peyton Siva and Kyle Kuric.

University of Louisville men's basketball student-athletes Kyle Kuric and Peyton Siva have been named to the Capital One District 2 Academic All-District 2 men's basketball first team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Inclusion on the all-district team will move both on to consideration for Capital One Academic All-America honors.

Fox has an extensive story on the recruitment of Dorial Green-Bekham, the top-rated player in the class of 2012 who signed with Missouri earlier this week. Of particular note is the following quote (rhyme) from his mother regarding Bobby Petrino.

"Besides Arkansas' graduation rate, Tracy Beckham was also worried about Petrino "having a little reputation," which she hesitated to discuss.

"It's what everybody will tell you, that he left his team in midseason," she said in reference to Petrino's resignation in 2007 as coach of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons after 13 games to take his current job. "There are other teams that bring that up a lot."

Don't leave the Louisville football program.

It's Friday and this made me laugh so I'm posting it.

Really hope the kids today have at least some base Star Wars knowledge.

Scout.com's Evan Daniels reports that class of 2013 center Moses Kinglsey will be visiting Louisville this weekend. Kingsley is a 6-9, 210-pound big man out of Mississippi currently rated 33rd in the class by ESPN.

Louisville's food scene has been getting a lot of love recently. The latest comes from Zagat, which names The Ville as the only American city in its "8 Best Foodie Getaways Around the World" post.

I'm just going to assume "Foodie" doesn't need correcting. I don't know, non-sports sites frighten me to the point where I'll believe or question the validity of just about anything I see there if I'm told it's right or wrong.

This is also a good time to point out that Lynn's follows me on Twitter, Z's follows me on Twitter, Seviche follows me on Twitter...What. The. F--k. Is your problem, Bristol? I don't want to go the rest of my life without green chili wontons, but you'd be surprised how satiated my pride can leave me. Especially when it comes to appetizers.

You've got three hours.

Steve Masiello continues to improve upon his tremendous debut season Manhattan. The Jaspers are the surprise of the MAAC, sitting in a first-place tie at 10-2 in the league just a season removed from going 3-15 in the conference and 6-25 overall.

Fab Melo is back for Syracuse.

A Bay Area blog gets nostalgic for Luke Whitehead.

Not a bad effort here:

I like that you didn't go the conventional route. The world loves a risk-taker.

The latest haps on the West Virginia/Big East kerfuffle.

And finally, a piece on the incessantly surprising 2011-12 Rutgers basketball team.

It's like re-watching a favorite television series. You catch a few small things that you didn't before, but all the major characters, themes and lines and are still exactly as you remember them.

With national reports regarding the likelihood of Louisville being invited to the Big 12 surfacing in the past week, it's not surprising that the topic would be brought up during today's Big East conference call. Equally unsurprising was the response from U of L's head basketball coach.

"I doubt it," Rick Pitino said with regard to the probability of Louisville leaving the Big East. "I think that there was a chance last year but from what I understand some of the members of the [Big 12] conference don't want to split the revenue and they want to stick at 11, so at least personally I'm hoping we stay put.

"But you never know in this landscape today, I don't decide those things."

The Big 12 is actually currently at 10 teams, and would move to 11 if it added U of L.

Pitino touched on the topic again briefly when he was asked about the Cardinals' game against West Virginia in Morgantown on Feb. 11.

"This is our third straight year that we have come to West Virginia," he said. "I always request it every year. Generally you would see in the Big East that somebody would come back to you the following year, but [Big East Commissioner] John Marinatto's a dear friend and I always tell him, ‘Look, don't let West Virginia come to Louisville. I'd like to visit one more time.'

"And now it adds extra meaning because they're going into the Big 12 so it will be the last time we play against each other."

I can't wait for the episode where the politicians get involved. I think it's my favorite. The only problem I have is the believability of any state - even West Virginia - electing the Manchin character. I'm all about the willing suspension of disbelief, but I mean there's a limit.