Congrats to all these guys.

RELEASE:

Twenty-two student-athletes from the Louisville football team were named to the 2012 BIG EAST All-Academic Football Team, the conference office announced on Friday.

Senior placekicker Chris Philpott (Manasquan, N.Y.) finished his Louisville career as a three-time BIG EAST All-Academic team member.

In addition, senior OL John Clark, junior FB Bo Eggers, sophomore WR Stephen Goodwin, junior TE Nate Nord, junior QB Will Stein and junior WR Demarcus Topp were recognized on the conference's All-Academic football team for the second time in their careers.

Rounding out Louisville contingent of honorees as first-time All-Academic football team members were freshmen QB Jerry Arlinghaus, Teddy Bridgewater and Luke Brohm. Senior WR Lincoln Carr, red-shirt freshmen LS Grant Donovan, junior FB Nick Heuser, senior OT Ryan Kessling, freshman OT Ryan Mack, freshman S Calvin Pryor, red-shirt freshman OG Jake Smith, freshman OL Josh Stearns, sophomore OL Chris Walker, freshman placekicker John Wallace, sophomore LB Alex Witcpalek and junior LB Christopher Zelli.

To be nominated, a player must have a cumulative grade-point index of at least 3.0 and completed a minimum of two semesters of academic work.

The 2012 Louisville team begins Spring practice on March 21 and concludes with the annual Spring game on April 14 at 1 p.m.

LOUISVILLE (22)

Jerry Arlinghaus Fr. QB Covington, Ky. Physics
Teddy Bridgewater Fr. QB Miami, Fla. Sport Administration
Lucas Brohm Fr. QB Louisville, Ky. Undecided
Lincoln Carr Sr. WR Crestwood, Ky. Marketing
John Clark Sr. OL Louisville, Ky. Justice Administration
Grant Donovan Fr. LS Louisville, Ky. Sport Administration
Herbert Eggers Jr. FB Louisville, Ky. Political Science
Stephen Goodwin So. WR Louisville, Ky. Accounting
Nick Heuser Jr. FB Louisville, Ky. Marketing
Ryan Kessling Sr. OL Tallahassee, Fla. Justice Administration
Ryan Mack Fr. OL Memphis, Tenn. Undecided
Nathan Nord Jr. TE Boca Raton, Fla. Exercise Science
Chris Philpott Sr. K Atlanta, Ga. Communication
Calvin Pryor Fr. S Port St. Joe, Fla. Communication
Will Stein Jr. QB Louisville, Ky. Sport Administration
Jacob Smith RFr. OL Jacksonville, Ala. Undecided
Josh Sterns Fr. OL Louisville, Ky. Justice Administration
Demarcus Topp Jr. WR Paducah, Ky. Management
Christopher Walker So. OL Louisville, Ky. Marketing
John Wallace RFr. P/K Cecila, Ky. Pre Engineering
Alex Witcpalek So. LB Oswego, Ill. Sport Administration
Christopher Zelli Jr. LB Jeffersonville, Ind. Political Science

Teddy Bridgewater: Anndd he can study (Boobie Miles uncle voice).

Will, thoughts?

Agreed.

Can't get enough of this girl.

(Sanchez doesn't play for the Giants).

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.

Sweet little nugget tucked in at the end of this release about the Cards going through mat drills for a second time on Thursday.

Heading the field to stretch at 5:45 a.m., the Cardinals hit the turf for about an hour before most of the team heads to its 8 a.m. classes. Under the direction of head coach Charlie Strong and the rest of the coaching staff, the Cardinals continue to prepare for what hopes be a promising season.

After getting the first session done last Wednesday, the Cardinals were better prepared for what they faced this time. The drills were quicker with less mistakes, which pleased Strong.

"The guys are working hard," said Strong. "They are learning what it's going to take to win another championship, so they are giving good effort. We have a long road ahead of us, but I like the direction we are headed."

Louisville works out Monday-Friday in the weight room and in the practice facility, lifting weights, running and doing other work to prepare them for the start of a new season.

The Cardinals will be back in action next Wednesday at 5:45 a.m. Louisville starts spring practice on March 21. Strong also announced that the first three practices will be open to the public (March 21, March 23, March 24).

If the Cards are still alive and kicking in the NCAA Tournament, then yeah, that week could have potential.

Maybe Charlie will even be wearing a Santa hat. No, no, it's too much, it's too much.

Or...Tim McGraw? Yeah, I can't remember the dad's name.

Great story from my man, your man, our man, Pat Doney of WDRB.

Didn't think I could be a bigger Boo fan before this, but that is pretty tremendous.

Cross-posted from SB Nation...because we all like talking general college basketball too...don't we?...DON'T WE? I need your admiration for infinity. Not that this ain't lucrative, but I just need your energy.

On the evening where sports fans previously too immersed with football to properly focus on anything else officially shifted their attention to the hardwood, the opening night of college basketball's unofficial second season went beyond delivering. The sport's headline rivalry game was won at the buzzer, the two best teams in the Big East played an overtime contest that was decided by a single possession, and the Big 12's premier program made a monster statement on the road against a fellow top ten opponent.

Here are the five biggest things to take away from the biggest night of the 2011-12 college basketball to date.

1. The Season Has Its Defining Moment

Hate the Blue Devils, hate Duke-UNC and hate Austin Rivers all you want, but final shot of Wednesday night's game is the showcase moment of the season thus far. I mean this is the former No. 1 recruit in the country playing against North Carolina for the first time, and he almost single-handedly keeps his team in the game for 38 minutes before capping a furious rally by burying a trey at the buzzer to break the hearts of the team everyone had winning the national championship before the season. And then he walks over to the Tar Heel student section and says, "see y'all."

Let's just say the kid can't wear skinny jeans.

There's nothing else to say about the game's final two minutes that hasn't already been said, so let's move on to the fact that neither team looked like an eventual national champion on Wednesday.

Duke couldn't keep Verne Lundquist out of the lane, and their post players couldn't stop Kevin Connoly from bodying them up and getting easy baskets in the paint. Kendall Marshall and Tyler Zeller are both solid offensive players, but they aren't anywhere near as good as the Blue Devils made them appear Wednesday night.

The sad thing for Duke fans is that this group has about as much offensive talent in the backcourt as any Coach K team of the past five or six years, and that fact is essentially the lone reason they woke up feeling good about themselves this morning. But at some point over the next five weeks, Duke has to figure out what to do against a team that can take away the clean looks from outside for Rivers, Curry, Dawkins etc. and exploit their weak post defense on the other end of the floor. It's exactly what Florida State and Miami did, and exactly what teams with similar capabilities will do going forward.

Wednesday night was a huge win for both Duke's confidence and its ACC championship hopes, but I'm not one step closer to buying the Blue Devils as a legitimate national title contender.

As for North Carolina, the Tar Heels still just don't get it. Talent is useless when it isn't coupled with killer instinct, and that's precisely the dilemma Roy Williams is facing right now. There is no reason for that UNC team to squander a 10-point lead in two minutes against anybody, let alone playing against their arch-rivals on their home floor. Then again there was no reason for that UNC team to let UNLV drop 90 points on them or to lose by 33 at Florida State.

The bright side for Carolina fans is that if UNC wins going away Wednesday night then nothing changes, whereas if that final sequence doesn't wake the Tar Heels up then nothing will.

2. Baylor Is Who Most People Thought They Were

Baylor has at least two future NBA players in its starting lineup, its only lost three games heading into mid-February, and it is absolutely no threat to cut down the nets in New Orleans. Wednesday night's loss to Kansas was Exhibit C.

A home defeat to the 7th-ranked Jayhawks alone wouldn't be enough to draw significant criticism, but a 68-54 loss where the Bears appeared as interested in competing as Stephen Hawking is in the Kardashians (note: calls to Mr. Hawking to confirm said disinterest were not returned) certainly is. The problem with Baylor is the same as it was in their first loss to Kansas and their loss to Missouri: when the proverbial moment is upon them, they want no part of it.

BU's season from this point on is almost a foregone conclusion. They'll put up a valiant effort at Missouri because the Tigers will allow them to score enough to not let their focus wander; they'll beat most of the teams they should beat in the Big 12 but will drop another game or two to a Kansas State or an Iowa State; they'll earn a bye in the league tournament but will beaten by Kansas (again); they'll win at least a pair of games in the NCAA Tournament because of their talent, but will fall when a team with slightly less talent but infinitely more resolve puts them in a pressure situation.

There it is. Feel free to watch other games and simply check the Bear box scores in the future for validation.

3. Syracuse Finally Has A Go-To Guy

The "hot" question concerning Syracuse in recent weeks has been who Jim Boeheim should turn to in situations where a game is on the line. With seven different players averaging between 7.3 and 14.3 points per game, the Orange are as well-rounded as any team in the country, but with that balance comes the burden of not having an unquestioned star.

Against rival Georgetown Wednesday night, Syracuse had two possessions where it needed someone to make a play in order to win the game. The first came at the end of regulation, where Scoop Jardine had his penetration cut off and then threw a wild pass to Dion Waiters who clanked an awkward looking three. The second came at the end of ovetime, where Kris Joseph, who made play after play when SU needed him, buried a deep dagger to put the second-ranked team in the country up for good. Joseph hit 6-of-11 threes and finished with a game-high 29 points.

"The Quebecois Kid" should get every pivotal late-game touch (gross) for Syracuse going forward.

4. Pittsburgh Is Not Going To Make The NCAA Tournament

All it took was the Panthers to get Tray Woodall back and go on a four-game winning streak for every national writer who put them in the top ten before the season to say: "See? This is what I was talking about in October. These guys could definitely steal an at-large bid."

There's no question that Pitt is better now than it was when it lost its first seven Big East games without Woodall, but Wednesdays's 63-51 loss to South Florida should put to bed any notions of a miracle run into the field of 68. The Panthers' fairly impressive two-week run doesn't change the fact that they had some massive deficiencies before Woodall went down, that they were beaten by ten at home by Long Beach State or that they have absolutely no non-conference victories of any importance to speak of.

Jamie Dixon isn't going to let this team fold, and they're going to be a nightmare matchup for one of the Big East's top seeds in Madison Square Garden, but the path to the NCAA Tournament is far too precarious to be successfully traversed at this point.

5. Florida State Is Not Going To Win The ACC

The Seminoles are 7-2 in the ACC and have already knocked off their top competition for the league crown - North Carolina and Duke - in impressive fashion. They handed UNC a horrifically embarrassing 33-point beatdown at the Tucker Center, and then a week later ended Duke's nation-leading 45-game home winning streak with a dramatic win at the buzzer.

Those are a pair of tremendous accomplishments for a team that didn't look like it could score enough to beat anyone of consequence early in the season, but who a team was is always at least a slight indication of who they still are. That fact was undeniably apparent in FSU's awful 64-60 loss to 8-16 Boston College Wednesday night.

Junior guard Michael Snaer summed things up quite nicely:

"Starting off the game, what we did, not respecting that team - we weren't as focused as we should have been and that caught up with us at the end of the game. We got national recognition, and we didn't handle it well."

It's the type of inexplicable slip-up you simply can't have when you're competing for a conference title with two top ten teams. Florida State will have a first round bye in the ACC Tournament, but there won't be a little "1" next to their name when the bracket becomes official.

Not sure I could be more excited that this kid is going to be a Cardinal.

I kind of feel like we all just won twice.