Monday Evening Cardinal News And Notes

Despite a sluggish start, your fifth-ranked Louisville women's team coasted past SMU 81-66 in Dallas on Sunday. The Cards will be 18-1 when they play at Houston tomorrow night.

The C-J's Jeff Greer has a really good and informative look at the evolution of Montrezl Harell's offensive production.

Here are Harrell's average splits between nonconference and conference play:

Out of conference
Minutes per game: 24.4
FGs: 71 of 104 (68.2%)
FG attempts per game: 8
FG makes per game: 5.5
Points per game: 12
Rebounds per game: 8
Blocks per game: 0.9
Dunk attempts per game: 2.5
Layup attempts per game: 3.3
Jump shot attempts per game: 2.1
Dunk FG%: 93.9%
Layup FG%: 67.4%
Jumper FG%: 39.3%

In conference
Minutes per game: 31
FGs: 31 of 54 (57.4%)
FGA per game: 9
FGM per game: 5.2
Points per game: 12
Rebounds per game: 9.3
Blocks per game: 1.5
Dunk attempts per game: 2.2
Layup attempts per game: 3
Jump shot attempts per game: 3.8
Dunk FG%: 100%
Layup FG%: 50%
Jumper FG%: 39.1%

What can we draw from the splits? Harrell's taking 1.7 more jump shots per game. His dunk and layup attempts are only slightly down.

Going forward, I don't think that trend slows. Harrell catches a lot of passes at the elbows. He likes to turn and look. He will attack. But Pitino worried earlier this season, after the UNC loss, that Harrell was "trying to be Michael Jordan." That's not what U of L needs, and a few months later, Harrell seems to have gotten that message.

Kansas' win over Oklahoma State on Saturday gave the Jayhawks three wins over three ranked opponents in their last three games. The last team to achieve that feat? The 2008-09 Louisville Cardinals.

Eric Crawford says Rick Pitino drew on his 2005 and 2012 Final Four teams to beat Connecticut Saturday night.

Huge fan of the look of content on Shabazz Napier's face here.

Just Reserve Wayne being Reserve Wayne.

Mark Coomes of Insider Louisville looks at the tough tasks in front of both the Cards and the Cats over the last six weeks of the regular season.

Big congrats to former Cards Breno Giacomini and Greg Scruggs on making the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.

Thx for all the love tonight from all over #MALDEN #LOUISVILLE #12thMan #Superbowl NO BIGZZ !!!!!

— Breno Giacomini (@68Breno) January 20, 2014

A very happy birthday to DeVante Parker.

SB Nation recruiting guru Bud Elliott says it's going to be a long time before Louisville's recruiting catches up with new conference rivals Florida State and Clemson.

Seth Davis joins the growing list of folks noting that Louisville may have played its two best games of the season last week without the services of Chris Jones.

Louisville played two games last week without point guard Chris Jones, the junior college transfer who is sidelined with a strained oblique muscle. Louisville also played its two best games of the season last week, routing Houston by 39 points at home and beating UConn by 12 on the road. I do not believe this is a coincidence. Jones is a gifted and speedy little guard, but he needs the ball in his hands to be effective. The problem is, so does Russ Smith. And last I checked, there is only one basketball.

Doug Bennett looks at the sting of Charlie Strong's past words.

The complete apathy displayed by the fan base of a Houston program that was one of college basketball's best for an extended period of time made me sad during the Conference USA days, and it makes me sad now.

The iconic Andy's TV now has a website, and it's probably the best website in the city.

It's impossible for me to explain just how happy everything in that image makes me.

I enjoy rooting for the Louisville Cardinals to prevail in athletic contests across multiple sports. That does not mean I'm willing to get a giant tattoo on my head to celebrate that fact.

This is fantastic:

Way to keep it high-brow, ladies.

A running diary of Saturday's game day in Storrs from our friends at The UConn Blog.

"Some teams" are now saying that they don't see Teddy Bridgewater as a first round pick. I can only assume those teams are the Heat, Braves and Islanders.

Sports Illustrated says that Russ Smith and Montrezl Harrell are keying Louisville's surge in the AAC.

The two latest mock drafts from CBS have Trez going 17th and not at all.

And finally, I'm back on the radio with Mark Ennis tonight from 6-8 on ESPN 680. Listen live or anytime on ESPNLouisville.com.