Wednesday Afternoon Cardinal News And Notes

Spread Check: Louisville by 3.

Jeff Greer talks about the resurgence of new/old Wayne Blackshear.

The preseason All-American honors continue to pile up for Trez, who is a first teamer according to The Sporting News.

Why we chose him: Harrell is the most physically imposing college player, with incredible length, strength and athleticism. He can shoot 15-foot jumpers and overwhelm opponents inside. He moves his feet well laterally on defense and excels at positioning himself for rebounds. It's rather a shock he chose to delay draft entry another year.

Defining game last season: 21 points, 10 rebounds in a 58-57 victory at Cincinnati that allowed the Cardinals to share the American regular-season title with the Bearcats. Harrell muscled his way through a superb Cincinnati frontcourt for four points in the final 1:20 to help his team climb out of a 3-point deficit. He scored half the team's 24 points over the final 12 minutes.

Specific area for improvement: Harrell never has been a star before. He was only a top-50 recruit out of high school, and he didn't even start most of his freshman season because Chane Behanan was there first. Last year, he ceded the spotlight to guard Russ Smith. 

Roadblocks he could face: Harrell has to demand the ball in a system not really set up for big men to do great damage. Rick Pitino has had lots of star guards, but he hasn't relied upon a power player since Jamal Mashburn in the early 1990s. Will Harrell get the opportunities to shine?

BC Interruption breaks down the highlights of Steve Addazio's pre-Louisville press conference.

Scout.com's Jerry Meyer has changed his crystal ball prediction for P.J. Dozier to Louisville, although he says he has been hearing some rumblings about Dozier going to South Carolina. Dozier's father, for what it's worth, has stated that his son will not be making his college announcement this weekend.

Bill Connelly's Football Study Hall confirms that Florida State was twice as good in the fourth quarter against Louisville as they were in the first.

Nine days now. Crazy.

We are just 10 days away from tipping off our event season with #ArmedForcesClassic14! pic.twitter.com/PMStFfjTND

— ESPN Events (@ESPNEvents) November 4, 2014

Louisville has extended a scholarship offer to class of 2017 wide receiver KJ Hamler from Michigan.

The U of L women's basketball team has announced that it will be holding its second straight Native American Heritage Night on Feb. Feb. 26, which will also be Senior Night for multiple Cardinals, including Jude Schimmel.

Sports Illustrated's Dan Hanner and Luke Winn project that Louisville will have an even better defense this season than it did in 2013-14.

U of L is once again on upset watch this weekend according to Andrea Adelson at ESPN.

Louisville (6-3, 4-3) at Boston College (6-3, 3-2), 7:15 p.m., ESPN2. Line: Louisville by 3. It will be interesting to see how Louisville comes out in this game, considering all the emotions expended in a tough loss to Florida State last week. The Cardinals cannot afford to overlook a physically tough team such as Boston College, which has taken on the identity coach Steve Addazio instilled from the moment he arrived. BC will try to knock Louisville around and test a front seven that ran out of gas against the Seminoles. If the defense does not have a bounce-back performance, Tyler Murphy and BC are perfectly capable of pulling the upset.

Russ Smith made his NBA debut Tuesday night, logging four minutes in the Pelicans' win over Charlotte.

CBS' Matt Norlander gets out in front of the talk before it starts and pleas with college basketball to not even consider tainting the glory that is Selection Sunday by following college football's lead.

Duke, Kentucky, Arizona and Texas are the four teams Sports Illustrated chose to grace the regional covers of their college hoops preview issue.

Rockin' at USA High.

@CardChronicle L's up from Paris! pic.twitter.com/UUZOcM64xc

— Logan Fogle (@FogleLogan) November 4, 2014

The U of L men's swimming and diving team is ranked No. 9 in the CSCAA rankings. The Cards are one of six ACC teams in the top 25.

Louisville is a projected No. 3 seed in the preseason bracketology from the Syracuse Post-Standard.

Andrea Adelson asks the question Louisville fans have been trying not to think about: What if DeVante Parker had been healthy all season?

In the process of formally requesting a recount here.

. @CardChronicle He may not be the State Representative we want, but he’s the State Representative we need. pic.twitter.com/zLuh63zoS4

— Card-O-Matic (@MrCardOMatic) November 4, 2014

U of L's Mark Hebert sent a great letter to the newspaper in Greenville, S.C. thanking the Clemson fans for their hospitality last month. I echo his sentiments completely.

Sports Network serves up some game notes and then predicts a 24-21 win for Boston College on Saturday.

Here's an informative team report on the Eagles.

Pumpkin carving season has come to a close, but this effort from Gary Zehnder still deserves its moment in the spotlight:

U of L has announced additional television coverage for the upcoming women's basketball season, which includes a note that the game against Kentucky on Dec. 7 will be available on ESPN3. Pretty sure it would draw enough viewers to warrant being carried somewhere else.

Terry Rozier, but not Chris Jones, has been named to the preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Award, which is given each year to the best point guard in college basketball.

Tomahawk Nation takes an in-depth look at the film from the first quarter of the Louisville game. Read if you can keep yourself from thinking about the second half.

BC Interruption's latest ACC power rankings have U of L at No. 4.

Garrick McGee knows the Cardinal offense has its work cut out for it Saturday night.

On Saturday, Louisville face what could be it's stiffest defensive challenge of the season. The Eagles rank 11th in the nation in total defense and 4th against the run.

"They present a lot of challenges for us," U of L offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said following the team's Tuesday practice. "They are a multiple defense. They have multiple defensive packages. They are going to test our knowledge of defense."

They present a lot of challenges for us," he added. "They are a multiple defense. They have multiple defensive packages. They are going to test our knowledge of defense."

The bracket is set for next week's ACC men's soccer tournament. Sixth-seeded Louisville will begin its run on Sunday at No. 3 seed North Carolina.

You can listen to Mark Ennis' appearance on last night's edition of BC Interruption Radio right here.

And finally, DePaul.

Where's your men's swimming and diving team ranked, Blue Demons? It sure as shit isn't in the top 10.