Thursday Afternoon Cardinal News And Notes

Gorgui Dieng was in action Wednesday night and did what Gorgui Dieng does: score 13 points and snag 19 rebounds. He doesn't do exactly that every time, but double-digit scoring and rebounding efforts seem to happen more times than not. Anyway, the 19 rebounds were the most by any player in a summer league game so far.

Four-star running back Tyreik Gray from Houston is planning on taking official visits to Oklahoma, Louisville and Kansas. U of L is the only one of the three programs who haven't offered Gray, who is rated as the No. 16 ball carrier in the class of 2015.

The offseason is finally starting to get to folks.

At Keller Williams Realty Louisville East we're counting down the days to kickoff. #L1C4 @CardChronicle @Katie_Wells pic.twitter.com/oBmuynqANN

— Chris Thomas (@RealtyNerd) July 17, 2014

Some ACC links from the worldwide leader.

While Louisville football ticket prices have skyrocketed with the program's move to the ACC, West Virginia's are as low as they've been in nine years.

Heh.

Eric Wood recently talked on Sirius XM NFL Radio about how he strengthened his bond with Bills quarterback EJ Manuel by bringing him to Louisville for the Derby. The best method of bond-strengthening known to man.

I'm not sure there's a more impressive tattoo in the ACC (besides Rick Pitino's):

I've got no words RT @syracusedotcom: Syracuse fan gets rather impressive Jim Boeheim tattoo http://t.co/fZWd016bXV pic.twitter.com/WC4IKH5tBy

— Mike Waters (@MikeWatersSYR) July 16, 2014

Naturally, TNIAAM had to chip in with 10 thoughts on the tattoo.

The Syracuse Post-Standard previews Louisville by way of an informative Q&A session with the C-J's Jeff Greer.

Shots fired from the Minnesota basketball Instagram account.

How low will this Pitino guy stoop?

All right, it's time for another dose of CC summer advice for the college year ahead.

At some point in your college career, you're almost certainly going to enter into some sort of romantic relationship (or at least have a romantic interaction) that's going to wind up causing you to feel some pretty negative emotions. People in college seem to like music, and in addition to serving as the background noise for drinking games I've now never heard of, music can also help you cope with these emotions.

Should you find yourself in this undesirable situation, here are five songs I recommend putting on repeat until you work up the strength to leave your room for food and/or bathroom duties:

Josh Ritter - "New Lover" (Catchy, quirky, beautifully written and capped off with the perfect closing line)

Eamon - "F--k It" (Because sometimes getting drunk and singing along to songs with the most vulgar language possible is the best way to deal with a problem...don't let anyone tell you any differently.)

The Mountain Goats - "No Children" (I didn't know anywhere to go other than this painfully honest song to convey my emotions after U of L's unbelievable loss to Syracuse in what is still the saddest post in CC history)

Waxahatchee - "Swan Dive" (Standard tale of two people who have reached a point where they can't be happy together or apart, but for totally different reasons. It's also a fun song to sing along with)

Drake - "Marvin's Room" (Say what you want about the dude, but this is a perfect description of the "yeah, we're probably pretty awful for each other, but I think I still want this" portion of a breakup)

Also, don't jump in the baby pool. Like, there are going to be people -- maybe friends, even -- who are either drunk or stupid enough to make you feel like you're going to be a hero if you jump into the baby pool, but trust me, you're going to be shocked at how quickly they turn on you once other people start talking about how annoying it was that you jumped in the baby pool. I'm so serious, you guys.

In his new book, Paul Finebaum writes that Texas offered Nick Saban $100 million to coach the Longhorns before ultimately hiring Charlie Strong. I don't know if that's true, but it definitely could be, which is just absurd.

Speaking of Texas and Strong, they're both facing a little bit of scrutiny because of an agent who allegedly paid for meals for Longhorn players last March.

Trinity star and top U of L target Raymond Spalding has had a huge summer, and said recently that he's planning on announcing his college decision in August.

Here are some highlights from Spalding's recent 36-point performance in Indianapolis. Of particular note is his steal and score in transition around the 40 second mark. Also keep an eye on David Levitch's younger brother, Jax, who wears No. 0 and also stars for the Shamrocks.

The latest school to show significant interest in Spalding is Duke, who may extend a scholarship offer his way before the end of the week.

Conference realignment has finally hit a lull, and the biggest winner after all the dust settling might be Louisville.

Former U of L assistant Walter McCarty has received a three-year deal to stay on as an assistant under Brad Stevens with the Celtics.

Pretty sure Russ can personally attest to No. 5.

The U of L football media guide is out, and it's...quite dark...and quite cool.

Gavin LaPaille writes about former Cardinal great Butch Beard's time in the military.

A Sea of Blue says Kentucky fans shouldn't be bothered by the recent Emory University study on college hoops fandom.

U of L updates fans on how some current Cardinal baseball players are spending their summer.

And finally, a fun read from Myron Medcalf of ESPN, who serves up five rule changes he'd make if he was in charge of college basketball.