clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Wednesday Morning Cardinal News And Notes

Cardinal fans in the Northeast who can't make it down for Saturday's game against North Carolina have decided to hold their own White Out for tonight's tilt against Boston College.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Spread Check: Louisville opened as a 10-point favorite over Boston College, a line which has since moved to U of L -9.5.

I_medium Tuesday ended up being a pretty wild night in the world of U of L football recruiting, and U of L football in general.

First came the news that Shedrick Redwine was decommitting, which surprised precisely no one since Redwine pretty much said on the night he committed that he was keeping his options open. Basically, it was the easiest commitment to see through since any former teen pop star's first marriage.

Next up was this tweet from top commit GG Robinson.

OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING. WHY DOESN'T ANYONE WANT TO PLAY HERE!?

But then this.

Oh. Ok cool. You know, I mean, it's your decision, man. Whatever happens, happens.

And what was that about Grantham?

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE THE BEST DEFENSE IN THE HISTORY OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND EVERYONE WILL COME PLAY FOR US.

So, yeah, you know ... Tuesdays.

I_medium Louisville is up two spots to No. 11 in this week's ESPN power rankings.

I_medium Our friends over at the Daily Norseman aren't quite sold on the prospect of the Vikings selecting DeVante Parker with the 11th pick.

I_medium ESPN is breaking down the position that needs to be fixed for every team in the ACC, and for Louisville, Andrea Adelson says that position is offensive line.

How it can be fixed: Another year in the system should definitely help, because it is different from the old scheme under former coach Charlie Strong. So will consistency at quarterback, which was a problem all year. Louisville was forced to play three different quarterbacks because of injury. Will Gardner and Reggie Bonnafon were both inexperienced and played radically different styles, which does impact the offensive line. But unfortunately for the Cardinals, they are losing their three best, most experienced players in tackle Jamon Brown(All-ACC second team), and All-ACC honorable mention guards Jake Smith and and John Miller.

Early 2015 outlook: Hughley and offensive tackle Aaron Epps are the only starters back next season. Beyond them, there are not many proven players, at least not yet. Center T.C. Klusman, tackle Kelby Johnson and guards Skylar Lacy and Pedro Sibiea all served in backup roles a season ago. Louisville hit offensive line hard on the recruiting trail, and already has signed junior college transfer Khalil Hunter, who could provide immediate relief.

I_medium The Cards are at No. 5 in this week's SB Nation ACC power poll.

I_medium I still have vivid memories of watching this double overtime game against BC from '96, but the strangest thing about the entire AP write-up is imagining a U of L team that could be undefeated on Dec. 30 and still not ranked any better than No. 16.

I_medium This is NOT the official U of L signing day party image with "Andy's TV - Shelbyville Rd." posted over the actual location, it's the official Card Chronicle signing day party image.

I_medium Former Cardinal assistant Clint Hurtt has been named the Chicago Bears' new outside linebackers coach.

I_medium Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician breaks down the modern history of random, out of nowhere explosive performances against Syracuse basketball. I bet you can guess one of them.

I_medium I wish I could say that I was mature enough to not have looked at this 10 times and giggled all 10, but alas...

I_medium The U of L student newspaper serves up a summary of Montrezl Harrell's Cardinal career to date.

I_medium Gorgui Dieng is one of the NBA players who is carrying his team on his back.

I_medium Buzz Williams got this sweater in the mail from his aunt Tuesday night, and then his mom made him wear it on TV because she told him the aunt would be watching.

But then he finally won an ACC game by beating Pitt in overtime, so everything was cool.

I_medium Eleven U of L softball games will be viewable on either ESPNU or ESPN3 this upcoming season.

I_medium Four-star wide receiver DeVante Peete says Louisville, Florida State and Auburn are his top three.

You're a wide receiver and your name is DeVante. This kind of seems like a no-brainer, man.

I_medium Bellarmine has won the NCAA's 2015 Division II Award of Excellence for its efforts with Patrick McSweeney, the teenager with leukemia who suited up and scored for the Knights in their exhibition game against Louisville.

I_medium This is how hot Gorgs is right now:

Too hot.

I_medium Louisville is reportedly "in the lead" to land highly talented, but highly controversial former TCU standout Devonte Fields.

I_medium The U of L student managers knocked off the Pitt managers last Saturday night in an event that was covered by the Panther student newspaper.

The Louisville Cardinals do fine with what they have, overcoming a five-point halftime deficit to beat Pitt, 62-51.

An hour or so after the game ends, Maninder Singh, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, sits lined up with friends in the Petersen Events Center lobby, hoping to get good seats for tomorrow. When asked what he knew about managers playing other schools, he explained that he knew they played after seeing an Oakland Zoo tweet about it once but thought their games happened after the main one, not before.

"I had no idea they were playing today," Singh said. "But then when I heard the buzzer go off, we were kind of confused as to what was going on."

Regan agreed, saying that while the tradition may still live underground, it is growing.

"It's almost like a culture that goes on that no one knows about or has an idea about," Regan said.

What the story doesn't talk about is the lack of chemistry and jealousy that seems to be eating away at the Cardinal team at this critical juncture in the season.

When Vinny Tatum strips Logan of his captaincy before the UNC game, all hell is going to break loose.

I_medium Tonight's game against BC might be on, but classes at the college are canceled.

I_medium The Syracuse Post-Standard disagreed with the ACC's choice of Jerian Grant for Player of the Week, and opted to give their own award to Terry Rozier.

Obviously, Jerian Grant had a great week. But he wasn't my choice for ACC Player of the Week.

So I had to compare Grant's two games against Rozier's one opportunity. But I thought Rozier took advantage of his lone opportunity.

I went with Louisville's Terry Rozier. The choice was my a little more difficult because Louisville played only one game last week, winning at Pittsburgh.

Rozier scored 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting to help the Cardinals to the road win. He also had five rebounds and six assists. I thought Rozier's 26 points in regulation were better than Grant's 25 in an overtime game, so I went with Rozier in a narrow decision.

I_medium Teddy Bridgewater says his big offseason goal is to bulk up.

I_medium Drew Barker's most recent diary entry would have been a doozy.

I_medium Jake Curtis offers up the one number that defines each member of college basketball's current top 12.

Louisville, 10: The fewest steals the Cardinals have had in 13 of their 19 games. Although Louisville shot 65.2 percent against Pittsburgh on Sunday, it is not a great offensive team. The Cardinals rely on their defensive pressure to force turnovers, create easy baskets and set the game's tempo. It's the Rick Pitino way.

I_medium I'd feel bad if he had 1,000 less wins.

I wouldn't feel bad regardless.

I_medium In non-sports news, the first helping of the Forecastle lineup has been unveiled.

I_medium Your standard game preview from the AP.

Boston College (9-9, 1-5) has lost both matchups with ranked opponents - Duke and Virginia - by an average of 19.0 points. The Eagles have dropped 22 of 24 against the Top 25 and 13 of 14 against the top 10.

They are, however, coming off their first conference win, 64-62 at Georgia Tech on Sunday. Olivier Hanlan scored a season-high 25 points.

"It was big-time," said Hanlan, the team leader with 16.8 points per game. "We had a lot of close ones down the stretch. ... Obviously, getting the first one is great. We just have to build on it."

That might sound simple, but Boston College hasn't won consecutive conference games since stringing three together March 3-9, 2013. The Eagles are 5-19 in the league since.

Boston College leads the all-time series 3-2, but the teams haven't met since 1996. Their time in the Big East missed overlapping by a season.

I_medium On Tuesday, a Texas and a Texas A&M recruiting writer launched into one of the greatest Twitter beefs of all-time. The result was Good Bull Hunting putting together a work of art that I'm not sure will ever be topped.

I_medium Charles Gaines and Dominique Brown both reported that they had received invites to the NFL Draft combine on Tuesday, which brings the total of Cardinals who have been invited to: Brown, Gaines, Lorenzo Mauldin, Gerod Holliman, James Sample, and Jamon Brown. Pretty impressive, and I'm not sure there won't be one or two more.

I_medium Louisville hasn't provided us with as many opportunities for these as it has in past winters, but thankfully the rest of the country has been there to pick up the slack.

I_medium One Browns writer says Josh Gordon needs to go because there are franchise playmakers like DeVante Parker available in this year's draft. Don't even think about it.

I_medium Louisville checks in at No. 21 in the latest RPI rankings. In a related story, the latest RPI rankings have Kentucky ranked behind a 3-loss Kansas team it beat by 32 on a neutral court. And in a follow-up to our previous two stories, the RPI rankings are ridiculously outdated, and the fact that they have any power whatsoever over the process that ultimately determines college basketball's national champion is a gigantic slap in all of our collective faces.

I_medium Boston College is one of the few teams in the ACC who leads its all-time series with Louisville, a series the Cards can even at 3 with a victory this evening.

I_medium And finally, beat BC.

More From Card Chronicle