Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

The latest effort from Joe Lunardi, easily one of four or five thousand best Bracketologists in the Northeast, has Louisville as a No. 4 seed with a potential rematch against Michigan State in the Sweet 16.

Love that draw, guys.

CCBM tree season rolls on.

@CardChronicle pic.twitter.com/1ibEnaZsZf

— Clay Entrican (@clay4112) December 7, 2015

The season has already received some love from the BBC.

Dan McDonnell has named junior righthanded pitcher Zack Burdi, junior catcher Will Smith and junior infielder Nick Solak as Louisville baseball's captains for the 2016 season.

SB Nation labels Louisville/Texas A&M as one of the three most even bowl games of the upcoming postseason.

The holiday season probably isn't getting any better than this tweet:

RT @CardChronicle: DePaul will not be participating in the college football playoff

— DePaul University (@DePaulU) December 6, 2015

Love you, guys.

Make me your next men's basketball coach.

Jeff Greer has a U of L hoops recruiting update which includes the note that Mike Balado will be visiting with Texas point guard Andrew Jones on Tuesday.

John Ramsey refuses to let go of the notion that "The Little Drummer Boy" is a good song as well as a good special. It is neither, and I will not back down from this.

His ignorance also brings me to my next question: At what point did it become next-to-impossible for a new Christmas song to crack into a standard radio stations annual rotation? Like 1996? Because I feel like pretty much anything that was put out in the '80s slipped right past any sort of vetting process. Why else am I still hearing The Eurythmics on 106.9 every year? There's no other explanation.

Anyway, here's my annual list of the five Christmas songs I hate most this year.

1. "Christmas Shoes"

Claiming the top spot for about the 97th year in a row. I think radio stations are finally getting the message that the bulk of America can't stand this POS any more than they can, as it's been getting gradually less air time for the past two or three years.

2. "Twelve Days of Christmas"

Any song that has the same line sung 12 times is annoying. Not even lovable cartoon character renditions can make this tolerable.

3. "The Little Drummer Boy"

I'm sorry, I fell asleep seven seconds in and woke up three hours later in what sounds like the exact same place in the song. Only John and Angela from The Office are on this bandwagon.

4. Anything by Mannheim Steamroller

Look, we were all really into those weird "stare at this blurry thing for a long time and see a picture" books in the mid-'90s too. We moved past that. We need to move past Mannheim Steamroller in a similar fashion. It's time.

5. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

You wake up in the middle of the night to find your mother stepping out on your dad with an international celebrity, and you think it's hilarious? Pretty sure "if daddy had only seen" this, there wouldn't have been any laughing involved. You'll be penning a song about your broken family next Christmas, kid. Of course it'll probably be a decade-spanning hit, because apparently Americans loves to be reminded of their holiday-induced depression via song.

ESPN has the Music City Bowl as the 17th-best game of the 2015-16 postseason.

17. Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl

Texas A&M vs. Louisville
Nashville | LP Field
Dec. 30, 7 p.m. on ESPN

Both teams underachieved this season, but the Cardinals have been better down the stretch, having won five of their last six games. Louisville can finish with back-to-back wins over SEC opponents, a feat the Aggies accomplished only once this season.

CBS also has the game ranked No. 17 out of 40.

Despite suffering an ankle injury in the win over Kentucky, Keith Kelsey says he will be ready to go on Dec. 30.

Gobbler Country (Virginia Tech) has Louisville at No. 3 in its end of the regular season ACC power rankings.

Jeff Walz is still the best.

That moment when your coach BELIEVES in you & smiles after you just missed the first free-throw! #LetsDoThisTogether pic.twitter.com/36kmHTMuy3

— Sam Purcell (@coachsampurcell) December 7, 2015

Beat Kentucky.

The Forecastle lineup for 2016 has been released. I will be performing. Jeff Greer and the Nuclear Screenshots, sadly, will not.

The Louisville/Kentucky game is the second most expensive sports ticket of the holiday season, and the only college game on the list.

If you're looking for tailgating plans in Nashville on Dec. 30:

Join us for the "Music City Tailgate" & help us take over Nashville! pic.twitter.com/0hBNd98JKD

— Red Rage Tailgate (@TheRed_Rage) December 8, 2015

The recently crowned 6-A champion Male Bulldogs have finished the season ranked No. 9 in the country by USA Today.

Louisville commit Rodjay Burns from Trinity has picked up a scholarship offer from Ohio State.

Yahoo has the Music City Bowl at No. 19 in its ranking of all 40 bowls .... which apparently every website has to do now.

19. Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (December 30, Nashville) - Louisville (7-5) vs. Texas A&M (8-4)

Welcome to a bowl of unmet expectations. Both the Cardinals and Aggies didn't live up to what their fans thought the season would be like at the beginning of the year. This could be an ugly game too. Texas A&M's offense has been inconsistent at best while Louisville's hasn't figured out a consistent passing attack.

The folks over at Good Bull Hunting don't appear to be overly excited about Dec. 30.

A website called The Sports Daily says that Josh Harvey-Clemons is expected to declare himself eligible for the NFL Draft after Louisville's bowl game. Take that for what it's worth.

I can't figure out if DePaul would be in the first circle or the eighth.

Just presented a UofL based Dante's Inferno Hell, my years of reading @CardChronicle have officially paid off.

— Kyle Doctor (@uoflcardskd) December 7, 2015

Louisville's Ayeisha McFerran and Victoria Stratton have been named to the 2015 Longstreth/National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-American third team.

Your latest Ken Pom top 15:

The Daily Norseman says that something has to give with Teddy Bridgewater being a better passer out of the shotgun and Adrian Peterson being a better runner when the quarterback is under center.

The Washington Post's bowl rankings have the Music City at No. 18.

18. Music City Bowl: Louisville vs. Texas A&M (Dec. 30, 7 p.m., ESPN)

The over/under on quarterbacks to be cycled through this game is right around 4.5, which is about right for a pairing of teams that will finish the season with winning records but not much of a sense of accomplishment. It's a shame college football games can no longer end in ties; that would be appropriate result to close out the year for both the Cardinals and Aggies.

Michigan State wants everyone to know that they are currently ranked in the top five nationally in football, men's basketball AND DEBATE.

Contrary to some reports from yesterday, the NCAA is not making new rules to hinder bench celebrations during basketball games. Go crazy, Monmouth. 

Want to watch highlights of V.J. King going for 35, 10 and 10? Of course you do.

South Carolina is making a serious push for U of L commit T.J. Brunson.

Eight Boston College players are apparently sick with E.Coli. It's news which some see as an excuse for losing to UMass Lowell, and others see as an excuse for potentially losing to Providence. Either way, I'm not going to eat at Chipotle for at least two days.

Louisville has extended a scholarship offer to Huntington Prep small forward Micah Thomas, a member of the class of 2016.

And finally, R&R is back from 3-6 this afternoon on 93.9 The Ville with more hoops talk, Music City Bowl reaction and aan announcement about the pregame festivities in Nashville at 5:20. Listen live right here.