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Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

The 2016 Card Chronicle Pumpkin Contest continues with this submission from the Redden family (Adam, Rachel, Archer and Emery).

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Spread check: Louisville by 32.5.

I_medium Now it's a road game weekend.

I_medium The Sporting News' Sam Vecenie writes about Louisville's three potential sophomore breakout stars.

Despite this trio averaging barely 15 points a game last season, it is among the highest-upside groups of sophomores in the country. Throw Mitchell, Adel and Spalding in with explosive freshman V.J. King; steady upperclassmen Mangok Mathiang and Quentin Snider; and a wild card in Pennsylvania transfer Tony Hicks, and there's reason to think the talent at Louisville could coalesce this season into something special — assuming they get a postseason chance.

"None of us have that worry," Mitchell said about the investigation. "Even if there was something, we don't even pay attention. We control what happens within these lines and that's it. We're giving it our all. Regardless of tournament, no tournament, we're going to give 100 percent effort and see what happens."

Mitchell also told me, in that vein, this group of young players is hungry to play in its first NCAA Tournament after being banned last season. With hunger and motivation tends to come improvement. Mitchell showed that by staying in the gym late at night at an event many kids use as a warm weather vacation.

Louisville is a team to watch this season both in college hoops and for NBA Draft fans. There are storylines galore, and high-upside players who seem to be taking their career seriously. Adidas Nations showed the potential for that, but now it's up to them to come through on their promise.

I_medium The 7th-ranked Louisville men's soccer team will square off against No. 5 Clemson tonight at Lynn Stadium in a match where a win for the Cards would clinch a share of the Atlantic Division crown. Here's your senior night preview.

I_medium The adorable little girl who was so mortified after accidentally cheering for Kentucky is feeling a lot better now.

I_medium Steven Godfrey says that Charlie Strong always had a razor thin margin for error at Texas because he could never work a room like Mack Brown did.

I_medium Campus Insiders previews the 2016-17 ACC basketball season in video form.

I_medium Top U of L hoops target Lance Thomas reviews his Louisville visit and talks about his decision-making process.

I_medium Vine is dead. Twitter killed it. I hate that. Especially happening at this time of the year.

I_medium West Virginia plays defense in a conference where no one else does, a fact which might make the Mountaineers far more dangerous than we've been giving them credit for.

I_medium Two Memphis football players got into a fight earlier this week, one was hospitalized and had his car shot up, and it was all over video games. There's not even a joke to be made here, that's ridiculous.

I_medium This is not an ideal combination of statistics if you're a Virginia fan.

I_medium Donovan Mitchell talks about his favorite dunks from his freshman season.

I_medium Duke is going to be really good this year, but the fact that Coach K's blueprint for success is based off of Dancing with the Stars gives me hope that we can win the ACC.

I_medium Louisville women's swimming and diving is ranked No. 3 in the country, which is insane to think about. Arthur Albiero is good at his job.

I_medium Lamar > Manziel

I_medium Meet the agents who have their hands on pretty much every college basketball coaching job that opens up.

I_medium Tom Crean was at Game 2 of the World Series Wednesday night.

And he had way better seats than John Calipari.

I_medium ESPN looks at the case for and against Louisville being in the College Football Playoff.

I_medium The SB Nation college football newsletter says Charlie Strong is coaching for his job against Baylor, and highlights the other biggest stories around the country heading into week nine.

I_medium Can we get this in red, Jared?

I_medium This story by Dave McKenna on former sportswriter Jennifer Frey is sad, but very, very good.

I_medium The C-J's Steve Jones is predicting a 42-16 Cardinal victory tomorrow.

I_medium Steve Addazio is not a fan of his critics on social media, a fact which will probably matter less when he gets fired in a few weeks.

I_medium Is that Mankind in the back right?

I_medium Tom Izzo's eulogy at the funeral for a local sports columnist was pretty fantastic.

I_medium I answered some questions for Streaking the Lawn about tomorrow's game, and a couple about basketball.

I_medium Donovan Mitchell is No. 31 in the NBC top 100 players in college basketball countdown.

I_medium STL's "The Column" preview for the Louisville game is very cool. Spoiler: none of their writers believe UVA is going to spring the upset, but a handful believe the Hoos will cover.

I_medium Dennis Dodd keeps bringing up Bobby Petrino going to LSU in the most passive aggressive manner possible, which makes the rest of his columns impossible to appreciate.

I_medium The U of L women's soccer team ended its regular season with a 2-1 home loss to Virginia Thursday night. The Cards did not qualify for the 8-team ACC Tournament.

I_medium And finally, beat Virginia.

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