Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

There's no right answer to the question of which team to root for (or more against) tonight, but I'm pulling for Alabama, which is the opposite stance of what I took 12 months ago.

The reason is three-fold: 1) We don't need to be rah-rah conference anymore. The ACC already has enough respect that if Louisville takes care of its business, it's going to be able to play until it loses at the end of the season. 2) If 'Bama wins, nothing changes. They're already the dominant power in college football, and one more championship won't shift that. If Clemson wins, they have college football's ultimate trump card. 3) We have to deal with Clemson fans all the time, and they have become (online at least) absolutely insufferable.

Again, I respect anyone who has a difference of opinion in this lesser of two evils discussion, but I would most prefer to see Clemson not win tonight.

Interim Duke coach Jeff Capel announced Monday on the ACC coaches' teleconference that starting forward Amile Jefferson, who injured his foot over the weekend, is out for the Blue Devils' game against Florida State on Tuesday. Capel said Jefferson's status would be re-evaluated before the team's game against Louisville on Saturday. Jefferson is currently averaging 13.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.

Highlights of the U of L women's team's Sunday triumph over Pitt are here.

Which one of us is going to have to break the news to ESPN ... for the second time this season.

Minnesota moved into the rankings for the first time since 2012-13, when the Gophers were in the poll for 11 weeks, reaching as high as No. 9. Minnesota's arrival means that there's a father-son duo in the Top 25, with Kentucky coach Rick Pitino and Minnesota coach Richard Pitino.

Clemson's strength and conditioning coach is also in charge of pulling other coaches back to the sidelines if they get too angry in the middle of games. Seriously.

Kentucky's new proposed bill restricting bathroom use could result in the ACC and the NCAA pulling events out of the state, just as they've done with North Carolina over the last year. If we get a waiver that declares us "not really part of Kentucky, just technically" can we keep our events?

Louisville checks in at No. 14 on Jeff Goodman's updated college hoops power rankings for ESPN.

Previous U of L triumph Wichita State -- which is absolutely trouncing the rest of the Missouri Valley right now -- is No. 3 in the latest Mid-Major Top 25. Kevin Keatts' UNC-Wilminton team is No. 5.

At least we're better at something against Virginia than the rest of the ACC.

#UVa's given up four fast break points since ACC play started, and none since the Louisville game.

— Andrew Ramspacher (@ARamspacher) January 9, 2017

The mass exodus of quarterbacks from the ACC to the NFL continued Monday with North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky declaration that he'll be skipping his senior season. That's not the worst news for a Louisville team that faces the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill next year.

Gary Parrish still has Louisville allll the way down at No. 19 in his daily rankings for CBS.

College football players tell The New York Times what they use their stipend money for.

Jeff Greer gives you the Louisville basketball numbers you need to know this week.

43.6

Speaking of Donovan Mitchell's 3-point clip, how about Quentin Snider? He's 17-of-39 from 3-point range since the start of December, including a 6-of-12 run in three ACC games. Like Mitchell, Snider's 3-point percentage has climbed quite a bit and is now up to a very respectable 35.4.

Three

This one's the number of times this season Ray Spalding has collected at least five rebounds to go with two or more steals and two or more blocks. He has 12 rebounds, two blocks and two steals at Georgia Tech. He had five rebounds, four blocks and two steals vs. Eastern Kentucky and six rebounds, two blocks and two steals vs. Long Beach State. Saturday was also Spalding's second consecutive double-digit-rebound game.

Butler was fined $5,000 for storming the court after its win over No. 1 Villanova last week, and the school is donating the money to "Be the Match" in order to honor the legacy of former player Andrew Smith.

Louisville's win over Georgia Tech was far more important than it'll ever look on paper.

Despite being the son of a Kentucky legend, Russ Yeast carved his own path to U of L.

These quotes that one anonymous ACC coach made to Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel for a story on Deshaun Watson have ruffled more than a few feathers in Louisville over the last day.

Opponents and scouts got varying views of Watson's future this season. One ACC coach who faced both players projected Watson as a better prospect than Jameis Winston. He said Watson's high interception total this year reminded him of the 18 picks that Winston threw in 2014. "I think there's something to be said for being a quarterback who knows he's a millionaire if he stays healthy," the coach said. "I think that plays a role in a kid's psyche, [that] if he runs and blows out his knee that's $9 million out of his pocket."

The coach did add that he considers Watson an exponentially better quarterback prospect than Louisville QB Lamar Jackson, who won the Heisman Trophy. "Watson has a chance to be at least as good as Winston," he said. "We played he and Lamar Jackson, and Jackson has no shot at playing quarterback in the NFL. None. He can't make the throws and can't read coverages. He's not going to have a chance. Watson stands tall in the pocket and whips the ball around like Ben Roethlisberger."

I'm not saying it's definitely Dave Clawson who made these comments, I'm just saying it's probably Dave Clawson who made these comments. Maybe. Probably.

Louisville's Jan. 19 game against Clemson and its Jan. 21 game at Florida State will both be televised by ESPN. The games had previously been listed as "ESPN or ESPN2."

Nevada pulled off one of the most unreal comebacks I've ever seen Saturday night against New Mexico.

Nevada trailed New Mexico 90-76 with just over a minute left last night. What happened next was one of the most insane comebacks you'll see. pic.twitter.com/PEqe0wmbqK

— March Madness 2017 (@Madness2017) January 8, 2017

Minnesota and Richard Pitino are now 15-2 after taking down Ohio State yesterday. Is there any question that the committee is going to try and match the Gophers up with Louisville in the second round?

Rick Pitino said on the ACC coaches teleconference Monday that despite suffering what appeared to be a scary concussion, he expects Deng Adel to be ready to go on Wednesday.

Louisville expects to have sophomore wing Deng Adel for Wednesday's 7 p.m. game against Pittsburgh, coach Rick Pitino said.

Adel, who left Saturday's game at Georgia Tech with what U of L originally termed a concussion, likely won't practice Monday but is expected to return to workouts on Tuesday, Pitino said.

"He'll be ready to go Wednesday," Pitino said on the ACC teleconference.

Louisville native Justin Thomas kicked off his 2017 season on the PGA Tour with a victory.

The U of L swimmers took down Missouri over the weekend in a dual meet.

And finally, R&R is back today from 3-6 talking about the win over Georgia Tech, the big week ahead, and tonight's national championship game. You can listen here, or by calling 641-793-9401 to listen live without using any data.