Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 3.

—Lawyer Keith Poynter has a great read over at The Crunch Zone breaking down the letters from Greg Postel and Tom Jurich that were released yesterday.

HOW DOES IT PLAY OUT

This is perhaps the biggest and most frequent question that I field when discussing the potential outcomes of litigation. For starters, it is a fool’s errand to attempt to guess what any jury will do on any given case. (See Simpson, Orenthal, and Anthony, Casey for detailed examples.). That said, I have often been mistaken for a fool, so here goes…

First, I see a high probability that this case will settle. The sheer reality of it is that over 90% of cases filed never make it to a jury. By the numbers alone, it would be a safe bet to think that this too settles. Second, Tom Jurich isn’t in need of any money, and he feels wronged. He may be angry enough that he is unwilling to settle this case for anything short of his full contract. (With that in mind, there is an increased chance that it does go to trial.). Not only are juries hard to read, but so too are bull headed parties to litigation. When money isn’t your motivation, you are highly unpredictable. So Tom may have some fun with this.

If trial is the ultimate outcome, my prediction is that Jurich would prevail. In large part because of the terms of his contract. The University was required to give Jurich notice of any deficiency that he had, and to allow him 30 days to cure them. They clearly failed to do that in Tom’s case and this fact alone will be huge in deciding any case between the parties.

Next, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Jurich takes action against individuals in this case. Postel, and Grissom appear to be in Jurich’s crosshairs, and the “character assassination” and “smear campaign” language is not being offered inconsequentially. When the litigation is unfurled, I expect that there will be not only breach of contract claims against the University, but also tort claims for defamation against at least one party involved from the University.

—Eric Crawford also takes a look at Tuesday’s exchange of blows, and says it’s a situation where no one wins and everybody loses.

—Jurich’s legal team will reportedly be holding a press conference today at 3:30 because none of this is ever going to end. Also Rick Pitino will be on with Terry Meiners on 840-WHAS at 5:30 because same.

—Nick Petrino spoke with the media after Tuesday’s practice.

—U of L is refusing to disclose an internal memo that might shed light on tensions between Tom Jurich and senior members of the U of L administration.

—Congrats to U of L women’s soccer’s Gabby Kouzelos on being named ACC Defender of the Week.

—The U of L men’s soccer team took a slight hit in the national rankings after losing to NC State.

—While he’s suspended, Brian Bowen has hired former Kentucky star Derek Anderson to train him.

—RIP, Fats Domino.

—Hugggssssss

—Michigan State star Miles Bridges says he was offered money during the recruiting process, but turned it down.

—Seedy K’s latest pigskin prognostications are here.

—This is strange, even by Lane Kiffin standards.

—John Thompson says that Patrick Ewing “will get fired if he doesn’t win,” which is sort of how coaching works.

—I am in favor of making Bill Stone the new permanent president after he dropped thi line about Chuck Smrt on Tuesday.

—Trinity linebacker Ethan Hull was offered a preferred walk-on spot by Louisville on Tuesday.

—I know there are plenty of people out there who don’t like him, but I think Steph Curry rules, and stuff like this is one of the reasons why.

—I’m doing an Ask Me Anything over on the U of L Reddit page tomorrow at noon. Stop by and, you know, ask me anything.

—Jim Boeheim sees a double standard in the way the NCAA treats North Carolina and the way it treated Syracuse.

When asked about the issues at North Carolina during Syracuse’s basketball media day, Boeheim said he didn’t want to get into all of that. And then he got into all of that.

"I'm not going to comment on anything about that," Boeheim said. "But, as you mentioned many times, in your writings, head coach responsibility. That didn't apply to North Carolina. Screamingly obvious. And I'm surprised that you, in particular, haven't been all over that. I'm supposed to know about a 10-page paper and they don't know about 18 years of As?"

Former North Carolina player Rashad McCants told ESPN’s Outside the Lines he believed Roy Williams knew about the academic scam because the head coach once told him they were going to fix his academic issues by shifting around his transcript. In Boeheim’s eyes, even if a head coach wasn’t in on the fraud, a player having very low grades in one cluster of classes and very high grades in another (as McCants did) should have raised some eyebrows.

"I know every year what my players get and what courses they get them in," Boeheim said. "I get a report every semester. What course. What grades."

—We found out yesterday that UNC’s Joel Berry would miss the start of the season because of a broken bone in his hand. We found out today that he broke said bone because he threw a temper tantrum after losing in a video game.

—Olympians from Louisville are writing letters to Papa John in an effort to get him to add vegan cheese to his pizza. Just another U of L scandal, man.

—Wake Forest has dubbed Saturday afternoon’s game against Louisville as a blackout.

—Bobby Petrino is the 21st-highest paid coach in college football.

—I DON’T like that Padgett got sat next to Pastner and I REALLY DON’T like that Buzz apparently has hair now.

If he looks really cold during games and wears heavy sweaters with no signs of perspiration then we’ll know for sure that we’re dealing with a Bizarro Buzz situation.

—Louisville-Clemson currently ranks as the 10th most-watched game of the 2017 college football season. I wish it didn’t.

—NFL.com’s college quarterback power rankings have Lamar Jackson at No. 1 for the first time this season.

—The C-J takes an inside look at Blanton Creque’s game-winning field goal against Florida State.

“That (was) on his mind – ‘this next kick is to win the big game for whoever I end up playing for,’” Blanton’s father, Ron, said of those long days on the practice field. “It’s kind of like kids shooting a basketball in the driveway and hitting the shot at the buzzer to win a championship.”

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher tried to ice Creque with a timeout, but it didn’t work. Creque was perfect from 34 yards.

At home preparing for his next game, Creque’s high school coach, Jerry Lucas, was anxious. In his seat Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium, Ron Creque was, too. And in her seat, Blanton’s mother, Kim, was … well, she was not in her seat.

Kim Creque said she does not like to watch her son kick from the stands. She does not like to hear what people have to say when he misses, so before the play, she had walked down to the railing in front of the field, where she found two Florida state troopers. She told them her son was about to try the game-winning kick, and they let her watch from just behind the opposite end zone.

“I felt like he was going to make it,” she said, “but I wanted that to be my own moment that I got to experience.”

—Sports on Earth would like to remind everyone that Lamar Jackson is awesome and we should all be enjoying what’s left of his college career.

—Bonus points for ruining the picture for your daughter.

—Eric Crawford recaps the first part of the ACC media day experience for Anas Mahmoud and Quentin Snider.

—Jeff Greer has an update on where Louisville’s NCAA appeal stands.

—And finally, it promises to be another wild day on Ramsey & Rutherford on 790-KRD. We’ll have the Jurich press conference at 3:30, sound from ACC media day, and Rick Pitino’s interview with Terry Meiners at 5:30. Listen from 3-6 here.