Monday evening Cardinal news and notes

—Spread Check: Louisville by 28.

—Don’t forget your toy tonight.

—It was a pretty wild week in college basketball. Here are the top upsets of the week, ranked. Top-ranked Duke falling to Boston College is only No. 3.

—Dez Fitzpatrick and Dorian Etheridge both make ESPN’s Freshman All-American team.

WR: Dez Fitzpatrick, Louisville

Fitzpatrick's nine touchdown grabs were second-most by a freshman in FBS (most by a true freshman) and set Louisville's freshman record. He caught 45 passes for 699 yards, and his 15.5 yards per catch ranked third in the ACC among receivers with at least 40 receptions.

...

LB: Dorian Etheridge, Louisville

Aside from the dynamic duo at Arizona, no Power 5 true freshman recorded more tackles this season than Etheridge, who led Louisville with 77 stops. A critical part of the Cardinals' defense, Etheridge had double-digit tackles twice, adding three tackles for a loss and two pass breakups on the year.

—Single game tickets for U of L men’s basketball ACC games are now available.

—This was awesome yesterday.

—Louisville is the 19th-best city in the United States to spend New Year’s Eve in.

—Gary Parrish tries to keep AP voters in check with his “poll attacks” feature, and it appears to be working.

—The Ringer says that everyone’s new favorite NBA player, Donovan Mitchell, is a legitimate contender for Rookie of the Year.

We should have seen this coming. But even those high on Mitchell couldn’t have foreseen the type of opportunity—which is always the toughest variable to account for in pre-draft analysis—the rookie is now receiving. “I don’t pretend to have a crystal ball. Necessity is the mother of invention,” Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey told The Big Show last week. “We thought Donovan could take a few possessions. This many possessions? I’d be lying to say, ‘Hey, I knew it’d play out exactly how it’s played out.’”

To put the Utah rookie’s abnormally heavy workload into perspective: Mitchell has already attempted 20 or more shots six times, which is more than Wade, Kyrie Irving, John Wall, Stephon Marbury, Russell Westbrook, and Ray Allen did as rookies. Even Kevin Durant and DeMar DeRozan don’t average as many shots per 100 possessions as Mitchell does, per Basketball-Reference. Mitchell is getting force-fed opportunities like he’s a multi-time All-Star with a top-selling sneaker.

—Louisville still doesn’t appear in And Katz’s Power 36 rankings.

—This shouldn’t be overly surprising. We’ve never had as much sports coverage at our disposal as we do right now, and as a result, we all know who’s going to win the award a month before the ceremony.

—Bleacher Report says Donovan Mitchell has completely re-written his own scouting report.

—Love this.

—LamarJackson is a Pro Football Focus Second Team All-American.

—Never let Roy forget.

—We like sports.

—The C-J gives us five numbers that explain how Louisville beat Indiana.

—Here’s U of L’s preview of tonight’s game.

—Big fan of this new take on the crying kid with Santa picture.

—Louisville hung up a banner thanking Lamar Jackson outside PJCS.

—Well done.

—And finally, beat Bryant.