Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—The fourth-ranked U of L women’s basketball team plays the first of four straight home games tonight at 7 when they welcome UT Martin to the KFC Yum Center. Here’s a preview.

—Lamar Jackson was a unanimous choice as the Associate Press’ ACC Player of the Year.

—The Kentucky Fan Base Story:

—Every one at 790-KRD is going to be doing their show from the Mall St. Matthews as part of the annual Toys For Tots Drive. Every toy that is donated tomorrow will be matched by Sternberg Automotive. It’s a pretty cool deal.

—I think UCLA got the best possible scenario for themselves yesterday when they got a break from the madness of the Ball family a year after enjoying Lonzo’s greatness. My colleague Ricky O’Donnell takes the opposite approach and says the Balls took UCLA for all it was worth.

—Indiana looked good last night in a win over Iowa, but are the Hoosiers ready for Louisville?

—The NCAA selection committee announced an adjustment to its selection provess on Tuesday.

The selection committee will no longer use top 50, top 100, 200 and 201 and above as dividing categories. Instead, the new terminology will be quadrants 1, 2, 3 and 4. The decision is to get away from treating every team the same if the game was on the road, neutral or at home based on their power rating. Now the road/neutral games will matter more.

...

The breakdown will be as follows:

Quadrant 1: Home 1-30; Neutral 1-50; Away 1-75

Quadrant 2: Home 31-75; Neutral 51-100; Away 76-135

Quadrant 3: Home 76-160; Neutral 101-200; Away 136-240

Quadrant 4: Home 161-plus; Neutral 201-plus; Away 241-plus.

It’s a change likely to help both programs who choose to play tough away games and those who have no other choice but to play tough away games.

—SB Nation’s All-America team has Lamar Jackson as the second team quarterback, which is wrong, but that’s ok.

—ESPN’s Todd McShay answers 25 questions about the 2018 NFL Draft and says he doesn’t believe Lamar Jackson is first round caliber right now.

7. So what about 2016 Heisman winner Lamar Jackson?

McShay: He's not in the Round 1 conversation at this point. The Louisville quarterback still has a long way to go in terms of making throws from the pocket and being accurate down the field. He is a dynamic athlete, however, and he's going to light up the combine. What worries me is that he's a runner first with a slight 6-foot-3 frame, and those guys don't usually hold up in the NFL, where everyone's a great athlete.

—Fugitive Kentucky lawyer Eric C. Conn was reportedly captured in Honduras.

—No human being has ever been happier to be on the “Judge Mathis” show than Tom Izzo was.

—If you’re planning on heading to Jacksonville for the bowl game, invest in some ear plugs.

—Central Florida is bringing in Missouri OC and former Oklahoma QB Josh Heupel to serve as its new head coach.

—ESPN has reportedly purchased all the Fox Sports Regional Networks, which will likely have a huge impact on the way we watch all sorts of sports.

—This is so great.

—Only two players in the NFL have more tackles since 2014 than former Card Preston Brown. Shoutout to Brown on his fourth straight 100 tackle season.

—Ex-UK basketball director Leon Smith pled guilty in federal court yesterday.

—Congrats to U of L men’s soccer’s Tim Kubel and Tate Schmitt on earning United Soccer Coaches All-Region honors.

—Matz forever.

—Louisville falls all the way out of Andy Katz’s Power 36 rankings.

—The C-J lays out three keys for tomorrow’s Louisville-Siena game.

—The folks in Raleigh haven’t been overly thrilled about Louisville being taken over NC State by the TaxSlayer Bowl. WRAL Sports Fan lays out some thoughts on how the ACC’s bowl situation played out.

—Keep fighting the good fight, Sean.

—Roy Williams has some very serious thoughts on the NCAA rulebook, which is oh so fresh.

—This very early TaxSlayer Bowl preview likes the Cards big.

PREDICTION

U OF L 37, MSU 17 Unless Thompson is a much better passer than Fitzgerald, and Knox decides to play this game more vertically, the Cardinals will know what kind of play is coming before the ball is even snapped. This will lead to a lot of three-and-outs, giving Jackson the opportunity to gash a Bulldog defense that should be spending a lot of time on the field. NFL scouts, for reasons unknown, will continue to question Jackson’s ability to play QB in the pros even as they watch him hang 400 yards and four scores on an SEC defense.

—Saturday Blitz lays out three reasons why Lamar Jackson should win the Heisman again.

—The Cardinal Connect says it’s too soon to panic about David Padgett’s team.

—Keep reppin’.

—For Whom the Cowbell Tolls takes an early look at the Dec. 30 matchup with Louisville.

—Travel packages to Jacksonville through U of L are now available.

—And finally, the best TV options tonight:

No. 4 Villanova vs. No. 12 Gonzaga (7 p.m./ESPN)

No. 15 Virginia vs. No. 18 West Virginia (7 p.m./ESPNU)

Texas at VCU (Shaka Smart Bowl - 7 p.m./ESPN2)

Utah Jazz at Oklahoma City Thunder (8 p.m./NBATV)

Syracuse vs. Connecticut (9 p.m./ESPN)

Texas A&M vs. Arizona (9 p.m./ESPN2)