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Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Your face when you're not pumped about being in a car seat but then you remember that it's Senior Day tomorrow.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Spread check: No line yet.

I_medium Yesterday was the 80th birthday of the man who made Louisville basketball a monster and trolled Kentucky harder than any of us ever could. Happy (belated) birthday, coach Crum.

I_medium A number of huge names in college basketball paid their respects to coach Crum at his birthday celebration over the weekend.

I_medium A reminder that it's senior day tomorrow, and on senior day we wear red.

I_medium CBS' latest NBA mock draft has Donovan Mitchell going to the Bulls at pick No. 17.

I_medium Seth Davis plays the "magic eight" game where you give your eight teams that you know will include the national champion. One of his eight is mighty Louisville.

5. Louisville

The Cardinals are not only the best defensive team in the country (they've been ranked in the top five nationally in KemPom's defensive efficiency rankings all season), they are the most versatile. They can press and trap fullcourt, and they can grind you down in the halfcourt. They're 11th in the country in three-point percentage defense, they're 21st in two-point percentage defense, and they're sixth in blocks percentage. Plus, they have the type of dynamic backcourt scorer in Donovan Mitchell that we've seen carry a team to a title so often.

Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, Villanova, SMU, Oregon and Gonzaga are Davis' other teams.

I_medium Congratulations to Scott Davenport on being named GLVC Coach of the Year. Coach Davenport has a 100 percent success rate when it comes to winning the award in the same year that I'm an honorary captain for his team, something I hope he remembers moving forward.

I_medium Louisville is No. 8 in the latest Sports Illustrated power rankings from Luke Winn.

8. LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
LAST WEEK: 9
RECORD: 23-€”7

Staying on the transparency kick, these were the 10 players I submitted on my Naismith Trophy POY semifinalists ballot. They did not need to be submitted in any order, but this is how I'd order them:

1. Frank Mason III, Kansas
2. Josh Hart, Villanova
3. Caleb Swanigan, Purdue
4. Lonzo Ball, UCLA
5. Johnathan Motley, Baylor 
6. Ethan Happ, Wisconsin
7. Nigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga
8. Justin Jackson, UNC
9. Donovan Mitchell, Louisville
10. Dillon Brooks, Oregon

Mitchell and Brooks did not appear on the Naismith Trophy's semifinal list; in their place were Duke's Luke Kennard and Kansas' Josh Jackson, both worthy candidates. I passed on Kennard in favor of Mitchell because of the defensive aspect; Mitchell is the efficient go-to guy on a top-10 team and the perimeter lockdown guy for an elite defense, whereas Kennard's contribution is mostly on offense. Brooks' minutes have been limited due to his recovery from a foot injury, but he's been the nation's preeminent big-shot maker—even bigger than Mason!—and contributes plenty on D.

Next up: 3/4 vs. Notre Dame

I_medium Louisville is down to a No. 3 seed in the latest Bracketology from CBS.

I_medium New U of L walk-on Jo Griffin from South Oldham has always dreamed of playing for the Cards.

I_medium Finally famous.

I might watch this now.

I_medium Hoops Insight looks at another "weird" game for Louisville agains Wake Forest, and also compares Deng Adel vs. V.J. King.

I_medium Somebody Jeff Greer a vote for the ACC postseason basketball awards and he only partially screwed it up, which I guess is the best we could have hoped for.

Here are all my selections:

My All-ACC first team
John Collins, F, Wake Forest
Bonzie Colson, F, Notre Dame
Justin Jackson, F, North Carolina
Donovan Mitchell, G, Louisville
Luke Kennard, G, Duke

My All-ACC second team
Joel Berry, G, North Carolina
Dennis Smith Jr., G, NC State
Michael Young, F, Pittsburgh
Dwayne Bacon, G, FSU
Seth Allen, G, Virginia Tech

My All-ACC third team
Jonathan Isaac, F, FSU
Ben Lammers, C, Georgia Tech
Jayson Tatum, F, Duke
Jamel Artis, G/F, Pittsburgh
London Perrantes, G, Virginia

My ACC player of the year
John Collins, F, Wake Forest

My ACC freshman of the year
Dennis Smith Jr., G, NC State

My All-ACC defensive team
Donovan Mitchell, G, Louisville
Ben Lammers, C, Georgia Tech
Anas Mahmoud, C, Louisville
Isaiah Wilkins, F, Virginia
Dennis Smith Jr., G, NC State

My All-ACC freshman team
Jonathan Isaac, F, FSU
Dennis Smith Jr., G, NC State
Jayson Tatum, F, Duke
Bruce Brown, G, Miami
Josh Okogie, G, Georgia Tech

My ACC coach of the year
Josh Pastner, Georgia Tech

My ACC defensive player of the year
Ben Lammers, C, Georgia Tech

My ACC most improved player
John Collins, F, Wake Forest

My ACC sixth man of the year
Seth Allen, G, Virginia Tech

I_medium Greer also has a nice senior day read on David Levitch and the Levitch family's emotions heading into the day.

I_medium Should the ACC Player of the Year simply go to the best team's best player? The answer is no, but Jay Bilas discusses.

I_medium A look at the bubble as we head into the final weekend of the regular season for the power conferences.

I_medium This is the best video of 2017, and it's not close.

The block is obviously the scene-stealer but the coach treating bitty ball like it's a high school state championship game is the real star. That or the first "NOOOOOOOOOOO."

I_medium The U of L men's swimming and diving finished second at the ACC Championships.

I_medium Terry Meiners talked with Denny Crum yesterday about life at 80. You can hear their conversation here.

I_medium Miles Bridges is trying to have a Rick Pitino/Russ Smith type relationship with Tom Izzo, but Izzo isn't there yet.

I_medium Virginia Tech is putting up some hard to fathom numbers right now.

I_medium The latest Bleacher Report mock draft has Donovan going to the Pistons at pick 16.

I_medium The U of L men's soccer team has added a pair of prolific brothers for next season.

I_medium Denny Crum getting an autographed Hunger Games poster from Jennifer Lawrence makes me so happy.

I_medium Valpo senior star Alec Peters is going to miss his final college postseason, which really, really sucks.

I_medium 247 Sports has Louisville football at No. 12 in its still-too-early top 25 for 2017.

I_medium We all love the throwback gear. Isabelle is no exception.

I_medium The unbeaten Louisville baseball team hosts Eastern Michigan this weekend for a three-game series. Here's your preview.

I_medium Best time of the year.

I_medium Dan Bonner breaks down Louisville vs. Notre Dame.

I_medium Campus Insiders likes Louisville by 6 tomorrow.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville Prediction

A double bye in the ACC Tournament is not yet secure for the Irish. Notre Dame can finish as high as second in the league and as low as fifth. If Notre Dame loses to Louisville, it will require North Carolina to beat Duke or Miami to beat FSU to earn the double bye. That may indeed be what Brey's squad needs, because a valiant effort will come up a little short in a close road loss to the Cardinals.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville final score prediction: Louisville 75, Notre Dame 69

I_medium Kyle Kuric, who once did something very cool against Notre Dame, says he's "never felt better" than he does right now.

I_medium The era of Louisville baseball players being everywhere in the Major Leagues is fast approaching.

I_medium The latest SB Nation Bracketology has Louisville as a No. 3 facing Belmont. The 14 seeds are going to be way, way more dangerous than the 15's this year. So for that reason and several others, let's go ahead and make that climb back up a line.

I_medium Wake Forest was due to win at least one close game against a ranked opponent. Louisville was just the unfortunate victim.

I_medium This is awesome.

I_medium More coming on this later, but the Louisville women have advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals with a 1-point win over NC State.

I_medium For all you Racer grads, Murray State's Jonathan Stark has scored 78 damn points (41 and 37) the last two night to carry his team to the OVC tournament semifinals.

I_medium The official Notre Dame site gives us five things to know about tomorrow's game.

I_medium And finally, R&R is on from 3-6 this afternoon previewing Senior Day and talking all sorts of other nonsense. Listen here.

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