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Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Terry and Branden Baer are celebrating March from the peak of the El Yunque rain forest in Puerto Rico.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium The Roanoke Times has a nice, easy to digest capsule preview of every team in the ACC Tournament.

I_medium ACC basketball players share their favorite Jay-Z songs ... you know, because the tournament is in Brooklyn this year.

I_medium Jaylen Johnson is a local treasure.

Let's do this, fellas.

I_medium Congratulations to U of L's Myisha Hines-Allen, Briahanna Jackson and Cortnee Walton, who have all been named to the ACC All-Academic Team

I_medium The ACC Digital Network takes a look at the best dunks in the ACC Tournament from over the years.

I_medium ESPN has signed a multi-year deal with the $2 million winner-take-all "The Basketball Tournament."

I_medium Well done, young lady.

I_medium Mark Titus serves up the five biggest storylines in college basketball this week, including whether or not Duke is back and how the bubble is weak every damn year.

I_medium Jeff Greer makes 15 bold predictions about the ACC Tournament.

I_medium Congratulations to our guy Chicken Knowles on celebrating his Senior Day at Houston over the weekend.

They grow up so fast.

The Cougars are the three seed in this week's AAC Tournament, and will open up play on Friday.

I_medium Northern Kentucky, which is postseason eligible this year for the first time since transitioning to Division-I, defeated Youngstown State last night in the Horizon League semifinals. The Youngstown State Penguin was not pleased.

The Norse will take on Milwaukee tonight for the Horizon League title. Milwaukee entered the postseason with a 9-23 overall record, and if they win, they'll have the worse record of any NCAA Tournament qualifier in history.

I_medium Some Hoosier fans are now creating insane Brad Stevens to Indiana commercials and music videos.

I_medium We're still havin' fun, and you're still the one.

I_medium Jay Bilas says the ACC Tournament being held in New York is a good thing.

I_medium Last night's MAAC final between Iona and Siena was terrific. College basketball is good.

I_medium Could the ACC have its eyes set on Madison Square Garden next? They might have to pull a Big Ten and play their tournament a week earlier than everyone else, but it's possible.

I_medium Highly-usable GIF here.

I_medium Chance the Rapper donated $1 million to Chicago public schools because he's awesome.

I_medium Downtown legend Spike the Tortoise is finally walking again after being hit by a car a while back.

I_medium Jay Bilas has changed his tune on Louisville (in a good way).

"Well, they're capable of winning the ACC tournament," Bilas said. Then he expanded his thought to the NCAA tournament: "They can win the whole thing. They're good enough to win the whole thing."

Bilas said Louisville, which is set to open ACC tournament play on Thursday around 2 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, has changed his mind over the course of the season. U of L (24-7) looked like a team that would struggle on offense, but Bilas sees the Cards in a different light now. It's for that reason, plus U of L's reputation for stingy defense, that he has such a high opinion of Rick Pitino's team.

Louisville's offense finished the season ranked 24th in Ken Pomeroy's efficiency ratings. The Cards shot 44 percent as a team in non-conference play, but they hit 46.5 percent of their shots in 18 ACC games.

Sophomore guard Donovan Mitchell, who Bilas said has improved "a great deal," went from 32-percent 3-point shooting in non-league play to 40 percent in the ACC. His backcourt partner, Quentin Snider, shot 15 percentage points better in conference play.

"Earlier in the year when I watched them, I wasn't confident that they would be a great offensive team, that they could really score," Bilas said, "and they were subject early on to some pretty significant scoring droughts, like the (66-63 loss to) Baylor. They've had times where scoring was an issue.

"They can stop people, but I don't care how good your defense is - and their defense is great - great defense doesn't always stop offense. There are some really good offensive players out there that it's hard to keep teams from scoring, and they get hot, and you've got to be able to score yourself. But they've really improved over the last month, month and a half on the offensive end."

I_medium Louisville's scheduled baseball game today at Eastern Kentucky has been postponed because of rain.

I_medium Eight members of the U of L women's swimming and diving team are heading to the NCAA Championships.

I_medium A year after being banned from the postseason, Louisville's redemption tour starts now.

I_medium Here's a good interview with Preston Brown on a Cincinnati radio station.

I_medium The tension of March Madness is real.

I_medium Kevin Keatts and UNC-Wilmington are headed back to the dance for a second straight year. Regardless of who they draw, the Seahawks will be a trendy upset pick a week from now.

I_medium Congratulations to Richard Pitino, who was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year on Monday.

I_medium Pat Forde says Lorenzo Romar's job is probably safe at Washington. I think that's dumb.

I_medium Not many people wanted to watch DePaul play basketball in person this season, which will change when Card Chronicle takes over. The Blue Demons, by the way, will take on Xavier in "The DePaul" (the Big East Tournament opening round game featuring the worst seed) tomorrow night at 9:30 on FS1.

I_medium And finally, R&R is live from the Troll Pub Under the Bridge from 3-6 this afternoon on 93.9 The Ville. NC State will probably be made fun of.

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