clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Only in New York.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Louisville is a No. 2 seed staring down a rematch with Texas Southern in the latest bracket projection from Chris Dobbertean.

I_medium Donovan Mitchell has a decision to make at the end of this season, but he's not even thinking about it yet.

"We're just going to wait and see until the end of the season and go from there," she said. "Don tells me, 'Mom, I do not want to be distracted.' Originally I was saying, 'Oh, guess what? Look what happened (on draft boards or in media articles).' But he said not to talk about it until the end of the NCAA tournament: 'I don't want any distractions, mom.' That was very mature of him. He doesn't want to deal with any of that hoopla until he's done with his sophomore year. Whatever's going to happen will happen."

The Mitchell clan has dealt with these kind of big decisions before, Nicole explained. First it was where Donovan would go to high school. There was pressure on him to play for one of the prominent basketball programs in the New York area, but Nicole wanted her son to play basketball and get a quality education.

They settled on Brewster, and Mitchell thrived, eventually becoming his class president while developing into a five-star high school prospect.

Then there was the college decision, which Nicole said she left up to Donovan. At that point, she said, her son was mature enough to make his own life decisions and follow his own path.

They'll use those experiences to guide this next big conversation, whenever they have it.

"We will just lay all that out: If we do this or that, here is what happens," she said. "He has to be real with himself. 'Is this something I really want to do? Am I ready for this?' We all have wonderful opportunities, but can we appreciate them?

"He may have another cross in the road at the end of the season. Don will make a wise choice, whatever that may be. This is the third time we've been around this. Not at the same level, but it is a big decision. Then we'll pray and ask for guidance: 'Let us find out and see things clearly.'"

I_medium Brendan McKay, who is hitting a ridiculous .621 through 11 games, has been selected as the NCBWA Player of the Month.

I_medium This is fairly interesting.

I_medium In their very first year of postseason eligibility, Northern Kentucky is headed to the NCAA Tournament. Ballard High product Lavone Holland was the star of the game, which makes you realize how loaded Ballard was when he, Kelan Martin and Quentin Snider were all there.

I_medium I was feeling all happy for the Norse, and then I read the reaction piece from their student newspaper.

Losier and Muenchen are both hoping that NKU will face the Kentucky Wildcats or Louisville Cardinals in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Troy Cornes, a junior at NKU, is hoping that the Norse will face the Louisville Cardinals next since the Cardinals have lost to other small schools before.

"If anyone knows anything about March Madness: there is always a cinderella story," Cornes said. "There's always a bracket buster."

You know who else has "lost to a small school" before? Every-f'ing-body, TROY.

I_medium Tar Heel Blog gives an ACC Tournament preview of Louisville.

I_medium Donovan Mitchell's dad sounds just like Donovan.

I_medium LSU coach Johnny Jones will be fired after the SEC Tournament. His replacement? There's really only one option.

I_medium As of this moment, Louisville basketball has the top-ranked recruiting class for the class of 2018.

I_medium Mark Gottfried aired some grievances following his final game as NC State's head coach.

I_medium Sports Illustrated names its college hoops All-Americans.

I_medium Breaking down college basketball's biggest myths, including the notion that it's "hard to beat the same team three times in one season." It's not.

I_medium The kids are all right.

I_medium Fox Sports gets postseason awards voted from 136 college coaches and executives and compiles them here.

I_medium Congrats to both Ballard and Fern Creek on claiming the 7th and 6th region titles, respectively, and punching their tickets to the state tournament. Here's what the bracket (PDF) for that looks like.

I_medium Major congrats to The Bullet, who still looks like an 18-year-old walk-on.

I_medium If you haven't read it yet, Ricky O'Donnell's feature on Donovan Mitchell is definitely worth your time.

I_medium The saga of Bill Self's renegade program in Lawrence continues, as Josh Jackson has been suspended for the first game of the Big 12 Tournament because of an incident in February.

I_medium Do it.

I_medium Pat Forde gives a brief overview of every conference tournament and lists Louisville as his "spoiler" in the ACC.

I_medium This is a cool idea from Sports Illustrated.

I_medium Leadoff man Logan Taylor has set the tone for Louisville baseball so far this season.

I_medium I have no idea how to process this press release.

That's way too many big names from my youth playing in a league that includes teams with names like "Ghost Ballers."

I_medium Still dancing. Still cursing audibly during games.

I_medium Thad Matta says a rival program told a kid they were both recruiting that Matta was about to die. That's not very cool.

I_medium U of L football's video people continue to do work.

I_medium Larry O'Bannon answers some questions for the fine folks over at Rivals.

I_medium Louisville baseball is back in action this afternoon against Fort Wayne. First pitch at Jim Patterson has been moved back to 4 p.m.

I_medium Here's the best of Quentin, Donovan and Mangok against Notre Dame:

I_medium Cards are in the house.

I_medium There is a basketball revival happening in Los Angeles, which is cool.

I_medium The Sporting News currently projects Louisville as the last No. 2 seed.

I_medium A reminder that "The DePaul" takes place tonight at 9. You're allowed to start drinking now. Yes, I'm wearing my shirt.

I_medium And finally, R&R is live at Cross-Chryser Jeep Fiat this afternoon from 3-6. If they don't have a way for me to watch Duke-Clemson, you're going to be able to tell by the level of pissed off in my voice. Listen here.

More From Card Chronicle