Wednesday morning Cardinal news and notes

The Mrs. and I had a blast in Boston this past weekend. The rain held off on Friday night for a wild Red Sox/Yankees game and I am now made up of at least 15 percent lobster and chowder. Feels good. Smells terrible.

Now it’s time for the madness to renew and not let up until next spring. That’s fine. I’m fully re-charged and ready to share in whatever the next eight months have in store for all of us. Let’s go.

—The commitment of Miami Northwestern quarterback/athlete Tutu Atwell has moved Louisville up to No. 22 on Rivals’ team rankings for the 2018 class.

—Pretty bad ass picture.

—Jeff Greer profiles Quentin Snider.

—Ricky O’Donnell makes an early prediction on where all the top basketball players in the class of 2018 will end committing, including New Albany superstar Romeo Langford.

Romeo Langford, SG, New Albany, IN

Langford is a smooth 6’5 shooting guard who has put up precocious scoring numbers as a high school player in Indiana. Unfortunately, he’s battled back spasms this summer that limited him in grassroots season and kept him out of the World Cup.

Langford feels like he’s flying under the radar a bit this summer, but this is still one of the most coveted prospects in the senior class. He’s been offered by everyone, but his recruitment has added importance for Indiana. This is Archie Miller’s first real test on the trail: a top-5 recruit from his own backyard who profiles as a primary scorer from the moment he starts his college career. With Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and many more after him, it won’t be easy.

Prediction: Louisville

The Cards have been in tight with Langford since the start of his rise as a recruit. Louisville has been on a nice run of producing NBA talent lately, and Langford has the potential to be the program’s signature recruit of the last few years.

Once again, I’m not getting my hopes up.

—Louisville checks in at No. 16 in the Football Writers Association of America preseason “Power 16” ... which is apparently a thing.

—CBS asked 100 college basketball coaches who the best team in America will be in 2017-18, and only four received more votes than Louisville.

Team

Votes

1. Arizona 40%

2. Michigan State 28%

T3. Duke 9%

T3. Kansas 9%

5. Louisville 6%

Others receiving multiple votes: Wichita State, Villanova, Kentucky

Quotes that stood out

On Louisville ...

"Imagine how good they'd be if Donovan Mitchell returned. They have tremendous length. Defensively, they're going to be impossible to score on. They have really good experience, so they 'll have different ways that will really mess with you. They'll have some talent on the wing that can score. If they would've had Donovan, I think they could've … I know they can't go undefeated, but I think it would've a unanimous preseason No. 1. Their strength will be in the pack. I think that it's very difficult for teams at Kentucky and Louisville to have alphas because the head coaches are so much of that."

—Offensive linemen Kenny Thomas and Robbie Bell spoke with the media after practice on Tuesday.

—Waggener High star Jairus Brents has released his top 10 schools, and it’s a list that doesn’t include Louisville.

—If you’re looking for a pregame activity near the stadium on Sept. 2, look no further.

—Congratulations to Kyle Bolin, who has been named both the starting quarterback and a team captain for Rutgers. That guy deserves a big year, and I’ll be pulling for the Scarlet Knights in the Big Ten.

—CBS not exactly buying the “hey Kentucky might actually win the SEC East” hype.

—The U of L field hockey team checks in at No. 9 in the sport’s preseason top 25. North Carolina and Duke are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

—Three members of that Cardinal field hockey team have received preseason All-ACC honors.

—Single game tickets and three-game ticket packages for the upcoming U of L football season are now available to the public.

—Still love you, Reece.

—Coming this year is a new 3-on-3 tournament for college basketball seniors who have exhausted their college eligibility. It will take place during Final Four weekend and will award the winners $100,000. Going to guess the NCAA isn’t thrilled about this, but there’s also not really anything they can do about it.

—His Miami Carol City team may have lost to IMG Academy (the No. 2 ranked high school team in America), but U of L commit Yasir Abdullah did notch a pick six and showed some Louisville love to the cameras afterward (clip happens at the 4 minute mark of the highlight video).

—NC State has dismissed two football players and suspended three others.

—Bill Connelly has now previewed all 130 FBS teams. You can find all those previews right here.

—The Big Ten plans to follow the ACC’s lead and move to a 20-game conference schedule in 2018-19.

—Wearing your Lamar Heisman shirt to the delivery room is an A+ dad move.

—Whether you’re a wrestling fan or not, this John Cena video is remarkably cool.

—Clemson has officially named Kelly Bryant as its week one starting quarterback.

—Louisville’s first preseason First Team AP All-American Jaire Alexander checks in at No. 10 on the ACC Digital Network’s countdown of the 30 best players in the conference.

—Seedy K serves up some pigskin predictions for college football’s sort of opening week.

—ESPN ranks Louisville as the fourth-happiest fan base in college football. Ohio State is No. 1. Kentucky is No. 62.

—I think this should be the save the date.

Congrats, Doc.

—Jeff Walz and Asia Durr discuss their experienced with the U-23 national team here.

—Bill Connelly ranks all 130 college football teams, and has Louisville at No. 15.

—Maybe my favorite youth team in the city.

Also, shoutout to the Holy Trinity Eagles. Do work in 2017, kids who I don’t know and who have never even heard of this site.

—Your complete SB Nation college football 2017 preview is now available for consumption.

—I’m putting this on news & notes even though you’re kind of embarrassing me, James.

It’s Tiffany Freakin’ Amber Freakin’ Thiessen. You go for the pic and you regret nothing.

—First copies of the book are officially in the house.

I think this may mean that the pre-orders are going to ship out a bit earlier than the original Oct. 15 release date. Fingers crossed.

—Not every day you hear a North Carolina football national championship prediction on Finebaum ... or anywhere.

—There is some thought in College Station that if Texas A&M gets rid of Kevin Sumlin they will go after Dabo Swinney. I can’t imagine Swinney would make that move.

—Dabbing pizza with a napkin isn’t even food, VIRGINIA.

—This is a good piece on why college football fans love the sport despite its lack of parity, but let’s define “realistic” here, Bud.

The certainty at the top can seem pretty boring. The same teams win the title all the time. Imagine if the same 10 percent of NFL, MLB, or NBA teams kept winning over a 30-year period.

Over the last quarter century, Alabama has won five times; Florida, Florida State, and Nebraska thrice each; Ohio State and LSU twice; and Auburn, Clemson, Miami, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and USC each took home a BCS and/or Coaches Poll title.

It’s been 22 seasons since Florida became the last team to win its first national title. There are no realistic candidates to do it this year. In fact, only 10 teams meet the recruiting threshold that recent history says is necessary to win a title.

—The U of L women’s soccer team opened its season with a 2-0 triumph over Miami of Ohio on Saturday. The Cards are back in action Thursday night at Indiana.

—The ninth-ranked men’s soccer team held its media day on Saturday. The Cardinals open their season Friday night with a home match against UC Irvine at 7:30. If the match is tight late and Irvine is looking to new a game-winner, I would suggest having one of Louisville’s players make a risky play on the ball. Maybe they won’t call a foul. And then Wayne Blackshear will celebrate and we’ll destroy Northern Iowa two days later at like 1 a.m.

—New U of L commit Javian Hawkins showed last Friday why he might be a huge asset at Louisville.

—Perhaps the biggest football note from over the weekend was that speedster Cornelius Sturghill has been moved from cornerback back to wide receiver. Sturghill had been listed as a starter heading into fall camp and was in a heated position battle with Trumaine Washington. I suppose Washington won that battle and Petrino feels Sturghill’s speed can be better utilized on the other side of the ball.

—Lamar Jackson is the latest Cardinal on the Fast Facts hot seat.

—Florida State announced two season-ending injuries on Tuesday.

—V.J. King talks about his experience at Adidas Nations.

—The St. Pete Bowl has been re-named the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. Swear to god.

—Sports Illustrated profiles Louisville’s Brian Bowen as part of its series on the 25 best incoming freshmen in college basketball. SI has Bowen at No. 15.

WHAT HE MEANS FOR LOUISVILLE’S RECRUITING CLASS

Bowen was an unexpected late addition to a Cardinals class that already included power forward and fellow five-star Malik Williams, along with three four-stars in point guard Darius Perry and forwards Jordan Nwora and Lance Thomas. After last year’s leading scorer Donovan Mitchell decided to stay in the NBA draft (his confidence has been rewarded with a lottery pick and promising early returns for the Jazz), Rick Pitino had expressed comfort with the lineup he had assembled, but Bowen’s decision leaves the Cardinals’ cupboard fully restocked.

HOW HE FITS

Louisville has proven it doesn’t want or need to rain down threes to power its efficient offense, and until he earns his team’s trust as a reliable option from long distance, Bowen too may carve out his early offensive value off the dribble before stepping outside the arc. Before landing Bowen, Pitino had laid out a plan to move third-leading scorer Deng Adel to two guard and increase rising sophomore and former five-star V.J. King’s workload on the wing, which simplifies Bowen’s path to contributing immediately—King averaged 5.5 points per game in reserve minutes last season and wouldn’t be expected to deliver a consistent share of the scoring right away.

—Jay Cutler’s early favorite wide receiver in Miami appears to be DeVante Parker.

—Get to know U of L freshman hooper Jacob Redding, who gets my early nod for best facial hair on the team.

—And finally, a quick reminder that I’m doing the coin toss for tonight’s 7:30 Louisville City FC match against the Harrisburg City Islanders. A win would move Lou City into a tie atop the USL’s Eastern Conference standings. You can save 20 percent on your tickets for tonight’s match or any other match for the rest of the season by going here and using the promo code “CC2017.” Please enter the stadium 5-10 minutes early and be ready to boo.

If I don’t produce a tails, I will return to this space in shame tomorrow morning.