Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check (basketball): Louisville by 7.5.

—Spread check (football): NC State by 16.5.

—Happy game day GIF day.

—Danielle Lerner serves up three keys for a Louisville victory over Vermont.

—Two top prospects in the class of 2019 have officially signed on to play for Louisville and Jeff Walz.

—Your game day guide for tomorrow at Cardinal Stadium:

—Awful news out of Memphis, where basketball player Karim Sameh Azab lost his battle with leukemia on Thursday, nine months after being diagnosed with the disease. He turned 22 last month.

—Via the guys over at Louisville Sports Live, Aidan Igiehon does in fact plan to sign during the early signing period, which means Chris Mack should have all six members of his 2019 recruiting class signed and ready to go before the end of the month.

—DePaul is 3-0 after an overtime win over Penn State on Thursday, and my man Pantelis is fired up.

—The Michigan State men’s soccer team defeated Illinois-Chicago 2-0 last night to move on to face Louisville on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Tickets for the matchup are now on sale.

—Ken Lolla and Tate Schmitt talked with the media yesterday about the start of the Cards’ NCAA tournament run.

—Is the Louisville football head coaching job a good one? Yeah, I think it is.

—Shoutout to the Baptist East gift shop for appreciating art.

I mistakenly said on Twitter that this came from the Norton Hospital gift shop, and I wholeheartedly regret the error. Step your game up, Norton.

—U of L track standout Dorcas Wasike looks to cap off an impressive season at the NCAA Championships on Saturday.

—Dan Wetzel lays out the seven results (six favorites, one underdog) that could push college football toward an 8-team playoff.

—The UConn-Syracuse rivalry is back, baby.

The Huskies won the game and will face Iowa tonight in the championship of the 2K Empire Classic.

—Your standard AP preview of Louisville-NC State.

—Kevin Ware is returning to the court after signing with the London Lightning of Canada’s NBL.

—NC State has had a solid season to date, but the Wolf Pack rank 129th out of 130 teams when it comes to pass defense. Now would be a good time for Jawon Pass to start proving that he can get the job done as the Cardinals’ QB moving forward.

—Backing the Pack is also concerned about the NC State secondary.

—Grinnell broke the NCAA record by making 42 damn three-pointers Thursday night.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—Rivals grades Bobby Petrino’s top five signees at Louisville.

—If Jeff Brohm were to come to Louisville, he would likely bring three big-time playmakers with him.

—Athlon likes NC State over the Cards tomorrow.

Final Analysis

Considering Louisville’s offense and defense rank near the bottom of the ACC, it is hard imagining the Cardinals coming away with a victory against NC State. However, the Wolfpack haven’t played well the last few weeks, and the Cards will be at home, so they may be able to keep things close.

The key will be, can Jawon Pass or Malik Cunningham be efficient and not turn the ball over? If they can do that and the defense can contain Ryan Finley and Kelvin Harmon, the Cards could make it interesting. Maybe.

Prediction: NC State 37, Louisville 20

—VJ King said definitively on Thursday that he never received money from Christian Dawkins.

—Jeff Brohm responded Thursday to Dan Dakich’s report that a deal with Louisville had already been done and that Brohm would be introduced as U of L’s new head coach on Nov. 26.

This was the exact response I was hoping to hear. An outright denial of the report itself, but no “I’m sick of this, so let me say with 100 percent certainty that I will be Purdue’s head coach in 2019.”

I hope now that if this thing does wind up getting done (and again, I believe it will), they make the announcement on Nov. 25 or 27 just to spite the worst dude in media.

—Speaking of Jeff Brohm to Louisville being a likely outcome, Monsignor Bovada has now taken its “Next Louisville Football Coach” odds off the board.

—Samuell Williamson’s final season of high school ball is off to a solid start. He dropped 35 in his team’s season-opener.

—Houston head coach Major Applewhite and star defensive end Ed Oliver (shutter) got into a heated argument on national TV last night over whether or not Oliver was allowed to wear a sideline jacket when he wasn’t playing in the game. You know, the usual stuff.

—All signs point to Lamar Jackson making his first NFL start on Sunday.

—Louisville WR commit Stanley King is an Under Armour All-American.

—And finally, beat Vermont.