Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—We’re just one day away from the top-seeded U of L women’s basketball team beginning it run at a national title. Here’s a preview of Louisville vs. Boise State.

—An update on Clifford Rozier, who has seen some rough days since leaving Louisville.

—Banners up at Brownies The Shed.

—Yahoo’s Pete Thamel wonders aloud whether or not UConn is still an elite job and also takes a quick look at the coaching searches of Louisville, Georgia and Pitt.

—At least Paul Rogers got some love at the beginning of this video of the best moments from the ACC Tournament.

—Bleacher Report ranks all 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament.

—The rest of the NBA is starting to take notice of “Scary” Terry Rozier.

Over his past 16 games, starting with that win over the Knicks, Rozier has increased his scoring output by more than six points. He’s averaging 15.4 points per game -- the second-highest scoring average on the team in that span, trailing only Irving -- on 43.6 percent shooting, including 45.7 percent from beyond the arc. He has added 4.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists over 28.4 minutes per game.

Paul saw this coming before most.

”His energy, how hard he plays on both ends. All I do is watch games, and I think his energy is contagious,” Paul said. “While he’s not the guy for them, he’s important to everything they do.”

Rozier admitted he was as surprised as anyone to hear of Paul’s praise and he’s humbled by it. Rozier said he had no past encounters with Paul and quickly added, “I don’t know nobody.”

Which is surprising because Rozier sure seems to be the type of guy that everyone else is gravitating toward.

—NIT officiating wasn’t only bad in Louisville this week.

—Elisha Justice’s Pikeville squad won an overtime thriller at the state tournament yesterday. Trinity lost a controversial one-point decision against Scott County.

—Chad Pennington is coming to Kentucky to coach high school football.

—Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

Keonta Vernon forever.

—The Louisville baseball team won Wednesday to split a mid-week pair of games with No. 5 Texas Tech.

—Some college hoops Twitter data from ESPN:

Weird that a game from November would be the most-discussed, but there you go.

—Josh Bellamy has re-signed with the Chicago Bears.

—This tweet all by itself made me happy that Radford beat LIU Brooklyn in the First four on Tuesday.

—How one man’s Hollywood flop set off NCAA basketball’s biggest scandal.

—National championship odds from Bovada:

Villanova 6/1

Virginia 13/2

Duke 8/1

Kansas 10/1

Arizona 12/1

Cincinnati 12/1

Michigan State 12/1

Purdue 12/1

Michigan 14/1

North Carolina 14/1

Xavier 14/1

Gonzaga 15/1

Kentucky 16/1

West Virginia 25/1

Tennessee 40/1

Texas Tech 40/1

Missouri 45/1

Wichita State 45/1

Auburn 60/1

Ohio State 80/1

Florida 90/1

Houston 100/1

Clemson 150/1

Miami (Florida) 150/1

Rhode Island 150/1

Texas A&M 150/1

TCU 150/1

Oklahoma 200/1

San Diego State 200/1

Texas 200/1

Alabama 250/1

Arkansas 250/1

Davidson 250/1

Loyola Chicago 250/1

NC State 250/1

Seton Hall 250/1

Butler 300/1

UCLA 300/1

Creighton 350/1

Florida State 350/1

Arizona State 500/1

Kansas State 500/1

Marshall 500/1

Montana 500/1

Nevada 500/1

New Mexico State 500/1

Providence 500/1

Stephen F. Austin 500/1

Syracuse 500/1

Virginia Tech 500/1

Wright State 500/1

Bucknell 700/1

Buffalo 1000/1

CS Fullerton 1000/1

College of Charleston 1000/1

Georgia State 1000/1

Iona 1000/1

Lipscomb 1000/1

Long Island 1000/1

MD Baltimore County 1000/1

Murray State 1000/1

NC Central 1000/1

NC Greensboro 1000/1

Radford 1000/1

Pennsylvania 1000/1

South Dakota State 1000/1

St. Bonaventure 1000/1

Texas Southern 1000/1

—Five things to know about the Boise State women’s team before tomorrow’s game.

—Look into the face of the NCAA tournament’s creepiest mascot, the Providence Friar.

—Don range.

—Gorgui Dieng’s foundation event raised over $500,000 for projects in Senegal this week.

—An NCAA tournament upset is worth some serious coin for smaller schools in the Big Dance.

—The college football trend has hit the college hoops world.

The Trojans survived a double OT scare from UNC Asheville on Tuesday in the first round of the NIT.

—This year’s Card Chronicle coin flip bracket featured Clemson beating South Dakota State in the finals.

The only positive of Louisville not being in the Big Dance is that Virginia couldn’t beat us in the finals again.

—U of L lacrosse took care of Mercer, 21-14 on Wednesday.

—A big-time 7 on 7 tournament is coming to town.

—Reputations tend to go from one extreme to another in college basketball, and maybe that’s because the sport’s postseason is so extreme. I wrote about that and how it relates to Virginia this year.

—Ted Valentine won’t work the NCAA tournament this year, and he thinks it’s because of the Joel Berry incident. Maybe it’s just because he isn’t good at his job.

—Leo!

—Ray Spalding makes an appearance in the latest NBA mock draft from Draft Express.

—Is the FBI actually cleaning up college basketball or just wasting everyone’s time?

—We enjoy the Cardinals.

—And finally, beat Boise State.