Friday evening Cardinal news and notes

—Ricky O’Donnell lays out the 11 most bonkers things about the Louisville-Virginia ending.

—Even after what I assume was the most devastating loss of their basketball careers, our guys took the time to sign autographs and pose for pictures with the little sister of Marshall County High School shooting victim Bailey Holt.

Say what you want about the game, we have a pretty solid group of human beings representing the school and the city right now.

—Here’s the U of L recap of the women’s team’s win over Virginia Tech this afternoon. The Cards take on fifth-seeded NC State in the ACC semis tomorrow at noon on ESPNU.

—There are more three-pointers being taken in college basketball right now than in any other point in history.

—When being an out of state Cards fan during basketball season goes wrong...

—We finally have the full story about what happened when the UCLA basketball team went to China.

—Appropriate stuff from Marc Murphy.

—EDSBS goes back and reviews the Louisville-North Carolina game and says that week two was when it was clear that the Cardinals were not going to be good.

—Multiple NFL teams requested that Lamar Jackson work out at wide receiver during the combine, which just reminded me of this.

RIP, Hedberg.

—The last paragraph of Dan Steinberg’s recap of last night’s game just about sums it up.

The point is: Well, choose your own point. If you’re a Louisville fan, the point is pure pain. If you’re an old-school Virginia fan, the point is that this team really does have something special and just won’t ever go away and cannot stop doing truly remarkable things. If you’re a younger Virginia fan, the point is you should still be out running shirtless around the neighborhood and not reading any of this. If you’re a casual college basketball fan, the point is that no matter how much the bad people try to ruin the game by squeezing it until shiny nickels pop out of every last orifice, it basically can’t be ruined as long as 20-year old kids are willing to do absurd and awful and wonderful and magical things on random Thursday nights, which is why we’ll all bemoan the sport’s problems and then stand in communal circles around television sets every year around this time, making the sorts of involuntary expressions of glee we don’t often make in these troubled times.

—Updated national championship odds from Bovada:

Odds to win the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship

Team 2/1/18 Current Odds (3/2/18)

Michigan State 5/1 11/2

Virginia 7/1 11/2

Villanova 11/2 6/1

Duke 6/1 7/1

Kansas 16/1 10/1

Purdue 7/1 10/1

North Carolina 28/1 16/1

Xavier 40/1 18/1

Wichita State 25/1 20/1

Cincinnati 33/1 25/1

West Virginia 25/1 25/1

Arizona 16/1 28/1

Gonzaga 28/1 28/1

Kentucky 20/1 28/1

Michigan 75/1 33/1

Auburn 66/1 40/1

Missouri 100/1 40/1

Ohio State 66/1 40/1

Florida 28/1 50/1

Texas Tech 75/1 50/1

Oklahoma 18/1 66/1

Tennessee 100/1 66/1

Rhode Island 200/1 75/1

Clemson 100/1 100/1

Florida State 75/1 100/1

Seton Hall 100/1 100/1

St. Mary’s CA 66/1 100/1

Louisville 75/1 125/1

Butler 100/1 150/1

Houston Off the Board 150/1

Miami Florida 100/1 150/1

Nevada 200/1 150/1

NC State 150/1 150/1

Notre Dame Off the Board 150/1

Texas A&M 75/1 150/1

Texas 200/1 200/1

USC 200/1 200/1

Creighton 125/1 250/1

UCLA Off the Board 250/1

Alabama 100/1 300/1

Arizona State 66/1 300/1

Baylor Off the Board 300/1

Middle Tennessee St Off the Board 300/1

Oregon Off the Board 300/1

SMU 200/1 Off the Board

TCU 75/1 Off the Board

—And finally, U of L previews tomorrow’s enormous game at NC State.