Tuesday morning Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 1.

—If you can’t get out of school or work on Wednesday, this should make it easier to stomach.

—The Big Ten tournament in New York actually turned out awesome, which could be a bad thing for the conference in the long run.

—Some great stuff from the Hoops Insights newsletter on how Louisville has been better this season when it’s gone smaller.

Smaller UofL lineups have thrived with extended time in the last 2 games

Against Virginia Tech and Virginia, UofL has spent 83% of the time playing with only 1 big man (usually either Spalding or Mahmoud). That is a big increase from the rest of the season, where UofL has played only 43% of the time with 1 big man.

For the entire season, UofL has had more success when playing with just 1 big man. Uofl’s adjusted margin per possessions with 1 big man has been +0.28, compared to just +0.11 with 2 big men. This is very similar to the margins in the last 2 games against Virginia Tech and Virginia, where lineups with 1 big man have an adjusted margin of +0.31 and lineups with 2 big men are +0.19. The shift from giving 43% of the time to your best lineups to giving 83% of the time to them has improved UofL’s overall adjusted margin from +0.19 for the season to +0.29 in these last 2 games.

So, the improved performance over the last 2 games doesn’t seem to be fluky. Rather, it’s the natural result of just giving more time to the lineups that have outperformed over the full season. This seems like something UofL can continue to do and benefit from!

The biggest argument against playing 1 big man so much is that, theoretically, it should hurt UofL’s rebounding. But, that doesn’t seem to actually be happening. UofL has played 9 games against teams who are in top 50 nationally in offensive rebound percentage (Seton Hall, Memphis, Albany, Kentucky, Florida St (2x), Syracuse, North Carolina, Duke). In those games, UofL has rebounded just as well with 1 big man as with 2:

With 1 big man, UofL rebounded 27% of their own misses and 64% of the opponent’s

With 2 big men, UofL rebounded 27% of their own misses and 62% of the opponents

More of this in Brooklyn, please.

—Loyola-Chicago has passed DePaul as the best college basketball program in the second city, which is sad.

—Announcer pairings for the NCAA tournament:

Jim Nantz / Bill Raftery / Grant Hill // Tracy Wolfson

Brian Anderson / Chris Webber // Lisa Byington

Ian Eagle / Jim Spanarkel // Allie LaForce

Kevin Harlan / Reggie Miller / Dan Bonner // Dana Jacobson

Brad Nessler / Steve Lavin // Evan Washburn

Spero Dedes / Steve Smith / Len Elmore // Ros Gold-Onwude

Andrew Catalon / Steve Lappas // Jamie Erdahl

Carter Blackburn / Debbie Antonelli // John Schriffen

—Lamar Jackson is going into the NFL his way.

—The ACC Digital Network relives Louisville’s tournament title in Greensboro.

—This moment from the MAAC championship game was the best moment of March thus far.

—Via Sharon Bryson, it doesn’t like the ACC Hall of Champions in Greensboro is changing

anything.

—Asia Durr is one of 15 finalists for the Wooden Award.

—This is a fantastic GIF.

—U of L’s Jerin Allen will compete at the NCAA track and field indoor national championships.

—I really, really hate that I’m not going to be able to root for Notre Dame this week.

—Florida State, Louisville’s Wednesday opponent, might be playing for its NCAA tournament life too. Or at least for a relaxed Sunday.

—Jamon Brown is hosting a golf scramble for a good cause.

NFL star and Louisville native Jamon Brown, announces that he will create several signature events during his off-season, to support his hometown through his non-profit J.Brown Foundation. First on the calendar, is the inaugural Jamon Brown Foundation Celebrity Golf Scramble, in partnership with the Coalition for the Homeless.

The scramble will take place Monday, April 9th at Lake Forest Country Club. Registration will begin at 10:30 am sharp, and at 11:00 am Mayor Greg Fischer will kick-off the event with a welcome. Shortly after, those in attendance will have the unique opportunity to meet and greet former U of L and UK Legends, and other notable celebrities. There will be a 1:00 pm shotgun start.

We are receiving local and national Celebrity confirmations daily, and are happy to announce the following special guests joining Brown in attendance: Hall of Fame and former UofL Head Coach Denny Crum; 2000 Super Bowl Champion and former UofL star quarterback Chris Redman; 2013 NCAA Champions Russ Smith and Luke Hancock; UK basketball legend Jack “Goose” Givens; and NFL Super Bowl Champion and UK football star Jared Lorenzen, to name a few. Additional names will be released in the coming weeks.

One of the highlights of this event, is that celebrity guests will be auctioned off to golf with the highest bidding team! Those that are interested, will have an opportunity to golf with their favorite sports legend.

Jamon Brown says “Anytime that I can get home and help my community that’s what I’m going to do. When you look at the statistics of homelessness in Louisville, many are my age or a little younger, and it causes me to stop and think that we all could be in that situation. So, if I can help just one person get back on track, we have accomplished our goal.”

Brown attended Fern Creek High School in Louisville, KY. He received a scholarship to the University of Louisville, and played football from 2011 to the 2014 season, under Coaches Charlie Strong and Bobby Petrino respectively. He was an offensive line starter on the 2013 Sugar Bowl Champion Team. Brown was then picked in the third round of the 2015 NFL draft by the St. Louis and now Los Angeles Rams. This past season, he started all 16 games as their right guard, helping to lead the way for 2017 NFL Offensive MVP, Todd Gurley.

To Register your team of four ($600), or to register individually ($150), please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jamon-brown-celebrity-golf-scramble-tickets-43621584333.

—Virginia’s Kyle Guy suffered a knee injury over the weekend, but did practice on Monday. He could play with a knee brace when the Cavaliers face either Florida State or Louisville on Thursday.

—Maine is having its former women’s coach take over the men’s program.

Just sayin’. It’s not uncharted territory anymore.

—Jeff Greer makes five bold predictions for the ACC tournament.

Pittsburgh will win ... the opening tipoff against Notre Dame. It’s all downhill after that. Kevin Stallings’ second season guiding the Panthers has been dismal, a cocktail of a reshaped, young roster and an improved bottom in the ACC. Home crowds were sparse to say the least at the once-always-packed Petersen Events Center.

Pitt basketball this season looked like DePaul, which finished last in the Big East in 2011, the last time Pittsburgh finished first in a league and received a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Another prediction: Stallings isn’t coaching there next season.

—U of L baseball swept Western Carolina over the weekend to remain undefeated. The Cards are now the No. 8 team in the country.

—Very cool move by the U of L football team.

—Quick Bracketology update from around the interwebz heading into the start of the ACC tournament:

ESPN: First team out

CBS: First team out

Yahoo: Fifth team out

SB Nation: Second team out

The Athletic: Second team out

—Jaire may have made himself some money on Monday.

—Tickets are already on sale for the U of L women’s team’s NCAA tournament games at the KFC Yum Center.

—Your schedule for the first day of the ACC tournament:

No. 12 Boston College vs. No. 13 Georgia Tech (ESPN2/ACC Network), noon.

No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 15 Pittsburgh (ESPN2/ACC Network), 2 p.m.

No. 11 Syracuse vs. No. 14 Wake Forest (ESPNU/ACC Network), 7 p.m.

Go Pitt/Wake Forest (Sorry, Mike. Still love you.).

—And finally, I’m flying solo again from 3-6 on 790-KRD. Basketball will once again be discussed. You can listen here.