Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—A reminder that a monster baseball series with No. 4 NC State kicks off tonight at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cards have officially entered the second half of the 2018 season and they need to get some momentum going.

—Backing the Pack, SB Nation’s NC State site, serves up a preview of the weekend series.

—Former U of L commit Courtney Ramey still has Louisville in his top 10.

When last we heard, Ramey said he had not been contacted by the new staff at U of L. Here’s hoping that has changed.

—Three Louisville women’s basketball signees will play in the Kentucky/Ohio All-Star Game.

—Former U of L staffer Brandon Williams won his appeal against the NCAA.

In the Committee on Infractions’ decision, the panel found that the former program assistant failed to fully cooperate with the investigation when he did not provide requested phone records to the enforcement staff. The panel found the records in question were relevant to the investigation and could have helped determine if the former program assistant was involved in violations after the former director of basketball operations took a new job at a different school.

In his appeal, the former program assistant argued the appeals committee should overturn the finding that he did not cooperate. During the investigation and just prior to the Committee on Infractions’ hearing, he stated he could not produce the records because the phone was in his mother’s name and she did not consent.

In its decision, the appeals committee determined the phone records were not the former program assistant’s documents to produce and the case record showed full cooperation otherwise. The committee acknowledged the importance of cooperation during investigations to the infractions process. However, it noted that a finding of a failure to cooperate should not extend to a situation where the individual cooperates with all other requests except the production of records that are not the individual’s to produce and there is no indication the individual entered into an arrangement with someone as a means to shield job-related information from scrutiny.

Let this be a lesson to everyone in college athletics: Stay on your mom’s cell phone plan and you’re home free.

—Alabama is now a 31-point favorite over Louisville in a 2018 season-opener that’s still five months away.

—Louisville likes watching sports on TV, part 8 billion:

—On a related note, read Spencer Hall on the Art of the Masters Nap.

—On a double related note, former U of L golfer Adam Hadwin is tied for the tournament lead as I type this.

—Louisville is one of three schools that USC Upstate grad transfer Mike Cunningham is gong to visit.

Known primarily as a three-point shooter, Cunningham averaged 13.7 ppg last season.

—The U of L men’s soccer spring match against Evansville that had been scheduled for Saturday has been moved to tonight at 7:30 inside Lynn Stadium. Admission is free.

—If Mack has the Russ seal of approval then that’s all I need.

—Anas Mahmoud has received an invitation to the Portsmouth Invitational, which is the pre-NBA draft camp that is strictly for graduated seniors.

—With Kyrie Irving out for the rest of the season, Terry Rozier has a golden opportunity.

—I’m not sure they thought this one through.

I will leave it at that.

—Lamar Jackson has a history of proving people wrong.

—Friday irrelevance:

—There are some major Kentucky Derby prep races on tap for Saturday.

—The Denver Post used a picture of Citizens Bank Park for its “Ultimate Guide to Coors Field” spread. That’s bad.

—Donovan Mitchell did some absurd things against the Clippers on Thursday.

—James Burgess is still showing love.

—Louisville City FC and FC Cincinnati are set for a rivalry renewal Saturday night at Nippert Stadium.

—If you missed Rick Pitino on The Dan Patrick Show Thursday, you can listen to the audio here:

—The expansion of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium continues to progress on schedule.

—New U of L president Neeli Bendapudi won’t get as many perks as James Ramsey did, which is probably a good thing.

—And finally, the 2018 season for the Louisville Bats begins tonight. John and I will be at Slugger Field from 3-6 to help kick off the season. Listen here.