—Spread check: Florida State by 6.
—Practice for the 2018-19 college basketball season officially began today across the country. So that’s cool.
—Chris Mack came on Ramsey & Rutherford yesterday and talked about (among other things) the impact that fans and former players have had on his success on the recruiting trail so far.
The four commitments all said after they committed that the love from the Louisville fans came during the process and has been even greater since they each announced their commitments.
“It sure helps a lot,” Mack said of the U of L fan base. “We can’t be the organizers of social media and ask, ‘Hey fans like this kids tweet or follow him’. But I can tell you just from the feedback we get from when the kids come in on visits . . . just the mass following or the comments these kids end up getting from Cardinal Nation is by far and away a lot more than other programs we’re dealing with.
“It’s just the enormity of our fanbase and the passion they have. Again, it’s one of the reasons I came to Louisville because of the history and following of this program and how much pride is taken in the tradition. I think our recruits certainly feel that.”
Mack said the former players, like Donovan Mitchell, Terry Rozier, Trey Lewis, Damion Lee and others, have helped the staff in recruiting by spreading the good word about the Cardinals around the county.
“It says a lot that they feel such a strong bond to the place they played,” Mack said. “I and grateful they feel a certain way about me and my coaching staff because we weren’t part of the staff when they were here.
“But it’s awesome and this place was built by those former players. We appreciate the support from the former players.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
—Bad news for this weekend’s Louder Than Life music festival, which has been canceled because of the deteriorated conditions at Champions Park caused by the recent rain.
—Tickets for the U of L Men’s Basketball Luncheon on Friday, Oct. 19 are now available.
—VJ King spent his Tuesday morning reading to kids at Chenoweth Elementary.
Kentucky Kid’s Day! Thank you to @vjking_ for visiting and sharing with Ms Halligan’s class @chenowethes @UofLBasketball pic.twitter.com/fkumble7Ly
— Phillip Farris (@PhillipFarris1) September 25, 2018
—For anyone who enjoyed “Making a Murderer” on Netflix a couple years ago, Part II of the show is set to be released within the next month.
—A state by state look at where sports gambling currently stands in America.
—Two years in this city taught our man how to play the rivalry game well.
Rudy Gobert asks Donovan Mitchell what his favorite football team is in the state of Utah. He says Louisville.
— Ben Dowsett (@Ben_Dowsett) September 24, 2018
—The U of L men’s soccer team faces Georgetown on the road tonight. Here’s a preview.
—Bobby Petrino is trying to draw strength from the 2015 team that began 0-3 and wound up winning the Music City Bowl.
The Cardinals started 0-3 in 2015, and rallied to finish 8-5 with a win over Texas A&M in the Music City Bowl.
”There are some parallels to it as far as the inexperience and the fact that you should get better and better as the year goes on,” Petrino said. “There’s no question about that. I think the thing that we have to be able to do is work hard on the practice field and believe in that, and then, you get going. “
”It is better to be 2-2 than 0-3. We are better there. And we’ve had one-third of the season, so there’s a lot of games ahead of us. There’s a lot of work in front of us, and we’ll get better.”
The Cardinals have a week to get some of their problems straightened out with Florida State coming to Cardinal Stadium this weekend. The Seminoles evened their record at 2-2 after a 37-19 win over Northern Illinois after 352 yards passing from Deondre Francois.
”We’ve got a great challenge coming up this weekend,” Petrino said. “We’ll be excited for it. I know our guys will get ready to play. A lot of guys on our team know the players on their team, and we’ve always got a lot of energy going into this week. We have a lot of things to fix.”
—Alabama is now more than a scratch favorite to win the national title.
Team 9/17/18 Current Odds (9/24/18)
Alabama 19/10 5/7
Clemson 5/1 4/1
Ohio State 13/2 9/2
Georgia 15/2 7/1
Notre Dame 16/1 22/1
Oklahoma 18/1 22/1
Penn State 28/1 26/1
Michigan 25/1 30/1
Washington 22/1 30/1
LSU 25/1 40/1
Stanford 40/1 40/1
Auburn 25/1 45/1
West Virginia 50/1 50/1
Wisconsin 28/1 55/1
Miami (FL) 50/1 75/1
Texas 50/1 80/1
Central Florida 100/1 100/1
Michigan State 75/1 100/1
Mississippi State 70/1 100/1
Oklahoma State 100/1 200/1
Texas Tech 200/1 200/1
Iowa 200/1 250/1
Oregon 70/1 250/1
Duke 200/1 300/1
California 500/1 350/1
Kentucky 200/1 350/1
Not sure how Kentucky’s odds got worse after beating Mississippi State, but who cares.
—The latest installment of Pat Forde’s “Forde Yard Dash” hits briefly on Louisville-Florida State.
Florida State at Louisville (35). Two fan bases highly dissatisfied with their coaches. FSU isn’t in much of a position to do anything about it, with Willie Taggart just four games into his tenure. Louisville, however, is a different story — the Cardinals have fallen apart offensively post-Lamar Jackson and are currently 124th in the nation in total offense. Bobby Petrino was brought back five years ago — to widespread outside mockery — because of his offensive acumen. If Petrino doesn’t have scoreboard appeal going for him, there isn’t much to like.
—Tom Lane of WDRB writes that Bobby Petrino finds himself in the unusual spot of searching for answers almost a month into a season.
—Recruiting writer Jake Weingarten talked to top Louisville target Aidan Igiehon ahead of the five-star center’s official visit to U of L this weekend.
Weingarten: Chris Mack, what does he mean to you, thoughts on him?
Aidan: The first thing I noticed about Chris Mack is that he’s a winner. He turned a mediocre program into a top 10 program in the country. He’s a competitor. He has an underdog mentality which is something I also have. We both came from doubt, so I relate to his hunger and he relates to mine. When I and coach Mack talk on the phone he’s not telling me how great I am, he is coaching me up, telling me what I can get better at.. telling me what I NEED to get better at. You have to value that because he’s recruiting me but treating me as his own already, so as a player you value that. Also because he’s such a family guy you know he’s a guy that will always be in your corner, you know it goes deeper than basketball.
Weingarten: Thoughts on Mack going to Ireland to visit with your mom?
Aidan: Coach Mack going to Ireland was simply amazing not a lot of head coaches are willing to fly across the world to see your parents. For an international player like myself, it’s Important to do that and to continue to keep my mother in the recruiting process is a beautiful thing.
—Scott Davenport’s Bellarmine Knights have been tabbed as the No. 2 D-II team in the country by Street & Smith.
—The Numerical notes that Louisville currently has just an 11 percent chance of making a bowl game. If the Cards miss out on the postseason, it’ll be the first time that’s happened in a non-Kragthorpe year since 1997.
—We’ve complained a lot over the years about not having enough night games, but the reality is that since 2013, Clemson is the only team in the ACC that has played more primetime games than the Cards have.
Start time for all games for ACC teams, since the beginning of the 2013 season pic.twitter.com/mQagVlhx2l
— Joe Giglio (@jwgiglio) September 25, 2018
And if we’re talking just home games, Louisville has actually had one more than Clemson and is tied with Florida State for the most in the conference.
When it's just accounting home games, they've actually had one more than Clemson and tied with FSU for most in ACC pic.twitter.com/NXnYsE9JV2
— Gabe Duverge (@GabeDuverge) September 25, 2018
—Florida State and Louisville have both been remarkably sloppy through the season’s first four weeks.
—FSU will be rocking white and garnet inside Cardinal Stadium on Saturday.
—Rivals recruiting writer Corey Evans answers the question of whether or not “Louisville is back.”
Where did they go? I get it, I get it. But really, there has been no slippage on the recruiting trail beyond last year, a spurt in time that was more of a minor hiatus than anything else.
It is rather amazing what Louisville has done already in the 2019 class, where Chris Mack hit the ground running at his new digs. Mack and his first year coaching staff precisely pin-pointed the specific needs of the roster it was inheriting. From there, they went out accurately attacked the recruiting trail of which has paid major dividends in recent weeks
While the Cardinals were stung by the commitment of
Rocket Watts to Michigan State on Saturday, earlier in the day, they celebrated the commitment of Rivals150 wing and the top local talent, David Johnson. Throw him next to Josh Nickelberry, Jaelyn Withers and Samuell Williamson, each highly regarded seniors and members of the Rivals150, and there is a lot to look forward in Louisville.
The Cardinals also remain a strong contender for
Tyrell Jones and are seen as the leader for top-60 big man Aidan Igiehon. Mack left Xavier as the second winningest coach in school history and has already made a giant move to put the Cardinals on the fast track to ACC stardom. Do not expect anything different moving ahead.
—David Teel writes about the significance of Virginia beating an ACC opponent soundly for the first time in what feels like forever.
—The new redshirt rule has cleared a path for players to transfer after four games and not lose eligibility, and several FBS programs are already feeling the effect.
—Get that money, Don.
Our newest cover athlete would like to introduce himself. Even if it took a few tries to get it just right. -> https://t.co/ug2TuAer1M @spidadmitchell #EastbayFTW pic.twitter.com/0IISrIfTws
— Eastbay (@Eastbay) September 25, 2018
—Louisville does not have a home in Brett McMurphy’s latest bowl projections.
—247 Sports reviews the Louisville-Virginia tape.
—Hmm...
Presented with no comment... pic.twitter.com/ZTcy0WvXCC
— Troy Turbeville (@VilleontheVille) September 22, 2018
—Louisville is Top Drawer Soccer’s women’s team of the week.
—On a related note, U of L women’s coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes will be on R&R today at 4:30 to discuss the Cards’ program-best 9-1-0 start.
—Jo Adell’s baseball camp in Louisville this year will also feature Hunter Greene, the No. 2 pick of the 2017 MLB Draft.
Ballard Bruins Baseball is excited to announce the second year of the Jo Adell Baseball Camp that will be held at Ballard High School October 13th-14th. Adell, a Ballard grad and the 10th pick in the 2017 MLB Draft to the Los Angeles Angels will attend the camp. He was recently named Minor League Outfielder of the Year in his first full season and was also named First-Team All Minor League.
This year’s special guest will be Hunter Greene, the 2nd overall pick to the Cincinnati Reds in 2017, who will be working with the pitchers. Both Adell and Greene recently represented team USA in the Futures Game where Greene threw a pitch clocking 103 mph.
Over the two days, campers will receive hitting and strength and conditioning training from local coaches Lou Ott and Eric Hammer as well as the Ballard coaching staff. The camp will be broken up into two sessions- grades 5-8 from 8am to noon and grades 9-12 from 2pm-6pm. Campers will also receive a free Adidas t-shirt, Angels hat, player evaluation card, and autographed photo with Adell and Greene. Ballard has also partnered with PBR (Prep Baseball Report) on the camp to evaluate the high school campers. PBR has evolved into one of the country’s biggest and most respected independent scouting services for high school baseball.
“I’m looking forward to having some of the best coaches I worked with in the Louisville area teach the skills they taught me to others who love the game of baseball. I’m excited to help give kids this opportunity and give back to the city and school that mean so much to me,” said Adell.
The cost is $125 per camper total and the registration form can be found at www.ballardbruinsbaseball.com.
Both of those guys are going to be superstars in a few years, so this is a golden opportunity to catch them before they blow up.
—Chop Chat says Florida State’s blowout loss at Louisville in 2016 actually helped the program’s future.
—We really are.
Damn Louisville. You. Are. Amazing pic.twitter.com/n2QekyVy3H
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) September 25, 2018
—The Louisville volleyball team is just on the outside of being nationally ranked this week.
—A look at what Willie Taggart had to say about Louisville during his Monday press conference.
—Jim Boeheim’s dedication to having fun things to do on road trips is commendable.
This Topgolf debate is getting weird.... pic.twitter.com/VhqWfvy45B
— Marcus Green (@MarcusGreenWDRB) September 24, 2018
—Louisville’s against the spread trends are, as you might expect, troubling.
- Cardinals are 2-9 ATS in last 11 games at home
- Cardinals are 0-7 ATS in last 7 games played in the month of September
- Cardinals are 2-6 ATS in last 8 games after a loss
- Cardinals are 7-19-1 ATS in last 27 games
—Louisville is apparently the 45th-best coffee city in America. No. 1? You guessed it, Marquis Teague.
—And finally, a reminder that tickets to Friday’s Louisville Live event on Fourth Street are available.