Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Eric Crawford writes that the Louisville women’s basketball team has a historic opportunity in tonight’s 1 vs. 2 game against Notre Dame.

—Let’s get it, ladies.

—Here’s the Cardiac Hill recap of Pitt’s upset win over Louisville last night.

—ACCSports.com still has U of L as one of nine ACC teams currently in the NCAA tournament field as of right now.

Louisville — 8

No player in the ACC has seen a bigger jump in his scoring average than Jordan Nwora — 17.9 points per game (12.3 FGA), up from 5.7 last season. You could see it coming after last season — Nwora had game and scoring versatility; he just needed a larger platform. Nwora’s usage rate has jumped from 21.9 percent in 2017-18 (not exactly a low rate, by the way) to 26.8 percent this season. He’s also attempted 23.5 field goals per 100 possessions, too — up from 19.1 last season.

—A countdown of the top 100 games of the 2018 college football season. Louisville doesn’t make the list, but Appalachian State does.

—Postgame videos from Jeff Capel and the Pitt players can be found here.

—Jonathan Greenard is officially transferring to Florida.

—Linebacker Kam Jones has also officially announced that he’s transferring from U of L.

—No. 1 seeds keep losing in the College Football Playoff, which is yet another argument for expansion.

—Churchill Downs has raised the purse of the Kentucky Derby to $3 million. The Oaks and Turf Classic purses are also going up.

—Ole Miss site Red Cup Rebellion tracked down the key figures from the famous Marshall Henderson GIF and got them to tell their stories from that three seconds of glory.

Though the gif makes it seem as if Comer is the unofficial ringleader of the Auburn basketball mob circa 2013, his opinions about Henderson are relatively mild.

“He’s a good player,” he says. “I don’t dislike Marshall. I just found his antics irritating, you know.”

Comer, who fully embraces being known as the stern, confrontational dad of the group, says he’s been amazed by people who’ve recognized him over the years—and not just in Oxford. He once met an Ole Miss fan at a grocery store in Colorado who asked for a selfie to send to his fraternity brothers. A group of Syracuse students spotted him at the Final Four in 2013.

“It’s funny to me,” Comer says. “It took on a life I could never have imagined.”

The most common question he gets from strangers asks what he yelled at Henderson that night.

The answer? “You’re a jackass.” (Andy Kennedy once told Comer it was probably the nicest thing anyone in that video said about Marshall, which is most definitely true.)

—Mike Smith, the assistant director of the U of L pep band, is on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight.

—Madison Square Garden is entering the legal sports betting world.

—Ohio State QB Tate Martell is now in the NCAA transfer portal.

—Here’s hoping that the final score looks similar tonight and that the Joyce Center doesn’t get anywhere near this loud.

—Rick Bozich writes that Sheldon Rankins is the biggest contributor of the 13 players with local ties that are still chasing the Super Bowl.

—Draft Kings is getting deeper into the horse racing game and is out with its first odds for the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

—Louisville’s defensive inconsistencies were its undoing Wednesday night at The Pete.

Mack saved no words in expressing his displeasure. He said Louisville wasn’t defending McGowens with a hand up, a major aspect of his defensive philosophy and teaching. When the Cardinals switched to hard-hedging — stepping into the path of the dribbler who is using the screen on his man to his advantage — the guards ran “under” the screens, which Mack said was the opposite of what he wanted them to do. When the guards go over the screens, it gives the ballhandler a big guy in front of him and his own man trailing him. That makes it harder to go anywhere, and it also helps the defending guard take away the ballhandler’s option to pull up and shoot.

It was infuriating inconsistency for Mack as he tries to teach an entirely new defensive system to his players. And though he made his comments in a measured tone, he didn’t hide his frustrations.

“They had their way with us,” Mack said. “Whether we switched, whether we hard-hedged, whether we played zone — our defense was deplorable. Until our team plays with a little more dirt under its fingernails instead of playing the way we did tonight defensively, we’ll get more ass-kickings in this league.”

—Dan McDonnell explains how he took U of L baseball from nothing to one of the best programs in the country.

—Jeff Goodman and the crew over at Stadium were imbedded with Chris Mack and company for the 24 hours before, during and after Louisville’s loss to Kentucky. The result is a fantastic inside look.

—The mayor says you should wear red today.

—The Crunch Zone lists the keys to tonight’s game between the Cards and the Fighting Irish.

—I think the 2013 team often ranks way too low when people do their “best champions of the last ___ years” list, so it’s nice to see an advanced metric rank them favorably. Also hilarious that the No. 1 team fell flat in the Final Four.

—The updated NET rankings have Louisville dropping from No. 24 to No. 30, and Pitt rising from No. 86 to No. 68. That means what was a Quadrant 2 loss for Louisville last night is now a Quadrant 1 loss.

Am I saying all our problems are fixed by these computer rankings? Absolutely. National champions.

—And finally, beat Notre Dame.