Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check (Music City Bowl): Mississippi State by 3.5.

—The first NET rankings of the 2019-20 season are out, and Louisville is No. 1. The top five is Ohio State, Kansas, San Diego State, Butler and Baylor. Kentucky checks in at No. 58.

—Hoop Vision’s Jordan Sperber makes a convincing case that the NET rankings are fine, but the quadrant system is a problem.

—Highlights from the Cards’ toppling of the Cats on Sunday.

—Jeff Walz’s team is up one spot to No. 6 in the latest AP top 25 poll.

—The U of L volleyball team saw its incredible run to the Elite Eight end with a three-set loss to No. 7 seed Minnesota on Saturday. The 2019 Cards made history by advancing to a regional final for the first time in program history.

—U of L football announced its own team awards for the 2019 season over the weekend.

—TuTu Atwell gets Pro Football Focus’ nod as the best slot receiver in the country.

—Louisville is No. 4 in Gary Parrish’s daily hoops rankings for CBS.

—Danielle Lerner writes for The Athletic that Jordan Nwora’s decision to return to Louisville for another year is paying off all over.

Nwora acknowledged his poor performance against Texas Tech and responded by shooting 10-of-14 for 26 points in a blowout win over Eastern Kentucky. He says his confidence, and the Cardinals’ belief in him, hasn’t wavered.

“As soon as you have a bad game everybody starts talking about shot selection,” Nwora says. “You just gotta take it. Coaches still expect me to shoot the ball. In my eyes, I think I’m one of the best scorers in the country, and coaches see that in me too. Obviously last game (Texas Tech) I didn’t take a lot of high-percentage shots, and that’s on me to get better ones, make sure I’m getting set in the offense and getting shots later in the shot clock.”

Sometimes that requires going against his instincts. Against Eastern Kentucky, Nwora had a wide-open 3-pointer in the corner. Instead, he opted for a shot fake and drove to the rim for an emphatic dunk.

Mack tweaked the offense this season to play to individual strengths and accommodate an influx of talent. Even though Nwora remains the No. 1 option, that means more help for him in the scoring department and more opportunities to distribute the ball.

While the Cardinals have become a much better passing team, Nwora’s improvement doesn’t jump out on the stat sheet. He has 16 assists compared with 15 at the same point last season.

He has 24 turnovers, two fewer than last season, a marginal difference that needs to keep improving over the course of the season. Mack was Nwora’s loudest critic last season when it came to taking care of the ball, often labeling the forward as “careless.” Nwora has made some blunders this season, but fewer of his turnovers are on unforced errors such as traveling violations or off-target passes.

—Indiana has announced that athletic director Fred Glass will be retiring at the end of the academic year.

—The S&P picks are in for all 40 bowl games, and Bill Connelly’s model likes Mississippi State over the Cards by 5.5.

—Cincinnati suffered an absolutely unfathomably dumb home loss to Colgate over the weekend.

This won’t do much to dispel the rumors that first-year head coach John Brannen and the Cumberlands aren’t exactly seeing eye to eye.

—When the Louisville women’s basketball team needed its point guard to step up in order to hold off Kentucky on Sunday, Dana Evans did just that.

—Louisville is No. 4 in the hoops power rankings over at NBC Sports.

4. LOUISVILLE (10-1, 1)

I think that the loss to Texas Tech had as much to do with the matchup as anything else. Louisville is a really, really good team that is going to struggle against defenses that can pressure them and take them out of their offense until David Johnson gets up to speed.

—U of L junior defensive back Lamarques Thomas has announced that he is entering the NCAA transfer portal.

—The Miami Dolphins have signed DeVante Parker to a four-year extension worth $40 million, including $21.5 million guaranteed.

—Through 11 games, the only inconsistent area for the Louisville men’s basketball team has been its shooting.

—Congrats to Chubba Purdy, who I’m hoping had an awful trip to Tallahassee over the weekend.

—With Denny Crum in the crowd, U of L signee JJ Traynor notched 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks as Bardstown High knocked off reigning state champion Trinity.

—”Legends of the Hidden Temple” is coming back, and this time it’s going to be for adults. Although it really should have always been for adults since the Temple Guards were the most unnecessarily terrifying characters in the history of game shows.

—Lamar Jackson is The Athletic’s 2019 NFL Person of the Year.

Many big-time quarterbacks are referred to by their last name. Brady. Brees. Some are referred to by their first and last names. Russell Wilson. Aaron Rodgers. Lamar is referred to by his first name only, as if our relationship with him is personal.

Earlier in the season when Lamar ran out of bounds and into a photographer, he helped her up and patted her head. Later, he sent her a direct message to check on her and say he liked the photo she took on the play.

Lamar bought a home not far from the Ravens’ facility. He lives there with his mother, his brother, and two sisters.

When he encounters children, he usually crouches down to his knees, so he is close to eye-level with them. “I’m a kid at heart,” Lamar says. “Kids always love me. I got the hair going on. Little babies might cry. But ever since I got older, I’ve always loved to play with kids. Just to put a smile on a kid’s face, that means a lot to me.”

Lamar is experiencing a little of what John, Paul, George, and Ringo experienced in 1964.

During training camp this summer, Lamar was taking pictures with fans on the sideline after practice. Kids in the back were so excited they surged forward and through the barrier that was meant to separate them. One of the little kids in front was knocked down and squashed, which led to tears but no injuries. Afterward, Lamar soothed the hurt by meeting privately with the child.

—ESPN’s latest college hoops power rankings have the Cards at No. 4.

—Post-victory videos are back.

—Jeff Goodman lays out his 10 biggest surprises and disappointments of the college basketball season so far.

—Recruits seem to enjoy the fact that Scott Satterfield is “just real chill.”

—The father of Jawon and Khane Pass appears pleased with the work the new U of L coaching staff has done in its first 12 months on the job.

—Former Arkansas CB commit Jamie Vance is headed to Louisville. He explains why he picked the Cards here.

—Louisville City FC has a new crest and a new color scheme.

—Malik Williams and Jordan Nwora both make the cut for the top five ACC plays of the week, but there was a clearcut No. 1 from Greensboro.

—Texas Tech’s upset of Louisville last week was just the latest step on Chris Beard’s unlikely climb to get the Red Raiders among the sport’s top programs.

—Swish Appeal recaps Louisville’s Sunday win over Kentucky.

—Eric Crawford shares his thoughts on the Cardinal victory in Lexington.

—And finally, it’s going to be a coach-heavy edition of R&R this afternoon on 790-KRD. Jeff Walz, Dan McDonnell and Dani Busboom Kelly will all join the program. You can listen here.