Friday evening Cardinal news and notes

—The Louisville baseball team is back in action Friday with a double-header to kick off a three-game set with visiting Brown. The Cards won the first game, 7-0. Here’s a preview of the weekend.

—The latest Bracketology from Joe Lunardi has Louisville holding as a 5-seed heading into this weekend.

—Ray Spalding talks about being the newest member of the Phoenix Suns.

—Streaking the Lawn ranks all nine of Virginia’s games against Louisville since the Cards joined the ACC. Only read if you’re a masochist.

—Louisville is a 6-seed in Andy Katz’s latest bracket for NCAA.com.

—I think the 2013 Elite 8 game is the only time K has ever been gracious after a loss.

—Single-game tickets for Louisville baseball are now available if you use the presale code “BSBTIX.”

—The CJ lays out three keys for Louisville to beat Virginia.

—Jordan Nwora’s block against Clemson is one of the “best clutch” plays of the ACC season to date.

—The U of L South Florida Alumni Club will be watching Louisville-Virginia at Dave and Busters, located in the Oakwood Plaza off of I-95 at 3000 Oakwood Drive in Hollywood, FL. Seating is first come, first served.

—Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana is hosting its annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake fundraiser soon. For more information, check out the event website.

—Jeff Greer asks who Louisville’s ACC rival is, and Chris Mack and I both say they don’t have one.

Of the 160 individual and Russian bots who responded to my tweet asking Louisville fans who they believe their ACC rival is, there was no majority.

Notre Dame won a plurality of votes, claiming 27.5 percent. Syracuse, which hosted Louisville on Wednesday night in this season’s only meeting between the teams, was close enough to warrant a recount, with 26.9 percent. Virginia was a distant third, at 13.8 percent. The Cavaliers doesn’t have to drop out of the race just yet, but they probably need to win the primary in New Hampshire or South Carolina to stay relevant. (OK, sorry for all the campaign and election jokes.)

Duke, Florida State, Miami, N.C. State, North Carolina and Pittsburgh each claimed between two and eight votes. Clemson, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest somehow claimed a vote each. (Clemson? Really?) Referee Teddy Valentine, better known as TV Teddy in college hoops circles, tied them, beating out Boston College and Georgia Tech, which didn’t receive any votes. (There is, however, a burning flame of contempt for Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner, who previously coached at Memphis and is not exactly a Louisville fan favorite.)

Perhaps more telling than any of these votes is how many people voted “no one.” That number was 13, or 8.1 percent, and that doesn’t include Mack and Rutherford’s votes essentially saying the same thing. “Fullcourt pressure,” a quality current events joke, also received seven votes, winning its support from the gallows humor wing of the party.

—The folks over at Streaking the Lawn play the “who is our rival” game for Virginia as well.

—Here’s the U of L recap of the Louisville women’s basketball team’s win over the Cavaliers Thursday night.

—Yesterday I blamed ESPN announcer Mike Couzens for Louisville’s recent struggles.

Couzens responded with a Space Jam-related peace offering.

This is the boost we needed. Cards by 14.

—There are plenty of real and serious implications when it comes to Zion’s injury, but there’s also been a healthy dose of fake outrage.

—Matt Norlander of CBS writes that the assumption that a Zion injury could cost him millions is off-base.

—I enjoyed this.

—The Louisville lacrosse team will take on Mercer Saturday in the Cardinals’ 2019 home opener.

—Bryan Brown’s new scheme and energy is already helping the Louisville defense.

—NBA scouts give their takes on the top local players, including Louisville’s Jordan Nwora. The consensus seems to be that he needs another year under Chris Mack.

Is Jordan Nwora a possible 2019 first-round pick?

SCOUT ONE: “Nwora is definitely on the radar. I’ve seen games where he has carried that team. He can really shoot it, and his rebounding has gotten better …. He plays more to his athleticism defensively. That’s where I need to see more.

“He would benefit from the P.J. Washington plan of staying in school another year.”

SCOUT TWO: “Nwora is really an interesting prospect because of how much he has improved and how well he can shoot the ball.

“Is he on the radar? Yes. Does he need to stay in school? Yes. He’s playing for a coach (Chris Mack) who has helped him improve and will get him even better next season. He should focus on coming back next year and really tearing it u,p and there will be plenty of opportunity for him.”

—In light of the tragic accident where Jim Boeheim struck and killed a pedestrian Wednesday night after his team’s win over Louisville, College GameDay has announced that it will not be coming to Syracuse for Saturday morning’s show.

—A statement released by Syracuse Friday afternoon says Boeheim, who did not coach his team in practice on Thursday, will coach in the game against Duke Saturday night.

—Three of the 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award are from the ACC.

—The Bellarmine Knights romped to a 30-point win Thursday night over a UIndy team that had upset them earlier in the season. They’ll look for more revenge against Lewis this weekend as they celebrate Senior Day.

—A good look at how UNC shrunk the floor against Duke and how lost the Blue Devils looked at times without Zion Williamson.

—Players only meeting season has returned to Louisville.

—The Daily Progress serves up four things to watch for in Louisville-Virginia.

1. Virginia aims to solve its turnover problem

The Cavaliers turned the ball over 13 times in their win over Virginia Tech on Monday, marking the fifth time in six games they’ve suffered double-digit giveaways. Though they average an ACC-low 9.36 turnovers per game, the Wahoos also play at the slowest pace in the nation (59.5 possessions per 40 minutes). As such, their possessions are valuable.

Coach Tony Bennett isn’t quite sure what to make of the turnover problem, and neither are the players. Bennett said the team didn’t been play with “humility,” one the program’s five biblically derived pillars, in the first half Monday, when they entered the break with eight giveaways.

With the regular season winding down, Bennett will look for more sound play against Louisville.

—Virginia is No. 1 in the latest college hoops power rankings from CBS.

—Mallory Comerford continues to be incredible.

—Deng Adel canned a game-winner in the G League earlier this week.

—U of L signee David Johnson is the 7th Region Player of the Year.

—Gus Johnson is still the coolest.

—TNIAAM serves up seven takeaways from Syracuse’s lopsided win over Louisville on Wednesday.

—This story on how LSU has played this season in the wake of losing a teammate to a shooting death just before the start of the year is so, so sad, but also so well done.

—Here’s a closer look at Louisville’s uniforms for Saturday:

—The Augusta Free Press has its preview of Louisville-Virginia.

—The U of L men’s tennis team topped NKU and Xavier in a double-header.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—Four-star RB Reggie Love III has been re-offered by the new Louisville staff.

—Saturday in the ACC:

Boston College at Clemson (Noon/ACCNE)
Georgia Tech at Miami (2 p.m./ACCNE)
No. 16 Florida State at No. 8 North Carolina (3:45 p.m./CBS)
No. 20 Virginia Tech at Notre Dame (4 p.m./ESPN)
No. 1 Duke at Syracuse (6 p.m./ESPN)

—And finally, beat Virginia.