Wednesday morning Cardinal news and notes

—For anyone interested in signing up for the Chris Mack newsletter that was mentioned during the broadcast of Monday night’s game, you can do so here.

—The ESPN college hoops power rankings have Louisville at No. 12 for this week.

—These videos continue to be the best.

—The CJ serves up a signing day preview for U of L.

—Congrats to Deng Adel, who made his first career NBA start for the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night.

—Dan McDonnell did not hold back during Louisville baseball’s 2019 media day.

—Gobbler Country recaps Virginia Tech’s loss to Louisville.

—Mediation between the NCAA and the former Louisville players suing the organization was “unsuccessful.”

—The CJ’s Danielle Lerner talks Chris Mack with College Sports Now.

—Here’s the need-to-know info on tonight’s National Signing Day party:

Join head coach Scott Satterfield and the Louisville football coaching staff as they present the newest members of the Cardinals football team on National Signing Day. Hear first-hand from Satterfield and his newly assembled coaching staff about this year’s incoming class and the 2019 squad.

What: 2019 National Signing Day Party

When: Wednesday, February 6

Where: Cardinal Stadium’s Brown & Williamson Club

Time: Doors – 5:00 pm; Program – 6:00 pm

Admission to the Signing Day Party is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 5 p.m. for general admission seating, a meet and greet with the new Cardinals coaching staff, and autographs with select student-athletes. Concession stands and a cash bar will be available during the event as well. Fans should enter the stadium at Gate 6 of Cardinal Stadium and parking is available at no charge.

—Bellarmine’s 67-game home winning streak — which had been the longest in all of college basketball — came to an end over the weekend. Gentry Estes of the CJ writes about how the Knights are responding to their first loss of the season and their first home loss in years.

—The heaviest rain in the United States over the next week is going to happen in the Louisville area. Cool.

—More evidence that Belichick and Saban made a joint deal with some type of dark force.

—The Washington Post’s Bracketology has Louisville as a four seed facing Mike Daum and South Dakota State in the first round.

—Eric Crawford writes that the 2018-19 Cardinals have brought pride back to Louisville basketball.

—An FAQ for diehard football fans trying to get caught up on the college basketball season to date.

—I’m telling you, guy is going Hollywood on us.

—In Virginia, the major takeaway from Louisville’s triumph in Blacksburg is that it revealed how much of an issue the Hokies’ current lack of depth is.

—Virginia Tech likes to turn games into three-point shooting contests. They lost one to Louisville Monday night.

Tech, which shot 44.4 percent from the floor for the game and committed 10 of its 13 turnovers in the second half, utilized a zone press after Wilkins’ shot to “try to change (Louisville’s) rhythm,” according to Hokies coach Buzz Williams.

McMahon was unfazed.

He was fouled by Wilkins, who fouled out in just over 12 minutes of play, on a 3-point attempt with 11:53 left and proceeded to make all three free throws. Then, McMahon made 3-pointers on three straight possessions to extend Louisville’s cushion to 53-41 with 10:30 remaining.

McMahon and Dwayne Sutton led Louisville (17-6, 8-2) with 17 points each. Louisville made 45.3 percent of its field goal attempts.

Despite having just seven healthy scholarship players, Tech managed to hang around late in the game. Tech, which won 47-24 on Saturday at N.C. State while holding the Wolfpack to 2-of-28 shooting from 3-point range, was playing its third game in six days.

Williams, who saw his team shoot 55.6 percent from the floor in the second half against Louisville, said fatigue wasn’t a factor.

“I don’t think that we missed shots because we were tired,” Williams said. “I think that’s a credit to Louisville and what they were doing. The guys that are in uniform are the guys that we have.”

—Deadspin examines “how Baylor happened.”

—Only Alabama and Ohio State have produced more first round NFL draft picks than Louisville over the past five years. And we have zero 10-win seasons to show for it.

—Chris Mack made sure his team learned from its mistakes against North Carolina and didn’t let one loss turn into two ($$ link).

Louisville didn’t panic on offense on Monday, and while this point dovetails a bit with the first section in this column, it also deserves a separate emphasis. The Cardinals made 13 of 27 from 3-point range, with a lot of quick releases from good positions on the floor, and they got a bunch of clean layups. In games where the offense was rushed, such as the losses to Kentucky and North Carolina, those panicked possessions added up over 40 minutes.

That’s how Louisville dug itself out of a momentary hole on Monday. The loss to North Carolina hurt the Cardinals. But Mack’s identification and correction process, aided by his staff and a smart group of players, quickly helped turn the hurt into happiness.

“I think our team has gained a little bit of belief in themselves,” Mack said. “I told our team from the very beginning, I felt like we were a tournament team. How I feel and what we do are two different things. Even though we lost those two games (in Brooklyn in November), it told us something about ourselves: If we would just take care of the ball a little better, rebound a little better, know what we’re doing defensively a little better — take pride in those areas — we could compete with anybody.”

—Pat Forde’s Forde Minutes column focuses largely on what Bill Self should have said after the NCAA’s Silvio De Sousa ruling was released.

—CBB Today says Louisville offered “proof of its restored status” Monday night.

—Chris Mack could have gone without the pomp and circumstance surrounding the UNC game.

—Joe Lunardi has Louisville as a three seed in his latest Bracketology.

—Chris Dobbertean has the Cards as a four.

—Class of 2019 Marvae Myers-Glover picked Middle Tennessee over Louisville Tuesday night.

—Big fan of this “road warriors” mentality. Hawk and Animal were the best.

—State of the U has Louisville at No. 4 in its ACC power rankings.

—At the moment, Chris Mack appears to be the runaway favorite to win ACC Coach of the Year.

—Tuesday night in the ACC:

No. 2 Duke 80, Boston College 55
No. 8 North Carolina 113, NC State 96
No. 22 Florida State 80, Syracuse 62
Wake Forest 78, Pittsburgh 76 (OT)

Other scores of note:

No. 1 Tennessee 72, Missouri 60
Kansas State 74, No. 13 Kansas 67
Illinois 79, No. 9 Michigan State 74
St. John’s 70, No. 10 Marquette 69

—Wednesday night in the ACC:

Clemson at Georgia Tech (7 p.m./ACCNE)
Notre Dame at Miami (7 p.m./ESPN2)

—Practice makes perfect.

—We’ve got a new billboard battle in Louisville.

—If you missed it, Louisville landed a new tight end commit on Monday.

—And finally, we’ve got NSD coverage for you here all day today. Keith Wynne will be breaking down the signees, and R&R will be live from the Brown & Williamson Club to get the staff’s thoughts on the newest Cards.