—Spread check: Virginia by 12.5.
—Asia Durr has been named as the ACC’s Scholar Athlete of the Year for women’s basketball. Not a bad follow-up act for the league’s recipient of the last two Player of the Year honors.
—On the men’s side, U of L basketball had six honorees on the ACC All-Academic team, the most of any squad in the league.
—Some highlights from last night’s Spring Showcase event:
Run back the highlights from last night's Spring Showcase! #LetsRide pic.twitter.com/jbMGu7L2oE
— LouisvilleFootball (@UofLFootball) March 8, 2019
—ACC Basketball Report looks at the events that shaped the conference in 2018-19.
—Louisville magazine hits you with a weekend to-do list.
—Shoutout to all those who helped make this happen.
And the #winner is... @UofLWBB! #Congrats and #THANKYOU to @UofLWBB, @CoachJeffWalz, and the entire @GoCards community! 2019 #PLAY4KAY Free Throw #Challenge Champs! pic.twitter.com/2cx5K71r2k
— Kay Yow Cancer Fund (@KayYowFund) March 7, 2019
—Cardinal signee Samuell Williamson is an honorable mention Naismith High School All-American for 2018-19.
—Speaking of Williamson, here are highlights from his final high school game:
Louisville bound McDonalds All American Samuell Williamson In his last High School game #ballislife pic.twitter.com/Q4Jqcoa7Ea
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 7, 2019
—David Johnson and Trinity advanced to the state semifinals with a 60-30 win over Ashland this afternoon. They’ll face Campbell County in the semifinals tomorrow. Butler will look to join the Shamrocks in the semifinals with a win over Scott County tonight.
—U of L fans in South Florida, there will be a game watch for the Virginia tilt on Saturday in the back room at Stout, located at 3419 N. Andrews Ave. in Oakland Park.
—Rasheed Wallace has been named the new boys basketball head coach at Jordan High School in Durham.
—Honestly, this might be a new low.
The obsession @CardChronicle @UofLSheriff50 @MarkEnnis pic.twitter.com/QWgUfQvtv5
— Riley Benock (@Riley_b3nock15) March 7, 2019
—The Bellarmine Knights opened their postseason with an overtime win in the GLVC tournament quarterfinals.
—Sam Fuehring loves for people to hate playing against her.
—Streaking the Lawn previews Louisville-Virginia.
—The Cavaliers will celebrate the senior day of their beloved Jack Salt tomorrow.
—This video from 1982 of the first Selection Show on CBS is incredible.
—TCU and Creighton are the latest schools that have been pulled into the FBI’s web.
—The CJ says Louisville showed a new attitude and effort during its spring showcase.
—Louie’s got handles. Sort of.
Block or charge? @LouietheCard @Buzz_GT #ACCWBB pic.twitter.com/kc3ZV2xy2B
— ACC Women's Basketball (@accwbb) March 7, 2019
—A win over Louisville tomorrow would give Virginia its fourth ACC regular season title in the last six seasons.
—Louisville softball swept a double-header with Radford and Michigan State Friday afternoon. The Cards have now won six straight.
—The Raleigh News & Observes tells the story of how North Carolina’s 21-point home loss to Louisville turned the Heels’ season around.
—CBS lists U of L as one of the five teams in college football most likely to climb out of their league’s cellar in 2019.
4. Louisville: The 2018 season was a nightmare for Louisville, and it resulted in the end of Bobby Petrino’s second stint with the Cardinals. I happen to be of the opinion that Louisville made a significant coaching upgrade this offseason, both on the field and off it, when it hired Scott Satterfield. Now, will that alone be enough to take Louisville from 0-8 in the ACC and get them out of last place? I can’t be sure. Unlike other teams on this list, the gap between Louisville and other ACC Atlantic teams was wide. Wake Forest and Florida State both finished just ahead of Louisville in the standings, but both did so with three more conference wins.
What’s working in Louisville’s favor is that most of its main contributors return in 2019, and with a coaching staff that seems to give a damn about what’s going on, maybe it can take a step forward. Louisville is still going to need somebody else in the division to bottom out, though, and I’m just not sure who that is. So I can’t rank the Cardinals higher than No. 4 here.
—Donovan Mitchell announced the launching of his new foundation this week.
—Lamar Jackson made a surprise appearance at the Paul Hornung Award ceremony Thursday night.
—And finally, beat Virginia.