Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Cardinal baseball’s Lucas Dunn has joined the USA Collegiate National Team.

—Keith Oddo going with No. 1 immediately shoots him to the top of my walk-on rankings.

—Louisville has “tons of depth” at the running back position heading into 2019.

—A statistical look at how much playing for a top program really helps players in terms of making it to the NBA.

—The first “top 100 players in college basketball” list is out, and Jordan Nwora makes an appearance in the top 10.

6.Jordan Nwora – Junior Forward Louisville

After an average freshman season, Jordan Nwora broke out and became one of the best players in the ACC last season, scoring 17 points per game last season. Nwora is a 6’7” forward who can score and shoot the ball at a high level while he is also a really good rebounder. If he can improve a little bit upon what he did last year, while Louisville becomes one of the top teams in the sport like many expect, look for him to be a consensus All-American.

Nwora is the top-ranked player in the ACC.

Samuell Williamson also makes the top 100.

81.Samuell Williamson – Freshman Guard Louisville

Louisville is expected to be one of the top teams in the sport and one of the main reasons why will be the likely impact of Five-Star freshman Samuell Williamson. Williamson is a long athletic wing that has shown the ability to shoot the ball well. He should fit in nicely alongside fellow wing Jordan Nwora, while likely being one of the reasons the Cardinals compete atop the ACC standings.

—The Utah Jazz are sending a message to Donovan Mitchell: We will not waste time putting pieces around you.

—Gary Barnidge walked away from football during the prime of his career. He explains why in this lengthy piece from The Athletic.

—Louisville is now obligated to hire Kyle Kuric as its team development and recruiting coordinator.

—U of L football assistant Cortney Braswell has been placed on paid administrative leave following his arrest last week.

—Jake Snider has officially signed his first professional contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

—A Celtics fan pens a letter of thanks to Terry Rozier.

—Might I interest you in Montrezl Harrell embarrassing Terrell Owens in a charity game?

—Jeff Walz’s month of coaching the USA Basketball U19 team has kicked off.

—Danielle Lerner answers your questions in the latest installment of her mailbag.

—Texas’ recruitment of Kevin Durant (Athletic link) started with Juan Palacios.

Russ Springmann, former Texas assistant and current assistant at Oral Roberts: How did I find him? Well, it was an accident. I was watching the War on the Shore, and I was there to see Juan Palacios, and I kept seeing this skinny kid who looked good shooting the ball. I wish I could tell you there was more than that, but honestly, that was the truth. I was also interested in Ty Lawson, and somebody from the area called me and said, “If you’re interested in Kevin, you have to get to know his coach at the rec center. You have to get to know Stink.” Well, first of all, I’m not calling a grown man Stink. I need a name, and maybe down the road if we get to know each other, I’ll call him Stink. That was coach Brown.

—If you missed it earlier today, the door for LCPT nominations has officially been opened.

—The best new cheap restaurant in Lafayette is a UL-Lafayette football game.

—Nike’s branding efforts know no limit.

—It’s been a quick turnaround from College World Series to USA Baseball for Dan McDonnell.

—Whitney Wade has officially been introduced as the new head coach of the U of L women’s golf program.

—Louisville remains in the mix for DeMatha hoops stars Earl Timberlake and Hunter Dickinson.

—Congrats to Cardinal kicker Blanton Creque on his engagement.

If the kicks start getting pulled this fall, we’ll know who to blame.

I’m joking.

Sort of.

—U of L is offering a new “student ticket membership” program that costs just 10 bucks a month.

—I love Roger Federer and I hope he plays forever.

—The CJ updates its Louisville basketball recruiting big board for 2020.

—Plot twist: Nick Kyrgios is good now.

Not really, but I enjoyed the response.

—If you missed Chris Mack’s interview on Wednesday’s R&R, you can listen to it here.

Quick highlights:

--New looks are being installed on offense and defense.

--Depth and new pieces may give the Cards an opportunity to press full-court this season.

--The freshmen are all here and have had an eye-opening start.

--Darius Perry singled out for significant strides.

--BODY FAT TALK IS BACK (Fresh Kimble has dropped 5% since arriving).

—Props to the ESPN tech team for still not fixing this:

—Reid Detmers is “living a dream” this summer pitching for Team USA.

—Brendan McKay will be making his second MLB start tonight, and he’ll do so against the New York Yankees.

—Swimming World and Magazine looks at how Louisville became a national power.

—And finally, U of L has joined in the mourning of the loss of former UK quarterback Jared Lorenzen. Thirty-eight is far, far too young. Our thoughts are with all those who knew and loved Jared.