Tuesday evening Cardinal news and notes

—NET Rankings Update: No. 10

—Louisville announced Tuesday that the football team will play host to Bowling Green for a non-conference game during the 2025 season. It’ll be the first time the two programs have squared off. Brian VanGorder is currently the defensive coordinator for the Falcons, but I can’t imagine that will be the case in five years.

—The NABC has named Louisville its national Team of the Week.

—U of L commit Bryce Hopkins dropped 41 Monday night as Fenwick blasted Simeon in a battle of Chicago powerhouses.

—The latest SB Nation Bracketology from Chris Dobbertean has Louisville up to a 3-seed.

—Brendan Marks of The Athletic looks at all the issues currently plaguing the Duke basketball team.

—Tar Heel Blog has Louisville at No. 2 in its ACC power rankings.

—Virginia’s offense is beyond atrocious.

Having (easily) the best defense in the country is the only reason this team isn’t multiple games below .500. I’m also fully expecting them to score more than 65 in both games against us.

—Jeff Greer writes about Tony Parker’s brother, who is coaching in France and has a dream you don’t often hear from people in that position: To coach college basketball and experience March Madness.

—Fresh Jay Scrubb highlights:

Please make it to campus.

—Is this year’s Montverde Academy squad the greatest high school basketball team of all-time?

—U of L football hosted 40 potential walk-on prospects for unofficial visits on Monday.

—David Johnson talks with WDRB’s Annice McEwan about his city, his tattoos, and his goals for the rest of his freshman season.

—This year, for the first time, ESPN will air the entire first and second rounds of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament on its family of networks. This means no more regional coverage of the big dance.

—Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com has Mekhi Becton going to the New York Giants with the No. 4 overall pick in his latest mock draft.

—Brad Crawford of 247 Sports ranks the top returning running backs in college football for 2020, and has Javian Hawkins at No. 6.

6. JAVIAN HAWKINS, LOUISVILLE

Career stats: 266 carries, 1,533 yards rushing, 9 TDs

As a redshirt freshman this season, Hawkins was one of the ACC’s top ballcarriers, galloping for 1,525 yards and nine touchdowns fora team that reached bowl eligibility despite of Vegas preseason number of 3.5 wins. Hawkins’ future is extremely bright as a focal point within Scott Satterfield’s interpretation of the spread in Louisville. He was always been a guy who heavily involved his RB1 in the game plan at Appalachian State and that has continued at the Power 5 level. Hawkins created a slew of missed tackles this season and is one of the nation’s fastest players at his position with a 40-yard dash time reportedly in the high 4.3.s

—With the NCAA convention set for this week, Pat Forde writes that the time for the entity to evolve is now.

—U of L football has announced that Derek Nicholson will coach the inside linebackers this season. Nicholson comes to Louisville from Southern Miss. He played his college football at Florida State.

—This is a ridiculous announcement, but it’s cool that it’s Jaire Alexander’s image that’s so prominent in the mock up.

—Top-ranked Bellarmine had been the only undefeated team in Division-II before last night’s overtime loss at home to Indianapolis. The Knights’ 14-0 start was the second-best in school history.

—Stadium’s latest Bracketology has Louisville as a 3-seed in the Midwest.

—The Athletic’s David Glenn has Louisville at No. 2 in his ACC hoops power rankings.

2. Louisville (15-3, 6-1)

Best Wins*: 79-73 at Duke (2), 58-43 over Michigan (20), 67-64 at Notre Dame (61), 82-76 over Akron (65), 73-68 (OT) at Pitt (67)

If the Cardinals go on to truly special things this season, their Jan. 18 trip to Duke likely will be remembered as a turning point, perhaps even a launching pad. Road wins over quality opponents always are precious commodities, but Louisville’s 79-73 victory over the No. 3 Blue Devils, against Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, in front of the Cameron Crazies, amidst ESPN’s College GameDay, through several fiber-testing potential breaking points, should work wonders on any lingering matters of chemistry or confidence. Beyond those basics, the “arrival” of freshman point guard David Johnson, who shockingly outplayed Duke star Tre Jones, bolstered a rotation (now nine deep) that already offered the best combination of talent, experience and depth in the ACC. A Louisville product, Johnson originally committed to the hometown Cardinals in 2017, when Rick Pitino was the coach. After signing with Chris Mack as a top-75 recruit, Johnson was limited by shoulder issues until earlier this month. Now he looks like an electrifying answer to Mack’s biggest season-long question, point guard play.

Next: Georgia Tech (Wed.), Clemson (Sat.), at BC (Jan. 29), at NC State (Feb. 1), Wake Forest (Feb. 5)

—The numbers back up the notion that this is one of the wildest college basketball seasons of all-time.

—The complete 2020 Louisville football schedule will be out Wednesday morning.

—Montrezl Harrell is on the cover of SLAM this week.

—Louisville baseball’s Alex Binelas, Reid Detmers and Michael Kirian have picked up some more preseason All-America honors.

—CBS Sports’ latest NFL mock draft has Mekhi Becton going 18th overall to the Dolphins.

—The accolades continue to pile up for DJ.

—ACC hoops tonight:

Wake Forest at Clemson (8 p.m./ACC Network)
Miami at No. 8 Duke (9 p.m./ESPN)

—Luke is pretty damn good at this stuff.

—Georgia Tech remains a tad dinged up heading into tomorrow night’s game at the Yum Center.

—Corbin’s Ethan Wine has committed to U of L football as a preferred walk-on.

—Malik Williams isn’t really worried about what the outside world has to say concerning his team.

This should be a game when the Cardinals continue to show the improvements they have made during the four-game winning streak that has followed their back-to-back losses to Kentucky and Florida State.

”I’m not really sure what the outside world is thinking (about Louisville),” Williams said. “But I believe that we made believers in ourselves, just coming off the three-game road trip we came off.”

And what do the Cardinals believe?

”That we can do anything,” Williams said. “Anything is possible. We’ve had a tough road throughout the season. A lot of ups and downs. But just coming off this last stretch, I believe that we can do anything.”

—WHAS-11 recalls how a Martin Luther King Jr. Day controversy paved the way for Louisville’s first major bowl victory.

—The most unreal comeback of the college basketball season happened Saturday in Boise.

—And finally, Sports Illustrated says Louisville’s stock is up after its big win at Duke on Saturday.