Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Virginia by 4.

—Streaking the Lawn has its big preview of Louisville-Virginia.

—Winthrop, which was set to come to Louisville and play Seton Hall on Nov. 25 and then four more games after that, has now paused all team activities because of positive Covid-19 tests. This is now the third team that had been scheduled to participate in the Wade Houston Tip-Off Classic that is dealing with Covid issues.

—Winthrop-Seton Hall on the 25th is off, but the Pirates are still planning on playing Louisville on Nov. 27.

—Louisville women’s soccer star Emina Ekic has been named the ACC’s Offensive Player of the Year. It’s the first time a Cardinal has earned this honor.

—Doug Farrar of USA Today writes that defenses now know what Lamar Jackson’s doing, but that’s not Lamar’s biggest problem.

—The ACC Digital Network highlights the top games to keep an eye on during the upcoming hoops season.

—Our friends over at Homefield Apparel are the subject of a very nice write-up in The Athletic.

—Eight Tennessee football staff members rejected pay cuts that were proposed in October by the athletic department, because Tennessee football remains the worst in pretty much every way. Those football staffers are the only athletic department employees who were asked to accept a pay cut and declined.

—Kentucky women’s basketball coach Matthew Mitchell retired abruptly Thursday evening. Jeff Walz sent some well wishes in the direction of his now former adversary.

—The CJ’s Cameron Teague Robinson has the inside story on the making of that Louisville football Halloween video at Waverly Hills from a few weeks ago.

—The Ivy League has canceled its 2020-21 basketball season. I’ll be surprised if they wind up being the only Division-I conference to make that move.

—With at least 23 D-I basketball programs currently paused because of Covid issues, Monmouth head coach King Rice asks point blank: Should we be doing this?

—This is perfect.

—Here’s a transcript of Jae’Lyn Withers’ Q&A session with the media from Thursday.

—After a “beneficial” redshirt season, Withers is very excited to make his debut on the court.

—Teddy Bridgewater: Still our best human.

—Jeff Goodman writes that the time is now for the NCAA to scrap non-conference play in college basketball for this season.

—Kade Grundy, a three-sport athlete from Somerset, has signed to play baseball at Louisville.

—One Louisville legend honors the passing of another Louisville legend.

—Rick Bozich writes about the high bar Jeff Walz has set for his U of L women’s basketball program.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—The Daily Progress breaks down the matchup between Louisville and Virginia.

—The Augusta Free Press lays out what Virginia fans need to know about Louisville.

—Big Red Louie takes a look at what each new hoops signee brings to the table for Chris Mack.

—Athlon is calling for a mild Louisville upset tomorrow afternoon in Charlottesville.

Final Analysis

Usually, with evenly matched teams, it is all about who wins the turnover battle. This game will likely be the same, as both of these teams rank among the nations worse in turnovers margin. Louisville has a -1.57 turnover margin, while Virginia sits at -0.67.

Both teams have had their struggles this year, but Louisville has a potent offense with Cunningham and Hawkins, which could be the difference in a close game if neither team dominates the turnover battle.

Prediction: Louisville 24, Virginia 21

—We don’t know exactly who’s going to be able to play and who’s still going to be out, but we know the Louisville defense will once again be shorthanded this weekend.

—Expect to see Louisville try and attack the Cavaliers through the air pretty consistently tomorrow.

—Keith and I preview Saturday’s game on the latest episode of the CC Podcast.

—And finally, beat Virginia.