Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—NET Rankings update: No. 9.

—In a bit of karma only NC State football fans could appreciate, Kevin Stallings has received a three-year show cause from the NCAA for violations that occurred under his watch at Pitt. I lay out the case that Stallings was the worst major coaching hire of my lifetime here.

—Jeff Walz is one of 20 coaches on the Naismith Coach of the Year Award late season watch list.

—How good has Louisville been defensively in the last four minutes of games/overtime? Better than anyone else in the country.

—Cameron Teague of the CJ went behind the scenes with the Louisville baseball team on Wednesday.

—Is Louisville really back after Wednesday’s blowout of Syracuse? Danielle Lerner of The Athletic explores.

The season-high assist total was no accident. The Cardinals patiently whipped the ball around the floor in search of weak spots in Syracuse’s zone, often with four or five players getting touches in a possession. There were shot fakes, kick-outs and bounce passes. Louisville sent Nwora, Johnson or Samuell Williamson to the middle of the zone to go to work, either operating around the elbow in the high post or sliding to the wing for shots.

The Cardinals successfully fed their bigs on the baseline, but in the first half, Enoch and Williams both botched multiple finishes in traffic under the basket. They righted the ship later on, which Mack attributed to “attacking the ball” by stepping into passes and getting to the rim quicker.

Enoch and Williams combined for just four points in the first half but had 20 in the second. Louisville finished 8-of-15 on layups and 4-of-7 on dunks. “That was it. That was the game,” Boeheim said. “They just got too many shots, obviously, down there.”

Johnson was especially effective as a passer in the high-low scheme.

“DJ, especially in a zone like that, not only does he have the vision and the awareness but he’s also 6-5,” McMahon said. “He’s long so he can make those passes, whereas us little guards, maybe we see the same things he does but we can’t pass over the zone. We don’t have the length or ability to make that happen without it getting deflected.”

Louisville averaged 1.25 points per possession and scored on 55.6 percent of possessions.

—A look at the best potential landing spots for Teddy Bridgewater based on five different factors.

—Like seemingly everyone else who dabbles in this sort of thing, Eamonn Brennan of The Athletic has Louisville as a 3-seed at the moment.

—The thing I like the most about this is the subtlety.

—Louisville fans in South Florida can watch the Cards take on North Carolina at the alumni game watch party at Stout Irish Bar and Grille in Fort Lauderdale.

—College basketball coaches are very concerned about the new transfer rule that could go into effect in just a few months.

—Decision day is rapidly approaching for U of L signee/NBA Draft prospect Jay Scrubb.

Scrubb said he watches Louisville whenever he can and tries to picture ways in which he could help the team.

He is also part of a group text with former Trinity teammate David Johnson, a freshman who got his first start for the Cards on Wednesday against Syracuse.

”Every day I try to talk to my man,” Scrubb said of his relationship with Johnson. “We communicate on the daily.”

When asked if Johnson is one of many trying to persuade him to join the Cardinals, Scrubb said, “He’s not pimping me at all. He’s saying, whatever I want to do, if the opportunity is there, take it. But he would love for me to be at Louisville.”

Johnson is likely not alone in that sentiment.

—Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology has Louisville as a 3-seed squaring off against New Mexico State in the first round.

—Lunardi has also announced that he’ll be hosting a Bracketology show at 6 p.m. every night between now and Selection Sunday.

—Jordan Nwora checks in at No. 2 in this video of the five best ACC dunks of the season so far.

Malik Williams putting Duke in a body bag would have been my vote, but that’s me.

—Danielle Lerner writes the story of why Ryan McMahon has been playing his final college season with a heavy heart.

—Malik Williams making his first start on Wednesday meant Keith Oddo had to take over Williams’ role as the designated handshake guy during pregame intros. Williams approved of Oddo’s performance.

—Tim Sullivan of the CJ writes about where Louisville goes from here with David Johnson running the show.

—In what could be a cool new tradition, the Louisville and Kentucky men’s soccer teams will play an exhibition match at Lynn Family Stadium at noon on the day of Thunder Over Louisville. Here’s the Cards’ full spring schedule.

—Josh Pastner gas station hype videos are my new favorite thing of 2020.

—The U of L baseball team took a bad 10-3 loss to Wright State on Wednesday, dropping the Cards to 1-3 for just the second time in the Dan McDonnell era. U of L is back on the field today for the first of a three-game set with Valparaiso. First pitch at Jim Patterson Stadium this afternoon has been moved to 2 p.m.

—Louisville checks in at No. 13 in Sports Illustrated’s updated college hoops power rankings.

—The U of L lacrosse team is on the road at No. 14 Michigan today.

—Even though his squad got the win, Thursday was a tough night for Arizona State star Remy Martin.

—U of L men’s golf standout Matthias Schmid has been named to the Ben Hogan Award Watch List.

—The Louisville women’s tennis team will spend this weekend hosting Austin Peay and NC State.

—This is a cool blast from the past, but I’m blown away by how long the walk to the podium at this Hall of Fame induction ceremony was. It’s like the end of the first Star Wars.

—The latest episode of the CC Podcast is out.

—Tar Heel Blog lays out three things for Carolina fans to watch for during Saturday’s game.

Does UNC pack it in?

To some extent, the Tar Heels should be commended over the fact that when they’ve had the opportunity to just go through the motions of the season, they’ve picked it back up and competed. After the tough loss to Boston College, for example, the Heels fought against FSU before wilting, and we all know the Duke game. They looked great against Notre Dame despite the heartbreak against Virginia.

The problem is the game between that Duke game and Virginia game. We all remember just how much of a steaming pile of garbage the Wake Forest game was, and there’s a real danger here that the Notre Dame loss could have been the final dagger for their desire to compete. They’ve done it too many times this season, and against a raucous Louisville crowd that is sensing a chance to win their first NCAA title since 1986 (I know what I typed), there’s a real chance an opening blitz by the Cardinals will have the Tar Heels quickly going through the motions.

We know know pretty quickly if this is setting up for another thrashing or another heartbreak.

—Big Red Louie has three bold predictions for the North Carolina game.

—The Syracuse locker room after being blown out by Louisville was “somber.”

—The Mack Family Foundation was back at it again Friday morning.

—A reminder that this is the time of the year where you can help out the RaiseRed movement.

—Here’s the TNIAAM recap of Louisville’s trouncing of Syracuse.

—Friday Irrelevance, quadruple helping:

—Busting Brackets breaks down Saturday’s matchup between Louisville and UNC.

—Cardinal Authority looks at the new uniform numbers for the Louisville football newcomers.

—I meant to put this in the game wrap post, but this was an awesome moment from Wednesday night.

—Former Cardinal defensive lineman Brandon Dunn has signed a contract extension with the Houston Texans.

—Hoops Insights continues to lay out the evidence that Darius Perry and Fresh Kimble should spend as little time on the floor together as possible.

—The Emoni Bates hype is only going to be amplified over the next two years.

—Chris Mack is one of 15 coaches on the late season watch list for the 2020 Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year.

—Spring(?) practice begins for Louisville football on Monday.

—Highlights from Thursday night’s win over Georgia Tech:

—Saturday Blitz is very big on incoming U of L football freshman Yaya Diaby.

—Larry O’Bannon interviewing Reece Gaines on the latest episode of Larry O’s podcast is something you’re probably interested in.

—17-1 definitely seems like a nice number to jump on.

—There are 20 game-worn hoops jerseys up for sale on the U of L auction site.

—Evansville has now lost a program-record 15 games in a row.

—Tom Izzo starting Jack Hoiber against this dad’s team is a pretty cool move.

—The latest NFL mock draft from CBS has Mekhi Becton going 8th overall.

—Here’s how the ACC tournament would look if it started today. Spoiler: Louisville would be the No. 1 seed.

—And finally, beat UNC.