Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—NET Rankings Update: No. 11.

—The Louisville baseball team avoided back-to-back midweek losses by rallying for an 8-5 win over Xavier Tuesday afternoon at Jim Patterson.

—After months of speculation, TreSean Smith has officially announced that he’s transferring out of Louisville.

—The CJ’s Jon Hale does a deep dive comparison between Louisville and Kentucky’s NCAA tournament resumes.

—The Cardinal lacrosse squad scored a 15-13 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday.

—Joe Lunardi’s latest seed list has Louisville as the first 4-seed.

—Khristian Lander, the top-ranked point guard prospect in the 2021 class and a top Louisville target, committed to Indiana Tuesday night. Lander was in attendance for Louisville’s win over Syracuse last week.

—Your Jay Scrubb update of the week.

—Matt Norlander’s court report feature for CBS is always a good way to stay caught up on the current state of college hoops.

—Mekhi Becton was all confidence at the combine on Wednesday.

“I feel like I’m the most dominant tackle in this draft,” Becton told the media at the event held in Indianapolis, Ind. “You won’t go wrong picking me.”

Measuring in at 6-foot-7, 364-pounds, Becton is the largest of many large offensive tackles in this year’s draft.

“I love being the biggest offensive lineman,” he said, also agreeing with a reporters follow up question, “I love intimidating guys.”

That size, coupled with his athleticism has made him a very wanted man. He’s climbed into the Top 10 in many of the latest mock drafts, including some that project teams making draft-day moves to be in a position to select Becton.

—Becton’s journey from raw prospect to likely first round pick certainly took some time.

—The only benefit to (likely) being the two or three seed in the ACC tournament is that it means a night game on Thursday ... which is obviously more for us than the team.

—Jordan Nwora is No. 26 on the latest NBA Draft big board from 247 Sports.

—Baltimore Ravens’ general manager Eric DeCosta talks about the excitement around the franchise with Lamar Jackson now steering the ship.

—Let the record show that the official FSU hoops Twitter account deleted their dunk tweet that called out Jordan Nwora. Kenny Klein always wins eventually.

—Hump Day Irrelevance:

—SI previews the U of L women’s team’s Thursday night game against Boston College.

—Rick Bozich weighs in on the Louisville vs. Kentucky bracket battle.

—Lotta Louisville love, both university and city, in the NBA this week.

—Athlon serves up a Louisville spring football preview.

—College Hoops Watch says the totality of Florida State’s attack “engulfed” Louisville Monday night.

—Cardinal commit Olivia Cochran will be forced to miss her team’s games in the state semifinals and (potentially) state championship games after she picked up two technical fouls in the quarterfinal round.

—Happy birthday to both Dwayne and David.

Also, offer a scholarship to every kid born in the city today. Seems like the logical move.

—Louisville defensive lineman Jared Goldwire is prepping for a big year.

—A win for Jeff Walz and company tomorrow night would lock up the ACC regular season title outright.

—And finally, Louisville commit Bryce Hopkins (2021) is up to No. 48 in 247 Sports’ updated player rankings for the 2021 class.