Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Micale Cunningham, TuTu Atwell and Javian Hawkins are all on the Maxwell Award watch list.

—There will be another Louisville takeover of the ACC Network on Aug. 1. Here’s the lineup:

ACC Network Schedule – August 1

10am-12pm: 2019 Men’s Soccer, Georgetown vs. Louisville (9/24/19)
12pm-3pm: 2019 Baseball, Louisville at Indiana (5/14/19)
3pm-5pm: 2019 Softball, Florida State vs. Louisville (4/8/19)
5pm-7pm: 2018 Women’s Basketball, Notre Dame vs. Louisville (01/11/18)
7pm-9pm: 2009 Men’s Basketball, Pitt vs. Louisville (1/17/09)
9pm-12am: 2019 Football, Louisville vs. Mississippi State (12/30/19)

—Not bad for a program that had been to one NCAA tournament and won zero NCAA tournament games just 14 years ago.

—If there had been a baseball Team USA this summer, Louisville’s Alex Binelas probably would have been starting.

—Four-star OT Yousef Mugharbil has Louisville in his top seven.

—The Bellarmine Knights have tipped off practice as a Division-I program for the first time.

—This year never ceases to amaze.

Also very awesome to see CC back.

—Hassan Hall has been named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list.

—The faculty of Kentucky’s African American and Africana Studies departments are calling for Rupp Arena to be renamed. The reaction from BBN has been calm, thoughtful and respectful.

—Cards are back.

—The NCAA doesn’t control college football, and it never will.

—Roy Williams donating a shit ton of money over the years to help fund the non-revenue sports at North Carolina is a pretty cool move.

—Chris Mack is already very high on grad transfers Carlik Jones and Charles Minlend.

“Carlik’s really dynamic, he’s a player who has a lot of swag, a lot of confidence and really understands the game, uses his body well, really changes speed, can really shoot the ball as evidenced by his 3-point shooting a year ago,” Mack said. “It’s gonna be a lot different, he’s gonna be one of the better guards we’ve had here in my three years, so we’re really looking forward to adding Carlik.”

A transfer from San Fransisco, Minlend, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard, brings a bit of a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ mentality. He averaged 14.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists as a junior and was selected All-WCC second team last season.

“Charles gives us, he’s smaller than Dwayne Sutton, but I think he gives us that type of mentality, that type of game,” Mack said. “He sort of knows where the ball’s going. One skill doesn’t necessarily separate him, it’s just all the things he brings to the table. He’s a pretty good passer, he’s a good finisher, he’s a good rebounder. I wouldn’t say he’s elite or great at one thing, a little bit like Dwayne. But he’s a competitor and he has good size in the backcourt. He could play the two, the three at 6-foot-4, 215, 220 pounds.”

—Mack remains confident there will be “some type of season” in 2020-21.

—Deng Adel has signed a new deal to play in Australia.

—It’s looking more and more like the Battle for the Governor’s Cup game could still happen in 2020.

—Scott Satterfeld really wants that game to happen.

—Despite refusing to officially join the ACC in football for years, Notre Dame could have the opportunity to win the ACC title in 2020. That seems dumb.

—Barry Alvarez says Wisconsin will lose $100 million if football isn’t played this season.

—Friday Irrelevance, triple helping:

—Class of 2021 forward Eric van der Heijden will announce his college commitment next Friday at noon on his YouTube channel. Louisville is widely believed to be the favorite for the four-star prospect.

—Chris Redman has been named named part-owner and team president of the Louisville Xtreme, which will begin play in the American Arena League next year.

—And finally, go Reds.