Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Pittsburgh by 3.

— Dwayne Sutton has been named as a 2020 Professional Basketball Combine (PBC) honoree. The PBC is “a secondary NBA Draft combine, primarily for prospects in the second round, UDFA, Two-Way, Exhibit-10, and overseas wheelhouse, with a strong history of identifying under-the-radar talent, helping them to maximize their pre-draft exposure to pro hoops decision-makers, and providing them an opportunity to make the most informed decision about their basketball future.”

—The computers are not as high on the Cards as they were two weeks ago.

—The U of L men’s soccer team was handed a 5-0 loss by Pitt in its final exhibition match of the preseason.

—Bud Elliott of 247 Sports reviews every ACC game from last weekend, and not shockingly, has some not-so-nice thoughts on the Louisville defense.

MIAMI 47, LOUISVILLE 34

On the Barton & Bud Show, we discussed this marquee game and what we wanted to learn from it.

“But King did not show much in the passing game (against UAB). Louisville’s defense allowed a ton of points to Miami in 2019. It will be looking to prove that it can stop the run and force Miami’s unproven passing game to take over.

And Miami’s normally elite defense under Manny Diaz was not great against UAB. Louisville’s offense, though, looked stellar in an opening win against a solid Western Kentucky defense. QB Michale Cunningham pushed the ball down the field aggressively against Western Kentucky.

Will either team be able to take away the run game of the other? Which offensive line will be able to protect long enough to create explosive plays?”

The answers: Louisville’s defense has not made big strides. It might still lack talent, but it also had some enormous busts which produced passes to players with no other defender on the screen.

The Hurricanes had two touchdowns of 75 yards and one of 47. Their tempo and formations helped to create the busts by Louisville.

If there is a concern for Miami it’s at the receiver position. Miami receivers were targeted 18 times for just 99 yards. That’s a weakness which a few select defenses on the schedule could exploit.

Miami’s defense did surrender 516 yards, but 156 of it came in the fourth quarter while Miami routinely maintained a multi-score lead.

—There hasn’t been any official word from the ACC, but multiple media members who cover the conference have reported today that league plans to play is previously scheduled 20-game slate for the upcoming men’s basketball season with no alterations.

—Andy Katz does not have Louisville in his preseason top 36 hoops rankings.

—ACC football game times and television assignments for the weekend of Oct. 3 (bye week for Louisville):

NC State at Pitt, Noon, ACC Network
North Carolina at Boston College, 3:30 p.m., ABC or ESPN (network designation will be announced after the games of Sept. 26)
Virginia Tech at Duke, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Jacksonville State at Florida State, 4 p.m., RSN
Virginia at Clemson, 8 p.m., ACC Network

—Louisville players were shut out of the ACC’s individual awards for week two.

—Chris Mack has announced the date and location of his Fantasy “BasketGolf” Experience which will support the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative.

The Chris Mack Fantasy “BasketGolf” Experience will be held at the prestigious Valhalla Golf Club on October 12^th, 2020 in Louisville. Participants will partake in a basketball-themed 18-hole golf tournament that will benefit the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative. This coach-driven initiative includes more than 70 collegiate coaches, including Coach Chris Mack, who is an ambassador of the program. This initiative will provide minorities a jump-start to their careers through practical experiences and opportunities to build their network while instilling the values of John McClendon, the first African-American coach in professional basketball and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer. The funding raised at this event will go towards creating access and opportunities in collegiate-level athletic administration departments for minorities.

“It’s truly an honor to be an ambassador of this initiative. I hope this event can help to continue to raise awareness to the social injustice occurring in our country as we benefit a great cause in the McLendon Foundation,” said Coach Mack.

“Coach Mack’s support for The McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative is a huge step in the right direction for enhancing the pipeline within our industry,” said Andrea Williams, Chief Operating Officer at the College Football Playoff (CFP) and McLendon Foundation President. “There are many qualified minority individuals who are prepared to make their mark and begin their careers in college athletics, and this program, supported by outstanding ambassadors like Coach Mack, is a great foundation to launch their careers.”

In addition to the 18-hole golf tournament, participants will also have the opportunity to interact virtually with the Louisville basketball team and receive an exclusive adidas gear package. This event comes in lieu of Coach Mack’s annual Basketball Fantasy Experience, which was converted to this unique experience due to COVID-19. The event will follow all CDC, state, and course guidelines as it relates to social distancing and the health and safety of all participants in a strict manner.

Space is extremely limited in this exclusive event. Registration is limited to 12 foursomes. Registration and more information is available at ChrisMackExperience.com. Applicants interested in the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative can apply here.

—College basketball’s desire to make non-conference play happen has resulted in scheduling chaos across the country. ESPN’s Jeff Borzello has a great breakdown of the situation as it stands.

—The U of L women’s soccer team fell to 1-1 on the young season with a 1-0 loss at Florida State on Sunday.

—The ACCDN serves up the ACC touchdown remix for week two:

—The Louisville and Pitt depth charts are out.

—The U of L men’s and women’s cross country teams opened their 2020 seasons at Notre Dame over the weekend.

—The Pitt fans over at Cardiac Hill discuss the importance of the Louisville game on the latest episode of their podcast.

—Awful news out of Indiana this morning.

—If you’re looking for a way to waste a few hours or days, Rolling Stone is out with a new list of what it considers to be the 500 greatest albums of all-time.

—State of The U serves up a film review of Miami’s torching of Louisville.

—Derby favorite Tiz the Law is skipping the Preakness to get ready for the Breeder’s Cup.

—The Jets are an absolute trainwreck, but Mekhi Becton is already proving himself to be the real deal.

—Despite a relatively easy win, Manny Diaz was “not satisfied” with his team’s play against Louisville.

—Hassan Hall is listed as “day-to-day” after getting dinged up in the loss to Miami.

—The Cardinal Sports Zone pod reviews the loss to Miami.

—Pitt appears to be very hyped for Saturday’s game against the Cards.

—The CJ recaps what pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi had to say about Louisville in his weekly presser.

—The latest episode of Larry O’Bannon’s podcast is a conversation with former Cardinal QB Chris Redman.

—The CJ’s David Kim writes about how Louisville football commit Zen Michalski is handling his rising prominence and fame.

—Notre Dame canceled its Tuesday practice after four players tested positive for Covid-19. The Irish are scheduled to play Wake Forest this weekend.

—It would appear as though Virginia Tech is dealing with some Covid issues as well. Head coach Justin Fuente said Monday that he was just hoping his team would be able to play this weekend.

—We’re less than two weeks away rom the start of the Bellarmine 5K, the Run for Ryann. You can sign up for the event here.

—An NBA draft evaluator shares some thoughts on Jay Scrubb.

—Football Outsiders says the Louisville-Miami game should have been much closer than it was.

No. 17 Miami 47, No. 18 Louisville 34

Miami: +0.152 EPA/Play margin, +0.126 early downs margin, -14.9% success rate margin, 57.1% Eckel ratio.

The casual viewer may be tempted to declare the return of the U after Saturday’s 17-point victory at Louisville, but a high-scoring game belies a tough performance by both teams. On a per-play basis, the Hurricanes were down 14.9% in success rate margin to Louisville (32.2% to the Cardinals’ 47.1%). Contributing to the overinflated perception of Miami’s performance is the fact that Louisville inexplicably missed a wide-open touchdown, coming away with field goals on two drives where they had first downs inside the Hurricanes’ 25-yard line. Now, of course, execution matters, and those plays count. Miami got the win, and that’s important in college football! In the sense of looking forward and trying to divine the true quality of a team based on single games, eliminating outliers can help. D’Eriq King completed 60% of his passes in the game, including a nice 47-yard touchdown to tight end Brevin Jordan for a game-icing touchdown in the fourth quarter. The new-look Miami Hurricanes have a high ceiling under Rhett Lashlee, and King, paired with the excellent rusher Cam’Ron Harris and passing threats such as Jordon and junior receiver Mark Pope, will be a source of frustration for ACC defenses throughout the season. If the defense can continue to hold opponents to field goals, and if Miami can figure out how to move the ball without relying on fluke plays, the Hurricanes could find themselves competing for the ACC championship in 2020. Miami hosts rival Florida State this weekend.

On the Louisville side of the ball, Scott Satterfield’s offense embodied the infuriating combination of efficient (47.1% success rate), but not explosive. The Cardinals lost the Eckel battle (six scoring opportunities to Miami’s eight, for a ratio of 42.9%), but also failed to finish drives: the Cardinals averaged less than a field goal per drive (2.6 points per drive). The defensive miscommunication was most disconcerting; two of Miami’s touchdowns and 14 of Miami’s 21-point lead came as a result of utterly bizarre defensive plays by Louisville.

Were one seeking a silver lining for Satterfield’s team in a loss, it would be hard not to be encouraged by the second-half offensive surge (28 points in the second half relative to six in the first), and the general defensive consistency: aside from the aforementioned fluke touchdowns, Louisville held Miami to 5.8 yards per play. There are the bones of a solid defensive performance there. If the Cardinals can amend their defensive miscommunications in the film room and build on their second-half offensive performance, they’ll have a formidable squad behind Malik Cunningham and rusher Javian Hawkins, who averaged 6.1 yards per rush on 27 carries (yes, to be fair to Miami, we can apply the same kind of trimmed mean logic to Hawkins’ performance: his long was 19 yards, and so he averaged a solid 5.6 yards per carry outside of the outlier).

—Big Red Louie gets you caught up on everything Russ Smith has been up to recently.

—Busting Brackets features Louisville-Kentucky in its countdown of the best college basketball games of last season.

—Walked past David Johnson and Quinn Slazinski on the Big Four Bridge Sunday. Based on what I saw, I’m saying Elite Eight at worst.

—Scott Satterfield still has faith in Bryan Brown and the U of L defense.

—Eric Crawford has five major takeaways from Louisville’s first loss of the season.

—And finally, GoCards.com recaps Scott Satterfield’s Monday presser.