Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Louisville by 8.

—NET Rankings Update: No. 29 (down 3 from yesterday ... thanks, Kentucky).

—The CJ’s Shannon Russell writes about the surprisingly solid play of the Cardinal basketball freshmen so far this season.

—A new episode of the CC Podcast is available for your ears, your mind and your soul, right here.

—Charles Minlend debut on the horizon?

—Butch Beard doesn’t think Louisville has been hiring enough minority coaches or doing enough to honor his legacy, and so he wrote a letter to Dr. Bendapudi asking her to remove his name from everything associated with U of L. According to Beard, “the university’s commitment to young black men is far from what it should look like in 2021.”

U of L, it should be noted, was recently named the best school in the country when it comes to serving the needs of African American students.

—JJ Traynor keeps getting “better and better” in his first collegiate season.

—Seth Davis likes the Cards tonight.

No. 16 Louisville (-7) at Wake Forest, 8:30 p.m., ACC Network. The Cardinals fought through a lot of adversity to get to their 8-1 record, and now it looks like they’ll finally welcome 6-4 guard Charles Minlend into the lineup. The grad transfer from San Francisco hasn’t played this season because of a sprained MCL in his left knee, but he has been cleared for full contact in practice and is expected to play. The Cards have also been getting quality play from 6-8 freshman forward Jae’Lyn Withers, who had 16 points in their 73-71 win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 6. This appears to be a case of bad timing for Wake Forest, which is rebuilding under first-year coach Steve Forbes and lost its first three ACC games by a total of 39 points. The pick: Louisville

—Eric Wood is the guest on the latest episode of the WDRB Sports Pod.

—The second-ranked U of L women’s basketball team is back in action against Boston College Thursday night. Here’s a preview.

—Spring(?) practice is less than a month away.

—Caleb Mills, the preseason Player of the Year in the AAC, is transferring from Houston to Florida State.

—It’s draft day for U of L women’s soccer star Emina Ekic.

—Happy anniversary to Pete, one of the true good guys in Cardinal athletics.

—Eric Crawford writes about Louisville trying to add to its best ever start in ACC play tonight at Wake Forest.

—U of L swimming will face Missouri in a top 15 showdown on Friday.

—Big Red Louie previews Louisville-Wake.

—Best moment of the 2020-21 Kentucky basketball season.

—Tomahawk Nation looks at how other ACC programs have responded after going through Covid-related pauses.

—ACC scores from Tuesday night:

No. 20 Virginia Tech 74, No. 19 Duke 67
Boston College 84, Miami 62
North Carolina 81, Syracuse 75

—Va Tech head coach Mike Young is feeling pretty good about his squad.

Was Duke worthy of its No. 19 ranking Monday morning? Based solely on its resume, no. Given the obvious talent on the roster, perhaps.

The Devils’ most acclaimed freshman, 6-foot-9 Jalen Johnson, returned Tuesday after missing three games with a foot injury. But he was a non-factor, leaving Duke to rely on freshman Jeremy Roach (22 points) and Hurt ( 20 points) to fuel its comeback.

But Tech was unfazed.

“I do think that’s a mark of a team that’s been there [and] done it,” Young said. “... I’ve got a pretty good team. Let’s not beat around the bush.”

How good? Well, with conquests of Villanova, Clemson and Duke, the Hokies are 3-0 against teams ranked by the AP at tipoff. The rest of the ACC is 4-21 combined.

—Tonight in the ACC (non-Louisville-Wake edition):

Notre Dame at No. 18 Virginia (4:30 p.m./ACC Network)
NC State at Florida State (6:30 p.m./ACC Network)

A scheduled game between Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech has been postponed due to Covid issued within the GT program.

—Due to eight returning players with legitimate MLB aspirations, Louisville baseball is once again primed for a College World Series run.

—The bracket for this year’s Louisville Invitational Tournament — which will take place on the first week of March this year — is out. Reigning 7th Region champ Male is the No. 1 seed.

—The latest episode of The Crunch Zone podcast is here.

—The latest Bracketology from Joe Lunardi has Louisville as a 4-seed taking on Liberty in the first round.

—And finally, beat Wake Forest.