Tuesday evening Cardinal news and notes

—NET Rankings Update: No. 42 (down 5).

—Tomahawk Nation celebrates FSU’s win over the Cards.

—The CJ counts down the five best U of L women’s basketball teams of the Jeff Walz era.

—Carlik Jones is just as fed up with the slow starts as the rest of us.

Graduate transfer point guard Carlik Jones, who led the team with 17 points, admitted that UofL didn’t come ready to play from the tip. That it wasn’t so much as the team not being up to the challenge, it just wasn’t mentally ready from the go.

“To be honest, it was a rough start with us for sure, but I just think they wanted the game more,” Jones said. “I think that’s what it really came down to. I don’t think it was a huge challenge for us. I just don’t think we came ready to play and they took advantage of that. I feel like if we play the way we played the last four minutes of the first half and kind of the start of the second half, it definitely would have been a different outcome.”

UofL was playing its third night game in six days, so could fatigue have played a role. The team played late Saturday night in Miami, not returning home until the early hours on Sunday with little time to physically prep for the Seminoles.

Did the demanding schedule have an impact? Jones, one of the team’s two captains, isn’t seeking an excuse.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Jones said. “I mean a lot of people can say that the quick turnaround is the reason, but to me, that would be considered an excuse, a way out of it. I don’t think that’s acceptable. I think me and the team need to get it together. We kind of talked about it like during our wins and our losses, we started off with slow starts, teams getting ahead on us. And I feel like we need to start putting our situation. We’re in a conference where a lot of teams are good and if you put yourself in a hole against a good team like Florida State, it’s hard to come out of it. That’s our huge downfall right now, is being ready to play and having better starts to games.”

—ESPN’s Jamison Hensley writes that the best move the Ravens can make right now is to get Lamar Jackson a legitimate No. 1 receiver.

—Louisville redshirt senior running back Maurice Burkley will be returning for a sixth year with the program.

—This has been very cool to see.

I have zero natural rooting interests left in the playoffs, so I’ll have no problem pulling for the Bills.

—ACC teams occupy spots 11-13 in Matt Norlander’s latest hoops power rankings for CBS.

-—Seth Davis still considers (Athletic link) Louisville to be one of the “top tier” teams in the ACC.

ACC is a hot mess so far this year. Who do you see in the top tier (top 3 teams), who do you see winning the regular season, and then who do you see winning the conference tournament? How many teams does the ACC get into a 68-team NCAA Tournament? — Cody R.

“Hot mess” is a nice way to put it, Cody. “Not that good” is a slightly less nice way, and probably more accurate. Here’s how I would tier the teams (in order):

Top tier: Virginia, Florida State, Clemson, Louisville

Second tier: Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State

As for the NCAA Tournament, I’ll defer to our Brian Bennett, who had six ACC teams in the field in his latest Bracket Watch column but only Clemson was a top-four seed. On my list that would mean the final spot would be up for grabs between Duke and North Carolina. So yeah, hot mess is a little harsh, but this is definitely not what we’re used to seeing.

—The ratings for the CFP national title game were the lowest in playoff era history, and the lowest for a CFP/BCS national title game since 2004.

—Tomorrow’s scheduled game between Virginia Tech and Boston College has been postponed.

—Tonight in the ACC:

Miami at Syracuse (7 p.m./ACC Network)
Duke at Pittsburgh (9 p.m./ESPN)

—It’s easy to lose an hour with this NFL mock draft simulator from Pro Football Focus.

—The Cards make the top eight for Corbin star Treyveon Longmire.

—Ballard High DE Jadairion Smith (2022) has Louisville in his top four.

—The U of L men’s golf team is in ninth place after two rounds of the Camp Creek Championship.

—Racing Louisville FC and NWSL stalwart Chicago Red Stars will join two UEFA Champions League clubs to be named in the coming weeks for games on Aug. 18 and 21 at Lynn Family Stadium.

—I would like Matt to do one of these of me blogging in sweatpants on the couch.

But seriously, that’s very cool.

—Wes Rucker writes that Tennessee is taking another Big Orange Belly Flop into the abyss, and it’s getting tougher to see light in this darkness.

—Speaking of, Banner Society does the Lord’s work and lists every single coach who has been rumored to be a target for the Tennessee job since 2008.

—The Washington Post has Louisville as an 8-seed, and notes that the NCAA tournament bubble might really be worse than ever this year.

Some might even call it ... and I’m just spitballing here ... historically weak.

—These shoes are pure sex.

—This evening in college goops features seven ranked teams in action.

—Syracuse, the U of L women’s team’s next opponent, knocked off North Carolina this afternoon thanks to a monster 4th quarter run.

—The Louisville men’s basketball team finds itself in a much different position than it was in just 72 hours ago.

—And finally, the CJ looks at the recurring matchup problem that Florida State represents for U of L.