Monday evening Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: NC State by 6.5.

—Some very bad news for Louisville’s next opponent as NC State announced Monday morning that starting middle linebacker Isaiah Moore will be out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Moore is a senior captain who currently ranks second on the team in total tackles.

—Bill Connelly’s S&P rankings for ESPN have Louisville at No. 35 and Kentucky at No. 36. The Cards jumped 18 spots after their win over Boston College.

—Hailey Van Lith is one of 20 players on the watch list for the 2022 Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given annually to the best point guard in women’s college basketball.

—Malik Cunningham will be signing autographs at the Planet Fitness across from J-Mall tonight from 7-8.

—Mike DeCourcy’s preseason college hoops top 25 for The Sporting News does not feature Louisville.

—Chris Mack is making a late push for four-star class of 2022 small forward Kamari Lands. U of L offered Lands on Friday.

—CB Jordan Allen, who has previously made an official visit to U of L, has decommitted from Penn State.

—Adam Duvall’s son has become one of the biggest stars of the MLB Playoffs.

—Former Card Jonathan Greenard has six sacks in five games for the Houston Texans.

—Bellarmine hoops has one of the toughest non-conference schedules in all of college basketball according to David Cobb of CBS.

—The Three-Man-Weave crew picks Scott Davenport’s Knights to finish fourth in the Atlantic Sun this season.

—The latest Cardinal Sports Zone podcast is here.

—Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that everyone is crazy.

—Individual game tickets for the 2021-22 U of L men’s basketball season are now available on TicketMaster.

—Texas Tech is reportedly firing Matt Wells — once the hottest young name in college football coaching — in the middle of his third season in Lubbock.

—Congratulations to Dr. Vernon Cherrix, a local piano teacher from Louisville who previously worked at U of L, on being inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame.

—BC Interruption has thoughts on the Eagles’ loss to Louisville.

Last week was all about resetting expectations for the BC football team, and the Eagles loss yesterday was confirmation that fans were right to do so. The Eagles had their opportunities to get back into this game but never seemed to take advantage.

The defense stepped up for the Eagles this week and, despite giving up 331 rushing yards, kept BC in the game, forcing four turnovers.

BC has not faced a true duel threat QB like Malik Cunningham this year. or at least not one with his agility and speed - and it showed in how much trouble they had containing him. However, it is hard to ask much more of this defensive unit when they kept the Eagles in the game and gave the Eagles’ offense so many opportunities.

Meanwhile, the offense sputtered yet again in a very frustrating performance.

—The U of L women’s soccer team played Clemson to a 1-1 tie on Sunday. The Cardinals wrap the regular season with a home match against Duke on Thursday at 5 p.m.

—Boston College’s Fansided site recaps another Eagles loss.

—Take the collective anger of Louisville fans after the Wake Forest game and multiply it by three if this had happened to us (and the Cards had ended up losing by less than a score).

—Brett McMurphy’s latest bowl projections have Louisville taking on Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl.

—Louisville volleyball was No. 3 in the RPI last week and Pitt was No. 1. The Cards beat the Panthers on Sunday and dropped to No. 4 while Pitt stayed at No. 1.

Maybe there’s a reason other sports have moved away from the metric.

—Cam Teague from the CJ is out with his latest U of L football notebook.

—Very cool seeing Monty staying so engaged despite being sidelined for the rest of the year.

—Louisville has offered a scholarship to Syracuse LB transfer Lee Kpogba. Kpogba had 43 tackles for the Orange last season.

—Montrezl Harrell is the guest on the latest episode of the Off the Bench podcast.

—CBS ranks all 130 FBS teams and has Louisville at No. 43. One spot behind Appalachian State.

—Nice to see Unlimited Erections already stepping up.

—Louisville has the 19th-largest recruiting budget in college football.

—The fourth-ranked Louisville field hockey team took down No. 25 James Madison on Sunday.

—With their backs up against the proverbial wall, the Louisville defense stepped up in a major way on Saturday.

—NolesGameday previews the upcoming ACC men’s basketball season.

Louisville Cardinals

Last Season: 13-7 (8-5), 7th Place ACC Finish

Key Departures: David Johnson, Carlik Jones

Key Returners: Dre Davis, Malik Williams, Samuell Williamson, Jae’Lyn Withers

Key Arrivals: Matt Cross (Miami), Sydney Curry, El Ellis, Mason Faulker (Western Carolina), Michael James, Noah Locke (Florida), Jarrod West (Marshall), Roosevelt Wheeler

Double Opponents: North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia, Wake Forest

This team is… interesting, to say the least.

First thing that jumps off the page is sheer talent coming into the program. Ellis was the top JUCO prospect in the country, Faulkner was a 16+ PPG guy the last two seasons (scored 21 against FSU in 2019, he really knows how to get to the FT line), while Locke and West were 10+ PPG players in their previous stops. Cross is a great shooter on the wing, Wheeler is a highly touted big, and Sydney Curry was a top-10 JUCO signee. And if anyone knows how to get shooters open, it’s Chris Mack.

That’s a massive amount of incoming talent that is all very highly regarded. Losing David Johnson and Carlik Jones is tough, and looking at the roster, they really don’t have a true ball handler and distributor like those two could be. Against a stingy defense like Virginia that forces you to dribble through traffic, or against a team like Florida State that will be in your face for 94 feet and all 40 minutes, they may run into some issues. But against lesser teams, there is so much firepower on this team that it wouldn’t surprise me if you see the Cardinals score in the 90s on multiple occasions.

I would almost make them my favorite to win the conference if there wasn’t so much tension there this offseason. Reportedly, head coach Chris Mack threatened to pull scholarships after they missed the NCAA tournament last season, and Mack has been suspended without pay for 6 games by the university. If they start to lose a couple games they’re not supposed to, the KFC YUM! Center could turn into the KFC YIKES! Center fairly fast.

Season Prediction: Top-4 ACC Finish

—BC Heights recaps the loss to the Cards.

—The Louisville men’s soccer team beat NC State in overtime Friday night.

—And finally, we won’t know the kickoff time or the TV station for Louisville’s home game against Clemson until after this weekend’s games.