Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check (football): Louisville by 3.

—Louisville is No. 5 in Sports Illustrated’s preseason top 25 for women’s basketball.

—The NCAA has set the stage for a dramatic restructuring that would give its three divisions the power to govern themselves. That includes the autonomy to reshape everything from how revenue is shared to rules enforcement.

Put the banner back up.

—Top of the world, baby.

—Malik Cunningham’s tightrope walk was one of the five best offensive plays (video) of the weekend that was in the ACC.

—The college hoops crew over at CBS makes their Final Four and national title picks for the upcoming season.

—Sports Illustrated’s preseason bracket projection has Louisville facing Richmond in the First Four.

—Tony’s hurting just like us.

— Louisville women’s soccer freshman midfielder Nina Nicosia has been named to the 2021 ACC All-Freshman Team.

—Three U of L men’s soccer players have earned All-ACC honors.

—Hailey Van Lith is No. 18 on ESPN’s preseason countdown of the 25 best players in women’s college basketball.

—Reece Gaines has officially joined the Louisville men’s basketball staff as Director of Player Development and Alumni Relations.

“We are excited to add Reece Gaines in a capacity that helps our student athletes”,” said UofL Head Coach Chris Mack. ”Reece’s experience as a UofL athlete, a professional athlete and a college coach will give him a terrific perspective to share with our players. His time as a former Cardinal will help us continue building a strong connection with former players who built this national program. We are thrilled to welcome back Reece.”

For the last two seasons, Gaines has served as an assistant coach with the Austin Spurs (2019-21), the G League team of the San Antonio Spurs. He was an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky University (2015-19), including time as acting head coach. He started in coaching as an assistant at Bellarmine (2012-15), when the Knights reached three NCAA Division II tournaments, including a Sweet 16 and Final Four appearance.

—The Louisville men’s soccer team fell to Notre Dame in a shootout in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. The Cards will find out their NCAA tournament fate on Monday.

—If you’d like to send a video message to Lamar Jackson ahead of this weekend’s number retirement ceremony, you can do so by going here.

—The CJ has three keys to victory for Louisville against Syracuse on Saturday.

—BetOnline has Louisville as the fourth choice to win the ACC in men’s basketball.

—U of L has announced its home game themes for the upcoming men’s basketball season.

—No Louisville men’s players make the preseason watch list for the Naismith Trophy.

—Tight end C.J. Jacobsen, the No. 1 rated player from the state of Idaho, felt very wanted during his weekend visit to U of L.

—Four ACC quarterbacks, including Malik Cunningham, are dominating the national statistics.

—Jack Harlow was throwing L’s and supporting Donovan Mitchell at the Utah Jazz game Tuesday night.

—Maybe Emoni really is the next LeBron.

—Brett McMurphy’s latest bowl projections have Louisville facing SMU in the Fenway Bowl.

—While Western Kentucky is still hoping to make a move to the MAC, Middle Tennessee is sticking with Conference USA. Seems shortsighted, but you do you, Blue Raiders.

—Hailey Van Lith has been named to the Naismith Trophy women’s watch list.

—Thank goodness this state is swimming in excess cash and can afford to be one of the last states in the country to legalize.

—Bryan Brown got at least one vote in this story on assistant coaches who are close to earning head coaching jobs. That’s ... interesting.

— Harry Douglas has been named to the 2021 class of ACC Football Legends, the league announced earlier this week.

—Jeff Nunn over at Cardinal Sports Zone writes about Scott Satterfield’s missed golden opportunity against Clemson.

—Shot of opening night:

—Louisville transfers on opening night:

Josh Nickelberry (La Salle): 22 points (6-of-11 from three), 7 rebounds

Quinn Slazinski (Iona): 7 points, 3 rebounds

Aidan Igiehon (Grand Canyon): 6 points, 5 rebounds

Nickelberry and Slazinski both started. Iona and Grand Canyon both won, while La Salle fell to Sacred Heart in overtime.

Additionally, former commit Bobby Pettiford played 11 minutes in Kansas’ win over Michigan State. He finished with five points, 2 assists and no turnovers. Bill Self believes Pettiford will be the Jayhawks’ “next really good guard.”

—Get this young man to the Derby City next season.

—Via Kelly Dickey, these first six games for the Louisville men’s basketball team will go on Mike Pegues’ record, not Chris Mack’s. Pegues is now the 23rd U of L coach officially credited with wins and losses.

—Frederick Douglass HS QB Samuel Cornett has committed to U of L as a preferred walk-on.

—Opening night in the ACC:

No. 9 Duke 79, No. 10 Kentucky 71
No. 19 North Carolina 83, Loyola (MD) 67
Navy 66, No. 25 Virginia 58
Syracuse 97, Lafayette 63
The Citadel 78, Pittsburgh 63
Clemson 64, Presbyterian 53
Miami (OH) 72, Georgia Tech 69
Miami 77, Canisius 67
NC State 88, Bucknell 70
Virginia Tech 82, Maine 47
Boston College 73, Dartmouth 57

—The latest podcast from the crew over at Cardinal Sports Zone is here.

—Tim Sullivan touches on the sloppiness of U of L’s opening night win.

—Dino Babers has high praise for Malik Cunningham.

—Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician begins previewing Saturday’s game at Louisville.

—The U of L women’s soccer program signed 10 players from its recruiting class of 2022.

—Andy Katz has Louisville as an 8-seed in his preseason bracket projection.

—Five-star class of 2023 guard Jared McCain says Louisville remains one of the programs he’s most interested in.

Who would you say is heavily involved in your recruitment?

“Houston, Louisville, Duke, Texas Tech, USC, UCLA, Kansas, Gonzaga are the ones that hit me the most I would say.”

Who are the newest schools?

“Duke and UCLA.”

Discuss your Duke offer, your thoughts, and their pitch?

“They were super cool, and I loved how three of the coaches got involved with me. Coach Scheyer FaceTimed me and he was just telling me about Duke and how he feels it would fit perfectly for me. He was saying how he’s going to be upfront and honest with me about everything and he wants me to do the same with him, which was great because that’s what I want in a coach. But they all were just excited about me and talked about me and Caleb Foster being the backcourt for the 2023 class.”

How about UCLA?

“UCLA is just saying we want to get you out on a visit. And talking about how staying in LA can benefit me and talk about their team and how they run things. Which is super cool.”

Staying in heavy contact with Houston and Louisville?

“Yes, I loved both visits. The way the fans are in Louisville and the success of Houston these past years and for both, the style of play matches me very well so that makes the very intriguing.”

—In the past decade, FBS schools spent a more than half a BILLION dollars paying football and basketball coaches they’ve fired.

—Racing Louisville FC’s Elimy Fox is a finalist for NWSL rookie of the year.

—Selah Brown is already recruiting for the Cards.

—Full highlights from the Southern win can be found here.

—The first Jeff Walz Radio Show of the season is going down tonight at the Parlour downtown.

—Mike Pegues says his first game as acting head coach was a roller coaster.

—ACC hoops tonight:

William & Mary at Wake Forest (7 p.m./ACCNx)
Pennsylvania at No. 20 Florida State (9 p.m./ACC Network)

—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show is back this afternoon from 3-6 on 1450 The Big X. We’ll be reacting to last night’s game and taking your thoughts all show long. Syracuse play-by-play man Matt Park will join at 4:30, and new Courier Journal U of L hoops beat writer Brett Dawson will hop on at 5:05. You can stream the show here.