Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check (basketball): Louisville by 9.

—Spread check (football): Louisville by 3.

—It’s a top 25 showdown in Sioux Falls today as the sixth-ranked Louisville women’s basketball team takes on No. 22 Arizona. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. and ESPNU will have the television coverage. Swish Appeal previews the contest here.

—WDRB serves up everything you need to know about Louisville-Syracuse and Lamar Jackson Day at Cardinal Stadium.

—The latest episode of the Card Chronicle Podcast is here.

—If you missed the news in the Lamar release from Wednesday, Saturday’s game is no longer a Blackout.

The game was previously designated as a “Blackout Game” in July to correspond with the team’s uniform selection. However, once the dates worked out to retire Jackson’s No. 8, fans are encouraged to wear anything to celebrate him and our military heroes for this special occasion.

Vince Tyra explains further here:

—Derek Cowherd, a former Louisville football player with nearly 20 years of experience in athletic administration, has been appointed as Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with Cardinal Athletics.

—CardinalStrong answers some questions about Saturday’s game for the folks over at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician.

—While the visitor list isn’t quite as large as it was a week ago, Louisville football is still set to host more than 50 recruits this weekend.

—U of L is going all out with the Lamar promotions for Saturday.

—Pig Beach BBQ is coming to the long-vacant site at Louisville’s Waterfront Park where Tumbleweed Doc’s Cantina used to reside.

—The Athletic’s college hoops power rankings have Duke at No. 1.

—The latest Hoop Vision newsletter notes that the Blue Devils were the only team in the country that didn’t score a single point via the spot up on opening night.

—Darius Perry kicked off his final college season by scoring a game-high 18 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists in UCF’s season-opening 69-59 win over Robert Morris Wednesday night.

He also did this:

Here’s hoping the former Card goes out with a bang this year.

—Matt McGavic of Louisville Report likes the Cards over Syracuse by a single point tomorrow.

—The latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast recaps the loss to Clemson and looks ahead to Saturday’s game against the Orange.

—This Hoop Vision video on Bellarmine’s offense is, like everything Jordan does, tremendous.

—It’s NCAA tournament game day for the sixth-ranked Louisville field hockey team, which takes on No. 11 Harvard at 2:30 p.m. in Ann Arbor. The winner likely gets No. 2 Michigan on Sunday, with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

—All five writers and 82 percent of the readers over at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician believe Syracuse is taking down Louisville tomorrow.

—Four-star class of 2022 forward Kamari Lands is choosing between Louisville, Memphis, Arizona State and going professional.

Louisville: ”I like that school a lot and they have a good coach. When I visited they said good things. I like their offense a lot because it fits what I want too.”

“I visited last week and it was good. They showed me their offense, their practice, campus, and how they go about things. They treated me well.”

— Iowa State safety commit D’Angelo Hutchinson will be making his second visit to U of L this weekend.

—Hailey Van Lith talks with the CJ about her preparation for what many expect to be a breakout sophomore season.

—College football leaders are now mulling an alternate 12-team playoff expansion model where the five power conference champions and one group of five champion receive automatic bids. Just get it done, guys.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—Louisville Report likes the Cards over the Paladins by 14 tonight.

—Dejmi Dumervil-Jean, who was a freshman on the 2018 Louisville football team, has passed away far, far too soon. Malik Cunninham reacted to the awful news here.

—The Nunes Magician staff gives us five things to watch for tomorrow at Cardinal Stadium.

Steve: Stay in their own headspace.

There’s a lot of pomp and circumstance around this one down in Kentucky. The Louisville faithful are honoring Lamar Jackson with his jersey retirement. The Orange, on the road, in a winnable, but not favored game need to play within themselves, and not let that get to them. It’s coach speak, but controlling the controllables is the name of this one. Stick within their bread and butter run game, stay confident and open the field up with some passes that are within the ability of Shrader to throw. Without Kei’Trel Clark, that should be a little easier, but not a slam dunk.

Andy: Don’t let Malik Cunningham Beat You Two Ways

In Cunningham’s last 5 games, 3 have seen him throw for over 200 yards. In the games where he’s been held to under that mark, he has rushed for over 130 yards. There’s almost no way to completely bottle him up, but in that five game stretch, the Cards are just 1-4. Forcing Louisville to be one dimensional is the best way to minimize the damage Cunningham can inflict, and Tony White has shown us he can do it before. (Hi Malik Willis!) The Orange defense is going to need to get stops in order to win this game, and the best way to do it is make Cunningham commit to one way of playing, and accept the small defeats for the larger victory.

—Troy Nunes is an Absolute Podcast previews the Louisville game in audio form here.

—Bryan Brown and Bryan Hudson talked with the media earlier this week. You can read what they had to say here.

—DePaul Day is coming ...

—U of L lacrosse has announced a 13-player recruiting class of 2022.

—I’m the guest on the latest episode of Jeff Greer’s podcast. We talk about Louisville’s season-opening win over Southern as my daughter and niece scream bloody murder upstairs. Enjoy.

—Just in case you wanted to start your weekend by feeling incredibly old ...

—Dan McDonnell and the Louisville baseball program have signed a top three recruiting class.

—U of L products Kelsi Worrell and Mallory Comerford have both been named to the list of the 100 greatest American swimmers and divers of the last century.

—TNIAAM has game day beer picks for Louisville-Syracuse.

—Greer reacts to Louisville’s sluggish season-opening win over Southern in his latest newsletter.

What’s not worrisome

(1) Louisville won’t regularly shoot 25% from 3-point range. I’ll discuss shot selection below, but in a given game, with the shooters on the roster, Louisville is likelier to make 10 of 28 (35.7%) than 7 of 28. It’s the first game of the season, plus several players appeared to be point-hunting at times.

(2) El Ellis’s layup selection in traffic will improve as the season progresses. He is adjusting to Division I basketball after two seasons at the junior college level, where he had a little more space and time to create off the dribble. At the highest level in college basketball, he is going to have to learn when he can navigate the crevices in traffic with longer, more athletic defenders and when he needs to pull back or pass off. That decision-making and feel comes with experience.

(3) Jae’Lyn Withers’s line of three points from two shots is a reflection of his learning process (and foul trouble). The redshirt sophomore has the talent to lead Louisville in scoring, but he he has to be more assertive to get there. Perhaps Tuesday will remind him of that. Louisville’s offense is very different when he is hitting shots, driving his defender and creating for himself and others. I’m confident he’ll be fine.

—It’s another huge night for the top-ranked and unbeaten Louisville volleyball team. The Cards will play host to No. 14 Georgia Tech tonight at 7. Here’s a preview.

—Syracuse will be rocking all white for tomorrow’s game.

—A big weekend for Lamar Jackson did not get off to a great start last night.

—We need Russ at every home from now through eternity.

—Arizona Desert Swarm previews the Wildcats’ women’s basketball game against Louisville.

—Rutger Sears from the Syracuse student newspaper likes the Orange over the Cards by a field goal on Saturday.

—Michael McCammon of Cardinal Authority previews Louisville-Syracuse.

—I need this shirt. Hit me up, Davises.

—An updated look at U of L’s bowl projections can be found here.

—All four of the sports writers for the Syracuse Post Standard believe ‘Cuse is taking down Louisville on Saturday.

—Malik Cunningham is standing between Syracuse and bowl eligibility.

—And finally, beat Harvard, Arizona, Furman and Syracuse.