Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check (football): Louisville by 20.

—New CJ Louisville hoops beat reporter Brett Dawson focuses on U of L’s frontcourt rotation and its struggles on the glass through the season’s first three games.

—Tom Jurich is reportedly a candidate for the vacant athletic director job at Miami. News that I’m sure will be met with tame and rational thoughts from all Cardinal fans.

—The Louisville men’s soccer team will host Bowling Green in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday. Here’s a preview.

—It’s indescribably beautiful.

—The U of L men’s and women’s swim and dive teams are headed to the Purdue Invitational.

—Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney has five overreactions from college basketball’s opening weekend.

—Loyola-Chicago is making a move from the Missouri Valley to the Atlantic 10.

—Duke star Paolo Banchero’s weekend arrest earned him a zero game suspension from Mike Krzyzewski. Banchero started in last night’s win over Garnder-Webb.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said last weekend’s incident that left his grandson facing a DWI charge and one of his starting players facing a lessor related charge violated his program’s standards.

“We had a violation of our standards,” Krzyzewski said following Tuesday night’s game that saw his Blue Devils beat Gardner-Webb, 92-52. “We’ll handle that internally. We’re already handling it. It’s a violation of our standards and that’s it.”

—Cardinal Authority previews Louisville-Duke.

—Scott Satterfield makes an appearance on this Virginia Tech coaching hotboard.

—Be wary of taking shots at anyone else’s poor attendance these days, you may see it blow up in your face ... 24 hours later.

—It was almost us, but UConn will now forever be remembered as the school that conference realignment left behind.

—Here’s the U of L recap of the women’s basketball team’s 57-point drubbing of Bellarmine.

—Guy is good.

—Louisville Report’s Matt McGavic is rolling with 45-13 as his Louisville-Duke prediction.

—Kevin Erickson of USA Today likes the Cards by 30.

—Athlon also likes U of L by a healthy margin.

Final Analysis

These two teams are headed in opposite directions. Louisville is on the cusp of securing a bowl invite and will get a number of extra practices as a result. Duke has just two games left this season, and the end really can’t come any sooner.

The Cardinals have the overwhelming advantage at quarterback with Cunningham while the Blue Devils aren’t even sure who will be under center for them. Combine that with a Duke defense that ranks last in the ACC in scoring, total and passing defense and it could be a very long night for the home team.

With a tough matchup against Kentucky looming, expect Louisville to sew up bowl eligibility in convincing fashion.

Prediction: Louisville 41, Duke 20

—Jody Demling highlights the key matchup for Louisville-Duke.

—Last night in ACC hoops:

No. 7 Duke 92, Gardner-Webb 52
No. 15 Houston 67, Virginia 47
No. 18 North Carolina 94, Charleston 83
Miami 68, Florida Atlantic 66
Pittsburgh 59, UNC Wilmington 51
NC State 79, Central Connecticut 65
Notre Dame 70, High Point 61

—Louisville native Bryson Tiller is dropping a Christmas album that will feature Justin Bieber.

—Clemson has made the pregame decision to rush the field against Wake Forest, win or lose. Super weird.

—Louisville Report takes a closer look at new U of L football commit Taqfiq Thomas.

—ACC hoops tonight:

Boston College at Rhode Island (6 p.m./CBS Sports Network)
Charleston Southern at Wake Forest (7 p.m./ACCNx)
NC State at Oklahoma State (8 p.m./CBS Sports Network)
Tulane at Florida State (8 p.m./ACC Network)

—The CJ has three keys to a Cardinal victory over Duke.

—Filthy.

Mike Young has a squad.

—The 45-foot tall Christmas tree for Light up Louisville is in place and ready to go.

—Matt Cross appears to be emerging as Louisville’s x-factor.

—And finally, today’s Mike Rutherford Show will roll from 3-6 on 1450 The Big X. We’ll be giving away two tickets to Saturday’s Louisville men’s basketball game, and we’ll be joined by U of L men’s soccer coach John Michael Hayden at 4:45. You can stream the show here.