Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—U of L volleyball’s Dani Busboon-Kelly has been named the ACC Coach of the Year. And for a second straight season, Tori Dilfer has been named the ACC Setter of the Year.

—In all, seven volleyball Cards earned All-ACC honors.

—After its Bahamas championship, the Louisville men’s basketball team received a couple of votes in this week’s AP top 25 poll. U of L’s Wednesday opponent, Michigan State, appears at No. 22 in the poll.

—The U of L women’s basketball team wrapped up its West Coast road trip with a 71-56 win at Colorado State on Sunday. The Cards will play their first of four straight home games when they host Michigan in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge on Thursday.

Jeff Walz’s team stayed at No. 10 in this week’s AP top 25 poll.

—Island boys.

—Malik Cunningham was selected as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week for last week.

—Financial figures show the NCAA made a $9 billion mistake in 2016 when it extended its men’s tourney TV deal through 2032 rather than waiting to take it to the open market.

At least they’re killing it with everything else though.

—The Athletic took a poll of college basketball head coaches, assistants and agents to determine what the best head coaching job in the sport is. Louisville checked in at No. 12.

12. Louisville

Total points: 4

Total votes: 4

Here’s another program with a championship history that’s both storied and recent. Louisville won NCAA championships with Denny Crum in 1980 and ’86, and with Rick Pitino in 2013. (The NCAA later vacated the ’13 title, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.) The Cardinals have been to 10 Final Fours, starting with Peck Hickman in 1959.

Louisville brings the passion of Kentucky fans without a lot of the headaches. It was recently named the third-largest city in America that doesn’t have a pro sports team. It has all the benefits of being in a city, but it’s the only show in town. Football is good at Louisville, so it helps fill the athletic department’s coffers, but it will never overtake hoops in the hearts, minds and, most important, pockets of the local citizenry. “Great location, history, fan base, financial commitment, facilities, recruiting history,” one voter who included Louisville on his ballot said.

This program will have to be strong as it weathers the storm from the most recent NCAA infractions case, which led to Pitino’s ouster in 2017. The school self-imposed a postseason ban in 2016, but there still is no final resolution, and it’s possible that when it comes the Cardinals will get another postseason ban. That will make things difficult on Chris Mack, but like Arizona, Louisville is one of the few programs in the country that can come back from that kind of setback.

—The Athletic interviewed college basketball coaches about the referees they most and least like to see for big games.

—If you’d like to save some money on tickets to upcoming U of L men’s basketball games, check out this Cyber Monday deal.

—Highly talented Georgia Tech RB Jahmyr Gibbs has entered the transfer portal.

—Wild stat in the wake of last night’s Ravens win over the Browns where Lamar Jackson threw four interceptions.

—The David Cutcliffe era at Duke has officially come to an end.

—Brett McMurphy’s latest bowl projections have Louisville facing Utah State in the First Responders Bowl.

—Tampa, Birmingham or Dallas seem like the most likely potential landing spots for the Cards.

—The Chris Mack Radio Show returns tonight at the Roosters on Springhurst blvd.

—UK defensive standout and former Moore High School star JJ Weaver said after Saturday’s game that he ultimately committed to Kentucky because he didn’t feel like Scott Satterfield wanted him at Louisville.

—The Lexington Herald Leader reviews Saturday’s Battle for the Governor’s Cup.

—Baha Bullies forever.

“I thought we did a great job of embracing what our identity needs to be going forward, which is to have a defensive mindset, to be men on the glass, to be bullies on the glass,” Pegues said. “The guys embraced it and they fell in love with defending and keeping the ball out of the glass.”

Louisville left the KFC Yum Center after three games only outrebounding the first four opponents 39-37 and getting outrebounded by both Furman and Navy. But the Cardinals had a team meeting on Monday, while Pegues and the staff drilled home the need for the Cardinals to be more aggressive on the boards.

And it paid off with a championship.

“That was our goal going into the game to be the Baha Bullies and I felt like we did a good job of being that,” U of L captain Malik Williams said. “We did it on the defensive end and the rebounding margin is incredible.

“We weren’t perfect, we were nowhere near perfect. But I think how we responded is going to be who we are going to be the rest of the season.”

—Bobby Petrino is reportedly a candidate for the open head coaching position at Akron.

—The CJ has a guide to the eight best holiday shopping events in Louisville this month.

—Here’s the AP write-up on Louisville’s Sunday win over Colorado State.

—Very, very cool move by Scott Satterfield and company.

—U of L QB commit Khalib Johnson has led his high school team to the Alabama state finals.

—Duke Basketball Report wraps up another rough hoops weekend for pretty much every team in the ACC outside of the Blue Devils and Cardinals.

—Chris Mack is officially back.

—Jack Harlow doesn’t mess around when it comes to the rivalry.

—Kentucky shouldn’t want to stop playing Louisville in football.

—ACC hoops tonight:

Iowa at Virginia (ACC-Big 10 Challenge) (7 p.m./ESPN2)
South Florida at Boston College (7 p.m./ACC Network)
Notre Dame at Illinois (ACC-Big 10 Challenge) (9 p.m./ESPN2)

—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show is back on 1450 The Big X this afternoon from 3-6 breaking down all the good and the bad from a very good and very bad weekend of Cardinal athletics. You can stream the show here.