Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—NET Rankings Update: No. 47 (down one).

—A very happy 84th birthday to the one and only Denzel Crum.

—It’s only appropriate that the groundbreaking on the new Denny Crum Hall took place this morning.

—Here’s the GoCards.com recap of the U of L women’s team’s Sunday win over Notre Dame that locked up the program’s fourth straight ACC regular season title.

—Highlights from the win:

—State of Louisville recaps the win over the Irish.

—Louisville is an 8-seed in the latest Bracketology from Jerry Palm of CBS.

—The latest bubble watch from Lukas Harkins over at Heat Check CBB has U of L still in the “some perspiration” category.

Atlantic Coast

Lead pipe lock: Florida State, Virginia, Clemson

Firmly in the field: Virginia Tech

Some perspiration: North Carolina, Louisville

Double the deodorant: Georgia Tech, Duke, Syracuse

...

Louisville Cardinals

NET: 46, Resume: 23.5, Quality: 40.7

Q1: 1-4 | Q2: 7-0 | Q3: 3-1 | Q4: 2-0

Louisville’s lack of high-quality wins has them in my “some perspiration” category. Also, getting absolutely manhandled by North Carolina far from helped their case. The 13-5 record is impressive but the NCAA Tournament selection committee showed in the Bracket Preview that they are prioritizing quality wins. That hurts the Cardinals as they hold just one Q1 win, picked up just this past weekend at Duke.

Their two remaining scheduled games both come against teams either set to reach the NCAA Tournament or on the bubble. The aforementioned road win over Duke from this past weekend was a great place to start but they need to win at least one more game in order to feel “firmly in the field.” A great record overall and wins in Q2 are making up for mid-major level Q1 quantity.

—Pro Insight looks at how playing alongside “another” point guard this season should help David Johnson at the next level.

—Matt McGavic of Louisville Report previews U of L baseball’s Tuesday game against Morehead State and its ACC-opening weekend series against Georgia Tech.

—You never get tired of hoisting trophies, no matter how many times you’ve done it.

Another one to grab coming up this weekend.

—Despite dropping one of three to Western Illinois over the weekend, the Louisville baseball team rose to No. 1 in the Perfect Game rankings.

—Dan McDonnell’s squad is back in action today against Morehead State. Here’s a preview.

—I remain blown away that Josh Pastner is a real person who actually exists.

—Surprisingly, the Louisville women’s basketball team was a 3-seed in Sunday night’s bracket reveal from the tournament selection committee. Some nice motivation for Jeff Walz and company going into this week’s ACC tournament.

—Jeff Greer breaks down Louisville’s NCAA tournament situation post-Duke victory.

What Louisville fans should root for

Winning is obviously priority No. 1. Beat Virginia and Virginia Tech and vastly improve the seeding outlook. Two wins this week and a potential win over Clemson in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals would have Louisville in serious competition for something like a No. 5, 6 or 7 seed, I would think. (Seeding is never done in a vacuum, so Louisville would also need other teams currently in that territory to struggle to allow the Cards to climb.)

Otherwise, Louisville fans need to root for everyone their team has played to keep winning and improving their NET rating.

What Louisville fans should root against

Again, definitely losing games, though losing two Quadrant 1 matchups this week and even an ACC Tournament game against a team like Clemson likely wouldn’t change Louisville’s trajectory as an NCAA Tournament at-large team. Those results would mostly just hurt Louisville’s seeding. A three-game losing streak in that scenario would probably get Louisville something like a 10 or 11 seed.

Also, Louisville fans don’t want similar teams to play great. That list, based on NET ratings, includes teams like Connecticut, Missouri, Oregon and Xavier, among others. Boo them. Boo those teams.

—Shockingly, Dan Dakich stuck his foot in his mouth again. I’m sure we’ll be having this conversation for the 30th time six months from now.

—Here’s an NWSL preseason preview ahead of Racing Louisville FC’s first season in the league.

—Carlik Jones’ heroic effort at Cameron Indoor was one of the best ACC performances of the week.

—The new Louisville-themed Adidas Supernova shoes are out.

—Sterling Warner-Savage earned a bronze medal in the 60m to lead Louisville on the final day of the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday. The women finished in seventh while the men placed eight in the final standings.

—Racing Louisville FC’s first franchise exhibition match was a 4-0 win over the U of L women’s soccer team.

—The height of pre-pandemic innocence. Happy anniversary, Snacks.

—The 25th-ranked Louisville lacrosse team rolled over Cincinnati on Monday.

—The Louisville volleyball team remains at No. 13 in this week’s coaches poll.

—The 2021 NIT will feature 16 teams and will be held entirely in Dallas.

—Couldn’t go 48,000 to get those First Four games in? Lazy.

—U of L men’s golf All-American Matthias Schmid is in the field for this week’s PGA Tour event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

—Dana Evans is a Naismith Trophy semifinalist.

—Andy Katz’s latest bracket projection has Louisville as a 10-seed facing UCLA in the first round.

—Heading into ACC women’s basketball tournament week, there is at least some doubt (Athletic link) about the overall strength of the conference.

Will we learn more about the ACC during conference tournament week?

The ACC is the only conference in the country that has had two No. 1 teams this season. That’s no small feat, but I’m still not sold on the ACC. Of those non-conference matchups that we missed out on this season, a few of them involved key ACC teams.

Don’t get me wrong: I do think NC State and Louisville are very good teams. But I don’t believe they’re Final Four teams quite yet. I don’t think they’ve been as battle-tested as their counterparts in the SEC or the Pac-12, and I’m not convinced their offenses are potent enough to stand up to the defensive prowess of certain Pac-12 teams or explosive enough to outscore certain SEC teams.

We won’t get to see those matchups for a few more weeks. Right now, I just want to see some quality games out of the ACC. Syracuse, Florida State, Notre Dame and North Carolina have each had their moments of late. I’m not certain that the best of the best in the ACC could outlast a surge from one of these upstart teams, but if they want to prove themselves as a team worthy of a No. 1 seed, then they must.

My pick for the ACC championship: No. 2 NC State over No. 1 Louisville

—Louisville football makes the top 14 for class of 2022 athlete Jake Pope out of Georgia.

—Louisville has offered three-star class of 2022 OT Sullivan Weidman from Massachusetts.

—Here’s how the floors will look at the four sites for this year’s NCAA tournament:

—Florida State and Leonard Hamilton have agreed to a five-year contract extension.

—It’s a little bit different and a little bit later this year, but the Boys LIT is underway.

—As we near the midway point of the NBA season, here’s a look at how the former Cards in the league are faring.

—The U of L men’s swimming and diving team captured their first ACC championship over the weekend, and celebrated exactly how you should celebrate such an accomplishment.

—It was a pretty solid weekend overall to be a U of L fan.

—The Athletic’s Dana O’Neil has a lengthy piece detailing everything that’s going into making the 2021 NCAA tournament happen.

—Former Louisville DB Marqui Lowery is transferring to Michigan State.

—Chris Mack is the guest on the latest episode of John Fanta’s podcast.

—Louisville makes the top 13 for local talent Kiyaunta Goodwin.

—The first openly Black major leaguer was not Jackie Robinson. It was Moses Fleetwood Walker, and he made his major league baseball debut in Louisville in 1884.

—We had a legitimate jockey fight over the weekend that saw Irad Ortiz land a pretty square punch.

—Love him.

—The U of L softball team dropped to 3-6 with a 2-0 loss to No. 5 Florida on Sunday.

—It’s a big week for Louisville versus the state of Virginia.

—The Arizona Cardinals remain very interested in Javian Hawkins.

—Fresh Kimble drilled a game-winner on Sunday.

—Marshon Ford and tight ends coach Stu Holt talked with media after Monday’s spring practice.

—The latest episode of the Cardinal Authority Podcast is here.

—Cardinal Sports Zone also has a new episode of its pod.

—Sam earned this video:

—Swimming World Magazine recaps Louisville’s ACC title.

—A national bull riding event is returning to Louisville. Jeff Greer will be a participant.

—Techsideline.com previews tomorrow night’s game in Blacksburg.

—And finally, tonight’s ACC action:

Wake Forest at Pittsburgh (6 p.m./ACC Network)
Duke at Georgia Tech (8 p.m./ACC Network)