Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Virginia by 3.

—NET Rankings Update: No. 50 (no change).

—Here’s the AP write-up of Louisville getting the win over Wake despite an off afternoon from Dana Evans.

—The stakes will be high tomorrow inside the KFC Yum Center.

GAME OF THE WEEKEND

No. 21 Virginia at Louisville. The Cavaliers (16-6, 12-4) snapped a three-game slide with a 62-51 victory against Miami on Monday night and are second in the league standings behind Florida State. The Cardinals (13-5, 8-4) had their game against Virginia Tech scheduled for Wednesday night canceled because of contact tracing within the Hokies program. With a victory, Louisville would earn a double bye for the ACC Tournament as the No. 3 seed. If the Cardinals lose, Georgia Tech, Clemson and North Carolina would all have the opportunity to leap-frog the Cardinals in the standings with victories.

—Louisville Report likes Virginia over the Cards by a bucket tomorrow.

—Scott Satterfield is excited about the potential firepower in his backfield next season.

—Throw “it’s hard to beat a team three times in the season” into the ocean forever.

—The CJ has a detailed look at how Louisville football navigated COVID and what it learned going into year two of the pandemic.

—Former Louisville hoops star Charles Jones is back on the court as an assistant at Spalding University.

—The U of L men’s soccer team opened its spring season in style with a 3-0 road win over NC State Thursday night.

—Some postgame Duke notes that we never got to:

-The Cardinals are only the second team in the last 12 seasons to sweep Duke in the regular season. North Carolina also did it in 2018-19.

-The Cardinals are now 86-53 all-time in overtime contests and are 3-4 under head coach Chris Mack.

-The Cardinals own the best winning percentage against Duke head coach Mike Kryzyzewski at .600 (9-6).

—The 25th-ranked Louisville lacrosse team opens ACC play on Saturday at No. 8 Virginia. Here’s a preview.

—The U of L women’s soccer team opens spring play on Saturday at Dayton.

—The official Georgia Tech site previews this weekend’s baseball series against U of L.

—Friday Irrelevance:

—The largest KFC Yum Center home crowd of the season will see the Cards take on Virginia tomorrow.

—Louisville football has a new director of on-campus recruiting. She comes to U of L by way of Oklahoma.

—This detailed look at how Nate Oats’ forward thinking has Alabama in the midst of its best season in decades is a very good.

—A fresh episode of the Card Chronicle Podcast is here.

—And finally, beat Virginia (and beat whoever we play in the semis tomorrow).