Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—D1Baseball.com has Louisville as the final team left out of the NCAA tournament.

—Baseball America has the Cards as the second-to-last team IN the field.

—MLB.com’s latest mock draft has Louisville catcher Henry Davis going 4th overall to the Red Sox.

4. Red Sox: Henry Davis, C, LouisvilleThe Red Sox feel like the absolute floor for Leiter, who probably won’t get to them. Davis is the best college position player available, the high school shortstops also would be attractive and there are rumblings Boston could cut a deal with a lesser college bat to save money to spend big later.

—James Burgess has signed a 1-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers.

—The U of L men’s golf team is geared up for round one of the NCAA Championships.

—Some David Johnson draft tape:

—State of Louisville looks at how the transfer portal could play a huge role in U of L’s 2021 football season.

—Bulking up has been the name of the offseason game thus far for JJ Traynor.

—Jeff Greer’s latest Floyd Street Tribune newsletter features interviews with two of Ross McMains’ former players what makes the new U of L assistant so effective.

Zico Coronel: “You begin with the studiousness. He’s very dedicated to studying, a lot of focus on identifying subtle aspects of technical and tactical skills, offensively and defensively. (He has) the ability to conceptualize those things and make them teachable. That’s a big part of what we’ve done with Efficient Sauce: Always seeking out the best term we can find for explaining something and making it relatable to players. Use modern language. One phrase that Ross coined that has become really en vogue in coaching is “dominoes” — when an advantage is triggered and the dominoes start falling and you generate the quality of look you’re aiming for. It won’t be the same for every coach and team, but you want to meet the threshold for those dominoes until you get a good shot.”

On McMains as a player developer

Dillon Stith: “In that delivery and knowing how he’s giving that energy, you know that he’s 100% present with you. He broke it down pretty simple. He comes from working with and helping create players who can score on anybody. That’s not to belittle the game, but that’s something he hammered home, that simplicity. There are times when things break down and your responsibility is creating for your teammates or yourself. A lot of players make a living off catch-and-shoot or one or two moves, and that’s fine. But he preaches, ‘Why are you not learning how to create for yourself?’

“(He works with players on) creating space and attacking space with NBA-level moves, whether that separation is lateral or a retreat from the defender (such as stepbacks). It’s a read-and-react teaching. He gets you low into that stance. He’s out there with you, too. … He’s already so passionate in every moment with that player. To imagine adding the growth and relationship element (of college coaching), there’s a lot of potential there.”

—The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel plays state of the program with Louisville’s week one opponent, Ole Miss.

—Louisville’s Aliyah Welter qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a personal-best mark in the pole vault at NCAA Outdoor East Preliminaries on Thursday.

—Jack Harlow on Hot Ones is wonderful.

Every generation of Louisville kid is defined by the Cardinal basketball star of their formative years.

“Yeah, you’re a few years younger than me so I figured you were a Franny kid. I was a Wheat kid.”

The second Harlow got asked about his favorite Card I was like, “he’s a T-Will kid.”

—Dan McDonnell was upset after Thursday’s crushing loss to Georgia Tech, but not as upset as his players.

“They are devastated,” UofL head coach Dan McDonnell said, later adding that “they know how talented they are. They know how bad they want it. They know that there are plays here and there that they are going to sleep with. They’re hurting. They’re really hurting. I feel for them.”.

It was a game of missed opportunities and miscues. After the game, while visiting with his players, McDonnell put the blame for the loss on his shoulders.

“I apologized to them in the outfield because I feel responsible,” McDonnell said. “A lot of calls that I made, a lot decisions didn’t work out. It seemed like I couldn’t make a good decision.”

Seeking to make the big play, McDonnell tried many things. Among the notable choices was the two squeeze attempts.

“That’s why I blame myself,” McDonnell said. “That’s what I told the team in the outfield. Anything that we tried, they didn’t seem to work. We tried a couple squeezes – nothing seemed to work. It’s very frustrating. I’m trying to help these kids. They’re really good kids. They want it so bad. Probably wanted it a little too much, which sometimes backfires a little bit in this game. I challenged them to stick together and told them I love them.”

Here’s hoping they get a shot to play at least two more games.

—Baseball America looks at U of L’s bubble status.

—U of L women’s soccer assistant Andy Stoots has left to accept a job as the associate head coach for the Missouri women’s soccer team.

—Louisville’s TBT team will be called “3-Time Champs.”

Couldn’t love it more.

—Louisville Report takes a closer look at the baseball team’s NCAA tournament resume.

—The WWE is returning to Louisville on July 25.

—David Hale likes Louisville to bounce back from a disappointing 2020 and win eight or more games this fall.

—A former garbage dump in Louisville is being transformed into a Japanese garden by one of the world’s top designers.

—Memphis football commit Sutton Smith (2022) has been offered by Louisville and could take an official visit to U of L.

—Local hero.

—Happy National Hamburger Day. Celebrate with at least eight of them. Or none. Whatever. It’s a long weekend, do whatever makes you happy.

—The UConn women’s basketball team’s first major test of 2021-22 figures to come from Jeff Walz’s Cardinals.

—And finally, Louisville football’s summer enrollees are set to join the program this weekend.