Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Despite the struggles of some of the program’s spotlight sports, U of L still currently sits at No. 23 in the latest Director’s Cup standings.

—Dana Evans has been traded from the Dallas Wings to the Chicago Sky.

—Louisville’s men’s basketball game at Western Kentucky will take place on Dec. 18. This is part of the current contract between the two programs that sees U of L host two games, play one in Bowling Green, and play a neutral site game in Nashville.

—Jeff Greer’s latest Floyd Street Tribune newsletter focuses on a huge summer for Louisville basketball, which includes its work on the recruiting trail.

With Dre Davis’s brother, Tae, a 6-6 combo forward, already committed for next season, Louisville can primarily focus its remaining 2022 class efforts on guards and possibly bigs. Jarrod West is a graduate transfer with one season left. While Noah Locke has two seasons of eligibility thanks to the COVID-19 blanket waiver, he already played three years of college and may want to explore his future professional options after this coming campaign. Junior college transfer El Ellis, who arrives after two years at Tallahassee Community College, comes in with very high expectations. A breakout first year could seriously enhance Ellis’s pro prospects.

Because of all that, finding a Class of 2022 lead guard rises in importance, which is why Louisville has been so closely tied to two names in particular: Donald Hand and Rodney Rice.

Hand (6-5, 180) is a lengthy combo guard from Virginia Beach with interest from Louisville, Maryland, VCU, Virginia, Virginia Tech, UConn, NC State and several others. Hand’s dad, Donald Sr., played at Virginia. He has repeatedly mentioned over the past few months how hard Pegues is recruiting him.

Rice, a 6-4, 185-pound combo guard, stars at Pegues’s alma mater, DeMatha Catholic, just outside Washington, D.C. Louisville has recruited Rice for a long time. Former DeMatha coach Mike Jones joining Mike Young’s staff at Virginia Tech adds a serious wrinkle to Rice’s recruitment.

—Donovan Mitchell led the Utah Jazz past Memphis and into the second round of the NBA Playoffs.

—Several local football recruits took in-person visits to U of L today.

—Chris Jones is the latest member of Louisville’s TBT team.

—Wild story out of Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech freshman linebacker Isi Etute has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

—Shane Ryan has 15 immediate thoughts on Mike Krzyzewski’s retirement announcement.

—Speaking of ....

Unbelievable.

—College Baseball Newspaper has named Louisville catcher Henry Davis a Second Team All-American.

—Competitive gaming is blowing up at U of L.

—I will love Superbad forever.

—Louisville St. X DL Micah Carter (2023) will take an official visit to U of L.

—Louisville Report looks back at U of L’s 2016 football recruiting class.

—The city of Louisville continues to enjoy watching sports on television.

—Churchill Downs’ two-year suspension of Bob Baffert sends a clear message that Baffert isn’t bigger than the sport.

—Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford discuss Coach K’s biggest moments against Louisville and Kentucky on the latest WDRB Podcast.

—The love is real.

—Joey Votto made his Louisville Bats debut Wednesday night. The good guys won, 6-2.

—A new Muhammad Ali documentary is set to premiere this week.

—247 Sports looks at every ACC team’s most dangerous game in 2021.

LOUISVILLE

The game: at Florida State, September 25

Louisville can really get things rolling in a positive way this season, as it opens with games against Ole Miss, Eastern Kentucky and UCF. All of those games are winnable for the cardinals and then they open the month of October with a game against Wake Forest. But first, Louisville has to open up ACC play on the road against Florida State. Louisville could very well start out 5-0 when October is beginning, which would set it up for a very strong year. And in the shape that Florida State is in, the Cardinals need to steal this road win.

—South Carolina RB RJ Stokes will visit Louisville in June.

—Offseason hoops videos are back.

—Pro Football Focus ranks Jaire Alexander as the No. 1 cornerback in the NFL.

—And finally, cool story here on U of L women’s golfers Lauren Hartlage and Molly Lyne earning an exemption into an LPGA event next month.