Thursday evening Cardinal news snd notes

—Congrats to former Louisville baseball assistant (and Dan McDonnell’s BFF) Chris Lemonis on guiding Mississippi State to its first College World Series championship in program history. The Bulldogs toppled Vanderbilt 9-0 in a winner-take-all title game Wednesday night.

—Voting has opened for the second two LCPT quarterfinals. Mitch Barnhart vs. Selection Committees is here, while Dino Gaudio is routing Matthew Hurt here.

—The CJ’s Cameron Teague Robinson dives into how Olympic Sport athletes can benefit from the brave, new NIL world.

—Rivals’ preseason football series focuses on the Cardinal running backs.

—As opposed to some other athletic directors in this state, Vince Tyra certainly appeared fully prepared for July 1.

—Former U of L field hockey goalie Ayiesha McFerran is geared up to represent Ireland in the Olympics next month.

—247 Sports is keeping tabs on all the NIL deals happening across the country.

—Jeff Greer’s latest U of L hoops newsletter focuses heavily on Jarrod West’s proficiency in the pick-and-roll.

Let’s first toss out some numbers. As a senior at Marshall, the 5-11 guard was rated “very good” by Synergy Sports as a pick-and-roll ballhandler, a statistical category that focuses on when the ballhandler attempts to score. The Thundering Herd scored 40% of the time when West was handling in the PnR and totaled 109 points in 125 possessions. Even in games when West played off the ball alongside fellow guard Andrew Taylor, the Herd found ways to get West into PnR situations.

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In this case, West opts to use a teammate on the wing to initiate a transition PnR. His teammate slips the screen before any contact, and West perfectly reads the backside defenders and spacing and delivers the right pass for a quick, easy bucket. There are numerous examples of West lofting lead passes like this, either for alley-oops or easy layups, in pick-and-roll situations.

The bottom line, having a smart, veteran point guard who can pick passes and read coverages is a great asset for Louisville. Since West’s commitment, I’ve assumed he’ll be the sixth man who plays something like 15-20 minutes a game. That’s plenty of time to make an impact, and his understanding of the pick-and-roll, knack for scoring and exploring spaces and passing ability should help him do just that.

—BetOnline has Ole Miss as a 7-point favorite over Louisville for the Labor Day evening season-opener.

—Wild story here where ex-Florida State wide receiver Tamorrion Terry is among 11 people indicted in a 2018 Georgia nightclub killing.

—It’s important to remember that true to form, the NCAA had to be coerced into its current acceptance of NIL rules.

—Darius Perry will play one more season of college basketball.

—Kentucky guard Davion Mintz has announced that he’ll be returning to Lexington for one more season.

—Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi will serve as the Vice-Chair of the ACC’s Board of Directors for 2021-22. Duke President Vincent E. Price will serve as the Chair.

—Thankfully, missing Louisville writer and activist Quintez Brown was found safe on Thursday.

—A very happy retirement day to Dabo Swinney. He had a nice run.

—It’s actually just Dabo tears.

—Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn has entered the NCAA transfer portal and should be, assuming he eventually pulls out of the NAB draft, the most sought-after transfer on the market.

—Right behind Cockburn will be high-scoring Minnesota guard Marcus Carr, who announced Wednesday that he was pulling out of the draft but transferring to another school for his final year of college.

—Malik Williams talks about his plan to come back for a productive (and healthy) final season at U of L.

And as the senior returns for a fifth year, he’s rehabbing his left ankle and right foot, continuing to watch his teammates and wait to work on the court with them.

“It’s very emotional,” Williams said. “It could be long days, long nights, just thinking about how you put yourself in this situation. But at the end of the day, you just got to look back and you got to know that it’s a plan.”

His plan is to expect to be able to get on the court with the Cards by late August. But the most experienced Cardinal also learned a major lesson from his return last season.

“The number one thing is not coming back until I’m healthy, not coming back until I’m confident that I’m actually ready.” Williams said. “And just letting the game come to me. I feel like last season, when I got to play those three games, I was kind of rushed just due to not being used to the feel of the game.”

—Rick Bozich writes about Dave Ragone’s remarkable journey from offensive coordinator at KCD to the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.

—Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated shares his thoughts on Thursday’s NIL madness.

—New U of L OL commit Izaiah Reed “loves everything” about Louisville.

—Love it.

—The Louisville Bats have teamed up with Atrium Brewing for a new “Bat Boy” beer.

—Covering college sports was once “the scandal beat,” and then amateurism became the scandal.

—Louisville will take over the ACC Network on July 8.

—Give it all back.

I said it earlier on Twitter, but Louisville should absolutely put the 2013 banner back up today and announce that it’s an NFT, because there’s zero chance anyone at the NCAA understands what an NFT is and they’ve gotta be terrified of any sort of legal fight right now.

Put it up.

—According to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, Texas Tech director of recruiting Eron Hodges is leaving for Louisville where he’ll work as Scott Satterfield’s defensive quality control coach and recruiting coordinator.

—I can’t believe it’s been seven years.

—U of L has set up a website dedicated entirely to answering your NIL questions.

—New U of L QB commit Brock Domann talks to Cardinal Authority about his commitment in the latest Cards Cast podcast.

—And finally, Baseball America looks at how Henry Davis’ growth mindset helped him become one of the top prospects in the world for the 2021 MLB Draft.