Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—NET Rankings Update: No. 115 (down 2).

—The 2022 ACC football schedule will be announced next Monday. Expect to see Louisville taking on Syracuse to open the season.

—Louisville football signee Popeye Williams has made a monster jump in Rivals’ latest class of 2022 rankings, going from unranked to the overall No. 160 player in the class.

—Streaking the Lawn has four primary takeaways from Virginia’s latest win over Louisville.

—Got the rest of the country right where we want them.

Good god this is all so depressing.

—Here’s the U of L recap of Sunday’s women’s basketball victory over Wake Forest, one which featured a 32-0 Cardinal run.

—Jalen Mitchell regular season highlights are here.

—Congrats to Louisville volleyball’s Amaya Tillman on being one of the ACC’s scholar athletes of the year.

—Eamonn Brennan eviscerates Louisville in his latest bubble watch feature for The Athletic.

ACC

It was funny: Just after Virginia’s 64-52 win over Louisville Monday night, a game in which the Cavaliers never trailed, the postgame studio analysis focused almost entirely on what Virginia doesn’t do well this year, and what it needs to do to salvage its year before it’s too late. And none of it was wrong. All of it was valid. It was just hilarious to hear, considering Virginia had just won by 12.

That, in a nutshell, is how bad things have gotten at Louisville. Beating Chris Mack’s Cardinals at the moment is not only simply expected, but isn’t taken as any sign of tangible progress. You can handle Louisville by double digits, never trail in 40 minutes of basketball, and still be the subject of “how can they turn their year around” discussions when the pundits are asked for their thoughts. Notre Dame won at Louisville Saturday, after which Malik Williams was asked whether Louisville’s players were still responding to the coaching staff or whether they had tuned it out, to which Williams replied “I don’t have a comment for that.” Surprise: Notre Dame still isn’t on the page today. You don’t get credit for being Louisville. Louisville is a non-entity. Louisville might as well be Boston College. What a mess.

Should be in: Duke

Work to do: Wake Forest, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Miami

—The Louisville men’s track and field team is ranked 24^th in the first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Indoor Track and Field National Rating Index.

—Congrats to Bert Thin Films, a U of L research-backed startup that has secured $2 million in funding to further development of a technology meant to make solar power more accessible.

—Ohio State has released its initial NIL data, which shows that 220 Buckeye athletes have earned a combined $2.98 million on 608 NIL deals.

—Top U of L QB target Pierce Clarkson appears to be nearing a commitment.

The number of Louisville coaches who shared this message would seem to be a solid indicator that U of L feels good about its chances.

—Clarkson will be one of three 4-star prospects from California who will be in town for U of L visits this weekend.

—Just best friends hanging out on a Saturday night, swapping some stories.

Guy is the best.

—Louisville’s Emily Engstler is one of 15 players on the Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year award watch list.

—Lance Taylor said it had to be the right job and the right opportunity for him to walk away from Notre Dame, and he saw that job and opportunity with Louisville.

But again, to willingly leave Notre Dame, it had to be a near perfect opportunity for Taylor.

“For me, it had to be the right job, the right opportunity, for me to leave a special place like Notre Dame. I had a great job, love working for coach (Marcus) Freeman, loved the kids that we were coaching, and we felt like we could be really good next year. I was not just going to take just any job,” he said during his introductory press conference.

“I really wanted to do my homework, due diligence. Make sure that this was the right job, that the pieces were in place to support - from (interim AD) Josh (Heird), administration - was going to give us the opportunity and ability to show that we can win next year.”

Taylor had his conversation with Satterfield, during which he fully expressed his trust and belief in what Satterfield was doing, then sat down with Heird two days later. Taylor says he connected with Heird early on, and that they expressed very similar thoughts on how he could “help the offense” and “help coach Satt on a day-to-day basis.”

“I really felt comfortable after talking to Josh that there was alignment there, and that we would be supported in what we’re trying to do - to go win football games,” Taylor said.

—This year’s bracket projections continue to remain unkind to the ACC.

—Four-star WR Derec English from Arizona has been offered by U of L.

—Four Cardinal football players have made the ACC’s All-Academic team.

—Missed this on Sunday, but it’s very cool.

—Mater Dei (Calif.) tight end Spencer Shannon has received a Louisville offer.

—The From the Pink Seats podcast hands out its “Freakie Awards” for the 2021 Louisville football season.

—David Teel covers Virginia’s latest win over Louisville for the Richmond-Times Dispatch.

Midway through the second half Monday night, the anxiety inside John Paul Jones Arena was palpable. Virginia had led Louisville by 19 points during the first half, but now the margin was a mere four, and the Cardinals had started to solve the Cavaliers’ defense.

Squander this ACC game, at home no less, and there’s no telling where UVA’s season might have headed.

But here’s when the Cavaliers looked more like the team fans have been privileged to see the past eight-plus seasons. Here’s when sophomores Kadin Shedrick and Reece Beekman truly asserted themselves.

First, Shedrick walled off Jae’Lyn Withers on a baseline drive, forcing a wild pass that Beekman swiped. Moments later, Beekman assisted on Shedrick’s inside bucket over 6-foot-11 Malik Williams, Louisville’s best defender.

Jarrod West then missed a contested drive, followed by Jayden Gardner’s 15-foot jumper, also off a Beekman assist. Down eight, the Cardinals again fed Williams in the post, where Shedrick blocked his shot.

Virginia was back in control, en route to a 64-52 victory.

“That just felt like a drill we do in practice, our four-on-five drill,” Shedrick said. “I saw a guy coming baseline, so I had to step over and help. I think I do pretty well blocking shots, but you can’t block every time, so I just walled up. ... Those are the types of plays that help us win games.”

—Congrats to U of L commit Kaleb Glenn on surpassing the 1,000-point mark for his high school career. Glenn and the Male Bulldogs have a huge showdown against Ballard Friday night.

—Louisville Report says that Chris Mack’s Cards are running out of opportunities to save their season.

—A Philly renaissance painting.

—Duke Basketball Report takes a look around the ACC, where Wake Forest is rolling and Louisville ... is not.

—After last night’s loss to Virginia, Chris Mack addressed Malik Williams’ much-discussed “no comment” answer from Saturday.

—U of L commit Tae Davis dropped 44 points on Friday.

—ESPN’s Anthony Treash says Louisville’s Caleb Chandler was the “biggest surprise” at offensive guard in college football this season.

Biggest surprise: Caleb Chandler, Louisville

Chandler played near-flawless football in the second half of the season. From Week 6 on, he earned 90-plus pass- and run-blocking grades — something no other Power 5 guard accomplished. He allowed only three pressures and earned a 92.6 overall mark in that span. That level of play was unimaginable for the fifth-year guard who posted PFF grades of 58.1, 64.4 and 75.1 in his three years on the field prior to 2021.

—One Foot Down highlights three things they learned from Notre Dame’s win over Louisville on Saturday.

—Tonight in the ACC:

Clemson at No. 9 Duke (7 p.m./ESPN2)
Syracuse at Pittsburgh (8 p.m./ACC Network)

—Bustin Brackets has Louisville at No. 8 in its ACC hoops power rankings.

—And finally, Covid has finally caught up to the Rutherford family. Everyone is doing fine, but it means I’ll be doing today’s Mike Rutherford Show from CC Headquarters, which will likely wind up being a disaster. You can stream the carnage here.