Monday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: North Carolina by 9.5.

—Here’s the U of L recap of the women’s basketball team’s Senior Day triumph over Virginia Tech on Sunday.

—Highlights of the win are here.

—Because of potential bad weather on Tuesday, the Louisville baseball team’s home opener against Xavier has been moved to today at 5:30. The Cards got their 2022 season off to a bit of a rough start with a 1-2 performance in Tampa over the weekend.

—If you missed any of the madness in Madison yesterday ...

—Howard is likely facing a lengthy suspension, and there are already calls for him to lose his job.

—Matt Norlander of CBS says that Howard is only partly to blame for the ugly scene.

—Non-Louisville ACC action from the weekend:

No. 9 Duke 88, Florida State 70
Syracuse 76, Boston College 56
Wake Forest 79, Notre Dame 74
North Carolina 65, Virginia Tech 57
Virginia 74, Miami 71
Georgia Tech 68, Pittsburgh 62

—Good story here from WHAS on how two black women laid the foundation for the U of L women’s basketball program.

—Pat Forde writes that the College Football Playoff could have fixed itself. Instead, the children who run the sport need to be bailed out yet again.

—This would seem to be a good sign.

—Charlie Strong is joining Mario Cristobal’s staff at Miami as the new linebackers coach for the Hurricanes.

—A bad week for Georgia basketball somehow got worse Saturday afternoon when a live Zoom feed caught Tom Crean (among other things) blaming a GA for a recent news leak and criticizing one of his players.

—Paul Petrino is expected to be named the new offensive coordinator at Central Michigan.

—Good news here. Hopefully we’ll see Norika back in uniform before the end of this season.

—Brian Rauf of Heat Check CBB says Wake Forest’s Alondes Williams deserves to be the ACC Player of the Year.

—The Louisville men’s golf team sits in sixth place after the first round of the Watersound Invitational.

—The U of L lacrosse squad is among the nation’s top five for team GPA.

—This is outrageous.

—Louisville Report previews week two of the 2022 season for the Cardinal baseball team.

—The Athletic’s Brendan Marks writes about Saturday’s final (semi) normal Cameron Indoor game day of the Coach K era.

—Joe Summers of BetSided says expect North Carolina to roll tonight.

My name is Joe. Some of my favorite hobbies include golfing, going to concerts and fading the ever-loving daylight out of the Louisville Cardinals.

The Cardinals are just 3-11-2 against the spread (ATS) in their last 16 and 1-5-1 ATS in their last seven road games. They have the 281st-best 3-point shooting percentage and 300th-highest free throw rate in the country, so if they aren’t scoring inside they aren’t scoring at all.

They kept their first matchup with North Carolina close due to a bafflingly-poor performance from Caleb Love and unless the Monstars steal his powers again, I don’t see how the Cardinals can hang with the Tar Heels at home.

North Carolina has the 26th-best adjusted offensive efficiency, per Bart Torvik, and are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home contests. They know how bad a home loss to Louisville would look for their post-season hopes so I expect a focused Tar Heels squad in this one.

This is one of my favorite bets of the day and I love the Tar Heels to send the Cardinals to 8-18-1 ATS on the year.

Pick: North Carolina -9.5 (-110)

—The CJ looks at Louisville’s running back group heading into spring practice.

—Donovan Mitchell missed Sunday’s NBA All-Star game because of an upper respiratory illness.

—The top-ranked receiver and No. 9 overall player in the 2023 class is going to be taking a visit to Louisville.

—Matt McGavic likes North Carolina over Louisville by 11 tonight.

—Non-Louisville ACC action this evening:

Georgia Tech at Syracuse (7 p.m./RSN)
Florida State at Boston College (7 p.m./ACC Network)

—A strong finish to his Cardinal career means “everything” to Malik Williams.

—Here’s your future Cardinal signal caller letting it rip:

—State of Louisville’s Presley Meyer writes that Kenny Payne has earned the right to be a college head coach.

—Medina Spirit has officially been disqualified as the winner of the 147th Kentucky Derby. Mandaloun is now the winner, which means Brad Cox is the first native Louisvillian trainer to ever win the Derby.

What a shitty way for that first to take place.

—Shakin’ the Southland recaps Saturday’s Clemson loss in the Yum Center.

—”Clemson Sucks” kid won this game.

—Pat Forde thinks that the folks calling for the end of the handshake line in college hoops are misguided.

—Cardinal Authority previews tonight’s game in Chapel Hill.

—The Mike Rutherford Show has tons to talk about this afternoon from 3-6 on 1450/96.1 The Big X. You can stream the show here.

—And finally, beat North Carolina.