Tuesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check: Virginia Tech by 10.5.

—Heat Check CBB has assembled video of every March Madness game-winner from the last decade. Happy March.

—The big news of the day is that U of L offensive line coach Jack Bicknell is leaving to take the same job at North Carolina. Considering that spring practice started yesterday, this isn’t exactly ideal timing.

—Caleb Chandler doesn’t seem too thrilled about Bicknell’s decision to bolt.

But he says his focus and his team’s focus is still the same.

—Adonis Boone took a more diplomatic approach.

—The U of L baseball team continues its homestand today at 5 against Morehead State. Here’s a preview.

—Craig Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette breaks down who should win the ACC’s major awards for men’s basketball.

—Matt Norlander of CBS has a good read on the seven Division-I basketball players who are natives of the Ukraine.

—This. Is. M ...... eteorological Spring.

—Jabir Walker is one of only a handful of Kentuckians to serve as an NFL referee. He’s also a pilot, a one-time pro football player and a former math teacher. He might be the most interesting man in Louisville.

—U of L recaps the first day of spring practice.

Tyler Harrell, who changed to No. 1. Showed he benefited from a full year of playing time and looked like this might be the year he takes his game to a higher level.

Satterfield also took time to acknowledge the amount of talent bursting out of the running back room after Monday’s practice. The Cardinals have four outstanding backs who can play anywhere in the country. Jalen Mitchell is the top returning back after running for 722 yards last season, while Tennessee transfer Tiyon Evans displayed size and speed in his first practice with the Cardinals. He led the Volunteers in rushing last season and gives the Cards another playmaker. Trevion Cooley and Jawar Jordan have big-time playmaking ability out of the backfield.

“They are going to go out and compete every single day,” Satterfield said of the running backs. “We will see mentally who can do it, we know physically they can do it. They bring different things to the table. ... Cooley had an extra gear today. Tiyon is a thick back who showed great vision in his runs, (Jordan) had some juice in his legs and Mitchell is a consistent back. It’s fun to watch all of those guys.”

The Cardinals featured three new coaches in wide receivers coach Lance Taylor, tight ends coach Nic Cardwell and secondary coach Wesley McGriff. Strength and conditioning coach Ben Sowders also made his debut on the field on Monday.

“To be out there for the first day, it was very smooth,” Satterfield said of his new coaches. “We have a good bunch of new coaches. It’s fun for me to watch and see the guys go to work.”

—The Cardinal lacrosse team faces Butler today.

—There is yet another push happening for legalized sports betting in Kentucky. You’ll have to forgive me for not holding my breath.

—The 6th and 7th boys regional tournaments get underway tonight at host sites.

Here are the brackets:

—Louisville is holding as a No. 1 seed in the latest women’s basketball bracketology from ESPN.

—The CJ’s Cameron Teague Robinson shares his thoughts from the first day of Louisville football spring practice.

—Louisville commit Jayden Davis was a standout at Under Armour Camp in Atlanta.

—I love Russ’ response about him and Peyton “doing life” (full 4 years) under Pitino.

—Emily Engstler is a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award.

—The latest Cardinal Sports Zone podcast is here.

—Sydney Curry gave one of the ACC’s top performances (video) last week.

—I’m sure the WNBA has some sort of explanation for this, but regardless of what that explanation is, this seems to be an insanely excessive punishment for the crime of ... allowing your players to travel in comfort?

—Matt McGavic likes Va Tech over Louisville by 10 tonight.

—Rick Bozich writes that U of L would be wise to listen to Junior Bridgeman, Wade Houston and Butch Beard.

—The Athletic’s Matt Fortuna has four big ACC football questions as we enter spring practice.

2. What’s the next step for Malik Cunningham?

Cunningham was overshadowed last year by an ACC quarterback group that included Kenny Pickett, Sam Howell and Sam Hartman, but at his best — such as a five-day span in which he tallied 755 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns in two blowout wins — he was must-see TV.

“He’s played a ton of football and last year had a really, really good year,” head coach Scott Satterfield said by phone. “He kind of got overshadowed by some other really good quarterbacks out there throughout the country. But this guy had 39 (total) touchdowns, six turnovers, (3,975 total) yards. He had an incredible year. And really, we’re not talking about him very much.

“We’re excited about him coming back, just another year under his belt experience-wise, and you don’t have that as a question mark. I think any coach out there is going to love to have that at the quarterback position. But I think the other thing for me that’s exciting is that we’ve got basically our whole offensive line back. We lost one guy, Cole Bentley, who was a starter. But everybody else is back. And really we played about seven or eight guys last year, so I’m excited about that because you got these guys that have played a bunch of ball that are blocking for Malik.”

—Jeff Borzello and Jeff Goodman discuss the Louisville coaching vacancy here.

—VT Scoop previews this evening’s game in Blacksburg.

—Going into conference tournament week, the women’s NCAA tournament selection committee revealed Monday night that Louisville is currently the fourth No. 1 seed.

—I will forever consider myself to be a chug-a-luggin’ son of a gun.

—Postseason basketball is returning to Freedom Hall this week as the Bellarmine men’s team will host an Atlantic Sun tournament quarterfinal on Thursday night. Tickets are available here.

—The Mike Rutherford Show is live from Southern Indiana today from 3-6 on 1450/96.1 The Big X. You can stream it here.

—And finally, beat Va Tech.