Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—The NFL draft begins tonight, and for what would be just the second time since 2013, it seems like we may have a draft where no Louisville players are selected. The CJ lays names the three Cardinals with the best shot of hearing their names called.

—Eric Crawford writes about the retirement of Kenny Klein.

—Congrats to Card Chronicle favorite Bilal Powell, who signed a 1-day contract with the New York Jets and officially retired from the NFL.

—Jeff Greer’s latest Louisville hoops newsletter focuses on the hiring of Josh Jamieson and the (semi) completion of Kenny Payne’s first staff.

Now the question might be, why not hire Jamieson as the director of basketball operations? Well, Payne is operating with immense “trust me” vibes right now, and he has earned that with Louisville’s fan base. So, when he says Jamieson is “more than an ops guy — I’ve always known that,” there is clearly something about the Oregon native that leads Payne to believe he can succeed as an assistant.

“He truly is of the secret gems of college basketball,” Payne said in the press release, “who now gets to come out of the shadows”

We can assume, because he mentioned this at the press conference, that Jamieson has a relationship with Nike founder Phil Knight. We can also assume that Jamieson has good relationships with a number of influential basketball folks on the West Coast as the guy who planned recruiting visits and meetings with prospects who visited Oregon. Don’t undersell that value by thinking the director of basketball ops (colloquially the DOBO in college hoops circles) doesn’t do any recruiting. Was he traveling to people’s homes? No. But the on-campus visit is a critical piece of the puzzle, and the DOBO plays a major role in that part of the recruiting process.

Still, I keep coming back to the nuts and bolts of this hire, the go-to calling card for Jamieson. Smith’s calling card is your guard whisperer, your young, cool assistant with strong ties to Nike having worked at and played for the most famous program in college basketball. Manning’s calling card is your big man whisperer (along with Payne) and former head coach with Adidas ties having worked at (and starred at) the winningest program in college basketball history. Payne’s calling card is obviously your big man whisperer and ace recruiter with the Nike/Kentucky connection as well as the emotional connection to his alma mater. They all have NBA credibility as well as national titles as players, too.

—This story from On3 says despite the recent offer from Texas A&M, Pierce Clarkson is fully committed to Louisville “unless there is a coaching change.”

Please win at least seven games this year, Satt.

—Peyton Siva has signed a contract with Greek club Panathinaikos, Rick Pitino’s old team.

—Bill Self thinks the transfer portal is bad, which means he should definitely remove himself from the Tyrese Hunter sweepstakes.

Also pretty confident that KU doesn’t win its most recent national title if not for the stellar play of a grad transfer.

—The CJ’s Brett Dawson writes about why Kenny Payne believes he has “the best staff in college basketball.”

—ESPN’s Jeff Borzello lays out all of the roster comings and goings of every power conference program in men’s college basketball. As you might expect, the exercise is a massive undertaking.

—Imagine Joey Votto walking up to your driver’s side window and politely asking if he can take a picture of his name on your license plate.

—CBS ranks the top college basketball transfers of the offseason and has Louisville target Tyrse Hunter at No. 4.

—Some good Derby insight here from DRF.

—U of L has offered 4-star WR Aidan Mizell (2023) from Orlando.

—Ty Starke had one hell of a Wednesday night. First, he pitched No. 1 St. X to a win over arch-rival and second-ranked Trinity. Then, about an hour later, he committed to Louisville.

—I need a Reid Detmers Trash Pandas bobblehead.

—The U of L men’s tennis team is No. 25 in the latest ITA rankings.

—Three-star offensive tackle Bryce Lovett (2023) has named Louisville, Florida, Missouri and Iowa State as the four finalists to land his services. He’ll announce his commitment on May 16.

—Scott Satterfield is among the coaches who will be participating in the 2022 Peach Bowl Challenge, the “nation’s premier collegiate coach golf event.”

—Here’s hoping rational thought wins out and Bellarmine is NCAA tournament eligible next season. Understandably, I have my doubts.

—Walt Queen, who spread joy across Louisville for years as “Santa Walt,” has died at age 78.

—For the 8th consecutive season, the Louisville women’s golf team has qualified for the NCAA Championships.

—The Cardinal lacrosse team saw a disappointing season come to an end with a loss to Pittsburgh in the first round of the ACC tournament on Wednesday.

—Lamar Jackson visited his old elementary school in Florida on Wednesday, visited with his first grade teacher and gave the students autographed jerseys and books.

—U of L track will be hosting the Clark Wood Invitational this weekend.

—The Cardinal baseball team scored 11 unanswered runs Tuesday night to take care of Western Kentucky.

—C.J. Avery is the guest on the latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast.

—It appears Louisville OL target Jordan Church (2023) will be announcing his commitment tonight at 6. It would be a surprise at this point if he didn’t pick the Cards.

—Former U of L hoops recruit Khristian Lander is transferring from Indiana to Western Kentucky.

—The latest NCAA tournament projection from D1Baseball.com has Louisville as the No. 2 seed in Southern Mississippi’s region. A solid showing this weekend against a red-hot Clemson team would go a long way towards getting back into the hosting a regional conversation.

—A 14-team Big 12 is coming ... at least for a couple of seasons.

—A hearing officer has recommended that trainer Bob Baffert receive a two-year suspension from the New York Racing Association for repeated medication violations involving his horses in other jurisdictions.

—Former head coach James O’Connor is now the president of Louisville City FC.

—The latest Cardinal Sports Zone podcast episode is here.

—Despite dealing with a quad injury, Donovan Mitchell is “good to go” for Game 6 of Utah’s series against Dallas. The Jazz need a win Thursday night to keep their season alive.

—Rudy Gobert, meanwhile, is dealing with a “massive bee sting on his face.”

—Ja Morant’s cram is even more ridiculous in super slow motion.

—Mark Emmert is stepping down as president of the NCAA, ending an era of complete ineptitude.

—Does the NCAA really even need a president?

—Condoleeza Rice is apparently one of the leading candidates to replace Emmert, because for some reason she has to be a candidate for every vacant position of power in sports.

—Trez loves playing in the state of North Carolina.

—Here’s the magazine cover of Milt Wagner that Kenny Klein was referencing here.

—Three Louisville lacrosse players have earned All-ACC honors.

—Former North Oldham high school standout Justin Powell is back in the transfer portal. One of the better shooters in college hoops, Powell played his freshman season at Auburn before transferring to Tennessee for the 2021-22 campaign.

—You can find video of Josh Jamieson’s introductory press conference from Wednesday here.

—FSU site Warchant takes an early look at the 2022 Louisville football team.

—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show will pay tribute to Kenny Klein from 3 until 5:40 this afternoon when we’ll hand the baton over to coverage of the Louisville Bats. You can listen to a stream of the show here or find us on your radio dial at 1450AM or 96.1FM.