Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—I didn’t have “explaining the rules of tagging up to an angry Master P” on my Wednesday night BINGO card, but it was a pretty awesome night at Jim Patterson for the Third Annual The Homies Celebrity Kickball Tournament. The team of former Louisville stars took home the title. I only made one questionable call to help them knock off the UK team in the semis.

—Jack Harlow showed up to the event in a Bellarmine jersey, which was cool.

—Awful news for Wake Forest, as star QB Sam Hartman will miss at least some of the 2022 season with a “non-football-related condition.” Hartman received an evaluation after the Deacons’ practice on Tuesday and then underwent a procedure that evening.

—Yasir Abdullah is No. 19 on the ACC Digital Network’s countdown of the league’s 25 best football players for 2022.

—Our own Keith Wynne is the guest on the latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast.

—Jeff Greer’s latest U of L hoops newsletter is a hodgepodge of thoughts and topics.

—The Athletic goes over the key questions for each member of its women’s basketball preseason top 15.

10. Louisville

Can Morgan Jones plug in as well as Emily Engstler did?

Last season, Engstler was such a perfect fit for Jeff Walz’s team — her athleticism, nose for the ball and instincts really elevated this team. Now, Walz has another one-year transfer with Jones. How well she fits with this team and brings in scoring, production and defensive intensity could determine where the Cardinals fall in the ACC and nationally. At FSU, Jones was the team’s only double-digit scorer, but at Louisville she’ll slot in next to Hailey Van Lith, Kianna Smith and Olivia Cochran. If she meshes well with those returners, the Cardinals have a chance to become even stronger than they were a season ago when they made their fourth Final Four run under Walz.

—The Louisville women’s soccer team has been picked to finish 11th in the ACC preseason poll.

—The details of Oscar Tshiebwe’s NIL blitz in the Bahamas are pretty fascinating.

—I’m spying a lot of Tiyon Evans in these quick highlight videos.

Winning the Heisman.

—Jayden Bradford, who visited Louisville in June, is the No. 8 QB in the class of 2024 according to the updated rankings from 247 Sports.

—Jerry Eaves has partnered with some local business owners to provide housign for graduates of Simmons College.

—Pat Forde has 40 observations about the 2022 college football schedule.

—Three Cardinals make Bruce Feldman’s annual college football “Freaks List.”

22. Trevor Reid, Louisville, left tackle

Reid has been a fixture on this list since arriving from junior college doing backflips. Reid has gone from 285 pounds to 314, and he routinely does box jumps of 48 to 52 inches. Even at almost 315, he’s still clocking in the mid-19s (mph) on the GPS and vertical-jumped 34.5 inches and broad-jumped over 9-5.

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58. Ashton Gillotte, Louisville, defensive end

A Florida high school standout powerlifter and shot putter, Gillotte arrived at U of L very advanced in the weight room, and that helped him make a splash on the field, notching eight TFLs and four sacks. The 6-2 Gillotte has added a dozen pounds or so and is now up to 276 but still has hit 19.9 mph on the GPS and vertical-jumped 36 inches. He power-cleans 390, but strength coach Ben Sowders said he could probably do 405. “He’s so explosive.”

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85. YaYa Diaby, Louisville, defensive lineman

The Georgia Military College Freak Pipeline is strong. Diaby has emerged as a solid player, making 39 tackles and three TFLs in 2021. The 6-5, 280-pound senior with the 8-1 wingspan can really move for a big man, topping out at 20.8 mph on the GPS. His vertical jump is in the mid-30s and he broad-jumps 9-11. His bench press also is up to 385 pounds.

WR Tyler Harrell, who transferred to Alabama earlier this summer, also appears on the list.

—Jamari “Jiggy” Phillips, a top 30 hoops prospect from the class of 2024, says he’s down to a final six of Louisville, UCLA, Oregon, Gonzaga, Kansas and Texas Tech.

—Disney CEO Bob Chapek discusses the implications of ESPN pulling out of contract discussions surrounding media rights for the Big Ten.

—Pretty unbelievable accomplishment:

—Louisville native Rick Nold is taking over as Bellarmine’s volleyball coach.

—It’s Reds vs. Cubs tonight in the second annual Field of Dreams Game.

—Eric Crawford writes that it’s about time Louisville paid an inordinate amount of money for a high-profile attorney to defend the school against the NCAA.

Lately, I guess the feeling I’m having when I see headlines about the University of Louisville athletics department is that I’m surprised that anyone is supposed to feel surprised.

The U of L Athletics Association goes out and hires a former U.S. solicitor general, Neal Katyal, at a price of $2,645 per hour, for help in its defense against NCAA charges connected to the college basketball pay-for-play scandal.

Sounds about right. Let’s not forget, ULAA paid Chris Mack $500,000 per victory last season. It paid Bobby Petrino $14 million to stop coaching its football team. If Katyal can deliver any kind of relief for a basketball program that generated better than $40 million in revenue during its good seasons, is it not money well spent?

Certainly it’s going to a better cause than all that buyout money, or the $9 million or so (salary plus buyout) it took to hire Mack in just his first season.

Compared to what the basketball program is worth – past and future – what Louisville is paying any attorney is small by comparison.

—”Blue collar” Bryan Hudson is ready to take over at the center position for the Cardinal offense.

—Gorgui Dieng is officially a Spur again.

—Louisville’s Ben Perry is one of the redshirt freshmen who will demand your attention during this year’s college football season.

BENJAMIN PERRY, LB, LOUISVILLE

Benjamin Perry came to Louisville as a 6-foot-2, 170-pound safety. The former four-star recruit is now a 6-foot-2, 212-pound linebacker. Perry has put on a lot of weight since arriving on campus, and he projects to start for the Cardinals at their CARD linebacker spot. Perry has the skillset to play that role, which is a hybrid safety position. If Perry can play ably in the box against the run, he has the coverage ability to be an immediate difference maker for a Louisville defense that finished 88th nationally last year in yards allowed per play.

—Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford talk about Fred Cowgill’s lawsuit against Trinity.

—GoCards.com recaps day 7 of Fall Camp.

—No, no, no, no, no, a thousand times no.

—Nic Cardwell and Adonis Boone talked to the media as the Cards prepared to head into week two of fall camp.

—The CJ ranks the five biggest U of L football players for 2022 in terms of impact.

—Virginia wants in next year’s Celebrity Kickball Tournament.

—BC Interruption (Boston College) previews the Louisville football team.

—Caleb Chandler is becoming a tremendous leader for the U of L offensive line.

—Heat Check CBB’s way too early ACC power rankings for men’s basketball have Louisville at 14th out of 15 teams.

14. Louisville — New head coach Kenny Payne infuses Louisville with much-needed energy, but the on-court results may take time to materialize. On one hand, the Cards boast a deep frontcourt headlined by Sydney Curry, Jae’Lyn Withers and breakout candidate Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. However, they have just one guard on the roster: microwave scorer El Ellis.

—Yahoo’s Mark Drunmheller thinks over 6.5 wins for Louisville is one of the best college football bets of the upcoming season.

—The Louisville Bats took game two from the Iowa Cubs Wednesday night, 7-5.

—This afternoon’s Bats/Cubs game will delay the start of the Mike Rutherford Show by around an hour. Once we get going, you can stream the show here.

—And finally, Racing Louisville is trying to break its home attendance record when it hosts Chicago Red Stars FC on Saturday, Aug. 27. Because it’s my birthday (not really, but whatever) they’re offering Card Chronicle readers 15% off tickets if they go here. Also, anyone with a .edu OR JCPS email can purchase up to 8 tickets at $5.02 each