Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Bryan Hudson, Jawhar Jordan and Ashton Gillotte will represent Louisville at ACC media day next week.

—The CJ’s Alexis Cubit highlights three U of L women’s basketball newcomers who stood out during the team’s gold medal run at the GLOBL Jam.

—Because of a contractual snag, Earl Clark will no longer be able to play with the Louisville TBT team.

—Jeff Brohm appeared on The Jim Rome Show on Tuesday. You can hear a couple of clips below ...

... or the whole thing here.

—Louisville fans just need to be 8,000 strong at Freedom Hall next week to set a new TBT attendance record. Will it happen?

—Jeff Walz has landed a commitment from 2024 small forward Anaya Hardy from Michigan.

—A good thread of highlights from Emmanuel Okorafor’s performance against Kentucky last Saturday begins here.

—Storm Duck is, of course, a member of the 2023 college football all-name team.

—The 2023-24 U of L women’s golf schedule is here.

—David Hale ranks Louisville’s secondary as the fifth best in the ACC entering this season.

—Hale has the Cards at No. 7 in his league QB rankings.

—Jeremy Pruitt carried lots of cash during his scandalous tenure at Tennessee. But Pruitt’s lawyer argued that did the same thing as an Alabama assistant — and proved it through Pruitt’s bank records.

—The fella enjoyed Beyonce night in the city on Monday.

—Five-star class of 2024 point guard Boogie Fland has trimmed his list to eight. The list does not feature U of L, which had shown early interest in Fland last fall.

—The Cards did, however, make the top eight for 4-star wing Jalen Shelley from Texas.

—Lamar Jackson’s No. 8 is the most popular jersey in the state of Kentucky.

—VSin has Louisville as a projected favorite in eight of its 12 games this coming football season.

—Not Wemby.

—Scott Davenport is a top 5 small major coach in college basketball, according to at least one ranking.

—San Diego State is officially staying put in the Mountain West. At least for now.

—Brandin Crawford (3B/RHP) from Clay County has committed to Louisville baseball as a member of the 2024 class.

—Pretty sure you get kicked out of the South if this happens.

—Louisville Report identifies some potential breakout candidates for the 2023 Louisville football season.

—The College Football Experience previews (video) the 2023 Louisville football season.

—Racing Louisville’s Wang Shuang will represent China for a third time at the World Cup.

—Will Wade’s first non-conference schedule at McNeese State is incredible.

Wade is suspended for the first 10 games of the season and sure as shit wasn’t going to miss out on anything important.

—A legends Home Run Derby featuring guys like Albert Pujols and Ken Griffey Jr. could be in the works.

—More than 700 Civil War era coins were recently found buried on a Kentucky farm.

—The new nonstop recruiting calendar is a nightmare (Athletic link) for college basketball coaches.

But even Hurley felt an enormous sense of relief that the spring and summer evaluation season was finally winding down.

“With the propensity for players to look for greener pastures, it’s disconcerting to be on the road recruiting as much as we are,” he said. “You don’t know what you’re coming back to. We’re all paranoid, and I’d be a lot happier on campus, on the court — less recruiting days, more time on the court with my team.”

Alabama coach Nate Oats just signed his fourth consecutive top-15 recruiting class and cleaned up in the transfer portal, putting the Crimson Tide in position to win the SEC for a third time in four years. But he looked and sounded weary standing outside the Riverview Park Activities Center between games. Building a roster these days, or more often rebuilding a roster, is an exhausting, neverending endeavor.

“We had an official visit going on July 4,” Oats said. “The transfer portal has changed stuff. Since the season ended, I kind of made myself take Easter Sunday off to spend with the family, but that’s it. I don’t think I’ve had another day off since the season ended, really. It’s bad. I’m not going to sit here and complain — there are a lot of people who would trade jobs with me — but it definitely makes this harder.”

Not everyone hates it, but every coach The Athletic spoke to last week at Peach Jam at least acknowledged it: The Calendar, as college staffs refer to their schedules from March to August, never has been fuller. The day after this year’s Selection Sunday, a 60-day transfer-portal window opened. There’s a proliferation of recruiting obligations both on and off campus throughout the spring and summer, as well as the looming possibility that a player who has graduated (or does so by August) might still bounce for another program without penalty, just before the new season starts.

“The schedule is just crazy,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “July used to be a crazy month; now every month seems to be kind of crazy. And you’re away from your family a lot, so it puts a lot of pressure on them.”

—The Alcaraz-Djokovic Wimbledon final on Sunday was a “spellbinding instant classic.”

—The Women’s World Cup starts this week. Co-hosts Australia and New Zealand hope to highlight social issues in contrast to last year’s men’s World Cup in Qatar.

—The USWNT’s reign of dominance is in serious jeopardy this year, but that’s a good sign for the sport as a whole.

—The Ville has 18-1 odds to win the TBT according to SportsBetting.ag.

—Tennessee’s lenient punishment from the NCAA is indicative of a new approach to rules violations, Pat Forde writes.

—Four-star CB Jett White is from California but coming “home” for a visit to Louisville.

—A fan sparked a massive crash at the Tour de France while trying to take a selfie. The situation is remarkably similar to the woman who caused a crash at the 2021 Tour by trying to show a sign to the television cameras. She was handed a four-month suspended jail sentence.

—Justin Williams of The Athletic has a good story on Cincinnati’s long road to the Big 12.

—It’s awesome and wild to see all these guys playing with one another.

—Hunter Dickinson continues his push to be college basketball’s latest ultimate villain, now saying people in Kansas are nicer and calling Michigan the “fake Midwest.”

—U of L tickets for the Cardinal football team’s game against Indiana in Indianapolis are available here.

—Joe Franklin has officially been introduced as Louisville’s new track and field/cross country coach. You can watch the presser here.

—Get your summer Zan Payne fix here:

—The CJ looks at U of L football’s current roster and the areas where Jeff Brohm still has questions to answer.

—The entire country seems to have noticed that Louisville’s 2023 schedule could provide a path to the ACC title game.

—The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach has five thoughts on where conference realignment could be headed next.

1. A Big Three

Prepare to say bye-bye to the phrase “Power 5.” With the Big Ten and SEC making money hand over fist, the top of Division I is already set for clearer stratification by the end of this decade. If nothing significant in the landscape changes and no major new revenue streams pop up, the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 will continue to battle for No. 3 billing. Whoever emerges from that battle could become the landing spot for every attractive school the SEC and Big Ten pass on.

The Athletic has touched on this topic before, most recently last month during a discussion of potential Big 12 expansion: “There’s a belief among administrators both in and out of the Big 12 that (commissioner Brett) Yormark’s envelope-pushing plans go far broader than simply poaching a couple of Pac-12 schools or leaning into basketball pedigree. He’s trying to position the Big 12 to be the third-strongest power conference moving forward — or perhaps the third and final power conference standing, if instability within the Pac-12 and ACC leads to exits that break open those leagues.”

This scenario could take place whether or not the Big Ten and SEC try to add ACC schools; either they do and the leftovers need a home, or they don’t and there’s an opportunity for a third-strongest league to welcome flagship programs such as Florida State, Clemson, Miami and more.

The idea of four relatively equal, 16-team leagues — once a convenient suggestion to retain almost the entire Power 5 in a realigned future — feels less attainable than it did a decade ago. It’d take a lot of shuffling to achieve that kind of balance now, with Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC and the Power 5’s two Los Angeles schools in the Big Ten.

—Austin Mock’s preseason college football rankings feature two Cardinal opponents — No. 17 Notre Dame and No. 25 Kentucky.

—Louisville is 75/1 to win next year’s women’s national championship, according to BetOnline. Hailey Van Lith and LSU are the preseason favorites.

—A pair of four-star football recruits have confirmed they’ll be visiting U of L next week.

—Koron Davis says he’s ready to make his mark at U of L.

—And finally, the Rutherford Show returns this afternoon from 3-6 on 1450 The Big X. You can stream it here or by calling (518) 931-1125.