Monday afternoon, news and notes from the cardinal

– Update of Internet Rankings: No. 34 (one above).

Since his break at Covid started less than a week ago, Louisville has gone up seven points on the NET. If Cards can avoid playing for another month, they have a good chance of being one of the top 5 players on Selection Sunday.

—Dana Evans is the ACC women’s basketball player of the week for the second time this season. She is the first player to receive the honor more than once in 2020-21.

—GoCards.com recap the Louisville women’s team’s triumph on Sunday over Notre Dame.

– Victory highlights:

—CJ’s Teague Robinson of CJ highlights five defensive players to watch as Louisville prepares to start spring training.

—Louisville Report has five questions for Cards when they start Spring Ball.

—Anonymous university technicians give their true opinions (Athletic link) about each ACC team, including Louisville.

Louisville: “They are not hitting you on the table or the rim as they used to. They come to you in different ways with their depth. Carlik Jones and David Johnson are the best tandem in the league. The big ones are just OK. They are useful, but not dynamic. They play hard defensively. They will not give you a lot of things in the basket. They are very lucky to have Jones, because they have no blue blooded talents. They need him to do a lot. “

—Lynn Family Stadium was nominated for the Stadium Database of the Year 2020 competition at the Stadium Database.

—Tyler Greever of WHAS-11 has a good read on how Wes Unseld paved the way for so many at L University.

—Hailey Van Lith is right in the middle of the race (Athletic link) for the national freshman of the year.

Hailey Van Lith, Louisville

12.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.1 APG

Van Lith’s pitches, moves and defensive skills are the main reasons why Louisville was able to reach first place in the overall ranking for the first time in the program’s history. But what can be your team’s most valuable asset is recovery. At 1.5 meters tall, Van Lith is the team’s third in rebounds per game; Louisville’s leading and second leading rebounds are 6-3 and 6-5, respectively. And unlike the other three players on this list, Van Lith is not the ideal player for your team. She was asked to stand out by playing alongside a candidate for National Player of the Year in Dana Evans. For some, this can be more challenging than remaining the undisputed star.

Quotable

“What strikes me about Van Lith is that his game is so complete as a freshman. She can score on all three levels. She is a great sniper, but she also has an excellent mid-range game. She is really evasive. She’s great with forgeries. It has a beautiful fade inside too. It can end at the edge. She is a good passer, but even more, she is an excellent rebound. She is just tenacious. I mean, she has an engine from which to get that ball. … She can go in there and catch the rebounds, and Louisville needs it because they play with four guards. Then she realizes, ‘Hey, we need extra help to recover, so I’m going to do this.’ Very rarely do you see 1.5m guards averaging more than six boards per game, especially as a freshman, because the hardest thing to adjust, in my opinion, is the physicality of the college game. ” – Female basketball analyst

“I don’t think it’s easy to come in and play with the players she is with and who have established their roles, and here this freshman fits in. If you watch Iowa, everyone knows it’s Caitlin’s team. But Hailey is playing on Dana Evans’ team. And she’s having to do something a little bit different each night and she’s been so demanding. “ – SEC head coach

And Jeff Walz is at the center of the national Coach of the Year convention.

Jeff Walz, Louisville

After Louisville suffered his own break at COVID-19, Walz took his team to the top spot in the AP vote for the first time in the program’s history. The ability to guide any team this season is impressive, but what separates Walz is how agile and creative he has been with regards to Louisville schedules. He was one of the first to “book on Twitter”, willing to adjust quickly to find games and make them work. Other coaches said how Walz, behind the scenes, even helped his teams find games – connecting coaches, passing phone numbers and suggesting games based on opening times.

Every coach needs to have some level of organization to reach the top of the profession, but this season has brought new challenges for them. And, despite everything, Walz coached a team that easily incorporated two freshmen into the starting lineup and produced Louisville’s most efficient and highest-scoring attack in the past five seasons.

Quotable

“The reality is that he faced tremendous adversity and just moved on. I think it’s the most important thing as a coach that, as a colleague, I look and think, ‘Wow, they were positive. They found a way to spin and make the most of their situation. They found a non-traditional way. ‘Jeff needs to go out on Twitter and find games – he’s an innovator. He’s a great strategist in the game. It really puts your players in great positions to succeed. And I think he is a relentless worker with a great mind for basketball. ” – Pac-12 head coach

—The latest podcast from the Cardinal Sports Zone is here.

—Facts & Bracks has Louisville as an 8-seed facing Loyola from Chicago in the first round of his last simulated brace.

U of L football made it official to hire the new coach of the offensive line, Jack Bicknell Jr ..

“This is very crazy.”

– The U of L men’s tennis team overtook Auburn over the weekend.

– ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel names Mykasa Robinson as one of the 12 best female basketball supporters.

Mykasa Robinson, Louisville: She started only seven games this season, but makes this list the quintessence of the “doing the little things” player, whose calling card is the defense. Louisville star Dana Evans credits Robinson for bringing fragility to what is perennially one of the ACC’s main defenses. Robinson has played 35 and 32 minutes in Louisville’s last two games, with eight rebounds each.

—Louisville is 33rd in Andy Katz’s last Power 36 ranking.

– Ron Groover, Final Four official twice, talks about the self-test challenges for Covid and the family isolation during this strange college basketball season.

—If you’re looking for an easy way to spread a little more love this week, here it is:

—ACCSports.com delves into what makes Jay Huff a weapon for Virginia.

—It was reported over the weekend that Charlotte TE coach Cody Woodiel would join the Uof L. team. Instead, Woodiel is joining Mario Cristobal’s team in Oregon.

—ShaDon Brown says goodbye to Louisville:

—Louisville’s volleyball team, 12th, returned to the court with an exhibition victory over Dayton over the weekend.

– Chosen to finish last in his first year as a DI member of the Atlantic Sun, Bellarmine has now won eight in a row and is at the top of the league standings.

—This winning streak is not enough to put the Knights ahead of Freedom in these A-Sun power ratings.

—Brandon Marcello of 247 Sports looks at the 2020 ACC football season and presents a 2021 preview.

Below expectations

Louisville (4-7)

2020 Review: Coaches may also experience falls in the second year. Scott Satterfield surprised ACC with an eight-win mark in its first season, but it all came crashing down in 2020 with a disappointing four-win record. Two games looked unbeatable (Miami and Notre Dame), and one was absolutely disconcerting: a 46-27 loss to modest Georgia Tech. The Cardinals lost their first four ACC games, but somehow they had a chance to take Notre Dame down the road. Who knows.

2021 outlook: Eight players declared for the NFL Draft, including the best offensive player (receiver Tutu Atwell) and some training movements in the attack took place in the off-season. Quarterback Malik Cunningham is back after a season of ups and downs that was, in the end, 40 points (defender rating) worse in the air than 2019, and in the end, that may have been the difference in some games that could have tilted the season for 0.500 ends in 2020. All five matches along the offensive line return. The defense was a head scratch last season. Broken tasks and confusion reigned during that four-game losing streak, but many of these players leave the team when a bunch of youths Satterfield discovered on the recruiting trail try to fill his place. Linebackers and secondaries will be the off-season story.

Recruitment ranking: No. 38 nationally; No. 9 ACC

– Texas-Rio Grande Valley coach Lew Hill died suddenly, just hours after training a game on Sunday. He is the second DI coach to pass suddenly this season.

—Your basketball ACC dunk of the week (video).

—Fagoat is making a position move.

—If you’re looking for a way to keep up with the ex-cardinals who are now in the professional ranks, take a look at Stats Last Night. Just choose your school and you will receive daily updates on all NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA Tour, MLS Cards, etc.

—Various college basketball coaches who are very familiar to Louisville fans seem to be in conflict with their fan bases. Pat Forde analyzes all of these contentious situations.

—Wade Houston is the first subject in the new “Cardinal Conversations” series at the University of Washington.

– Second-placed Baylor Bears has postponed its next three games due to problems with Covid.

—Line Monday lineup:

Miami in North Carolina (19h / ESPN)
Ohio State No. 4 in Maryland (9:00 pm / FS1)
No. 23 Oklahoma State in Kansas (9 pm / ESPN)
No. 1 Gonzaga at BYU (9pm / ESPN)

—We are about a month away from Selection Sunday and we still have virtually no idea how the Covid-19 breaks will affect the selection of NCAA tournaments and bubble teams.

—RIP to Pedro Gomez, which was very, very incredible.

—Cardinal Authority highlights some offensive players to watch during spring training.

—Louisville women fell from first to third place in this week’s top 25 AP poll.

—Male cardinals received 28 votes in this week’s AP poll, placing them in sixth place in the “others receiving votes” category. They are second in the same category in the coaches poll.

—And finally, a reminder that the Louisville Virtual Baseball Opening Dinner is tonight at 7. More details are available here.