—Spread Check: Louisville by 22.5.
—A Kentucky judge has denied the NCAA’s request for emergency relief in the Wells case, which means Seth Trimble, L.J. Wells, Jabari Mack and Kalib Perry will all remain eligible as the case moves forward.
Next up? The players still have to prevail in front of the court of appeals (this will take at least three more weeks). If they win there, the last stop would almost certainly be the Kentucky Supreme Court (would likely take another 3-6 weeks to get a decision there).
—Matt McGavic of WHAS likes Louisville over Stanford by three touchdowns on Saturday.
—Brooks Holton’s latest Louisville basketball mailbag for the CJ is here.
—Not sure how likely it is, but would be very cool to get this same thing done with Kienholz before the end of the season.
—William McDermott previews Adrian Wooley.
—As most expected, 5-star PG Reese Alston (against his father’s wishes) committed to Will Wade and LSU on Thursday.
—Lou City opens up the USL Playoffs at home tonight against reigning champion Pittsburgh. If you’re looking for last minute tickets, save yourself some money by getting them here.
—Isaac Trotter of CBS has Flory Bidunga as his Preseason Transfer of the Year.
Bidunga was the top-rated player in the 2026 transfer portal cycle because he can be such an impactful player even on the nights when he scores six points. Bidunga will be the fire-douser for Louisville this year. We already saw it in Louisville’s exhibition win at Kansas when Bidunga switched onto KU five-star wing Tyran Stokes and gave him the business. The 6-9 forward has a massive 7-3 wingspan and can guard anybody and everybody. He’s one of the best four defenders in all of college basketball, next to Arizona’s Mo Krivas, Houston’s JoJo Tugler and Florida’sRueben Chinyelu.
Bidunga’s already a useful offensive player because you can throw a lob near the square and he’ll throw it down, but continuing to refine his handle will be a major X factor. If Louisville can play Bidunga at the 4 and 7-2 freshman center Obinna Ekezie Jr. at the 5, Bidunga needs to be able to deck it and slash to the tin. He only posted 30 drives last year at Kansas but averaged 1.00 points per possession on ’em. More please.
“Flory’s a special player,” Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said, via the Courier-Journal. He has a million gifts. … When your best player is your hardest worker, you’ve got something. He is that.”
—Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated built a tracker of every high-major college hoops player involved in a lawsuit and their eligibility status as of today, plus some notable mid-major guys worth monitoring.
—The 12th-ranked Louisville women’s soccer team took a loss to No. 19 Virginia on Thursday night.
—Louisville is a 6-seed in David Cobb’s preseason Bracketology for CBS.
—The Cards are a 4-seed in Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology for ESPN. Apparently Lunardi was horrified by U of L’s win at Kansas, because he had the team as a 2-seed before that performance.
—Dragging Doug (and my wife) into a Tennis Nation graphic is one of my biggest preseason accomplishments.
Bellarmine needs to land a 2027 McDonald’s All-American or find a new head coach, in my opinion.
—Seth Trimble and Flory Bidunga both make Sports Illustrated’s list of the 76 best college basketball players for the 2026-27 season.
—If the Louisville women’s basketball team is going to make a run at a national title, it needs Imari Berry to take the next step as a player.
—UK fans are in the middle of an online civil war because of how bad the team has looked in its exhibition games, and then the official team account goes and posts this.
It’s a bold choice.
—The Starting 502 crew previews Obinna Ekezie.
—Seth Trimble has been named to the 2027 Jerry West Award Preseason Watch List. The award is given annually to the best point guard in college basketball.
—Not to be outdone, Flory Bidunga has been named to the preseason watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.
—Friday Irrelevance:
—Louisville safety Kaleb Beasley, who is currently tied for the national lead in interceptions with five, was named a semifinalist for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award on Tuesday.
—U of L is selling Ghost Louie Yetis at the game on Saturday.
—The third-ranked Louisville volleyball team hosts Clemson and Georgia Tech this weekend.
—Will U of L have the stones to play “Wicked for One Night” at some point during the game on Halloween? We have less than 24 hours to find out.
—The 10th-ranked Louisville men’s soccer team wraps up the regular season Friday night at No. 1 SMU. The 7:30 kickoff will be televised on the ACC Network.
—Matt Norlander of CBS has Louisville at No. 15 in his preseason college hoops rankings.
—The next seven men’s Final Four host sites:
Denver
Houston
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Nashville
New Orleans
—Should’ve never left the place that finally gave you that chance, my man.
—Louisville will honor the jersey of star wideout and NFL great Mark Clayton during Saturday’s game against Stanford.
—Louisville is No. 13 in The Field of 68’s preseason top 25.
—In addition to announcing his return to the KFC Yum Center in January, Rick Pitino said earlier this week that he recently received an apology from U of L Board of Trustees Chair Larry Benz over the way he was treated at the end of his Louisville tenure.
—Sports Illustrated ranks all 368 men’s college basketball teams and has Louisville at No. 10.
—Obviously.
—Louisville assistants Ronnie Hamilton and Jermaine Ukaegbu paid Ballard big man Mason Grivna a visit this morning.
—Former Louisville assistant Brian Kloman has been fired at Auburn for concealing academic information about a foreign recruit.
—Every member of the CJ sports staff predicts Louisville to take care of Stanford with relative ease.
—And finally, beat Stanford.