Friday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

But when it comes to fixing a real problem — like the rise of $20 million college basketball rosters while only a handful of programs even bring in $20 million in revenue — they are suddenly helpless and out of answers, reduced to groveling at the feet of politicians to rescue their industry from its own lack of courage and discipline.

If college presidents had any wits about them when it comes to athletics, here’s what they would do: Sit Petitti, Sankey and the other power conference commissioners in a room and deliver an ultimatum to get college sports fixed over the next year or they will all be replaced. End of story.

Until then, leave the NCAA tournament alone. Stop fighting over the right number for the College Football Playoff. Put every ancillary issue on the back-burner. If rising player costs and an unregulated transfer portal are truly as urgent and out of control as you claim, the focus needs to be entirely on tearing the current system down and coming up with a better one.

The sad truth, however, is that the current leadership group is probably not up to the task. The power conferences’ big innovation over the last two years was settling the House v. NCAA antitrust case and creating the College Sports Commission to set an enforceable revenue-sharing cap while separating real NIL deals from the booster collective nonsense.

Instead, it took about 30 minutes before schools within their own ranks started poking holes in the settlement to try and gain a competitive advantage. Fast-forward nearly a year, and not only has nothing changed, the environment has arguably gotten more out of control. Collectives are still going strong, the CSC operates under constant threat of being sued, tampering is a fact of life and administrators and coaches laugh about the ineffectiveness of the revenue-sharing cap. College sports now exists as a vassal to the mood of attorney Jeffrey Kessler.

—The CJ looks at five U of L football transfer portal imports who could be x-factors in 2026.

—L&N Stadium is the fifth most hostile football stadium in the ACC.

—The Southern Hang podcast talks with legendary trainer Kenny McPeek.

—The Field of 68 crew discussed (YouTube) the best and worst college basketball hires of the last decade. I’ll give you 8-52 guesses as to who everyone agreed was the worst.

—Great catch.

—Brett McMurphy’s first bowl projections for 2026 have Louisville facing Houston in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

—Golden Tempo is the latest Kentucky Derby winner to skip the Preakness, sending an unmistakable message to that race and the Triple Crown as a whole. Pat Forde writes that the time to adapt or die has come.

—State of Louisville takes a look at U of L baseball’s pitching stats since 2007. It’s pretty clear that something has to change.

—A number of the biggest names in college basketball coaching aren’t thrilled with the NCAA Tournament expansion news.

“I am adamantly opposed. It’s totally unnecessary,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few told CBS Sports. Few, who has never missed an NCAA Tournament in more than a quarter of a century running the Bulldogs, was just named to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame last month.

“It’s the dumbing down of the regular season, which is sad,” Few said. “We’re out here trying to generate more interest in the regular season and expansion doesn’t help. That’s where we’ve been struggling. Plus, the [NCAA Tournament] unit shares, what’s happening there? Don’t screw with something when you already know it’s great. The tournament is great as is.”

…

“What I think makes the tournament special is the qualification for it,” Hurley told CBS Sports. “You don’t want the regular season to be rendered meaningless and to take away from November, December, January, February. The qualification process makes the regular season intense and pressure-packed. It should be a privilege to play in the tournament, not a right, and obviously if it expands too much and you don’t have to have a real good season to make it, that would take away from the tournament. Does it get too big?”

…

“I am a big believer in the idea that if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, and I think that applies to the NCAA Tournament,” Calipari told CBS Sports. “Having said that, if we are to expand, my hope is that at least half the spots are held for non-Power Four teams. If they do that, we are making the decision for the right reasons. As someone who has been both David, and won some, and Goliath, and lost some, that’s what makes this tournament special. We can’t afford to lose that special piece of our sport.”

Everyone recognizes there are major problems with college basketball right now. No one believes any of those problems have anything to do with the NCAA Tournament. Naturally, the one major change the people in charge of the sport decide to make is to expand the NCAA Tournament.

—Karter Knox has officially signed with Louisville.

—The Louisville softball team took a tough 6-5 loss to Stanford in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Thursday. The Cards will find out where they’re headed for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

—Basketball Under Review looks at the international revolution currently happening in college hoops.

—Dan Issel doesn’t lie.

—Louisville’s 502 Circle is now Floyd Street Media.

—Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. will both be full participants at this year’s NBA Draft Combine. They’re the first Cards to participate in the combine since 2019.

—U of L Golf Club will host a 2026 NCAA Women’s Tournament regional.

—Fun stuff here.

—I wrote about Florida and Todd Golden for SB Nation here.

—The NCAA men’s basketball rules committee is discussing a move from two halves to four quarters.

—And finally, I was very sad to hear of the passing of former Louisville defensive lineman Randy Salmon, who played for Charlie Strong during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. He had been coaching at Stockbridge High School in Georgia. May he rest in peace.