Would love to see where he “experts” rank the Louisville job nationally, but as far as the Big East goes, it’s pretty high.

2. Louisville: Some might be surprised to see the Cardinals this high, but consider the fact that Louisville offers a brand-new palace to play in, big budgets that currently have Rick Pitino among the highest-paid coaches in the nation and a passionate fan base with the backdrop of a basketball-mad state. Great tradition. Great job.

Not sure what to make of the “Some might be surprised to see the Cardinals this high” comment.  Who in their right mind would actually be surprised?

This roster is primed to give Louisville a chance to cut down some more nets.

PG: Siva, Rozier#

SG: Blackshear, Smith, Ware

SF: Hancock,Marra, Nunez

PF: Behanan, Harrell, SVT

C: Dieng, Price

#- has yet to meet NCAA requirements for eligibility; if not eligible, Russ will take over back-up PG duties

*Roster includes two 5-stars, six 4-stars,  five 3-star recruits, and three McDonald’s All-Americans

*The newest Cardinal, Montrezl Harrell is a 4-star prospect according to Scout and Rivals and is ranked #72 and #82 respectively.  Check out his highlight film below:

Join us for a special Monday night edition of LSL tonight at 6:00 on ESPN 680 and streaming on espnlouisville.com.  Mike Hughes, Publisher of insidetheville.com will be on to discuss the huge commitment of Montrezl Harrell as well as give an overview of this weekend’s visitors.  Discussion topics include:

-Harrell’s commitment and an update from this weekend’s visitors

-Does this make Louisville the pre-season #1 team?

-The basketball team’s updated depth chart

-Rozier’s academic situation

-Is the Big 12 really content at staying at 10?

Give us a shout at 267-9680 and on twitter @LvilleSprtsLive

Montrezl is ready for LSL….(shout to dru20s for the pic)

Photo courtesy of WNST.net

Yikes.  This makes their jerseys seem tame.  The only good news here is that it is only been proposed, we’ll see if they actually put it in.

Eastern Michigan and Louisville have a few connections from the past as Ron Cooper coached there before ruining the UofL program in the mid-90′s.  Former UofL Defensive Coordinator Ron English is entering his fourth year as Head Coach there.  adidas is also EMU’s outfitter and they unveiled their new uniforms, fresh with 3 different helmet colors and 12 uniform combinations.  It seems as though adidas is following Nike’s lead in designing multiple uniform combinations.  Could adidas be planning something similar for the Cards?

On this podcast, Mike Hughes joins as a special guest co-host to give you the latest on the huge recruiting weekend upcoming for UofL.  Topics include:

-Who’s visiting

-Who’s likely to commit

-What it means for the future of the program

-Coach Strong’s recruiting mojo

With Warchant.com’s D.C. Reeves, we discuss:

-Where Florida State and other ACC schools stand currently amid all the Big 12 speculation

-Where Louisville fits in this Big 12 scenario

-Could the ACC be a viable option for the Cards if the Big 12 falls through

Listen to the podcast HERE

*iPhone/iPad users or if you have trouble accessing it, listen below

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:54 — 31.6MB)

From Big East’s Director of Communication John Paquette:

“We had to leave three of our teams out this year as only 12 can participate.

Assuming we continue with the agreement you can assume Louisville would have a road match-up next year.”

While it is puzzling that UofL is one of just three schools left off, it seems as though they are guaranteed a road game in the even next season.

While the renegotiating of the Big East’s TV contracts won’t officially begin until September 1st, NBC gave conference officials an overview of what could be expected if they were awarded football rights.  Memphis AD, R.C. Johnson told a Memphis radio station how it could work:

“(NBC’s) purpose (at the meeting) was to show they had an interest in the Big East and they had it tied in with Notre Dame football,” Johnson said. “They talked about doubleheaders and tripleheaders on the NBC station. Not on the Versus or whatever they all have, NBC (Sports Network), because they’ve got several cable outlets.

“They talked about how they liked the time zones and they talked about tying in doubleheaders and tripleheaders on Saturday with football.”

Johnson said they’d love to find a way for coverage to continue on ESPN even if the bulk of their content moves to NBC.

“I think in the ideal world and financially as well, if we could get a combination of ESPN and NBC, it would just be magnificent,” Johnson said. “ESPN is talking about continuing ‘Thursday Night Football’ which is a big draw and continuing ‘Big Monday’ in basketball which is huge.

LSL returns tonight at 6:00 on ESPN 680 and streaming on ESPNLouisville.com with special guest co-host Mike Hughes, Publisher of insidetheville.com.  He will give us the latest on the star studded visitor list of elite prospects set to be on campus this weekend as well as the commitments for Charlie Strong’s 2013 class.  Summer recruiting at UofL is heating up so we will have you covered.  In addition to recruiting, Big 12 expansion is the next hottest topic in CardNation.  We will bring on Warchant.com’s D.C. Reeves to get the Florida State/ACC angle on conference realignment.  Feel free to give us a shout at 267-9680 and on twitter @LvilleSprtsLive as we discuss only UofL athletics.

As the summer college football predictions keep churning out, Louisville is picked by another outlet to win the Big East this year.  The National Football Post tabs the Cards as the 2012 favorite to win the league.

1. Louisville: Charlie Strong has the Cardinals on the rise as he enters his third season, and there’s no question that the program is becoming more marketable to a Big 12 that may eventually move back to 12 members — or more . In the meantime, Strong continues to build a solid defense, a unit that will be helped by early-enrollee linebackers Keith Brown and James Burgess as well as a very good secondary. But there isn’t great depth across the front seven. Offensively, Teddy Bridgewater will continue to mature and improve as a quarterback, and he is coming off of a strong spring. I leapfrogged the Cardinals over Rutgers after spring because of Bridgewater and expected improvement across the offensive line.