Balloon Glow magic knows no limits. —Wisconsin PG transfer Chucky Hepburn is in town today for his official visit. Hepburn was greeted by some familiar faces at the airport last night. A loud C-A-R-D-S chant just greeted Chucky Hepburn at SDF. pic.twitter.com/kA00YdkSPo — Ty Spalding (@TySpalding) April 25, 2024 To me, the Hepburn addition would be the one that would take this from “we’ve got the pieces in place to be pretty fun in year one” to “I’m thinking some crazy thoughts now.” Let’s get it done. —The other major recruiting story of the day is that 5-star incoming freshman Jayden Qua ..read more

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images Balloon Glow magic is even stronger than previously thought. Pat Kelsey landed the seventh member of his 2024-25 Louisville basketball roster when Long Beach State transfer Aboubacar Traore committed to the Cards on Thursday. A 6’5, 195-pound small forward, Traore led The Beach to the NCAA tournament this past season by averaging 12.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, a team-best 4.5 assists, a team-best 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. He also notably shot 51.7 percent from the floor. Traore was First Team All-Big West this past season, and also won the league ..read more

Travel season is upon us. —Reggie Bush has his Heisman Trophy back. Louisville’s banner should be next. —A very happy 53rd birthday to Louisville head football coach Jeff Brohm. —On3 ranks Brohm as the 20th-best coach in college football right now. —The Athletic ranks the 300 best prospects in the NFL Draft and has Jarvis Brownlee at No. 112, Isaac Guerendo at No. 146, Jamari Thrash at No. 175 and Jawhar Jordan at No. 262. Brownlee’s aggressive nature will be a double-edged sword versus seasoned NFL athletes, but his movement skills and competitive toughness will be attractive qualities for ..read more

Photo by Louisville Athletics The Cards avenged their loss after falling in Bowling Green earlier this month Two weeks ago, Louisville (24-16, 9-9 ACC) and WKU (29-13, 11-4 C-USA) met in Bowling Green in a game that needed extra innings to determine the winner with the Hilltoppers taking the game 3-2. Tuesday night, the Cards came out with a chip on their shoulders, scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the 1st, a school record for most runs ever scored in an inning, leaving no doubt about this one. Louisville sent 9 batters to the plate before Western recorded a single out, led by a grand slam off ..read more

L’s up from Puerto Rico. —After going through spring practice, U of L safety Wesley Walker — who transferred in from Tennessee back in January — is re-entering the the transfer portal. —Louisville Report’s Matt McGavic breaks down the game of newest U of L basketball addition Koren Johnson. —The start time for today’s Louisville-Western Kentucky baseball game has been moved up an hour to 5 p.m. The Cards are looking for revenge after an extra inning loss in Bowling Green a few weeks ago. —Oakland athletes turn into superheroes when they’re facing teams from Kentucky. Ok- now I’ve seen it al ..read more

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports The Cards can now field a starting five. Washington junior guard Koren Johnson announced Monday that he’ll play his third season of college basketball at Louisville. The 6’2 guard 11.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 2023-24, picking up Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year honors in the process. Johnson had a sensational final month of the season, averaging 18.5 points and shooting over 50 percent overall and from three-point range in Washington’s final eight games. He scored a career-high 30 points in a Feb. 15 win over Stanford. Johnson is lightning quick with the ..read more

Eat it, Western. —Luke Burgess, Sam Secrest and Tawfiq Thomas are the latest Louisville football players to hit the transfer portal. Best of luck to all of them. —The Louisville baseball team got thumped on Sunday, but they still took two of three from Miami on the road. The Cards (23-16, 9-9 ACC) will host Western Kentucky Tuesday night at 6. —Jordan Reid’s seven-round mock NFL Draft for ESPN has Jarvis Brownlee and Jamari Thrash going in the fourth round, and Isaac Guerendo going in the fifth. —It appears this year’s Louisville-Notre Dame game will only be available on Peacock. @kabeln @l ..read more

So, yeah, you loyal readers, especially the ones at the Chron, you won’t have me to kick around for the next couple weeks. Which one hopes you might have already discerned from the photo up top, an image of you now know where I’ll be if you didn’t already. So, say, next Thursday morning at 11:30 when you are at work, or you’re lookin’ for some bloggoid type to vent your spleen toward, I’ll be sipping on a frozen latte, perhaps not being able to wait also savoring a crawfish strudel, and be either at Gentilly Stage listening to the New Orleans Suspects, or in the Blues Tent with Tin Men, or in ..read more

Football. —Louisville beat out Kentucky for BYU big man transfer Aly Khalifa on Thursday, but the news came with the caveat that Khalifa will redshirt the 2024-25 season because of a knee injury. Khalifa has issues with speed and conditioning, but his combination of size and offensive skill make him a lethal threat and a perfect fit in Pat Kelsey’s 5-out offense. Evan Miyakawa believes he’s one of the 10-best transfers in the country. —There had been talk that Anas Mahmoud played a big part in Louisville landing Khalifa who, like Mahmoud, is from Egypt. It would appear that talk was accurate ..read more

Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty ImagesWILL THE SECONDARY SHUT DOWN UOFL’S NEW GROUP OF RECEIVERS? Jeff Brohm will always be an offensive coach but his defense shined last year and his key focus in the portal this cycle was to address depth in the secondary. While UofL had a solid pass defense last season, they struggled late in the season when the wear-and-tear of the season started to take its toll. Louisville’s interceptions decreased each quarter of the season while their passer rating defense got worse as the season went on even as teams threw the ball fewer times against them. The season ..read more