CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Up next in the countdown to the Louisville women's basketball season: ACC Tipoff.

Head coach Jeff Walz and forwards Olivia Cochran and Mackenly Randolph will represent the Cardinals this morning during the annual media event at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown.

Walz enters Year 18 at U of L looking to improve upon last season's first-round NCAA Tournament exit; and his team has a different feel to it this go-around with eight freshmen joining five upperclassmen. It's one of the youngest squads he has had since his 2010-11 team featured six freshmen.

The Cards went 24-10 in 2023-24 and finished fifth in the ACC with a 12-6 record. They fell in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament to eventual champion Notre Dame. The 2024-25 campaign tips off Nov. 4 against UCLA in Paris as part of the Aflac Oui-Play event.

Courier Journal reporter Brooks Holton and columnist C.L. Brown are in Charlotte keeping up with Louisville and everyone else making the rounds at ACC Tipoff — including Commissioner Jim Phillips, who met with the media at 12:30 p.m. today. Follow along with their live coverage below:

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips: 'This league has been undervalued'

Phillips, as commissioners are prone to do, stood up for the ACC during his Q&A session this afternoon.

He called the conference "undervalued" several times and said its 15 bids to the NCAA Tournament over the past three years — five teams reached March Madness in 2022, 2023 and 2024 — are "not reflective of the basketball that's being played in this league." But he also said it's on him to figure out how to change that.

That's why he launched an "extensive statistical analysis" this past spring into how the ACC's scheduling habits impact NET rankings and, in turn, the NCAA Tournament selection process.

"You have to play a good schedule," Phillips said. "Whether we like it or not, the narrative starts to get set in November and in December in the nonconference games. You have to perform at a greater level."

Phillips also said he would be in favor of a "slight expansion" to the March Madness field; noting, "I feel like we've been one of those conferences that's had one or two teams every year that were on the bubble that fell on the wrong side of the bubble."

As far as the active lawsuits with Florida State and Clemson are concerned, the commissioner didn't provide much of an update — saying only that there are "limits" to what he can share and that the ACC is "confident in our legal position" and "prepared for long-term litigation."

The Seminoles sued the ACC in December in an attempt to break free from its grant of rights and find a new conference to call home. The Tigers followed with a similar suit in March.

Louisville's Jeff Walz on growth of women's basketball

Walz was asked what collegiate women's basketball can do to keep the national buzz going in the wake of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese's departures to the WNBA. After drawing a lot of laughs by pretending as if he didn't know who they were, the Louisville coach had this to say:

"It's amazing what's taken place," Walz said, "but I'm going to go back, and I've said it on record; Maya Moore is the best player I've ever coached against. Angel McCoughtry is the best player I've ever coached.

"The difference is," he continued, "when they did something spectacular in a game, it wasn't able to be seen on a national stage in five seconds. You hoped that ESPN might (make) it one of the top 10 plays. Back then, that really didn't happen very often. So a lot of people, unless you went to the games, didn't get the opportunity to see how talented and how good these young ladies are.

"Caitlin, Angel — great players. We've got so many great players now. I don't think it's going to go backward; because we're able to showcase what we have. Now, what I'm hoping (for) in our game that I think we have to get better at, and I've been fighting this: We will come into a season with a narrative that we want to show. Then, we stick with it. You could have a kid who nobody even knew about starts dropping 25 and 30, and we don't change our narrative. See, that's where we miss out in my opinion.

"It's great to have, 'Hey, here's who I think is going to be really good,' but then, when somebody else comes along, we need to do a better job of going, 'Hey, we got to go showcase this young lady as well.' ... For our game to continue to grow, I think we've got to do a better job of making sure we're willing to showcase those ones who we didn't anticipate to be great; because they're out there. It's fun to watch.

"Overall, the media has done so much of a better job showcasing, promoting our sport, and social media, we're able to get things out instantly."

Olivia Cochran on last go-around with Louisville women's basketball

When asked why she returned to Louisville for a fifth season, Cochran said she wasn't ready to be a grown-up just yet. Walz, however, is going to need every bit of her experience and maturity if the Cards are going to turn the page on last season's underwhelming NCAA Tournament performance.

"We don't want to keep dwelling on the past," Cochran said. "We're just trying to move forward and set our own standards this year.

"We know what we're capable of," she added. "Last season, we didn't show that."

Cochran, who averaged a career-high 10.8 points per game on 49.7% shooting as a senior, has started every game dating back to the 2022-23 campaign. Her goal is to keep up the consistency and to "be the best teammate I can be" in 2024-25.

"I know what I can do and what I can produce for my teammates," she said. "I'm not trying to put all that pressure on (myself); I'm just going to get what I need to be done, and that's going to be that.'

Jeff Walz talks Paris trip, Louisville women's basketball roster

Walz joked that, when Louisville gets to Paris a few days before the season opener, the first thing he's going to have the Cards do is run the stairs of the Eiffel Tower.

"The first five up start," he said.

Not long before that, Walz told reporters: "It's not going to matter who starts for us; because whoever is on the floor is talented and has the ability to impact the game."

Walz also spoke highly of Randolph, a 6-foot freshman from Los Angeles who is the daughter of former NBA All-Star Zach Randolph, calling her "one of our most consistent players we've had so far.

"Not just making shots — but being vocal, being a leader, being positive — just how she handles herself," he said. "I've been very, very impressed with it."

Duke's Jon Scheyer talks keeping Cooper Flagg grounded

The hype is just beginning for Duke freshman Cooper Flagg. Sure, he’s been getting lauded for the skills that made him the No. 1 player in the 2024 class and national high school Player of the Year. And his performance with the select team that scrimmaged the U.S. Olympic team just confirmed he’s the real deal.

But with the truth, comes trouble in terms of off court demands and requests and just unwanted or unnecessary attention. Flagg won’t be able to escape it, but Duke is as equipped to help him handle it as any school.

Flagg’s “team” of his family and those he trust have limited fulfilling most media requests. To date, only ESPN has had a major interview with the 6-foot-9 forward from Maine.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer keeps his advice to Flagg simple.

“Don’t worry about things you can’t control is something I’ve learned,:” Scheyer said. “Another thing I’ve learned is how incredibly hot and cold it gets.”

The goal for Scheyer is to keep things even keeled for Flagg.

ACC Tipoff attendees: Jeff Walz, Olivia Cochran and Mackenly Randolph representing Louisville women's basketball

Here's a rundown of the ACC Tipoff guest list for today, which is split between women's teams in the morning and men's teams in the afternoon:

Wednesday morning

• Boston College: coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, T’yana Todd and Dontavia Waggoner

• California: coach Charmin Smith, Ioanna Krimili, Ugonne (Michelle) Onyiah and Marta Suarez

• Louisville: coach Jeff Walz, Olivia Cochran and Mackenly Randolph

• North Carolina: coach Courtney Banghart, Lexi Donarski, Maria Gakdeng and Alyssa Ustby

• Stanford: coach Kate Paye, Brooke Demetre and Talana Lepolo

• Virginia Tech: coach Megan Duffy, Matilda Ekh, Rose Micheaux and Carleigh Wenzel

Wednesday afternoon

• Duke: coach Jon Scheyer, Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor

• Florida State: coach Leonard Hamilton, Taylor Bol Bowen, Jamir Watkins

• Georgia Tech: coach Damon Stoudamire, Naithan George and Kowacie Reeves Jr.

• N.C. State: coach Kevin Keatts, Michael O'Connell and Jayden Taylor

• SMU: coach Andy Enfield, Chuck Harris and Kevin "Boopie" Miller

• Stanford: coach Kyle Smith, Jaylen Blakes and Maxime Raynaud

How to watch ACC Tipoff: TV channel, streaming info

The ACC Network will have live coverage of ACC Tipoff from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

The ACC Network is channel 610 on AT&T U-Verse, channel 612 on DirecTV, channel 402 on Dish and channels 524 and 937 on Spectrum.

If you don’t have cable, you can access the ACC Network through services such as ESPN+ (SUBSCRIBE). ACC Tipoff is also available to stream via fuboTV (FREE TRIAL) and YouTube TV (FREE TRIAL).

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Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton. Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Cardinals: Jeff Walz, U of L basketball at ACC Tipoff today