Jeff Greer | Courier Journal

Jeff Greer/Louisville Courier Journal/USA TODAY NETWORK

Timothy D. Easley, AP

ATLANTA — Louisville's hearing before the NCAA's Infractions Appeals Committee starts Wednesday morning in Georgia's capital.

It is the final step in the University of Louisville's appeal of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions' ruling in the escort case involving former staff member Andre McGee.

(For more details on how the appeal process works, here's an explainer.)

The meeting is closed to media and the public, but here are some updates from just outside the hearing room:

► 2:20 p.m. update: Read the full story here.

► 12:30 p.m. update: The hearing is over. It lasted just about four hours. As you'd expect, not a whole lot to report at this moment. More coming on courier-journal.com shortly.

► 12:02 p.m. update: I was wrong. Just a five-minute break to huddle for Louisville's group. They're back at it in the hearing room. All you can hear out in the waiting area is the hum of two escalators, the ding of elevator bells and the stale air of a pretty bland hotel meeting space.

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► 11:57 a.m. update: Another break at the hearing, with Louisville's reps leaving the room first. I'd describe the demeanor as ... A bunch of dressed-up people who look like they've been in a meeting all morning. I'd imagine this is a break for lunch.

► 11:05 a.m. update: Louisville's group talked for maybe five minutes or so. The hearing is back in session. I have no clue how to interpret any of these segments, so I wouldn't recommend jumping to conclusions.

► 10:56 a.m. update: Another break here at the hearing. Louisville's representatives all came out at the same time and walked to the other side of the floor. Whatever segment the hearing just had lasted about 40 minutes.

► 10:15 a.m. update: OK, everyone is back in the hearing room after about a 25-minute break. Louisville's representatives had a brief chat on the other side of the floor, away from the ballroom. Interim president Greg Postel and interim athletics director Vince Tyra sipped coffee and chatted for a good 10 minutes just outside the hearing room.

► 9:49 a.m. update: The first break of the day since the hearing began about an hour ago. They typically take one every hour or two at these hearings. My guess is they break after each entity represented — enforcement staff, Committee on Infractions panel, university reps, etc. — at the hearing speaks.

► Interim Louisville president Greg Postel and interim athletics director Vince Tyra are the school's primary representatives, along with compliance consultant Chuck Smrt, who also guided the university through the original infractions process. Louisville's general counsel, Leslie Chambers Strohm, is here, too, with support staff. They all trickled in around 8:30 a.m.

► The university's officials met one last time with Smrt on Tuesday afternoon to prepare for the hearing. (For more on that, click here.)

► Former Louisville coach Rick Pitino is not coming to the hearing to appeal his five-game suspension, which probably doesn't surprise anyone. Pitino told Courier Journal columnist Tim Sullivan he was under the impression his five-game suspension, ordered by the NCAA Committee on Infractions, was already served, though it's unclear if that's accurate. He also said he was free to coach next season.

► The hearing is expected to take most of the business day, if not longer. For comparison, Louisville's hearing in April in Cincinnati was nearly 11 hours over just one day.

► For some background: The appeals committee, which is completely different from the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, is expected to issue its final decision sometime in January. Louisville focused its appeal on the proposed vacation of wins/records, including the 2012 Final Four appearance and the 2013 national championship, and significant financial penalties.

► The ballroom holding the hearing is ... exactly what you'd expect a hotel ballroom to look like from the outside. Users of the room need key access to get in, and this particular room takes up one side of a meeting floor at this hotel in Atlanta. In fact, the only indication this is where the hearing will be held, since the meeting room is not on the hotel video boards, is a support staffer's table outside the room.