Tuesday Morning Cardinal News And Notes

The biggest story of Monday (because it was Monday, July 21 and not any Monday between September and April) was the news that Mark Stoops will not be attending Wednesday's Governor's Cup Luncheon in Louisville. UK spokesman Tony Neely explained to the media that with the game four months off, Stoops decided that he needed to spend these days preparing for fall practice, recruiting and going over tapes. Neely added that the organizer's of the luncheon have been aware that Stoops would not appear for months.

To my knowledge, this is the first time that a coach on either side has elected not to attend the luncheon, which wouldn't be all that notable if so many major figures on both sides (including the governor) weren't all planning on attending.

Look, Stoops should go, especially when you take into account the fact that the event benefits the Dare to Care charity. At the same time, it does seem a little bit silly to be having an event for a football game that we are more than four months away from. When this event was created, its purpose was basically to generate some excitement and attention for a sport and a rivalry that was largely overlooked in this basketball-centric area. A lot has changed since then (including, now, the date of the game), and something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.

Louisville doesn't need to educate or hype up its fans on football anymore, and Stoops certainly has the attention of many folks in Lexington. Still, it's sad to see traditions fall by the wayside as a result.

Among the most notable items of knowledge dropped by Bobby Petrino on Monday was the news that backup quarterback Kyle Bolin injured his knee this offseason and required surgery.

Bolin, you may remember, tore his ACL during his senior year at Lexington Catholic.

Reached by phone Monday evening, Bolin's dad Kerry said his son tore the meniscus in his right knee. Bolin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during his senior year of high school.

Bolin's father said his son was nearing 100 percent, was in good spirits and thought he'd be ready for preseason team camp.

"It's football, man. Things happen in football," the elder Bolin said. "Kyle's strong and fights through it. ... It's definitely not something that's going to make the competition any easier. It's just something you have to deal with."

There's now even more pressure on true freshman Reggie Bonnafon or JuCo transfer Pat Thomas to emerge as (at the very least) a suitable backup for Will Gardner during fall camp.

With the 2014 college football season just around corner, ESPNU is celebrating by reliving the 25 best games of 2013. The good news? Louisville makes the list at No. 8. The bad news? That game is the only one the Cards lost last season.

If you're a glutton for punishment or just want to get yourself properly focused for another showdown against a Florida team, ESPNU will be airing Louisville/Central Florida in full on July 30 at 10 p.m.

If you missed any of ESPN 680's wall-to-wall coverage of the ACC Kickoff, be sure to hit up the audio vault.

This is pretty awesome.

Sara Hammond could also take any one of the Plumlees in the post.

Norv Turner says (video) Teddy should have been a top 10 pick in the draft, but that it worked out great for the Vikings that he wasn't.

In his final game of the summer, Luke Hancock scored two points and grabbed two rebounds in 12 minutes as the Rockets fell to the Kings in the Vegas Summer League title game.

As Rick Pitino and company continue to do work on the recruiting trail, Allonzo Trier is one of the names you can expect to hear a lot more of.

Allonzo Trier has put on a show at Peach Jam, despite dropping two close games to Each 1 Teach 1 Elite and CIA Bounce.

Averaging 25.5 PPG in 3 games, Trier has played in front of Arizona's Sean Miller and Louisville's Rick Pitino, and he lists those as two schools that are working hard.

"Arizona, Louisville, UCLA, Washington, North Carolina, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgetown," Trier said.

Lorenzo Mauldin's (Cardinal) red hair was one of the biggest fashion statements made at the ACC Kickoff.

Teddy Bridgewater has a lower Madden rating than Blake Bortles and apparently throws a shoddy deep ball in the game.

He took the news better than I did.

Ronnie Hoggans, a three-star cornerback from Pompano Beach, Fla., will announce his college decision tonight at 9. He is choosing between Louisville, TCU and Wisconsin.

SB Nation looks at what we learned from Bobby Petrino at the ACC Kickoff.

Deng Adel talks to Ausa Hoops about his recent commitment to the Cards.

Adel said he wanted to, "just to get it out of the way. My senior year is coming, and I wanted to focus on playing and getting better and preparing for college. I've been talking to Coach Pitino about what they want me to improve before I get on campus."

"Because I committed early, I can ask them ‘what can I work on before I go there?' So when I go to college, I can be an immediate impact."

Adel has strong links to current Louisville player Mangok Mathiang. Mathiang played for the same high school coach, Loren Jackson, when Jackson was at IMG.

Adel mentioned that Mathiang had some influence over his commitment to Louisville, but he also mentioned that "at the same time, I was going to go if Mangok wasn't there. I liked the playing style the school, and it was just best fit. They have diehard fans and a great city."

"But, Mangok did a good job recruiting me. He told me everything I needed to know."

Sounds like a perfect fit.

The ACC doesn't want to be known as a "basketball league" anymore.

Backing the Pack (NC State) previews Louisville.

Best of Louisville: Surgeon.

Imagine being heavily drugged and that being the last image you see before fully going under. Or I guess just imagine seeing that completely sober and seeing that. It works the same in pretty much any state.

By the way, if you want to make this glorious dream a reality, you'll have to visit Dr. James Murphy.

Fortune takes a close look at Junior Bridgeman, who has been even more successful post-basketball than he was with the Cards and the Milwaukee Bucks.

If you have a dog and/or small child, this should be your next purchase:

SportsBook.ag has set the over/under on Louisville's 2014 win total at 8.

Jameis Winston is pumped about playing in the storied "cold Kentucky environment" that is Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

Q. You talked a little bit about the respect in the ACC. What do you think about the new team on the block, Louisville?

JAMEIS WINSTON: Louisville has had some great seasons, especially the past two years, with BCS ‑‑ well, not last year but the previous year with beating Florida in the Sugar Bowl, and any team to help improve the ACC and any team that we can bring in to get people to watch us play, I'm all for it, because I look forward to playing Louisville on Thursday in the cold Kentucky environment. It's going to be fun.

Teddy Bridgewater has the third-best selling jersey this summer among NFL rookies, and the 13th-best selling jersey in the NFL, period. No player has sold more jerseys since the draft than Johnny Manziel.

Cardinal Sports Zone is talking Ray Spalding commitment and more in their weekly hoops recruiting notebook.

Full details coming shortly, but here's your third U of L-themed Maker's Mark bottle:

Must-have.

The Prince Ali to Louisville talks continue to heat up, and I could not be more excited about it.

And finally, Mark Ennis and I will be live from the Governor's Cup Reception at the Derby Museum on ESPN 680 from 6-7:30 tonight. Should be fun.