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Thursday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Vivienne Suzanne Garcia, daughter of Daniel and Katie Garcia, has never experienced a Cardinal defeat. She hopes to continue that trend in a few short hours.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Spread check: Louisville by 5.5.

I_medium To start with today, I have to apologize for the lack of content on the site the last few days. I am trying to put a cap on this book (which I think at least some of you will moderately enjoy ... or at least there will be a couple pictures for your kids), and it is proving to be much, much more time consuming than I ever imagined.

I'm doing the best I can to balance these four gigs during the most hectic time of the year, so you might have to bear with me for another week or so. I'll be 100 percent when Quentin's 100 percent.

If you want to stand outside CC Headquarters with pitchforks and torches, I respect that too.

I_medium Late last night, three/four-star defensive end Aaron Odom flipped his commitment from Mississippi State to Louisville.

Odom's commitment moved Louisville up to No. 17 in the Scout rankings, passing Clemson and Michigan State, among others.

I_medium Louisville is No. 13 in Gary Parrish's daily rankings for CBS.

I_medium The ACC is losing a significant amount of talent to the NFL, but don't expect that to start a downward spiral for the league.

I_medium Yay to the warm-up, a massive nay to the jersey shirt.

I_medium Peyton Siva has been a "one man orchestra" for his squad in Berlin, and is the Euro Hoops MVP of the week.

I_medium They lost last night at Florida State, but Notre Dame has still been awfully impressive so far this season.

I_medium If you have a student ticket to a Louisville game at the Yum Center and you show up wearing an opposing team's colors, you're gonna have to sit in the back row.

I'm sure this is going to upset a lot of people, but like, just wear a white shirt or something. Or get a ticket somewhere else. Or don't be annoying and just watch the game at home.

I_medium Charlie Strong says he feels like he let minority coaches down with his failed stint at Texas.

I_medium D1Baseball.com has Louisville as its preseason No. 12 team.

I_medium Seth Allen knows parkour.

I_medium Things went poorly in Turkey for Russ Smith, who is now back with the Delaware 76ers of the NBDL.

I_medium This Deadspin piece on the growth of basketball in Ireland is wonderful.

I_medium Sports Illustrated has a five minute guide to the college hoops season so far.

I_medium ESPN's final rankings of the top 50 players in college football have Lamar Jackson at ... sixth?

6. Lamar Jackson
Louisville Cardinals
Sophomore | Quarterback
Score: 9.60
Preseason rank: 51

The reigning Heisman Trophy winner struggled at the end of the season thanks in part to a shaky offensive line, but that shouldn't take away from the monster performance he had: 51 total touchdowns, 1,571 yards rushing (No. 10 nationally) and 3,543 yards passing in a breakthrough season. -- Andrea Adelson

Elle oh Elle.

I_medium U of L QB commit Malik Cunningham will be taking an official visit to Louisville this weekend. Florida has recently made a strong push for the dual threat signal caller.

I_medium Virginia senior forward Jeff Jones has been declared academically ineligible.

I_medium Gonzaga is the last unbeaten remaining in college basketball, so CBS looks at the last unbeaten standing in previous seasons and how they ended up faring.

I_medium Damion Lee remains the man. Now and forever.

Over the past few U of L games, Lee sat behind the Cards' bench. He's usually in the locker room after the games, too, chopping it up with the teammates with whom he became close over last season.

He also wears a camera around his neck: Lee is a 24-year-old of many interests, from poetry and music to art and photography. He started an Instagram page - @dame0graphy - as a landing spot for his photos.

But he's planning to work when the time comes, just like he did the last time he tore his ACL when he was at Drexel. Once he can start working out again, he will make sure he is "diligent in everything" he does, Lee said, from lifting to form shooting.

He plans to watch and study film and immerse himself in basketball.

Above all else, Lee is planning on doing exactly what he's done every other time adversity hits: Strike a positive tone and focus on the next step, wherever it takes him.

"I have nothing to complain about," Lee said. "I know that there are people going through far worse situations than mine. Mine is based off the game of basketball, and I'm thankful to the game. I know I'll be back in no time."

I_medium Sports Illustrated's college hoops writers make their midseason predictions, and none have Louisville crashing the Final Four.

I_medium Waggener High School QB Larry Harper, who has a preferred walk-on offer from U of L, is an extremely impressive young man.

I_medium This seems to be a growing thought.

That's difficult to watch.

I_medium Louisville is a No. 4 seed in the latest mock bracket from The Sporting News.

I_medium This has not been a good four-month stretch for Devonte Fields.

I_medium Another year, another NBA to Louisville rumor that seems more likely than not to go unsubstantiated.

I_medium Pro Football Focus graded Stacy Thomas as the No. 3 linebacker in all of college football for this season.

I_medium Draft Express' latest projection has Donovan Mitchell going to the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 27th overall pick.

I_medium Love Lamar.

I_medium Four U of L men's soccer players heard their names called in the recent MLS Draft.

I_medium Shakin' the Southland (Clemson) previews tonight's game.

I_medium Donovan Mitchell was holding court yesterday in place of Rick Pitino.

"You have to be really flexible," says Mitchell. "I've been at the point, Tony (Hicks), Ryan (McMahon) — we've been trying so many different things. We had Matz (Stockman, a 7-foot center) there at one point ... No, I'm just kidding."

It's a nice laugh, with Stockman obviously not a suitable ball-handling replacement for the slick darter Snider. (But he'd try it.)

But Mitchell has a further point: That he's not going to juice his game to make up for Snider being out.

"I feel if you look at it like that, you're going to mess it up," says Mitchell. "You have to have guys approach the game in the same way, and let things fall where they may."

Like Snider, Mitchell is currently playing the best basketball of his career at UofL. The 6-2 sophomore has averaged 19 points, five rebounds, three assists in the past five games. He's also sunk 16 of 37 three-point shots, after clanking way too many earlier in the season. Mitchell also taketh away. He's averaging 2.2 steals a game, second in the ACC and 24th nationally.

"For me, personally, I don't look at it like I have to do more," he continues. "Just play my game."

I_medium I'm back on the radio form 3-6 saying nonsensical things and attempting to preview tonight's game. Listen here.

I_medium And finally, beat Clemson.

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