Wednesday evening Cardinal news and notes

Donovan Mitchell has elected not to participate in the 5-on-5 games at the NBA Draft Combine, which is the advice that Rick Pitino said he would give him back in March.

The latest NCAA tournament projection from Baseball America has Louisville as the tournament's No. 5 overall seed.

Ex-Louisville forward Akoy Agau has announced that he will be transferring from Georgetown.

Former U of L standout Adam Duvall is proving that his All-Star season for the Reds a year ago was no fluke.

When Reds left fielder Adam Duvall connected for a three-run home run against Gerrit Cole in the sixth inning during his team's 4-3 win over the Pirates in 10 innings on Monday, the 0-1 pitch he slugged to left field was a slider. The outcome should not have been too surprising.

According to Statcast, Duvall entered Tuesday leading the Majors with a .929 slugging percentage on offspeed pitches (minimum 20 at-bats ending with offspeed). Freddie Freeman of the Braves was second at .862. In 2016, Duvall was second in that category.

"I don't look too much at what I hit, really, but how I am striking the ball," Duvall said. "I just try to put solid contact on the ball."

Duvall, who was a breakout sensation for the Reds last season with 33 homers and 103 RBIs, is flexing his power again lately. In his previous 11 games, he has five homers and 13 RBIs, and his eight homers overall are tied for second on the team with Scott Schebler.

Richard Pitino has reportedly agreed to a new contract with Minnesota that is expected to be announced later today.

The ACC Digital Network names Dez Fitzpatrick as one of its top three impact freshmen of the spring.

Terry Rozier again came up huge for the Celtics last night, which is not a new thing in these playoffs.

Terry Rozier is +94 in the postseason. That leads the NBA.

— Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) May 3, 2017

Bad news to report on former Cardinal Alex Sanders, who was arrested on drug trafficking charges Tuesday.

Officers said Sanders, 41, answered the door at 1536 W. 3rd St. in Owensboro and allowed them in to execute a search warrant, which yielded a handgun, nearly $2,000 in cash and a bag of crack cocaine.

Sanders has an arraignment scheduled for Wednesday.

A 6-foot-7 forward in college, Sanders averaged 10.6 points and six rebounds per game at U of L. He led the team in rebounds per contest in his last season and scored 1,031 career points.

Sanders also spent a considerable amount of time as a Harlem Globetrotter after his time at Louisville.

A D-II player connected on 67 percent of his three-point attempts this past season, which is ridiculous.

Frank Martin's first pitch last night was ... not great.

South Carolina hoops coach Frank Martin throws out the first pitch at the Fireflies game.

Effort was better than execution ... pic.twitter.com/iigUzqTULx

— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) May 2, 2017

Maybe technique is more important than attitude after all.

Your full 14-race card for Saturday at Churchill Downs is here.

Happy Derby Week Wednesday.

"What are you tailgating for?"
"A fake race between two steamboats."
"Oh."
"Yeah."

— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) May 3, 2017

My plan at the track tomorrow is to drunkenly interrupt the conversations of strangers with "You guys talkin' about Patch?" And then I'll let them know that he only has one eye.

This profile of Pete Carroll from 10 years ago is worth your time.

How 'bout this day?

@TNHSsmith @CardChronicle @D19m82 Maybe we can get Clare Taylor on there one day.... pic.twitter.com/wmFnoItsbQ

— Ryan Gerage (@RyanGerage1) May 3, 2017

The U of L men's tennis team will take on Central Florida in the first round of the NCAA Championships.

Louisville women's hoopers Kylee Shook and Dana Evans have been invited to the trials for the women's U-19 World Cup team.

Charlie Strong got called out pretty vigorously by a judge in South Florida.

"Coach Strong, if you are listening, in the last couple of months there have been two arrests of your players for very violent felonies. This court, and I'm sure I'm not alone, questions whether you have control over your players. It's fairly clear you do not have control of them off the field, and I guess only time will tell whether you have control over them on the field.

"I would implore you to think long and hard about whether being head coach at USF is a good fit for you before any other members of this community have to suffer at the hands of one of your players."

Control over his players' behavior might be the one thing that Charlie Strong has never been criticized for before.

Strong issued a statement in response.

In the short time I have been here our program has been built on character, discipline and family. We have wonderful young men in the USF football program who choose to do the right thing every day. We are dedicated to recruiting young men of high character, and to consistently developing them with structure and frequent education regarding appropriate conduct and behavior, on and off the playing field. While I am shocked and saddened at the recent arrest of a member of our team, I am disappointed that the actions of two players over the last two months have harmed the reputation of our program, of our wonderful university and of my character. We have high expectations of our coaches, staff and student-athletes and we hold accountable those who act contrary to our values.

Lamar Jackson is one of nine reasons why quarterback hype is going to be huge in college football this season.

And finally, congratulations to U of L lacrosse standout Brittany Read, who has been named the ACC Defender of the Year.