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Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

Oahu is as good a place as any to spend the first day of summer and the 2017 Card Chronicle Summer Tour.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium The first set of ACC bowl predictions from College Football News has Louisville going back to the Citrus Bowl to face Auburn.

I_medium Jeff Greer catches up with Donovan Mitchell in both print and podcast form.

I_medium Teddy Bridgewater was one of the biggest winners from the NFL's June minicamps.

It takes a special situation for a player to come away from minicamp a winner despite hardly participating. But that's the case with Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, because the serious knee injury he suffered last August threatened the 24-year-old former Pro Bowler's career.

That left knee injury—multiple torn ligaments as well as a dislocation—was so gruesome and severe that the Vikings traded for quarterback Sam Bradford immediately after. In January, Bleacher Report's Jason Cole reported that he'd miss the entire 2017 season as well.

In February, USA Today's Tom Pelissero quoted Vikes general manager Rick Spielman saying that "everybody's hoping" Bridgewater could merely resume his career at some point. In March, Pelissero reported that there was still no timetable for a potential return. And in May, the team declined his fifth-year option for 2018.

But Bridgewater took snaps and threw passes at several OTA sessions in May and June, and Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer told ESPN.com's Ben Goessling in early June that the 24-year-old was "progressing as well as anybody could expect." He continued to throw to receivers as part of individual drills at minicamp, and one of them—2016 first-round pick Laquon Treadwell—came away particularly impressed.

"He looks great—really great," said Treadwell, per Goessling. "It's like he was never hurt."

That's more than just a small victory for one of the game's most exciting, talented young players.

I_medium Class of 2018 wide receiver Akeem Hayes flipped his commitment from Louisville to Kentucky late Tuesday night. Good luck with that.

I_medium Sam Vecenie's final NBA Draft big board for The Sporting News has Donovan Mitchell as the 13th-best player in the draft.

I_medium Draft Express joins the contingent of people predicting Mitchell to go 11th to the Hornets.

I_medium Not exactly a loaded statement from Chane.

Peyton Siva also weighs in.

I_medium Just like Ben Simmons a year ago, Markelle Fultz is primed to be drafted No. 1 overall despite having virtually zero impact on college basketball in his one season. I wrote about what that means for the sport moving forward.

I_medium This plan to thwart the NCAA with a pay-for-play HBCU conference won't happen, but I wish it would.

I_medium Mike Krzyzewski says it's time for high school players to be able to go straight to the NBA again.

"People say that we've changed our recruiting philosophy," he said. "We haven't changed our recruiting philosophy. We've always recruited really good players who are good students and good kids, and now that combination has produced one-and-dones. Grant Hill and Elton Brand, Elton Brand was a two-and-done. We've had a number of guys who early on, like 10, 20 years ago, they would be one-and-dones right now. So that's who we have attracted. We're not going to stop recruiting them, but it doesn't mean we've changed our philosophy. The world of basketball has changed, and we're trying to adapt to those changes."

One of his peers thinks this may be some spin from Coach K. "I think Mike hates it," a prominent coach told CBS Sports regarding the current NBA rule, and cited Krzyzewski's adaptation to recruiting in this era. That's backed up by Coach K riding his greatest recruiting run ever, including Duke's boom in the 1980s.

"In baseball, actually in theater, in music, if you're 16 and you're really good, you go on a different path," Krzyzewski said on radio. "I really think that high school players should be allowed to go. And once they get to college, if you don't do that, I think a two-year period -- so you legitimize being in college going for an education. You don't just kind of use the college system as a training ground." (Actually, the baseball rule states players can go pro out of high school or after three years of college.)

Krzyzewski emphasized a need for more communication between the the NBA and the NCAA/college basketball. He also advocated for every NBA team to have a G League (formerly D-League) team for a feeder system (the G League has 22 teams owned among 30 NBA franchises).

"I think each NBA team should be responsible for having a minor league affiliate, the development league, where these kids could go in and you could train them," Krzyzewski said. "I mean, a kid who's really, really good coming out of high school, who does not want to go to school, would gain more from being in a pro system where he is working on his craft and his body and the development every day, just like a minor league, just like a baseball player."

I_medium SB Nation golf writer walked with Justin Thomas for every step of his record-breaking Saturday at the U.S. Open. He then penned this on Thomas and Louisville.

I_medium Louisville Metro Council President David Yates won't be indicted for a fight he was involved in during the Wake Forest football game at PJCS back in November. His defense probably wasn't "the first three quarters of that game would have made anyone want to fight," but it likely would have been just as effective.

Related: Never let me be on a grand jury.

I_medium Louisville likes sports, exhibit 10 billion:

I_medium Branden Klayko, who ran the great Louisville website Broken Sidewalk, passed away at the far too young age of 33 this week. Stephen George pays him a worthwhile tribute here.

I_medium Gary Parrish's last mock draft for CBS has Mangok going at pick 17. It doesn't really, but Donovan Mitchell is a Piston.

I_medium Jo Adell won't play for Louisville, but he has still joined the adidas team.

I_medium Four-star linebacker Ben Wilson will be announcing his college decision on Friday. Wilson has Louisville in his final list of seven schools.

I_medium Alcohol sales are growing at college sporting events, a trend that North Carolina schools could benefit from.

I_medium Very solid numbers.

Would bet on a slight dip Thursday because the game is competing with the draft, but the (hopefully) Friday-Saturday numbers would likely be just as large.

I_medium Swing and a miss.

See, that's an appropriate lead-in because it's a baseball reference. Or should I say, an appropriate lead-OFF.

I am so dead inside.

I_medium Some of college basketball's top incoming freshmen, including Louisville's Brian Bowen, weigh in with who they would draft No. 1 overall this year.

Brian Bowen, Louisville, SF, 2017

The player I would take with No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft is..."Josh Jackson. Because he plays like a straight GOON at all times. He plays harder than anyone in the draft on both ends of the floor. He has crazy athleticism and he's a big time winner."

Rick Pitino agrees, and I think they both have a very good case.

I_medium ESPN's Jeff Borzello looks at the biggest recruiting storylines for the basketball recruiting year ahead.

I_medium This is what happens when kids leave Louisville too soon.

I_medium The outside world continues to downplay the significance of Louisville, or anybody, having to take down a banner and vacate wins. On one hand, I completely understand. On the other, they don't have to co-exist with the world's most obnoxious and least creative fan base.

I_medium Shoutout to Zach.

I_medium Frogs 'O War reviews TCU's win over Texas A&M and looks ahead to tomorrow night's game against Louisville.

I_medium Learn more about new Louisville defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon.

I_medium Jim Boeheim gives his two cents on Louisville's current situation.

"Obviously when somebody does something like that there is going to be repercussions and I don't believe Rick Pitino knew about it but it still happened," Boeheim said on ESPN 104.5. "I didn't know about somebody putting quotations in a paper at Syracuse but it happened. So, you know we're going to take the hits for it."

"We took our hits, you know Louisville is taking their hits," Boeheim said. "I don't like it, and there's not much you can do about it, but when you go back and say well this player is ineligible because of what happened here now you forfeit all these games and things, and at the time you didn't know he would be ineligible."

"So it's a hard rule," Boeheim said. "I don't know the solution but when you go back and the school, the player didn't, you know nobody knew they were gonna be made ineligible and then they're made ineligible what? 10 years later? Or how many years later has it been probably not 10 but seven. You take away games and I think that's difficult. I think you have to punish schools but when you start taking games away I think it's something I don't have the solution for, but I don't like that particular part of the punishment."

"Louisville's fine, they'll be fine, they have good players, and they'll be real good this year. And they'll recover from this," Boeheim said.

I_medium The Charlotte Observer focuses in on Donovan Mitchell.

I_medium And finally, if your'e looking for postgame comments from Brendan McKay, Kade McClure and Dan McDonnell, you can find that video here.

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