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Friday evening Cardinal news and notes

Cooper is bummed about Thursday's baseball loss but is already dreaming about the 2017-18 season of Louisville sports.

By Mike Rutherford

I_medium Just as a general heads up for the future, you are about to be flooded with Point Break/Donny Utah references. If I was better at photoshop you'd be flooded with those too.

I_medium Will be surprised if this streak isn't extended to five a year from now.

I_medium Donovan Mitchell is not getting Rookie of the Year odds from Bovada.

2017-2018 NBA Rookie of the Year -€” Odds to Win

Lonzo Ball                     5/2

Ben Simmons               3/1

Markelle Fultz                5/1

De"Aaron Fox               7/1

Josh Jackson               9/1

Jayson Tatum               9/1

Jonathan Isaac              16/1

Malik Monk                   16/1

Dennis Smith                16/1

John Collins                  20/1

Justin Jackson              22/1

Lauri Markkanen            22/1

I_medium Getting Donovan was the focus of Utah's Thursday night.

Mitchell had his first pro workout with the Jazz on May 27. At the time, it seemed like Utah was just working out as many players as possible; the Jazz only had the 24th pick in the draft and Mitchell would likely be long gone by then.

The Jazz "fell in love," ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford wrote Friday. "They were working all draft to figure out how to get (Mitchell)."

Minutes before Mitchell was selected, Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Utah had traded former Kentucky star Trey Lyles and the No. 24 pick to Denver in exchange for the 13th slot.

"That was a painful decision," Lindsey said. "... We targeted a few players, all close to the vest. Donovan was one of those guys in a big way because of his length and his athleticism and his character."

I_medium Pretty cool.

I_medium Shoutout to Louisvillian Jennifer Lawrence on getting her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.

I_medium SB Nation's first mock NBA draft for 2018 predicts that Brian Bowen will be Rick Pitino's first one-and-done.

23. Brian Bowen, SG, Louisville

Bowen was the last five-star recruit to commit out of the class of 2017, but it worked to his benefit by finding a great situation at Louisville. As the Cards' nominal replacement for Donovan Mitchell, Bowen brings superior size (6'7) and three-point shooting ability to the position. The Cards can run some really interesting lineups next season with Bowen, Deng Adel, and V.J. King. If Louisville is one of the top teams in the country (possible), Bowen could see his stock really start to rise.

I_medium NBC also has a Cardinal being taken in the first round of its 2018 mock draft, but that Cardinal is V.J. King.

I_medium The ACC set an NBA Draft record (video) with 10 first round picks last night.

I_medium On the other end of the spectrum, a good draft for the Big 12 last night only added to the conference's growing frustration with its lack of March Madness production.

I_medium When sponsorship templates go wrong:

I_medium SLC Dunk breaks down what to expect from Donovan Mitchell at the next level.

I_medium There's so much you can do with this picture.

I_medium Eric Crawford breaks down the ratings upset of more people in Louisville watching the CWS than the NBA Draft.

I_medium I'm going to write more about this next week, but we really should be making a bigger deal about the fact that there hasn't been one piece of negative off the field news involving Lamar Jackson since his rapid ascent to American sports superstar. That is an extreme rarity these days, and the young man deserves some significant praise.

Day 6 of the CWS in picturesis difficult to look at for Louisville fans.

If the 2016-17 college basketball season gave us nothing else, it gave us this Dillon Brooks GIF.

Baseball America says Louisville's loss to TCU last night marks the end of an era for a group of Cardinal legends.

A preview of this weekend's Louisville City FC game.

Shoutout to this kid. And Mark Morrison.

D1Baseball.com says despite its loss on Thursday, Louisville baseball has a paved road in front of it for the future.

Word, congressman.

Golden Nugget has Florida State as an 8-point favorite for a football game against Louisville that won't be played for another 11 months or something.

David Teel focuses on the good and the bad of Louisville's time in the ACC. The only bad has come off the field/court.

Louisville's 2012 invitation to join the ACC included none of the babbling about academic and cultural fit that accompanied much of conference realignment. This was a sports business transaction, and no one pretended otherwise.

Both parties have profited.

Just completing their third season in the league, the Cardinals have excelled as many anticipated. Their revenue sports, football and men's basketball, win. Their Olympic programs win.

Indeed, since joining the ACC, Louisville is a combined 333-106 in football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball. That .759 winning percentage in the four major sports paces the league by a wide margin —  Florida State is next at .703 (312-132).

Moreover, the Louisville market devours college sports on television like few, if any, in the country, a boon to the ACC Network that launches in 2019 in conjunction with ESPN.

Even the classroom component has worked. In men's basketball, the Cardinals have a perfect NCAA Academic Progress Rate of 1,000. Their most recent football APR of 988 trailed only Duke's 992 in the ACC.

The negative side of the column reads pretty much how you'd expect it to.

Easily the best record of all programs in the four major sports is cool.

And finally, beat the dead period.

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