Thursday evening Cardinal news and notes

—Sad news to report out of Lexington, where former U of L football walk-on Justin King was killed in a car crash at the far too young age of 21. King was a standout at West Jessamine High School before walking on and playing at Louisville during the 2015 season. He had transferred to Georgetown College and was planning on playing for the Tigers this season.

—Teddy Bridgewater addressed the media Thursday for the first time since his knee injury 11 months ago.

—Our friends over at Never Nervous have a nice write-up about the pre-order release of 100 Things Louisville.

—The Philadelphia Eagles released former Louisville star Marcus Smith, a player they took in the first round just three years ago. The media in Philadelphia is already labeling Smith as one of the biggest busts in franchise history.

—If you finished the new season of Last Chance U (or have started but don’t mind spoilers), here’s a look at where the main characters from both seasons are currently. Former U of L outside linebacker Tim Bonner is one of the featured players in this year’s season.

—Mind blown.

—Over 80,000 people streamed an AAU game last night between Zion Williamson and LaMelo Ball’s teams. The game almost wasn’t played because there were too many people in the gym and around the court. Gary Parrish has a write-up on the surreal scene from Las Vegas.

—The CBS podcast recapping the night paints an even more insane picture. LeBron James got turned away, high major coaches struggled to get into the gym, and all for a couple of teenagers on average AAU teams, one of whom has a dad who says crazy stuff.

—Adrian Beltre might have pulled my favorite sports move of the year last night.

—The new NFL mock draft from Bleacher Report has Jaire Alexander as the only Cardinal taken in the first round, going to the Patriots at pick 32.

—This Ole Miss case is showing how the NCAA sausage is made, which is unsurprisingly gross.

—The summer hype train rolls on for Anfernee Simons.

—Former Belmont star Evan Bradds writes about the problem with conference tournaments and at-large bids for mid-major programs.

—Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News explains why Michigan State’s Miles Bridges made the surprising decision to return to college.

—New massive Louisville offensive lineman Mekhi Becton used to be able to throw down on the basketball court.

—In Tuesday’s forum at U of L, interim president Greg Postel criticized the former administration and attempted to chart the university’s future.

—This is the lamest lede I’ve ever seen.

That would have gotten laughed out of our high school paper.

It doesn’t stop there though.

Timon and Pumbaa would never sign off on this shit.

—All Things ACC says depth is a question for Louisville’s defensive line.

—The Ivy League, Patriot League, Northeast Conference and Big South Conference have been added to the ACC/Big East basketball officiating alliance.

The Alliance will enable all eight conferences to work together on a wide range of officiating matters, including scheduling, training, development, recruitment, retention and evaluation. The long-term mission of the Alliance is to increase proficiency and consistency among veteran officials across the collegiate basketball officiating landscape and to facilitate the entry of younger referees into the officiating profession.

Bryan Kersey, the ACC’s Supervisor of Men’s Basketball Officiating, and John Cahill, the BIG EAST Coordinator of Officiating, will continue to lead the operation of the Alliance. They will be supported by Reggie Greenwood from the Ivy/Patriot, the Big South’s Joe Forte and Jack Sweeney from the NEC.

“It is a pleasure that we are able to welcome the Ivy League, Patriot, Big South and Northeast Conferences to our alliance with the BIG EAST, the A-10 and the CAA,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “As we found through our efforts during the last basketball season, combining the expertise and resources of outstanding basketball conferences gives us a chance to prominently support current and future officials. Adding these important conferences will provide an even greater opportunity to build consistency and quality throughout the officiating ranks.”

"Through the addition of these four distinguished conferences to our alliance, we look forward to building on our work with the ACC, A10 and CAA over the last year and furthering our overarching goal of enhancing men's college basketball officiating," said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman. "The sport can only gain from the collaboration, communication and synergies the expanded alliance will afford."

I was hoping this was more like a comic book alliance where we all join forces to come up with crazy new rules that wreck the Ohio Valley, but this works too.

—Same, Gucci. Same.

—The 5th annual Spike it to Cancer volleyball tournament is going down on Aug. 12. Additional details can be found here.

—WLKY’s Dan Koob has some powerful words about the stigma of mental health and his own personal struggles.

—Good news for Kevin Ware.

—Mallory Comerford has added another gold medal to her total at the FINA World Championships.

—Tremendous quote.

The number that matters the most to 101-year-old Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins is not her age, but her race time.

Hawkins, a former schoolteacher hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, won the 100-meter dash in a blazing 40.12 seconds at the USA Track and Field Outdoors Masters Championships this weekend, according to the Washington Post.

Her time is a world record for women aged 100 and over, pending its verification in December. As of now, that’s six seconds faster than the current certified record.

Hawkins quipped of her victory, “I missed my nap for this.”

—You’ve got about a half a day left to vote in the LCPT Championship, where Andre McGee is going to need to stage a furious comeback in order to reclaim his uncool throne.

—Fast facts with Trumaine Washington:

—College Football Talk attempts to predict the biggest game in each week of the upcoming season, and goes with Louisville-Florida State for week eight.

—And finally, the Louisville football team is enjoying a couple of days of (relative) downtime before things kick into high gear next week.