Thursday morning Cardinal news and notes

—Sports Illustrated has Louisville at No. 3 in its way too early college hoops rankings, and Brian Hamilton looks at the three biggest questions facing the 2017-18 Cardinals.

—Donovan Mitchell has officially signed with the Jazz.

—In case you were curious, here’s what the scoreboard from Russ Smith’s 81-point game in China looked like when the dust had settled:

—Our friends over at TNIAAM revisit Louisville’s throttling of Syracuse from last year, and give the Orange a 20 percent chance of pulling an upset in 2017.

—Kyle Kuric has inked a two-year deal to play in Russia.

—Donovan Mitchell made a solid first impression in his debut game as a member of the Utah Jazz. Here are the highlights:

—Congratulations to Scott Davenport on agreeing to a contract extension with Bellarmine.

—Mid-Major Madness gives its take on the top mid-major program in all 50 states. Western Kentucky gets the nod over Murray and Morehead in the Commonwealth.

—The Deion Branch Skills & Drills Camp is back for another summer run in Louisville. Here’s the info:

Former University of Louisville and two-time Super Bowl champ and SB XXXIX MVP Deion Branch returns to Louisville to host his 8th Annual Skills & Drills Football Camp. It will be on Saturday, July 8th at Baptist Health Performance, 12101 Sycamore Station Place. Registration begins at 8:00 am and the camp is from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

The camp is for youth ages 7 to 18. The registration fee is only $50, which includes: lunch, goodie bag, t-shirt and personal instruction from Branch and some of his U of L teammates and friends.

Branch says “The DB Foundation really enjoys this camp. We get to watch young athletes develop their skills. We’ve watched several players throughout their football season and they’ve excelled and we are excited to see them return to work on another part of their game. If you’ve never brought your child to the camp, I encourage them to come. Former U of L players will take them through various drills. This camp gives them a chance to learn proper technique, health and wellness plus sportsmanship.”

The proceeds raised during the camp will benefit the Deion Branch Foundation. The Deion Branch Charitable Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to offer support to children's mental, physical, emotional well-being and for those who have been infected with meningitis. The DBCF's mission is to help with research and to find a cure to ease the struggle for children like Deion's son. The foundation goal is to assist by providing programs and initiatives aimed at improving their quality of life. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For more information on the foundation go to www.deionbranchfoundation.org.

—Former Kentucky standout Aaron Harrison is facing the choice so many former college stars have to deal with: Play in the D-League (now “G League), make $30,000 but have a shot at getting called up to an NBA roster, or give up on that to go overseas and make six figures.

—The key figures from one of the best national title games in recent memory spent some time reminiscing in Louisville over the weekend.

—Devin Hairston belted his first professional home run on Tuesday.

—Mangok!

—The C-J focuses on Brian Brohm’s new role as a coach with his brother at Purdue.

--The 2017 College World Series produced the event’s best television ratings since 2013.

—Get to know Cort Dennison and Kolby Smith a little better.

—A Daily Dose of Hoops gives out some (still) super early predictions and preseason honors for the Big East.

—Louisville runner Rachel Pease was honored Wednesday as one of the ACC’s Sportsmanship Award recipients for 2016-17.

—I enjoyed this.

—The Salt Lake Tribune has a very complimentary profile of Donovan Mitchell.

—The Ringer has a good story on the vanishing of high school powerhouse St. Anthony.

—Former U of L and current Cincinnati Reds star Adam Duvall has been proving doubters wrong for a long time.

—And finally, if you missed it yesterday, the nomination process for the 2016-17 LCPT is officially open.