It's been awhile since our last edition of The Roundabout, and since we have officially beaten the Dick Vitale is a Hypocrite story into a quivering mass of protoplasm, I suppose it's time to reluctantly move on to something else.

One of the things I have failed to do lately due to all the news that has provided opportunities for us to offer pithy commentary is link some of my brethren around the Internet who do great work.  So let's see if I can do that and have a little fun in the process.

First up is this article by The College Football Guys which uses various brands and types of liquor as a metaphor for SEC football teams.  I really think the author has this dead-bang, and it is a fun read.  Hat tip:  Roll 'Bama Roll.

T. Kyle King at Dawg Sports has this post looking at the annual beef (or should I say, pastry) of rival conference proponents that the SEC schedules too many cupcakes in it's out of conference schedule.  Kyle examines this oft-repeated theory and essentially concludes that, while not totally meritless, it is more important to look at schedules in toto than to isolate sections of it for criticism.  Because the SEC is such a tough conference, the overall schedules of SEC teams are almost always among the toughest in the nation, regardless of who their OOC opponents are.

As Kyle points out, the bigger problem appears to be that many top-tier teams enjoy a much easier overall schedule than SEC teams, not always due just to weaker conference teams but also due to the absence of round-robin play in the mega-conferences.

I saw this last week and couldn't find a place to link it except in the newsfeed (which, apparently, few people seem to know about -- it is on the right sidebar below the fanshots).  Sunday Morning Quarterback comments on the rules test college football officials have to pass every year.  Virtually every college football pundit I have seen talk about this scored poorly, and even the ever-knowledgeable SMQ managed only a 55.  I myself have deigned not to assail my self-esteem by attempting it.

Kenny Colston at UK Wildcat Country gives us a list of 50 things he is looking forward to before the 'Cats tee it up against the Cardinals on August 31st.  My favorite:  The Turtle.

The Dadeville Record (AL) says that no SEC team will win the Mythical National Championship this year.  Reason -- the SEC as a whole is just too tough for any team to get out of with few enough losses to be invited to Miami.  Could be, but we see this every year.

K.C. Ross-Miller continues to get favorable mentions by scouting services like Rivals for his Peach Jam performance.  UK target Daniel Orton, though, is likely to be unmentioned from here on as his team has already lost two tough games in their pool.  Orton has not played particularly well at Peach Jam, and his mother's recent health problems continue to look like the reason.  Hopefully, that will resolve itself soon.  I've heard nothing about G.J. Vilarino, whom I believe plays on the same team as Ross-Miller.

It looks like Ramel Bradley may be turning his eyes to the East, and perhaps a European Vacation is in order for him.  Ramel will end up playing for a living somewhere, and may even find himself in the NBA eventually.

Finally, concerns over the potential eligibility of DeAndre Liggins and suddenly, Kevin Galloway also have the UK staff scrambling a bit for back court players.  The newest on the list:  Brad Reese.

UPDATE 12:08 PM:  Billy Packer is out at CBS.  I know many UK fans will not be sorry to see him go, and I must confess, I find myself among them.

• John Clay predicts Packer will land at the Worldwide Leader.
• Intentional Foul has thoughts, and also mentions Barad Dûr as a possible destination for Packer.
• The esteemed Dick "Hoops" Weiss has thoughts about Packer's parting with CBS.  Seems this has been in the works for some time.
• NCAA Hoops Blog is ... um ... Happy!