The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Trudging Toward Football Season

It's about this time every year that the summer seems interminable.  Football season is over a month away, basketball season is even further, and news runs down to a trickle.  But finally, the Josh Selby thing is settling down, SEC Media Days have come and gone... 

Speaking of Media Days, I did a brief interview with Cocknfire of Team Speed Kills and Joel of Rocky Top Talk which you can find here.  I am on in the last 15 minutes or so of the program.  It will give you something to kill some time if you're bored.  I always forget to post these darn things for some reason.

Anyway, to the news:

Top Stories

• UK to Announce Men's Basketball Schedule Through TV Special
  Well. We finally get the schedule, but we have to wait to watch it on TV!

• Kentucky coach John Calipari wants to take July out of recruiting mix
  Great piece by the dean of New York media market basketball, Dick "Hoops" Weiss. He talks about Calipari's desire to make July and its many AAU tournaments a "dark" period for recruiting, allowing coaches to spend time with their families and reducing the influence of travel-team coaches.
  
  The biggest opposition to this suggestion have come from mid-major coaches who are able to see a lot of kids and do a lot of evaluating at these events, and get a lot of bang for their comparatively limited travel-budget dollar.

• 2009 SEC Preview: Kentucky | Gate 21
  Gate 21 has a very good UK preview. If you are a fan of UK football, you should read this.

UK Basketball News

• Top Five 2009 NCAA Basketball Recruiting Classes
  Worth a read.

• ZAGSBLOG " Selby’s Mom: ‘You Have to Consider Kentucky’
  I think you do.

UK Football News

• Kentucky News - 7/27/09 | MrSEC.com
  A dose of reality. UK, despite bowl appearances and victories, is still one of the worst teams in the SEC. Changing pre-season minds will take victories in the conference, not against lesser out-of-conference foes.

• Report: UK-Western agree to football deal with a twist

• " BBL: Ready for some real football to begin John Clay’s Sidelines
  John Clay's Big Blue Links.

• Slive praises Brooks
  "He [Brooks] is a really classy guy who does things the right way. Yep.

• The word from Chris Diggs.
  A four-star stud down to UK and Michigan State? Awesome.

• Brooks feels like he has better team
  Brooks believes the 'Cats are better this year. I hope so, although I think a lot depends on Mike Hartline. I know the defense is solid, and the O-line is solid. We have a few backs, and we have some skill at WR. But the QB is a giant question-mark.

Other UK Sports News

• Men's Golf: Fuqua Receives Extra Year of Eligibility from NCAA

Other News of Interest

• None today

NCAA Sports News

• A 20-point inspection from SEC media days
  Chris Low has 20 points from media days, all interesting.

The Daily Schadenfreude

• Ohio State and Terrelle Pryor named Big Ten preseason favorites
  Picked to go to the BCS Championship Game -- only to again be defeated by an SEC team. What's old is new again.

• Where have you gone, Steve Spurrier?
  The Ol' Ball Coach has his demons, no doubt. Kinda makes me want to smile.