Happy Easter, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation.

• UK fans cheer Cal in cook-off — Jerry Tipton on UK basketball
  Heh.

• Tickets for Calipari's bottle signing sold | KentuckySports.com
  Surprised? Didn't think so.

• Indianapolis Pike's Marquis Teague is close to deciding to where he will commit | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

  Teague has long been considered as leaning toward Louisville because his father played for Cardinals coach Rick Pitino at Boston University and the son has visited U of L multiple times.

  But in recent months, the University of Kentucky has reportedly made up ground, and the player told Scout he's considering Cincinnati as well.

  Now THIS is a recruiting battle with Louisville I can get behind.

• The C-J's Sunday College Basketball Notebook | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

• Basketball Prospectus | Articles | Meant to Be

  The etiquette for a coach when a player’s injured is always treacherous. Some coaches don’t even go to the player, leaving that to the trainer. Others go out and stand over their fallen charge, which looks even worse. But I’ve seen a lot of basketball in my life, and I’ve never seen a coach do quite what Bob Huggins did last night. To my eyes he has always given the appearance of one who doesn’t care at all about appearances, sometimes to his detriment. (I am also well aware that earlier in the game Huggins didn't seem very pleased with Butler.) But last night that disregard for appearances made quite an appearance. It showed 70,000 people in Lucas Oil Stadium the eloquence of deeds.

  How could anyone have said it any better?

More after the jump.

• Comparing Butler and Duke - Beyond the Arc - msnbc.com

• Column: Vols climb back in race to land all-star guard | tennessean.com | The Tennessean

  Selby told reporters at the McDonald's All-American game last Wednesday night that all the schools are equal until he and his mother have time to sit down and decide which team is the best fit.

  Of the guards considering Kentucky, Selby is the most athletically talented and also the most likely to leave after only one year.  He is talented, but I am not sure UK is the best place for him.

• PhillyBurbs.com:  If Sixers get lucky, Wall should be the call
• Bledsoe’s family always believed in him | Vaught's Views

• Fans can all agree: We hate Duke | KentuckySports.com

  To some, the problem is an and-one. Duke is a private school, perceived by many to have a haughty upper-crust reputation for arrogance and elitism. And, the Devils have won three national titles and made 11 Final Four appearances since 1986.

  For the most part, a lot of what Duke has done is on them.  A little bit is just plain jealousy, though.

• Rondo passing two Celtics marks

  Rajon Rondo is pretty good at basketball.

  Via Walter's Wildcat World.

• Calipari and Kellogg relationship will pay dividends | The Daily Collegian
  Oh, my God! An article that is fair to Calipari from ... UMass? Elizabeth, this is the big one.

• New D-Line Coach Ready to Start.

  UK fans can now turn their attention to football now that Kentucky's basketball season has ended. Kentucky enters the Joker Phillips era as spring practice begins on Wednesday. Yet Coach Phillips will not be the only new coach when the Cats begin practice. Larry Vaught talked to new defensive line coach David Turner in an article for The Advocate Messenger.

  This is going to be a very interesting football season.  I am excited about it.

• Letter From Durham: Why You Shouldn't Hate Duke, And Why You Probably Will Anyway - March Madness - Deadspin
  Heh.

• NBA drafting five Kentucky Wildcats? - Sports Rumors - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports
  Comprehensive National Basketball Association news, scores, standings, fantasy games, rumors, and more

• Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari prepared for mass exodus; Wall says decision to go pro not made | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal
  "I don't want to make it harder for me to come back and get my degree," he said. "And I don't want to jeopardize a scholarship for another player at Kentucky. Why would you want to do a program that you loved and played for like that?"

• At Final Four, experience wins out over one-and-done  - Sports - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports -
  Not likely a lottery pick, but plenty of pros.

• Calipari, Wall Honored In Indy - Louisville News Story - WLKY Louisville
  Congratulations to both men.

• Vaught's Views: Kentucky needs Brandon Knight to become a Wildcat: AMNews.com
  Yes, we do need either him or Selby to come to UK. Both would be even better, but that's probably too much to hope for.

• SEC Weekend Preview (April 2nd-4th) " The College Baseball Blog
  Great stuff for baseball fans.

• Sean Woods Podcast: Coaching For A Lower-Major School An Adjustment From Playing At Kentucky – LostLettermen.com

• ***** UK Spring FB Notebook - Saturday, April 3 ***** - Kentucky Ink
  Great stuff by Jeff Drummond of Kentucky Ink.

• Sad irony in Huggins, Butler creating an all-time March moment | College Hoops Journal

  Because how can I not address what Bob Huggins did? That display of leadership, fatherhood, devotion and nurture was something so damn endearing in such a dire, depressing moment that I think it simultaneously took the life out of the game and swelled the hearts of everyone watching.

  This is weirdly right, I think.  I have never been more touched by events in a college basketball game than what I saw with Huggins and Butler.  Never.  I don't think I'll ever forget it.

• Arkansas crushes UK 10-1 | KentuckySports.com
  Ugh.

• UK football: New faces making impact | KentuckySports.com

  And redshirt freshman Mister Cobble spent a good part of Saturday running first team at defensive tackle. Phillips said the 6-foot, 309-pound Cobble is ahead of where his mentor and fellow Central graduate, Corey Peters, was at a similar point in his career.

  I like to hear things like this.  My biggest concerns this year lie on the lines.  UK has had good lines the last couple of years, but graduation will really bite this year.

• UK notebook: One-and-dones pose quandary for Todd | KentuckySports.com

  "John Wall really changed my impression of what the one-and-done player is," Todd said. "... The system needs change. But under the present system, I'd take every John Wall I could get, if he's a one-and-done."

  Todd is exactly right.  Nobody wants the guy who comes to school to, in the ancient example, majors in "basket-weaving."  Early-out players have a bad reputation primarily because some schools enable them by allowing them to get away with acting like students rather than actually becoming students, even for 12 short months.

  But the NCAA has done a good job, in some ways, of reducing this problem by enforcing standards that are harder for schools to get around, and schools, to their credit, have become much more stringent in insisting players attend and pass their classes.  I think that is good and proper.

  Nobody wants the "nomad" who comes to school to practice for the NBA and has to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to class.  But Kentucky has been mostly fortunate in that area, or so it seems.  Obviously, the last chapter of this year's academic performance has yet to be written.

• Readers' Views: Fans thank Cats for return to relevance | KentuckySports.com

• UK football has a hitter in Huzzie | KentuckySports.com

  "He always wanted to be the best at everything, and he wasn't going to let anybody stop him," Ford said. "LaGrange guys like to hit, and Qua loves nothing more than to hit somebody. And he wants everybody around him to play the exact same way."

  Qua Huzzie looks like he has tremendous potential for UK.

• Mr. Basketball Justice pondering UK's pitch - UofL Basketball - Kentucky.com

  "Any time Kentucky calls a Kentucky boy and wants to talk about a scholarship, you always have to listen," Booher said. "That's what Elisha's doing."

  In all honesty, this looks to me like an attempt to get Pitino, and Louisville fan's goat, as well as show UK fans that he will recruit the state.  Justice is a fine young man and a fine young player, but he does not fit UK's system.

  I love Coach Cal, but I confess, I think this recruitment is wheels within wheels.

• UK turning defensive end into offensive tackle | KentuckySports.com