The Marshall Thundering Herd have one of my favorite nicknames in all of college sports. I just love nicknames like "Thundering Herd," and "Blue Hose."

Tweet of the Morning:

"A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish." - Ty Webb

— Jason King (@JasonKingESPN) December 22, 2012

I have no idea why I like this, but I do. I blame the Mayan Apocalypse.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Mark Stoops Presser: An Update On Kentucky Football // LEX18.com
  What's not to like?

• Q&A with William Jones: EMCC coach gives lowdown on Kentucky football recruit Za'Darius Smith // The Courier-Journal

• Notebook: Brown says quarterback an 'open competition' in spring practice // Cat Scratches

  "It's a good problem," said Brown. "And it's really not a problem, it's a situation. We've got three guys who can play quarterback in the Southeastern Conference. It is going to be an open competition."

  I just hope this staff handles the QB competition better than Phillips did. And Brooks.

• Vaught's Views: Christmas card shows Stoops is reaching out to Kentucky fan base // Central Kentucky News
  When it comes to how to connect with the fans, Stoops has the greatest resource ever afforded a coach anywhere, at any time.

  John Calipari.

Kentucky basketball

• What is Calipari doing outside the box to put more energy into his team // vaughtsviews

  “We’ve done some things. I’m not going to talk about some of the things we did, because they’re really interesting and outside the box."

  Calipari is keeping these "out of the box things" a big secret. If UK takes the floor today and looks like an NBA team crushing Marshall, this will become the most talked-about mystery in college sports.

• Former UK Point Guard Teague Called Harrow to Offer Support // ZagsBlog.com

  “I called him, I talked to him, I just tell him, ‘Just play your game, don’t worry about what nobody’s saying or anything like that,’” Teague, now a rookie with the Chicago Bulls, told SNY.tv Friday before his team met the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

  At this point in his career at Kentucky, Teague should have given himself this advice, if I recall correctly.

• Calipari still searching for ways to make Wildcats communicate better on the court // vaughtsviews
  I think this team lacks a facilitator as much as a leader. Julius Mays is the obvious guy for that role. Will he step forward?

• Report: Jon Hood out for Marshall game // John Clay's Sidelines
  Mono. Bad news, indeed.

• Video: Alex Poythress on talking // John Clay's Sidelines
  If "working hard" were taken from the vocabulary, I'm not sure how many college players could continue to give interviews.

• Julius Randle – “My Biggest Thing Going into Next Year is I Want to in it All” // Everything Kentucky Online
  This kid looks like a more decisive Terrence Jones. I am liking our prospects of getting him better after this interview, and I love his skillset.

• Camp Cal: A place for Kentucky basketball players to eat, sleep // The Courier-Journal

  “It’s tiring on our bodies,” Polson said, “but I think we’ve definitely improved a lot from it.”

  We'll see.

Other UK sports

• UK Hoops Postmortem: UK 66-UCSB 38, Giving The Gauchos Some Ouchos!! // A Sea Of Blue

• Hoops Completes California Sweep with Win at UC Santa Barbara // UKAthletics.com

• Cousino, Littrell Named Second-Team Preseason All-America // UKAthletics.com
  Could Omaha be in our future?

Links posts

• Kentucky Sports Radio // Eric Bledsoe’s Ridiculous Hops’ Saturday Morning Links
• John Clay's Big Blue Links
• Tom Leach // Saturday Links

College football

• Alabama football: No mystery that Alabama will try to force Notre Dame to throw // Chicago Tribune
  TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama defense is familiar with teams trying to run right at - and through - it. That's a way of life in the SEC. No team in major college football has been

• Chip Kelly rumors: Eagles, Panthers among likely suitors for Oregon coach // SBNation.com
  With NCAA sanctions looming, I expect Kelly will do the Pete Carroll thing.

College basketball

• College basketball Saturday viewing guide // SBNation.com

• College basketball on TV today // John Clay's Sidelines
  LSU at Marquette would be worth watching, just because the SEC needs one badly. LSU has been feasting on cupcakes, so I don't expect much. Of course, the headliner is Kansas at Ohio State.

  Illinois at Missouri is another game I want to see, another chance for the SEC to get a quality win out of conference. I think Illinois is a fraud, and Missouri is overrated, but that just makes the game more compelling.

• Maryland holds off Stony Brook in second half to win 10th straight // CollegeBasketballTalk
  Our one quality win keeps proving their quality. Go, Terps!

• Myck Kabongo's ban reduced // ESPN
  I guess this time when the NCAA said "expedited," they really meant it. Consistency.

  Still, this is good news for Kabango and Texas.

Other sports news

• UK Athletics tops Barnhart's goal of 3.0 GPA in fall semester // UKAthletics.com

  In the words of the Athletics Director himself, Kentucky student-athletes came "dangerously close" to Mitch Barnhart's goal of a 3.0 department-wide grade-point average each of the past two semesters.

  Fantastic! Congratulations to the UK student-athletes, their coaches and professors. The academic news just keeps getting better, and every UK fan should be proud.

• Slive Talks SEC Expansion, Future, Etc. // A Sea Of Blue
  As usual, good find by Wild Weasel. In case you missed it in the Fanposts.

• Marquis Teague excited to face brother // ESPN Chicago