Tonight, Kentucky takes on the Tennessee Volunteers in a game that has the feel of a must-win for both teams. It's unnerving that any game should feel this important this early in the year.

Tweet of the Morning:

Ha! I legitmately ended up with a North Carolina/Kentucky play-in game. Conflicts w/ Baylor (played UK) and Ole Miss (SEC) create it.

— Andy Glockner (@AndyGlockner) January 15, 2013

"Legitimately?"

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Florida State football: meet Randy Sanders // Tomahawk Nation
  Florida St. is apparently going to hire Randy Sanders as running backs coach.

• Rivals.com Football Recruiting - Kentucky keeps pace with Louisville

  "What I think Stoops is doing now in doubling down in Ohio is smart and should help Kentucky," he said. "It is a state that is annually fourth, fifth or sixth in talent, and it is less than two hours from campus. The Wildcats have had very little presence there in the past, but he has come right in and done immediate work in establishing the program.

• Kentucky Sports Report // Neal Brown senses excitement over UK football and not surprised
  Dang right.

Kentucky basketball

• Tennessee coach sees talent across the board at UK but Calipari looking for defensive stopper // vaughtsviews

  "Tennessee is good. I don’t care what anybody says — ‘Well, they’ve lost this game.’ Let me tell you, I just watched the tape. McRae can score with the best of them and Stokes inside. The other guys, they’ve got veterans. They are a good team. It’s another game in that list of games that you’re going to have to play. This is a big game. Stokes says, ‘We’re winning in Rupp Arena. We’re not losing in Rupp Arena.’ All right, how do you take on that challenge? Because I imagine he will be ready to play."

  It's going to take a major effort by this young Kentucky team to beat Tennessee. They aren't great, but right now, neither is Kentucky.

• Forde Minutes: Blue bloods on the bubble, coaches on the hot seat and plenty more // Yahoo! Sports

  Both are 10-5, with threadbare NCAA tournament résumés and sketchy power ratings. It's only mid-January, but it's fair to put both blue bloods on the bubble. Unless their seasons turn around, they will need their names to carry more weight with the selection committee than their bodies of work.

  I hate to admit it, but he's right.

• Kentucky on pace to miss tournament
  Let's all panic!! AAAAGGHHH!!!

• Italian point guard wants to hear from UK // Sports XI

• Team still a puzzle to Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari // The Courier-Journal

  The second question: Could the Cats, who will welcome a recruiting class some are saying might be the best ever, do it next season? Calipari laughed.

  "I’m worried about today’s practice," he said, "and you’re talking about next year."

  Two words: Precious present. Calipari seems familiar with the concept. Must be an Italian thing ...

• Looking back and ahead to tonight (while I was away) // John Clay's Sidelines
  Congratulations to John for winning the NSSA Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year award. Definitely deserved. This is one reason why.

• From the Pressbox: Travis Ford reflects on '93 Final Four run // Tom Leach, Cat Scratches
  Nice piece on a great Kentucky player from the 1990's. Pretty good coach right now, too.

• Preview: Tennessee at Kentucky // Nooga.com

Other UK sports

• UK women earn highest ranking in 30 years // Kentucky.com

  For the first time since 1983, the Kentucky women are in the top five in the nation in the Associated Press poll.

  Has it really been that long?

• No. 3 Kentucky Defeats No. 4 Alaska-Fairbanks // UKAthletics.com
  This team is a juggernaut.

Links posts

• John Clay's Big Blue Links // John Clay's Sidelines
• Wakeup Call: The case for the worst team in college hoops history // CBSSports.com
• The Morning Mix // Troy Machir, CollegeBasketballTalk
• Tom Leach // Tuesday Links

College football

• An Important Announcement Concerning the Future of Dawg Sports // Dawg Sports
  T. Kyle King is leaving Dawg Sports. To say that the place won't be the same is an understatement.

• Best moments from 2012 college football season // ESPN

College basketball

• Men's basketball scoring could be historically low

  Scoring is down across all of Division-I men's college basketball; teams could score fewer points than any season since 1952, said Ken Pomeroy, a college basketball statistician who runs kenpom.com. According to the NCAA, teams are scoring 68.13 points per game. That's down from 68.73 this time last year, Pomeroy said.

• USC coaching job should draw plenty of interest // ESPN
  Kevin O'Neil, we barely knew ye.

• Louisville defends top ranking but hasn't shown true promise yet // CBSSports.com
  Well, if I don't remark on the Louisville Cardinals being the #1 team in the country for the first time in the regular season, someone will accuse me of hiding my head in the sand, disrespecting them, summoning some kind of karmic backlash, inviting a life-ending asteroid strike, increasing the national debt, or masterminding the Mayan Apocalypse.

  So here it is. Congratulations to Louisville. Hope you are all happy.

• 3-point shot: Wyoming will need Martinez // ESPN

Other sports news

• Lance Armstrong Admits To Doping // Lexington Herald Leader
  This makes me sad.

• Rondo posts triple-double; Cousins leads Kings to win // Kentucky.com
  Love to see UK players make positive NBA headlines like this.

• Tim Tebow's brother apologizes for gloating tweet after Broncos loss // CBSSports.com
  I don't know about this. A little schadenfreude is good for the soul. If I apologized for every time I reveled a bit in a rivals' difficulty, I would get nothing else done.

  So just to make my point, I'm glad the Broncos lost too. Serves them right. Just goes to show you the whole Tebow family are better people than I am.

• John Wall crossover makes Ish Smith fall over
  Whoa. Cool.

• Anthony Davis quietly exceeding immense expectations for Hornets // The Point Forward - SI.com

  It’s hard to fathom that Anthony Davis is flying well under the radar after being the No. 1 pick and getting labeled a franchise-changing talent for the Hornets. But with the Lakers’ domination of the news cycle, fellow rookie Damian Lillard’s remarkable showing for the playoff-contending Trail Blazers and Davis’ three-week injury absence from late November to early December, many have lost sight of the 19-year-old big man. Davis, however, has been every bit as good as his predraft hype suggested and, amazingly, he has even more terrifying potential than advertised.