A2D2 will be very pleased to learn that Randall Cobb is planning to return to the field on Sunday, along with Aaron Rodgers. Packers fans have reason to celebrate — and hope.
Tweet of the Morning:
Top CBS crew working UK-U of L game: Jim Nantz, Greg Anthony and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.
— Jerry Tipton (@JerryTipton) December 27, 2013
And this:
Randle will be solid but for BBN to celebrate-Harrisons must be efficient ! @vaughtsviews @KySportsRadio @johnclayiv http://t.co/yDeSz55XfH
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) December 27, 2013
Should be fun.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
-
Marcelys Jones update from Land Grant Holy Land:
While I know for a fact Jones has been in pretty close contact with Kentucky head coach Mike Stoops and his staff ever since he committed to the Buckeyes, I'm hearing he's still likely to end up a part of Ohio State's class. He might enroll in school early, but I wouldn't count on that happening. Anyway, unless something else changes, I'm expecting him to be a part of this class.
We'll see. I'd say the odds are slightly in their favor, but where there is smoke, there is often fire.
Kentucky basketball
-
Rick Bozich talks about the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry. Almost all these points have been made here, and/or over at Card Chronicle, before. In fact, we see it almost every year.
He's right, though. In my mind, there is no comparison between the Duke-UNC and Kentucky-Louisville rivalry, and this is the biggest reason:
There's no do-over in the U of L-UK rivalry. You win, you own Tweetdeck for the rest of the season. You lose, you have to smell the ugliness of your meltdown for 364 days.
-
Jay Bilas describes what he thinks it takes for Kentucky to win. I think that Kentucky will need to make some 3-point shots in this game, or Louisville will simply pack their defense in around Randle. I mean, if you were facing a team shooting 32% from three, wouldn't you try to get them to beat you from the arc?
-
Blast from the past: Torian Graham wants to be a Wildcat
-
The Kentucky-Louisville officials will be ... AAARGGHH! Tony Greene! Noo!
-
Pat Forde gets the importance of this game:
This year, even if the players don't burn with desire to beat the other team, they should at least recognize the impact the game will have on the body of work presented to the NCAA tournament selection committee come March.
Indeed. But what could this mean?
Kentucky, the 2012 champ, is 9-0 against teams in the Pomeroy top 50. The Wildcats are 0-3 against teams in the top 50 with neutral-court losses to Michigan State and Baylor, and a road loss to North Carolina.
I assume there is a "not" missing before "in," but ...
And, as always, there is this:
But now there are nagging questions about the viability of perennial freshman-based teams competing for national titles. The humility lessons that should have been learned after last year's NIT fiasco were short-lived.
This is a comment that might well be meaningful next March, but to make it now is typical Forde anti-Kentucky bias. He is engaging in wishful thinking, missing the true lesson that was learned well — a lack of depth can be deadly, no matter what the age of your team.
Other Kentucky sports
Links posts
College football
-
Bobby Bowden's grandson loses his life in a car accident. Our prayers go out to the Bowden family.
-
Why the SEC dominates college football: Six charts that show why.
-
Is the Alabama-Oklahoma Sugar Bowl matchup a sign of big things to come between the Big 12 and SEC? Well, at minimum, it gives us the one Big 12 coach who has publicly derided the SEC more than once this season. Good luck with that against Alabama, Bob. Just as brother Mark how tough the Tide are.
College basketball
-
Alabama is suffering through a rough 2013-14 season. The pre-season losses were just too severe, I think, for them to do very well.
-
South Carolina finished 3rd in the Diamond Head Classic.
-
Another typically ignorant, uninformed opinion on the one-and-done rule, the least of which is the title — as if the NCAA could actually do something about it.
Other sports news
-
Anthony Davis is 7th in all-star votes from Western Conference front-court players. Via Aaron's blog.
-
I know this has been mentioned, but it's worth repeating: Marquis Teague to the D-League Iowa Energy. Via Aaron's blog.
-
Whoa. Zach Randolph, now tell us what you really think. But NBA officiating has been pretty bad this season, so maybe it's about time somebody unloaded on them.
-
Perhaps Jadeveon Clowney should consider a career as a NASCAR driver, where speeding is a good thing.