The SEC Tournament is over, Ole Miss has won. Kentucky awaits its fate from the NCAA Tournament selection committee tonight. We'll have the open thread, of course, to either cheer or lament the outcome.

Tweet of the Afternoon:

Kentucky baseball takes rubber game at Florida to improve to 16-3 overall, 2-1 SEC. Another good day's work for LHP Corey Littrell.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) March 17, 2013

That was big for Kentucky, winning their first SEC series on the road.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Erik Korem the face of Kentucky football's new "high-performance" pursuits // Kentucky.com

  Other than the head coach, there probably isn't another individual in the Nutter Training Facility with his hands in every crevice of the football program more than Korem.

  Fascinating look at a coach you've probably never heard of, but much more important than his relative annonymity suggests.

• The SEC's top producers of line talent // ESPN

  "In addition to Texas A&M, Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky are the only other schools in the league that haven’t produced a first-round selection in the offensive or defensive line over the past five years."

  Maybe Larry Warford will end the streak. (Hank)

• Scout.com: 2013 Kentucky Roster

  Notice who the Center is. LOL! (Hank)

• St. Thomas Aquinas to play national champion in Superdome // MiamiHerald.com

  The previous staff only made a half-hearted stab in recruiting at Trinity and St. Thomas Aquinas. We know things have changed with Trinity and will hopefully change here in Florida. These players at these schools play on a bigger stage which may have scared off the former staff. (Hank)

Kentucky basketball

• Player profile: James Young // Ky Cat Stats

  James Young is the solution to many of Kentucky’s problems this year. He and Aaron Harrison can do one thing that Kentucky’s guards could not do in 2012-13 – get their own shot, and make it.

• Tom's Take: Sour Note in Music City

  With Keeneland just around the corner, we can use a horse racing analogy for this team–one that looks pretty, sometimes trains really well but one that it’s tough enough to win without an ideal set of circumstances. And those are horses you can’t trust in a big race.

  Painful, but accurate.

• Judging the NBA prospects of Nerlens Noel and the Kentucky Wildcats // SBNation.com

  I find it hard to disagree with any of this.

• Kentucky Loss, SEC Fan Apathy For Basketball Exposed Again // Rush The Court

  The SEC as a whole barely acknowledges the existence of college basketball. This is not news to Kentucky fans.

• The NCAA tournament selection committee’s five most difficult decisions // Yahoo! Sports

  To my mind, the Kentucky decision is not that difficult, but then, I'm jaded about them right now. If the NCAA sees fit to put UK in the tournament, I'll be happy. If not, I'll be resigned.

• Cats have nobody to blame but themselves // The Kentucky Kernel

  Guard play was especially suspect, with graduate student guard Julius Mays and junior guard Ryan Harrow going a combined 4-of-23 from the field.

  Guard play has been suspect all year.

• Report: Cats agree to multi-season Barclays Center agreement | The Kentucky Kernel

  Robbins reported Saturday that UK officials have signed a two-year agreement for the Cats to play a game at the Barclays Center in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

  This has the riing of truth about it, and I like it. It gets us in front of a lot of talented recruits.

Other UK sports

• Cousino Powers No. 9 Baseball to 11-5 Series-Evening Win // UKAthletics.com
• Gymnastics Smashes School-Record Team Score at Penn State - UKAthletics.com

Links posts

• Kentucky Sports Radio // Start Sweating It Out With The Sunday Morning Links
• John Clay's Big Blue Links
• Tom Leach // Sunday Links

College football

• Possible landing spots for Gunner Kiel

  How the mighty can fall. Best QB name ever. #1 Ranked QB in 2012 Class. 18 Offers. Verbal to IU, then LSU before signing with Notre Dame. After committing to LSU and switching to Notre Dame, Les Miles called him a female body part. (Hank)

• Judge Delivers Guilty Verdict In Steubenville Rape Trial

College basketball

• More chatter about Ben Howland’s job status? // CollegeBasketballTalk

  Earlier this season, the speculation was overwhelming: there was no way that UCLA head coach Ben Howland would return next season.

  I think Howland is history at UCLA.

• Conference tourneys (still) not a bad way to decide best team // Kenpom.com
• The latest NCAA bracket projections // John Clay's Sidelines

• SEC BASKETBALL FEVER IT'S A DISEASE DON'T CATCH IT // Every Day Should Be Saturday

  There is a very simple test to determine whether you are an SEC basketball fan. First, answer this question:

  Is the SEC a bad basketball conference in 2012-2013? If you have an answer to this question, congratulations: you are an SEC basketball fan. We mean any answer, in any form, in any manner, that does not amount to "Do what?" or "Roll Tide." You have an answer for this question, and that makes you a likely candidate to being whatever an "SEC Basketball Fan."

  Heh.

• Ben Howland Got So Upset About a Call He Threw His Jacket and Got a Technical // The Big Lead

• NCAA College Basketball Recap // CBSSports.com

  Oregon beat UCLA by nine in their lone meeting during the regular season, but was shaky on the big stage at first, with turnovers on its first four possessions and six in the opening 3 minutes.

  Does this represent the end of the Ben Howland era at UCLA? The Ducks are good this year, but it seems that many of their fans haven't figured out how to handle success. Hopefully, they'll learn.

• Florida vs. Mississippi, 2013 SEC Tournament: Gators, Marshall Henderson show two types of team // Alligator Army

  Henderson rubs many the wrong way, with his Eminem-esque diction and And1-influenced showmanship on the court, but there's no indication that his mischief is something the Rebels don't love. And Florida's no stranger to players like that: Joakim Noah and Jason Williams both certainly fit the same pattern.

  I admit, he rubs me the wrong way. Team sports doesn't really beenfit from this type of individualistic expression. But I'm old-school that way.

Other news

• Man trampled by Lexington police horse appeals dismissal of lawsuit // Kentucky.com

  Lesson Learned: Don't stand in line near horses. (Hank)

• Why Trolls Win With Toxic Comments // Slashdot

  The trolls are winning. Consider yourself warned:

  Researchers worked with a science writer to construct a balanced news story on the pros and cons of nanotechnology, a topic chosen so that readers would have to make sense of a complicated issue with low familiarity. They then asked 1,183 subjects to review the blog post from a Canadian newspaper that discussed the water contamination risks of nanosilver particles and the antibacterial benefits. Half saw the story with polite comments, and the other half saw rude comments, like: 'If you don't see the benefits of using nanotechnology in these products, you're an idiot.' People that were exposed to the polite comments didn't change their views really about the issue covering the story, while the people that did see the rude comments became polarized — they became more against the technology that was covered in the story.

  I've seen this effect thousands of times. Ignorance of a subject makes you more vulnerable to accepting what looks to be a passionate negative veiw than a reasoned positive one.

  We struggle with this all the time on A Sea of Blue. Fortunately, most of our commenters have the anchor of understanding reality. Those that don't, and try to drive negativism usually can't contain their vitriol enough to stay within the rules.

  Which is why we have them.