Kentucky is off to Robert Morris to play the Colonials in the first round... of the NIT... In a 3,000 seat gym.

Tweet of the Morning:

La Salle, MTSU and St. Mary's have four Top 50 wins, combined. UVa has six, by itself. Tennessee has three. Maryland has three. UK has four.

— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) March 18, 2013

And:

In review: play tough teams (doesn't matter if you win). Win on the road (against nobody in top100) Get a bid that is cheered. Got it

— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) March 17, 2013

So next year, we play tough teams at neutral sites and cupcakes on the road. Sounds good to me.

Look, this is a stupid formula that the NCAA is pretending to promulgate. They are just trying to excuse the inclusion of teams that haven't done as much as teams like Virginia and Kentucky, because they don't think they deserve to be in. I agree we don't deserve to be in, but rationalizing inferior teams is going to lead to an NCAA split faster than anything. Maybe that's for the best.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• UK O Line coach John Schlarman wanted opportunity to work with Neal Brown again // vaughtsviews

• Football opens spring practice Monday morning // Kentucky Wildcats

  Footbaaaawww!

  Seems kind of comforting, in a weird way. Sometimes and NIT bid can really mess with your mind…

• College football spring practice 2013: Kentucky football now with more science // SBNation.com

  Why not?

Kentucky basketball

• Kentucky Wildcats get no NCAA tournament bid, get NIT instead; defending national champion's bubble busted, will be No. 1 seed but playing on road // FOX Sports on MSN

  The headline on the page reads, "Calipari’s ’Cats: champs to chumps." What a bunch of room-temperature IQ morons some of these media guys are. Can’t wait to rub it in.

• Cats Get a #1 Seed.. In The NIT // Ky Cat Stats

  I’m just guessing here, but they are probably not going to be many NBA scouts watching the NIT games, which means the guys Matt Jones predicted on the Kentucky Sports Radio, radio show last week (Goodwin, Poythress, WCS, Wiltjer) will probably all be back, and the route to 40-0 is close to beginning.

  I like his thinking. Gotta make lemonade from a lemon, I guess.

• Kentucky Sports Radio // Facing the Reality of Missing the Big Dance

  The Vanderbilt game was one of the most difficult I have ever watched as a UK fan. It seemed like a 2 hour slog through the mud, with the Cats unable to do virtually anything right, while Vanderbilt couldn’t do anything wrong. Even with fans trying to use the collective force of their desire for victory to change the outcome, once Kentucky got down in double digits, it never was unable to cut the lead even under 10. It was honestly sad to watch and helped the streets of Nashville to have a Big Blue Depression that cost not only the fans, but the city’s economy a great deal.

  When the Wildcats struggle, the SEC feels it in the pocketbook.

• Coach Cal looking to make most of NIT trip // Kentucky Wildcats

  In fact, the Charles L. Sewall Center, the 3,056-seat arena where Robert Morris plays its home games, is barely a mile drive down University Boulevard from Moon Area High School, Coach Cal’s alma mater. Adding another piece of interesting backstory, Calipari’s grandmother worked in the Robert Morris cafeteria.

  Let’s all hope Calipari is not too distracted by this homecoming to, you know, coach the team.

• Basketball committee chairman says road losses kept UK out of NCAA // vaughtsviews

  Honestly, I can’t fault the committee in any way for leaving UK out. In my opinion, they absolutely failed to earn an NCAA bid on the court. Forget everyting else, UK was 0-for-the-road after Noel went down. That’s not how you get into the NCAA Tournament.

• Ten things to know about Robert Morris // John Clay's Sidelines
• Kentucky’s (recent) NIT history // John Clay's Sidelines

• Selection Committee sends SEC a clear message // John Clay's Sidelines

  Many of us complained about UK’s soft non-conference schedule early last year. Those chickens have definitely come home to roost.

• NIT: Bama joins UK as No. 1 seed; Vols No. 2 seed // Kentucky.com

  Can’t say the SEC didn’t set itself up for this.

• Calipari most influential leader in Lexington, area // Kentucky.com

  University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari topped other Bluegrass leaders to grab a firm victory as the Lexington area’s most influential person.

  Anybody surprised?

• Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Stay united and don't feed the trolls // Wildcat Blue Nation

  Soooooo … the Kentucky Wildcats are in the NIT Basketball Tournament. Well, that just sucks. And I hate it.
  But am I ashamed? Am I embarrassed? No. Am I mad? A little. Am I disappointed? Very.
  And that is OK. A lot was expected of this team and they did not live up to expectations. And that is OK. Life sucks sometimes and things don’t work out. But that is no reason to turn into raving mad, crazy insane, twitter prophet ranting Facebook maniac.

  Good advice. You can come here, I guarantee the trolls’ existence will be short lived, if they bother to show at all.

• Robert Morris draws Kentucky, Calipari ... at home // TribLIVE

  That’s right: Moon Township native John Calipari is bringing his Wildcats to the 3,056-seat Sewall Center because Kentucky can’t play host to a game. Rupp Arena, which seats 23,000, is the site of the NCAA second- and third-round games.

  Ought to be very exciting for the locals.

• UK to play Providence in Barclays Center in 2013 // Cat Scratches

• Kentucky Sports Radio // Cal says the team needs to prove it can play before fans pay for tickets

  "When I heard we couldn’t host the first round of the NIT, I decided to accept the bid knowing we could host in the second round. I’m not disappointed we have to start on the road because this team needs to prove it wants to continue to play before our fans pay for tickets. If we had to play on the road, I’m glad it was Robert Morris because I knew what it would do for the program."

  Pretty harsh, that.

• Goodman Hearing That UK is Not in the Mix for Aaron Gordon // AllKyHoops.com

  I don’t believe anything Goodman says, but I would be surprised if Gordon decided to come all the way here.

• Coach Cal tweets on UK's NIT road game // Cat Scratches

Other UK sports

• Kentucky Dominates Singles to Complete Mississippi Sweep // UKAthletics.com

Links posts

• Tom Leach // Monday links

College basketball

• Comparing SEC non-conference vs. Big 10 // John Clay's Sidelines

  Weak non-conference schedules are never a good idea, in my opinion.

• Climer: March badness best describes SEC basketball // The Tennessean

  Another way of looking at it: Based on the seeding process, the committee believes No. 11 seed Belmont is better than SEC Tournament champion Ole Miss. Take that a step further and it means Belmont is better than 12 of the 14 SEC programs this year.

  I’m getting a little tired of hearing this. Yes, this was a down year for the SEC. We get that.

• Dana O'Neil's first bracket impressions // ESPN

  The NCAA tournament selection committee chair this year is Mike Bobinski, who is the athletic director (at least until next month when he takes over at Georgia Tech) at Xavier. And, Xavier is in the Atlantic 10 (at least until this week when the Musketeers join the Big East).
  The A-10 received five bids (more than the ACC and the SEC): Saint Louis, the league’s conference tournament champion, earned a No. 4 seed, VCU a 5, Butler a 6, Temple a 9 and bubble-dwelling La Salle a 13.

  Ohh, conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, none of them involve snubbing Kentucky.

• NCAA tournament bracket analysis // FOX Sports on MSN

  Louisville got hosed. How, exactly, can the No. 1 overall seed get hosed, you ask? The selection committee crowned the Cards as king, but then the committee ended up putting Louisville in the miserable, brutal, painful Midwest Region, giving the Cards easily the most difficult road to the Final Four of any No. 1 seed.

  Aww, boo freaking hoo. The best #1 seed should have a relatively tough region.

• NCAA tournament 2013 -- Committee chair thinks this could be best tournament ever // ESPN

  Don’t we hear this pap every year?

• 2013 NCAA tournament log5 // Ken Pomeroy
• NCAA Tournament Talk: three intriguing Midwest region match-ups // College Hoops Journal

• 3-point shot: Xavier's NIT snub // ESPN

  Yeah, it could have been worse.

• NCAA bracket 2013: Breaking down the seeds, storylines // SBNation.com

  I pretty much agree with this.

• Arizona head coach Sean Miller reprimanded, fined by Pac-12 // CollegeBasketballTalk

  When are we going to start holding officials accountable? I don’t buy the "future assignments" pap, that’s nonsense. Miller misbehaved to be sure, but it’s time the conferences developed a more adversarial relationship with their officials.

Other sports news

• Wizards’ John Wall has best week of his career

  "He’s getting better and better. And his jumper is coming along, for sure. He’s even hitting threes, too. So he’s put it all together," rookie Bradley Beal said. "He’s going to be very hard to stop soon. He’s just terrific. He has guys around him who are able to make shots as well and create plays just as well as he can. And with him and the things he’s capable of doing, it just makes everyone so much better."

  He’d be a senior this year. Think that would have helped a little?

• Kings Blog and Q&A // The Morning After: Patrick Patterson a hit with coaches, teammates

  He’d be a hit anywhere.