North Carolina defeated Duke last night in the Dean Dome, and the students stormed the court. Naturally, this provoked a lot of derision on Twitter, particularly from Kentucky fans. Even Dick Vitale was unimpressed.
Tweet of the Morning
Wow. I can't believe that. Apparently a bunch of Indiana fans dressed in UNC gear & went to the UNC/Duke game just so they rush the court.
— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) February 21, 2014
From last night, but funny.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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Final ranking of Kentucky's season by Saturday Down South. I think this is pretty fair, and honestly, I love seeing the good grade for recruiting. That can only deliver good things down the road.
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Greg Ostendorf of ESPN does a Q&A with Matt Elam. Here's a taste:
Q: Looking back, how close was your decision between Alabama and Kentucky?
Elam: It was really close all the way up until the end. I just felt like I could be better at UK, and I felt like my heart was there. I was more comfortable there, and I just had a better relationship with the coaches. That’s what it came down to. It was neck and neck the whole time, so I just had to find that one thing that put them on top. People said I should’ve picked Bama, but it was my decision, not everybody else’s. I don’t regret it. I’m loving the decision that I made already.
Read the whole thing.
Kentucky basketball
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John Calipari and Rick Pitino don't agree about social media. Well, they are coming from two different directions, and I think they both have a point. Social media is a very dangerous tool in the hands of young people. It has great potential value, but it can just as easily allow a person to present themselves so negatively that it can be difficult, even impossible to recover from.
I think Pitino's distaste for it is rooted less in the idea that it's destructive by nature and more in the idea that it's not a critical thing to have, and I agree with that to some extent. But good, intelligent use of social media, which frankly, not everyone is cut out for, is an advantage.
I find myself comfortable with both men's perspectives given how they coach and what kind of players they have. I do think young people spend way too much time using social media in general.
Mocking Pitino on this issue is fun, but if you ask me seriously, I agree as much with him as with Coach Cal. Calipari presents his side more completely over at CoachCal.com. The Lexington Herald-Leader has more here.
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Johnny O'Bryant III will be getting more attention on Saturday when Kentucky welcomes LSU. Good idea.
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Larry Vaught responds to a complaint from one of the Big Blue Nation about Calipari. I think the examples the complainer gives are not very good ones. I'd be happy to hear less about "young team" all the time. We get that, and I know it is a reason, but when repeated often enough, it begins to sound like an excuse.
Other Kentucky sports
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Hoops falls hard to South Carolina at home. Not unexpectedly, I might add.
Links posts
College football
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Bret Bielema suggests that more players, like California Golden Bears player Ted Agu, will die if the NCAA doesn't slow down play. What an absurd thing to say, and the pushback is justified.
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Could college football's success be its undoing?
College basketball
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Which SEC basketball coaches are safe? I think this is a pretty good assessment. It seems likely to me that if Barbee doesn't deliver a post-season next year, he's probably done. I like Anthony Grant for another year at Alabama, he has had some bad luck, but he needs to deliver an NCAA bid next season or I wouldn't want to be him.
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Interesting but, I think, irrelevant. Louisville will likely get a 4-6 seed. They can't help the fact that the Big East collapsed and they were stuck with the remains. But Pitino probably should have scheduled some tougher OOC games.
"No team with just three top-100 RPI wins has ever received a seed better than No. 11." - @jppalmCBS. Louisville has three top 100 wins.
— Larry Glover (@larrygloverlive) February 21, 2014 -
Duke loses at North Carolina, UNC fans storm the court, Krzyzewski annoyed.
Can we please ban court storming until the players, and patrons who wish to do something better with their time, leave the immediate area?
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Indeed.
Having trouble processing this. UNC has beaten a lot better Duke teams. RT @RockChalkBlog: Actual picture from CH. pic.twitter.com/jllJIEcpew
— Rush the Court (@rushthecourt) February 21, 2014 -
This Michael Jordan facepalm is priceless.
Other sports news
- Canadian women defeat Team USA in ice hockey in overtime. I was really unhappy with that result. Maybe the men can exact a measure of revenge today.