As Will reported yesterday, two-time NCAA champion Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones died yesterday at 88 years young. He lived a long and amazing life, and we of the Big Blue Nation join with his family and friends in mourning. From the Herald-Leader this morning:
An All-American basketball player and member of the U.S. team that won the 1948 Olympic gold medal, Mr. Jones was also an all-Southeastern Conference football player for Kentucky. As such, he held the distinction of playing for two lionized coaches: Adolph Rupp in basketball and Paul “Bear” Bryant in football.
Even other iconic figures in UK basketball history held Mr. Jones in high esteem.
High esteem, indeed. He was unquestionably among the greatest overall college athletes in NCAA history. What a fine legacy he left.
Tweet of the Morning
7 months ago today, Rick Pitino fell to 1-5 vs. John Calipari & Kentucky. Louisville fans blamed the refs. pic.twitter.com/OrStwgTHLw
— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) July 28, 2014
God, that picture is just dripping with awesomeness. Or maybe it’s just dripping. Not quite sure.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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The Elite Football Network has a very good story today on 2015 signee C.J. Conrad. This is just a taste of how good he is:
Conrad, a 6’5 225-pound tight end, is a 4-star recruit that was a standout at The Opening in Oregon earlier this month. He was also the Offensive MVP at the Nike Training Camp in Columbus. Prior to committing to Kentucky, Conrad had scholarship offers from Arkansas, Duke, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Indiana, Syracuse and several more.
This guy has the potential to be another Jacob Tamme. He is more gifted at this point in his career than Tamme was, and I could not be more excited to get him on board. A great tight end can really take an offense to another level. Hat tip: Hank and andypopcat.
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2016 Texas QB Brennen Wooten talks about his potential visits. He’s a “pro-style” quarterback, and Kentucky has been hard on him. He wants to visit us as well as Clemson and Oklahoma. [Via Hank.]
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2015 Anthony McKee is still waiting on a few offers, but Kentucky seems to be high on his list. [Via Hank.]
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Kentucky is working hard to land JUCO wide reciever Darrion Landry. Landry calls UK his front runner.
Kentucky basketball
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Buried in his basketball notebook on Saturday, Jerry Tipton had a very interesting report on “the tweak” heard ‘round the world, noting that it was the (fairly obvious to us) change in how the officials called fouls as the season went on the prompted the “tweak,” which was essentially as I originally described it.
But even more interesting is the fact that the SEC supervisor of officials, Jake Bell, admitted that the officials had stopped calling the fouls they were supposed to emphasize, and followed up with this:
“Kind of like driving a car when you’re 16,” he said. “Next year at 17, you should drive the car better.”
Look, I don’t expect officials to be perfect, but I do expect them to follow their own rules and emphasis. Suggesting that was a learning curve is fine, but what that tells me is that the supervisors either can’t or won’t control their the people under their responsibility.
This is another great argument for “professionalizing” NCAA officials under one organization, making them employees so that they have the same kinds of responsibilities employees do, rather than “independent contractors.” That would enable standardized training and overall better officiating.
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John Calipari is everywhere, all the time:
During a frenzied stretch last week, Calipari was in Los Angeles watching incoming freshman Karl-Anthony Towns be honored at the ESPY Awards one day, then in Augusta, Ga., to see a new crop of recruits the next. When NBA superstar LeBron James showed up in Lexington to watch his son play in a basketball tournament, Calipari suddenly appeared there, too — but only for a couple of hours. He was back evaluating recruits at Peach Jam in Georgia the same night.
Hey — recruiting, baby!
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Coach Cal has dropped another 2016 offer — #13 swingman V.J. King.
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Is Jalen Rose interested in coaching at UK under Calipari? I would have absolutely welcomed him.
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Matt Jones is absolutely right about this — Pete Thamel is engaging in not only biased journalism, but blithely repeating the assertion that many schools who have outstanding records on equal employment opportunity might have let Charlie Strong’s race guide their hiring decisions is irresponsible and negligent. Yes, Kentucky’s lumped in there, but I think all the schools mentioned should have a beef with his article.
Other Kentucky sports
- A.J. Reed makes the jump to Class A baseball. Former Wildcat J.T. Riddle has an 11-game hitting streak going in Class A ball.
Links posts
College football
- Ten tweaks that could improve college football. Actually, I like every one of these proposals. What do you think?
College basketball
- Montrezl Harrell breaks another backboard. I’m not sure why that’s seen as a good thing.
Other sports news
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Is the Jerry Colangelo/Mike Krzyzewski magic gone when it comes to Team USA? With many players like Kevin Love and Blake Griffin bowing out, can he field a competitive team? Hat tip: Real Clear Sports.
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Randall Cobb is trying not to let the contract negotiations between him and Green Bay distract him. He is in line to have his biggest season ever this year.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business,” Cobb said. “My heart’s in Green Bay, I love Green Bay, the three years I’ve been here have been unbelievable. But I understand the business side of it.”
After leading the team in receptions (80) and receiving yards (954) in 2012, Cobb suffered a fracture at the top of the tibia in his right leg on a low hit by Baltimore safety Matt Elam in an Oct. 13 victory over the Ravens and was placed on injured reserve
It is a business. That’s important to keep in mind.
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Kentucky has produced a few good linebackers lately, and Wesley Woodyard is one of them. He’s trying to help Tennessee turn around now, as he was signed away from Denver as a free agent.
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Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali wins the Tour de France. Congratulations, it was very well done. Hat tip: Real Clear Sports.
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Oh, dear. The long free agency wrangle is creating serious friction between Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns. Consider:
From an objective viewpoint, 4/$48M seems fair. It matches what the Raptors signed Kyle Lowry for, and Lowry’s an underrated player. I’d say he’s the Raptors best player and leader, which can’t be said of Bledsoe and the Suns. Sure, Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons were overpaid in the RFA process, and I can see where Bledsoe might be bothered by that, but the market had their cracks at him. With no offers, or teams who can even offer what he’s asking for, he holds little leverage.
That’s right. Unfortunately, when you have no leverage, you start making statements that cause an emotional reaction, and that’s what Bledsoe is doing. His agent has no real way to extract more money from Phoenix. That’s not anybody’s fault, really, it’s just that guys like Bledsoe, who don’t have the prototypical position skills, draw a lot of caution from the league. Hence, nobody was willing to pony up a max deal.
As it is, Phoenix holds all the cards, and Bledsoe knows it. The best thing he can do at this point, if he’s mad at anybody, is shut up. Wars of words leave wounds that often don’t heal.
Other news
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“Inversion,” the process by which US companies merge with an overseas entity to redomicile the business in a foreign country for tax benefit, is all the rage right now.
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Sixth-grader produces a school project on invasive lionfish, but has created a pretty significant kerfuffle in the process.
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Everything you wanted to know about living in sin, but were afraid to ask. Me, I’ve never been afraid to ask, although I kind of prefer to figure it out on my own…
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Fist bumps are less “germy” than handshakes. Well, that’s nice, but can you imagine going to a networking event, meeting the COO of a major corporation and extending him knuckles? Never work.