Today at 1:30 in Hoover, Alabama, the Kentucky Wildcats will take on the Mississippi St. Bulldogs in the second round of the 2012 SEC baseball tournament.

UKAthletics.com has a live blog of the game up which you can watch if you like, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

If Kentucky wins this game, they will move on to play either the LSU Tigers or the Mississippi St. Bulldogs (I assume LSU will hang on to the 9-2 lead over the Mississippi Rebels they have as of this writing).

As an adjunct to this thread, I also want to note that UK freshman A.J. Reed has been named a finalist for the Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, which is an honor afforded to pitchers who also have a significant offensive impact for their respective teams:

The award, named for the Washington State star who achieved success as both a first baseman and a right-handed pitcher, will be presented as part of the annual College Baseball Night of Champions on June 30 in Lubbock, Texas. The event features the presentation of numerous awards and the induction ceremony for this year’s Hall of Fame class.

Congrats to A.J., and go, 'Cats!

There is so much Sturm und Drang on the Internet today about Kentucky's schedule, especially in the context of the COIA statement yesterday, that it will get a lot of time in Quickies as well as a whole additional post planned for later today. We also have SEC Baseball Tournament news (the Kentucky Wildcats take on the red-hot Mississippi St. Bulldogs at 1:30 today in Hoover, Alabama) along with some media looks at Kentucky's place among the basketball elite next year.

Our Tweet of the Morning comes courtesy of Jay Bilas:

Digger falls for this one every time. twitter.com/JayBilas/statu…

— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) May 24, 2012

Your Quickies follow the jump.

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That, at least, is the way I read this:

We call on all those who support the collegiate model of athletics to speak out against this further move to professionalize college sports, and – most importantly – to decline to participate in such a separation of competitions from campuses. Even a "non-traditional" sports program needs opponents to play.

Okay, who is the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA hereafter)? It is a group of currently 59 FBS schools, including most of the Southeastern Conference, but notably, not UK. In fact, UK is one of only three SEC schools who are not members of the COIA, the other two being LSU and Florida. Their raison d'être appears to be a noble one, spelled out in their charter, the most basic tenet of which says this:

The Coalition. The Coalition On Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA) is a group advocating for reform in intercollegiate athletics, created by and representative of faculty senate leaders at Bowl Championship Series conference schools.

The reform they advocate is essentially the recommendations of the Knight Commission.

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Sorry for the lateness of the Quickies today, I had a radio show appearance, a workout, and some other things that put me a bit behind the power curve.

Today, Quickies reveals that Anthony Davis' unibrow is not by any means unique, Louisville is manufacturing scholarships out of thin air, and more former football players are pointing out the faults of the UK program. But first, our Tweet of the Day:

NBA's Stern: "I think we're going to have about 10 teams losing money this year...We're trending in the right direction." SBD story coming.

— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) May 23, 2012

Only David Stern could call 10 teams losing money as a positive trend. Your quickies follow the jump.

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When we think back to the nasty brawl between the Xavier Musketeers and Cincinnati Bearcats last year, this seems both inevitable and wise, according to The Dagger:

For at least the next two seasons, the site of the game will be off campus at the U.S. Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Tuesday. Both sides will reevaluate the behavior of the players and fans after that two-year trial period and decide whether the series should continue.

This is exactly what should have happened to the Kentucky Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers game, and for the same reason. No, the two teams didn't throw punches and behaved very much with class, but the Indiana fans were way too stirred up about that game, and I think the UK-IU series had just gotten a little too hot among the fans to continue home and home. I think this should be the default position of every rivalry where a lot of ugliness happens, either on the floor or in the bleachers.

Despite their mutual detestation, the Louisville and Kentucky game has never, or at least not in my memory, gotten as ugly as IU did this year when Kentucky came to town. There is no doubt that taking this year off is not a the worst thing, and if it turns into a couple of years, it will still be okay.

By moving the game to neutral sites, you encourage better sportsmanship, and what I consider a better environment. I'd cop to going back and forth between neutral and home-and-home on a rotating 2-year basis, because I think it helps give the bad blood a chance to mellow a bit, and prevents the catastrophic levels of unsportsmanlike conduct that can happen when the rivalry burns too hot at a home arena.

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You know there is not much media love for the gridiron Kentucky Wildcats. This evening, I went searching for treasures without a treasure map. I wanted to share what I found for all of you that are interested in football. Even if you don't like football, you should appreciate this first story.

Just like last year, the Joker Phillips and company awesome goodwill trip to Ethiopia is barely mentioned, mostly not at all. This year, accompanying Coach Phillips are team members Mikie Benton, Matt Smith and Larry Warford. Matt said he didn't even hesitate accepting the chance to go after hearing Danny Trevathan and Stuart Hines talking about their experiences last year. Larry hesitated leaving the US, at first, but didn't pass up the chance. I know everyone here doesn't have a Facebook account, but if you do, check out Joker Phillips' Fan Page for lots of photos. I am so sorry if you cannot access them, just be patient. The local media probably will cover this eventually sometime this summer.

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This is an open game thread for the Mississippi Rebels at Kentucky Wildcats in the SEC Baseball Tournament that begins today in Hoover, Alabama. The Wildcats and Rebels are both on 4-game losing streaks so something has got to give for one of these two teams. More details here via UKAthletics.com

Game time: 10:30 EDT
Location: Hoover, Alabama

Less than an hour before @UKBaseball opens the postseason in the SEC Tournament against Ole Miss. twitter.com/UKAthleticsNew…

— Kentucky Athletics(@UKAthleticsNews) May 22, 2012

UK is hosting a live blog of the game here, so you can keep up with it at work (when your boss isn't looking, of course). You can also follow the live stats at this link from the SECDigitalNetwork.

RELATED: Post at Red Cup Rebellion

Kentucky dug itself a hole with their late-season swoon. Even picking up one of the three games it lost to Mississippi St. last weekend would have put UK in a top seed, but now they have to settle for the fourth seed and a fairly tough path to the SEC Tournament championship. If the 'Cats get past Ole Miss, they could face tournament #1 seed LSU in their second game on Thursday -- at least I think I got that right. The bracket, in any case, is here.

The SEC is now in serious talks to create a cable channel, presumably in the style of the Big Ten Network. Obviously, that would be a big deal, and many will wonder, "What took so long?" I have no idea.

Today's Tweet of the Morning comes courtesy of none other than Nerlens Noel, offered in the style of a Jay Bilas "I gotta go to work" tweet:

Scary movie be screamin' when i ryhme. Ima 'king' u can ask 'steven' if im lyin. I gtta get #9.

— Nerlens Noel (@NerlensNoel3) May 22, 2012

There isn't a single member of the Big Blue Nation who won't appreciate that. Your quickies follow the jump.

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