Big Blue Nation Linkapalooza: Bye Week Edition

This is the bye week for Kentucky Wildcats football, but there isn't much football news of note that affects the Wildcats.  There is a bunch of SEC football news and some leftovers from Big Blue Madness, though.

• Eric Lindsey describes a Calipari practice. Very interesting.

  A common theme in the morning was playing "winning basketball." As Calipari tries to break old habits, particularly with the newcomers, and get his team to buy into his system, he is emphasizing making the easy play. "This is about winning," Calipari shouted to his team. "This isn’t about making an extra play that looks good. Every play we’re playing to win."

• Rocky Top Talk: Brother, have you got a dime?

  When pride and excitement used to be measured in championships and now hangs by the pathetic thread of hope that a bowl game awaits us at the end of the reverse rainbow 2011 [a season that's hopefully high on both ends and low in the middle...] it makes life difficult.

  I completely sympathize.  Three years ago, this was us in a different sport

• John Clay runs down links for all the SEC games yesterday.

• This is getting a lot of repetition.

  "Tonight, we feel the Kentucky effect in full force as we once again redefine college basketball. … We see no plateaus. ... We do more than move the needle. We are the needle."

   

• Calipari continues to drive home the point about Kentucky.

  "When we play them, I hope they lose. But other than that, I could really care less," Calipari said. "We are not following or watching or recruiting against them."
  
  If that was meant to be a subtle dig at the Cardinals, Calipari was clearer in repeating his original premise once more.

• Lex 18 says Calipari is looking for their style of offense and defense.

  Calipari admits his team is "skinny" but with its length and quickness, is not worried about how they'll defend bigger teams, even if he's not sure yet how they'll play on defense.

• Calipari turns Madness into ultimate recruiting tool - NCAA Basketball - Sporting News

  Midnight Madness events coast to coast are becoming less and less about celebrating the opening of the college basketball season and getting a first look at this year's teams. It's more about recruiting the next team.

• Aaron Smith of the Kentucky Kernel says this team will be fun.

  Anthony Davis is simply outrageous. He’s definitely a non-traditional center, and we might not see him posting up someone that often. But if a ball goes up around the rim, Davis will get it. How many times did we see him, contorted or at an angle, manage to pull down a thrown pass out of the air? Perhaps the best part: Davis has only been able to do this for two years, since his 7-inch growth spurt during high school, and it seems like he’s still surprised at some of the things his body allowed him to do. It looks like he’s dunking on a Nerf hoops. Will he have lanes that open during the season to fly through? No. But that doesn’t mean he still won’t jump over and through everyone.

• Larry Vaught talks about Calipari's speech at Madness.

  He was just like a Baptist minister with a full congregation ready to shout amen after his every word.
  
  Brother — I mean coach — John Calipari delivered just the message the Big Blue faithful — and highly-touted recruits sitting on the front row of Rupp Arena — wanted to hear Friday night during Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness.

• Gary Parrish is "Mr. Obvious" today.

   

  And that's because Calipari wasn't talking to you or I as much as he was talking to them -- the prospects here at Big Blue Madness both officially and unofficially, a group headlined by Class of 2012 stars Shabazz Muhammad, Alex Poythress, Archie Goodwin, Dajuan Coleman and Willie Cauley. They won't all attend Kentucky. At least I don't think they'll all attend Kentucky. But some of them will, and Calipari made an obvious effort to make them aware that when they enroll they'll be part of a "players-first program."

• The Leach Report Sunday Links.

• Five Wildcats earn mid-season honors.

  Lost among the pejoratives surrounding the football team is the fact that some Kentucky players are having good seasons:

  Several University of Kentucky football players have been named to mid-season All-America and/or All-Southeastern Conference teams, including linebacker Danny Trevathan, offensive guard Larry Warford, safety Winston Guy, punter Ryan Tydlacka and wide receiver La’Rod King, Phil Steele’s College Football released Thursday.

• Mark Story remembers Clarkie Mayfield.

  Several University of Kentucky football players have been named to mid-season All-America and/or All-Southeastern Conference teams, including linebacker Danny Trevathan, offensive guard Larry Warford, safety Winston Guy, punter Ryan Tydlacka and wide receiver La’Rod King, Phil Steele’s College Football released Thursday.

• Kyle Tucker grades the football team, and does a good job.

  WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS — Junior wideout La’Rod King has dropped a few key passes, but he’s mostly made up for those by catching a team-high 22 balls for 315 yards and four touchdowns. After King, UK has no other reliable targets; no one else has more than 10 receptions for 89 yards. All of the receivers have dropped multiple passes and the tight ends have been virtual non-factors, combining to catch just 10 passes for 104 yards. Grade: F

• Eamonn Brennan talks college hoops, including UK.

  2. Kentucky coach John Calipari is welcoming a stacked recruiting class to Lexington this fall. That's nothing new for Calipari, of course; he's had the top-ranked recruiting class in each of the past three seasons. But this one is extra-special. It features the No. 1-ranked player at three different positions: point guard (Marquis Teague), small forward (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) and power forward (Anthony Davis), and it even tacks on No. 5-ranked power forward and McDonald's All-American Kyle Wiltjer for good measure. But this team isn't all about the freshmen. Sophomore Terrence Jones -- who was frequently Kentucky's best player in 2010-11, and at times played like a potential SEC Player of the Year candidate -- ignored the NBA draft and returned for his sophomore season instead.

• ESPN's Eamonn Brennan, Andy Katz, and Dana O'Neil look at five questions in round-table format.

  Dana O'Neil: This has become an annual question since John Calipari took over at Kentucky, but every season it seems to get even more intriguing: Can the coach yet again create a national monster out of a more-or-less recreated roster? This could be the Wildcats' best blend of old and new, with terrific returners in Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones and Darius Miller to match up to that stellar recruiting class. But it's not like Lamb and Jones are wily veterans. They're sophomores. So can the game's best coaching mixmaster concoct another winner?

• And the Valley Shook reviews "Man in the Glass: The Dale Brown Story.

  The film also delves into some of the more outrageous off the court incidents of the Brown tenure. Moments like the Wooden-Rupp Honors banquet before Brown's 1st season, the day AD Brodhead bugged his own office to spy on the NCAA, and Brown calling the NCAA to inform them he was about to commit a violation.

• Countdown to Coaching Carousel 2011: Stoops Memorial Edition -- College Football Zealots
• KSR says Ryan Harrow will play in the Blue/White game.

• Marcus Lattimore down for the season.

  Spurrier said Lattimore had a torn ligament in his left knee and also suffered some cartilage damage. Lattimore will require surgery, although doctors want to keep the knee braced and allow it stabilze for several weeks before operating.

  Terrible news for the Gamecocks.  They have my sympathy, and Lattimore our hopes for a speedy and complete recovery.

• Saturday Down South bemoans the SEC injuries.

  With the news of Marcus Lattimore going down for the year with an apparent knee injury suffered this past weekend against Mississippi State, the SEC East has just been devastated with injuries this season to four very important players and three East contenders.

• Alligator Army says the Gators are down and out in the rankings.
  Three straight losses will do that to you.

• Kyle King at Dawg Sports says don't sweat the margin.

   

  • Don’t sweat the close win over Vanderbilt; it was a win, which was won without Malcolm Mitchell and largely without Isaiah Crowell. As I noted in last night’s Mark Richt Victory Watch, Georgia’s last close win in Nashville served as the precursor to a dominant stretch run, and the ‘Dawgs take a five-game winning streak into the bye week, during which the Red and Black will be able to get rested and ready for the Florida game. Feel good, Bulldog Nation . . . just don’t feel too good. It’s a fine line, but, fortunately, walking it is coachable.

• David Climer says LSU mauled the Volunteers.

  It is telling commentary on the current state of the UT program that the closest reference point to the good old days of contending for SEC and national championships at Neyland Stadium on Saturday was the man directing LSU’s defense.