Big Blue Nation Linkapalooza: Kansans Going, Georgia Coming Edition

With the Kansas Jayhawks game now firmly in the rear-view mirror, we set our sights on the Mohegan Sun Arena and the game with the Penn St. Nittany Lions on Saturday, and for the football team, a trip to Athens, Georgia for a date between the hedges with the Georgia Bulldogs.

But first, quite a bit of reax to Kanasas, which is still coming in fast and furious:

• Don't do drugs, boys and girls.
  Jon Bois of SB Nation.com remembers some great wacky sports cards of the past.  Thanks to JLeverenz for the link.

• Rob Dauster worries that Kentucky will punch folks.

  While somewhat justified — I probably would have done the same thing if I were him — the incident shined a light on another potential issue for the Wildcats: composure. What’s going to happen if Jones catches an inadvertent elbow from John Henson? What happens if Kidd-Gilchrist, who was the most vocal when the two teams came together last night, gets knocked into the scorer’s table by Chane Behanan? How will the Wildcats react? Will it take them out of their game? Will a punch get thrown?

  Normally, Rob and I are of a mind.  This, I'm not sure I get.  We see incidents like this 10,000 times a year, and nobody asks these questions.

  Except about Kentucky, it seems.  Curious.

• One of five takeaways from the KU-UK game by Searching for Billy Edlin.

  Miss long, and you’ll get killed by Kentucky. The Wildcats have the potential to be one of the best transition teams in recent memory. Better than the 2005 UNC Tar Heels, which scored 127 points per 100 possessions and won the National Championship. Any team that stubbornly dares to out-shoot UK better be hitting early and often. Long rebounds lead to fast breaks, which in this case will lead to really fun looking dunks off a single outlet pass and a few dribbles. This is exactly how the Wildcats went on an 18-7 run to open the second half and they'll do it all season long.

  This is exactly right.  If you're going to take that 3-point shot, you'd better make darn sure you make it, or you're going to watch a high-flying dunk on the other end.

  This is what makes Kentucky such a nightmare, even in their current state of youthful incohesion.  It's why, despite playing very poorly in the first half, the 'Cats were able to obliterate Kansas in the first couple of minutes of the second half.

• Big plays lacking in Kentucky football.
  This is actually quite an astute observation. In years past, we have been blessed with big-play ability that seems lacking in this current team.

• Cats look to make Georgia win No. 5 : The Kentucky Kernel
  Winning in Athens seems pretty unlikely this year. That's all I'll say about that.

• I'm wondering how much longer Howland can survive at UCLA.
  His seat has got to be getting warm. In fact, at this point, I give him one more year to turn the program back in the right direction, or he can expect to be freed up for other opportunities.

• Georgia has reason for overconfidence.
  That's the only thing working in Kentucky's favor. The Dawgs probably think they have this thing licked, and if I were them, I'd probably be thinking the same thing.

• Eric Lindsey reports on Marquis Teague's evolution.

  "Right now, offensively, we’re right about 20 percent of the time," Calipari said Wednesday at a news conference to announce next year’s Maryland game in New York. "After the game I told them, ‘If you break off the offense I’m taking you out.’ Literally, we had guys catch it at the top, supposed to go left and they just went right. (They say), ‘Well, I felt it.’ ‘I don’t know what you felt, but you better feel something different.’

  This paragraph perhaps summarizes best the entire night.  Two things stand out to me, though.

  One is, if the team is only 20% efficient in their offensive execution right now, how high is the ceiling?  Can you even see it from Earth?

  Second, the thing about kids "feeling" things is so incredibly high school.  Calipari will get that out of them if he has to beat it out.

• UK Hoops plays tonight.
  If they destroy Northwestern like they did Jax St., people will start to notice.

• If you haven't read the Grantland piece on Anthony Davis yet, you should.
  This is some excellent sportswriting, no matter what the subject. Take this passage for instance:

  The Wildcats faithful, who bathed whole sections of the Garden in matching blue T-shirts, heavily outnumbered these salt-of-the-earth types. Like Mongol hordes, they travel in legion.

  Ah, the Blue Mist. I like the Mongol horde analogy.

• Geno Auriemma talks about Calipari, and his comments are indecipherable.
  I read this, and I have no freaking idea what he said there. Is this some kind of battle language, like in Dune?

• SEC coaches will earn over $34 million dollars this year.
  Joker Phillips is the piker among SEC coaches at 1.7 million.

• Dick Weiss "Kentucky has cast a huge shadow over the commonwealth"
  Weiss essentially makes the same point that Calipari made earlier when he failed to mention the Cardinals and provoked outrage among the Card faithful and even a snide remark from Traitor Rick.

• Impressed by UK? Calipari isn't - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

  Kentucky had very little offensive flow in the first half. Point guard Marquis Teague was overanxious and sloppy; Jones was forcing attempts in the low block; Kidd-Gilchrist looked too eager to prove he had an outside jumper; Lamb was rarely involved. When the Wildcats slowed down in the second half, they spaced the floor, ran a few of Calipari's sets and took what the defense gave them -- rather than assuming they were good enough to get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it. It was an impressive turnaround.

• A Sign of Silver Lining? Reeves Nelson is Staying at UCLA - Bruins Nation

  We are all grateful that Reeves did right thing by not quitting at first sign of adversity. I will be personally rooting hard for his Bruin redemption. I am rooting for Coach Ben Howland. I am crossing my fingers for those silver linings in UCLA basketball.

  Howland has not lost Bruins Nation yet, so maybe there is hope for him.
• Testudo Times is stoked about playing UK next year at the Barclays Center.

• Spencer Hall is jumping on the Vandy bandwagon.
  Well, sort of.

• Chomping At Bits: Could Florida Basketball Be 2011-12's National Champions? - Alligator Army
  One word answer: No.