Kentucky Wildcats: Big Blue Nation Linkapalooza -- Post-Duke Edition

Didn't get to the Quickies this morning, so we'll do a Linkapalooza today.

Tweet of the Afternoon:

A warning to the #BBN, I took @the_bcal25 to get his driver's permit today. Brad passed the test but I want to warn everyone in Lexington.

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) November 14, 2012

That would be Coach Cal's son, Brad. Beware, Lexingtonians.

Your Linkapalooza:

Kentucky football

• How much has 2012 cost UK football? // Kyle Tucker – UK Beat
  Welcome to the party, Kyle. We used rough numbers to talk about this quite a while back, but the result is very similar and equally persuasive. You can't surrender $4.2 million dollars like that without changing something. Yes, some of that money might have been lost anyway to a bad economy, but not $4.2 million.

• Do not believe the ‘Bill Cowher to Kentucky’ speculation // vaughtsviews
  This is good advice. Cowher is not coming to Lexington.

• Matt Smith Named Finalist for 2012 Wuerffel Trophy // UKAthletics.com

  University of Kentucky senior center Matt Smith has been named one of eight finalistsfor the 2012 Wuerffel Trophy, which is a national award that honors the college football player who best combines exemplary community service with outstanding academic and athletic achievement, the All Sports Association, Inc., announced Wednesday.

• Phillips Talks Attitude in Practice, Seniors Contribution // UKAthletics.com
  Ashley Lowery (S) is out for the year with a broken finger.

Kentucky basketball

• UK coach John Calipari did not think Kyle Wiltjer played that badly against Duke // vaughtsviews
  I wouldn't characterize his play as "bad" either. He had 4 assists. But 3 rebounds is far too few, and he needs to have more of an impact on the game scoring-wise.

• Cal, Cats, Coach K react to UK’s loss to Duke // Kyle Tucker

  ON CAL SAYING DUKE WAS FLOPPING AND WOULD GET FINED IF THIS WAS THE NBA: "I mean, he has a right to say whatever he wants. I thought we took some amazing charges and probably – I thought we had taken a couple more. There’s a difference between a charge and a flop. A flop means you don’t take any contact. I would hope that anybody that watches the game would say our kids really played outstanding defense and were there to take charges. (Turned off camera for the thing about not getting paid so they can’t get fined.)

  I'm not wading into this. Everyone knows Duke flops. Krzyzewski knows it, too, but he's never going to admit it. I wouldn't if I were him. And Calipari didn;t say anything about a fine, the press misquoted him. He said that they would have been suspended in the NBA. For the record, that requires a lot of flopping and fines come first, but he did say "suspended," not fined.

• Rapid Reaction: Duke 75, Kentucky 68 - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

  It’s always dangerous to draw too many conclusions from a game in November. There’s just too much time left in the season. But the Wildcats' ability to come back -- on the heels of their ability to survive against Maryland -- shows that this group might be uniquely special like last year’s team. No, Kentucky didn’t win. But sometimes there’s just as much to be gleaned in a loss. Freshmen aren’t supposed to have this sort of poise.

  Interesting observation. Poise, yes, so there's that ...
• Loaded field leaves with plenty to play for from Champions Classic // SI.com

• Duke's Seth Curry faces Kentucky // Grantland
  This was linked earlier, but in case you missed it, it's a pretty good essay.

• Karl Towns will announce college decision Dec. 4 // Ben Roberts, NextCats
  Interesting. I'd sure like for it to be Kentucky.

• Kentucky isn’t great, yet, but they will be // CollegeBasketballTalk

• It wasn’t all bad…. // Ky Cat Stats
  No, it wasn't. And it will get better.

• Duke offense lives; UK work in progress // ESPN

• Calipari calls out Duke for flopping in interview // USA Today

  The quote buzzed around Twitter during halftime, which prompted some snarky tweets. The best? Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples: "Give Cal this. The man knows that if you troll Duke, you win the populace."

  Heh.

• Calipari calls out Duke, and Mike Krzyzewski offers a Hall of Fame comeback // SBNation.com
  How is "And we don't make any money, so we can't be fined" a great comeback to "They're flopping all over the place. In the NBA they'd be suspended."? Aren't we talking two different things here?

• No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 9 Duke final: Blue Devils win, 75-68 - SBNation.com

  John Calipari brought in another sterling recruiting class to Lexington, but his newest crop of stars doesn't appear to be quite as ready to dominate at the college level as Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were.

  Well, let's be fair. #1, it matters that Kentucky was down a starter, and #2, it matters that they had a road trip to New York just 4 days before rather than a home game against a cupcake like last year's team. This observation might be just a bit premature. Plus, AD and MKG had a lot more than freshman help.
• This, via HighSchoolHoop.com
  

Other UK sports

• UK Hoops Postmortem: Baylor Vs. (I Don't Know Who They Were) // A Sea Of Blue
  Indeed.

• Hoops Falls at No. 1 Baylor // UKAthletics.com
  Yeah, I'd say we fell like a ton of bricks, which is about what the ladies team were laying on the backboards last night.

College football

• The Alphabetical, Week 12: Texas A&M continues to confound Gary Danielson // SBNation.com

• 2012 Heisman Watch, Week 11: The race has a new leader(s) // SBNation.com
  Well, no surprises here.

College basketball

• Jordan Adams Saves Howland's Job: UCLA Downs UCI in OT, 80-79 // Bruins Nation
  One word: Wow.

Other sports news

• DeMarcus Cousins issues press release, apologizes // Sactown Royalty
  Notably, he did not apologize to Sean Elliot.

• Controversial study released on possibility of NBA team in Louisville // WHAS11.com Louisville

  "With the regions fervent support of its local collegiate teams coupled with poor personal income numbers, it is far fetched to think that a Louisville citizen's dollar can be stretched even further to support NBA tickets."

  I think this is right. We had a team here once in the old ABA, and I can remember how few seats were sold on a regular basis.