Kentucky Wildcats: Morning Quickies - Party Like Its Dec 20th 2012 Edition

Here we are, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation -- on the eve of the Mayan apocalypse. If we all wake up tomorrow to a world substantially similar to today, we will have dodged yet another doomsday bullet. Remember 2000? Are we having fun yet?

Tweet of the Morning:

IU's team GPA was 3.08, which is lower than UK's. Crean plans to bake a cake that says "We did better on our midterm exams than Kentucky."

— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) December 20, 2012

Better do it between now and midnight tomorrow night ...

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Grading college football's coaching hires // Yahoo! Sports
  Take this for what it's worth, which is practically nothing.

• Stoops Nabs Two Junior College Signees // UKAthletics.com
  A pair of junior-college standouts, tight end Steven Borden and defensive end Za'Darius Smith, have become the first signees for new Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, the coach announced Wednesday.

• Video: Mark Stoops media opp // John Clay's Sidelines
  Some interesting comments. Stoops "wanted guys with a chip on their shoulder" when it came to hiring assistants.

• Stoops telling some UK commits to look at other schools that might be a better fit now // vaughtsviews

  “I’ve been in communication with all of them and we talked to some of them about possibly letting them look at some other schools. It would probably be in their best interest to look at some other schools just system-wise,” said Stoops Wednesday. “Everybody completely understood that."

  It will be interesting to see how many decide to go elsewhere, but you can bet there will be a few. That's going to put Stoops behind about eight or ten players, I figure.
• Q&A with coach of UK 4-star JuCo signee Za’Darius Smith // Recruiting

Kentucky basketball

• UK basketball: Stats to get ready for Marshall // Kentucky.com
  for those of you who like slide shows. They annoy me to no end.

• Documentary on Sam Bowie's career airs Thursday // WKYT
  Just in case you forgot.

• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Gives Back to Youth Basketball League // AllKyHoops.com
  Awesome. I'm not the least bit surprised.

• Is Kentucky physically and mentally tough enough to be Final Four team // vaughtsviews
  Today, I'd say the answer is "No," but that doesn't mean they won't be. Toughness will start to show itself later in the year, say mid-SEC season. What they need to focus on now is being better conditioned and more skilled than their competition. Toughness will develop with tough games.

• The Mailbag -- Volume 4, Episode 4 // CoachCal.com
  Did you know Camp Cal started at UMass? This and more in Coach Cal's mailbag.

Other UK sports

• Skinner Signs Contract Extension // UKAthletics.com

  During Skinner's tenure, UK has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in all eight seasons, a feat only 14 other teams in the nation have achieved. The 2012 squad advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season and the third time in four years. The Wildcats hosted the NCAA First and Second Rounds and have hosted a portion of the tournament in four of the last five seasons. UK is slated to host an NCAA Regional for the second time in three years in 2013.

  This guy has been a killer hire for Mitch Barnhart.

Links posts

• Tom Leach // Thursday Links
• The Morning Mix // Troy Machir, CollegeBasketballTalk

College football

• NCAA nearly suspended OU assistant over tweets - College football- NBC Sports

  Twitter messages sent to high school players in February violated NCAA rules and nearly resulted in a one-game suspension for Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press

  Twitter is the DEVIL! Or was that Facebook? I get confused...

College basketball

• Myck Kabongo of Texas Longhorns suspended for season, according to report // ESPN
  The NCAA will not confirm this report. Yet. If true, it points to the dangers of not being forthcoming with the NCAA while you are under their auspices.

• 3-point shot: Cramps sink Xavier // ESPN

• After Cincy win, rivalry questions remain // ESPN
  So now we see many in the sports commentariat warming up to the idea of bitter rivals playing at neutral sites. Unless, of course, it is Kentucky, where fans must be forced into on-campus arenas where fewer tickets are available, fans misbehave, and court-stormings happen.

• Night Court: Kabongo news trumps all game action // CBSSports.com
  Recap of last night's games. All I saw was UNC/Texas, and I thought both teams looked pretty bad on offense. Texas' defense is very decent.

• 10 tidbits to know this week: Gophers’ balance, Friars go green and more // CollegeBasketballTalk

• SEC has some work to do before March arrives // GoVolsXtra
  A lot more. And the cupcake feast that SEC teams have been binging on all season are not going to help at all in March.

• Father beats son as No. 5 Louisville beats FIU 79-55 // The Washington Post
  And so it goes in the River City ...

Other sports news

• Nate Robinson: Marquis Teague could make Nate Robinson expendable // Chicago Tribune
  As usual, it took Marquis Teague a while to adjust, but he's adjusting.

• Randall Cobb Running for the Record Books - WBAY

  On Sunday, Randall Cobb will almost assuredly make history.

  The Packers receiver/kick returner is just nine yards shy of Ahman Green's franchise record of 2,250 all-purpose yards.

  The awesomeness that is Randall Cobb just keeps on making us smile.

• Robert Griffin III fined $10,000 for wearing the wrong shirt - latimes.com

  See, the problem is that Griffin has a sponsorship deal with Adidas, but the NFL has a league-wide deal with Nike.

  Oh, my God. This is what we have come to?

Other news

• SpongeBob app yanked following kids' privacy complaint // Technology on NBCNews.com
  First they come for SpongeBob...