Kentucky Sports: Morning Quickies -- Christmas Eve Edition

It's Christmas Eve, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation. I hope yours is a pleasant one.

Tweet of the Morning:

There are things I don't understand, and then there is being the monkey in a sidecar motorcycle racing duo.

— edsbs (@edsbs) December 24, 2012

I have no idea why I find this hilarious, but I do. Must be a repressed memory or something...

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• From the Pressbox: Football, basketball notes // Cat Scratches

  "He's a very good recruiter and a very good evaluator and he's also proven that he can develop guys. Some guys are really good recruiters and some guys are really good at developing them when they get on campus. You talk to folks around college football and (they think) he can do both," Low said of Stoops. "You've got to get some guys, sometimes, that are maybe under-sized or are late-bloomers but you've also got to go out and win some (recruiting) battles."

  ESPN's Chris Low on Mark Stoops.

• SEC East Christmas Wish List // Saturday Down South

  Kentucky doesn’t want to win SEC East Championships, but they do want seven or eight win seasons and win bowl games. That’s winning at Kentucky. It’s not a knock on the program or any of the players; it’s just the reality of the job.

  I think this is exactly right, and if we can get 7-8 wins per year consistently, we can then raise our sights toward something more meaningful. But give me that, and I'm pretty darn satisfied, as long as we are not totally uncompetitive with the better teams in the league. Losing is one thing. Losing huge is another.

Kentucky basketball

• Calipari still says Cats have more upside than any team in the country // vaughtsviews
  Sounds familiar, but that doesn't make it any less true.

• Clarksville girl meets New Orleans Hornets Anthony Davis // Clarksville, TN Online
  Anthony Davis has fans everywhere.

Links posts

• John Clay's Big Blue Links
• Tom Leach // Monday Links
• The Morning Mix // CollegeBasketballTalk
• Wakeup Call: And so I'm offering this simple post, to kids from 1 to 92 // CBSSports.com

College football

• New boss of Tennessee Vols defense is prepared // The Commercial Appeal
  KNOXVILLE — Tennessee defensive coordinator John Jancek understands the magnitude of the job ahead of him even though recruiting demands have prevented him from watching much tape of his new team's 2012 performances.

College basketball

• 3-point shot: Big East exit strategy // ESPN

• Pick 'n' Roll // ESPN
  Leggos, Dana? Seriously?

• LSU Drops Close Game to Marquette 84-80 // And The Valley Shook
  That's a pretty impressive game against a good team for LSU. Is it possible they will be a surprise in the SEC this year? Their record is good, but they have feasted on some serious high-calorie pastries so far, so I'm not laying any bets. But they do bear watching.

• Georgia Sports Blog: I'm so confused!
  Good win for Georgia. Faster, please.

Other sports news

• Randall Cobb sets Packers’ record, leaves with injury // John Clay's Sidelines
  Hopefully, it is a minor ankle sprain. Please, God, not that high ankle he had at UK.

• Shelvin Mack is back with the Wizards // John Clay's Sidelines

• Randall Cobb takes advantage of bizarre NFL rule // Audibles - SI.com
  Pretty soon, we're going to have to come up with some Chuck Norris-like jokes for Randall Cobb.

• Video: Chris Paul-Eric Bledsoe lob to the tomahawk jam // CBSSports.com
  This has been around a while, but if you haven't run across it, you need to see it.

• Anthony Davis Throws Down Reverse Alley-Oop // Huffington Post
  Just in case you had forgotten why this guy was the #1 draft pick last year...

• Chicago Bulls: Big brother takes Round 1 of Teague battle // chicagotribune.com
  Well, Jeff is a pretty darn good player himself.

• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Massive Tomahawk Dunk // Everything Kentucky Online
  Seems like everybody from UK is dunking on people these days.

• Fixing DeMarcus Cousins takes something the Kings don't have - SBNation.com

  But, in all likelihood, it's not going to fix anything in and of itself. It'd be miraculous and wonderful if Cousins returned sometime next week on his very best behavior and had nary an incident for the next season and a half, reached his All-Star potential and led the Kings back to the playoffs soon. But ... I'm not going to hold my breath. Chances are that even in the best case, there will continue to be growing pains as DeMarcus Cousins learns how to become an adult. A passionate and excitable but decent adult.

  When DeMarcus finally grows up, as long as he doesn't do himself irreparable harm in the process, he's going to be really special. Right now, he's a special pain in the ass.