Kentucky Sports: Morning Quickies -- Boxing Day Edition

We don't celebrate Boxing Day here in America, but we should. In England, where it originated, it is the day that people give gifts to those who have been of service to them during the year, like postmen, domestic services persons, and others who have helped them in some capacity.

Tweet of the Morning:

Using ESPN's ranking system, Kentucky basketball has been ranked # 1 after every decade since 1939 (thx to KSR member Darryl for tidbit).

— KentuckySportsReport (@MyKSR1) December 26, 2012

Not exactly news you can use -- except against fans of other teams.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Future looks bright for Kentucky football team // The State Journal

  I believe Stoops and company can take that talent on the current roster and put the players in positions to succeed in systems better suited to their talents.

  I think so too. I can't wait to see it happen.

Kentucky basketball

• Big brothers, both Division I football players, instilled toughness in Kentucky's Noel // Kentucky.com
  I'll bet Nerlens is glad he's not the one named after Dennis Rodman. All I know is this: Dennis Rodman was one of the most competitive people ever to play the game.

• BOZICH BLOG: U of L-UK Forecasts -- Cards by 9 or more // WDRB 41 Louisville
  The Cardinals are understandably the trendy pick this year, but don't give up hope, Big Blue Nation. I'll have more on that soon.

• The Harlan Daily Enterprise // Cats must avoid mental lapses vs Cards
  Well, there's that. They also need to make layups and continue to hit the glass.

• Anthony Davis Gives Back for the Holidays // NBC Chicago

• The Year in Review 2012: Anthony Davis, Kentucky top college hoops - UPI.com

  The 2011-12 Wildcats may have been the epitome of the so-called one-and-done syndrome in which players attend a school for one season and then head to the NBA.

  One and done "syndrome?" So now, we're comparing the NBA rule to a medical condition? Seriously guys?

• Hungry athletes: NCAA rules limit players’ food intake - NCAA Basketball - Sporting News

  The NCAA allows schools to feed athletes only three meals per day, and all food much be consumed at the training table. No snacks. No taking food back to the dorm room. So if Nerlens Noel wanted to make a turkey sandwich to cure his midnight hunger, that’d be an NCAA violation.

  Stupid is one word for this rule. The other is pure, green-eyed jealousy. The idea that food intake should be regulated is the kind of thing that makes it hard not to consider the NCAA an intellectually unserious organization.

• College Basketball Power Index // Fox News
  Not sure what this is, exactly, but this makes a lot more sense than some of the polls.

• Sideline Chatter: Calipari fills his stocking with stuffers yearly // The Courier-Journal

  " From Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari: "May the spirit of your holiday season not be one and done."

  Heh.

• Tom Leach // Early take on UK-UL

  It'll be interesting to see how Louisville attacks the Cats. The Cards' press can be suffocating but Kentucky has not been a high turnover team thus far and UK is at its best in transition. My guess is that UofL will focus more on its halfcourt defense and force the Wildcats to beat them by executing their halfcourt offense.

  This is something most people underestimate. Kentucky has been a very solid ballhandling team, and exploiting weak ballhandling is what Louisville counts on.

• Ryan Harrow, as good as any point guard in the country? // CollegeBasketballTalk

  If you cut through the coachspeak and the spin, there actually is some value in what Calipari says.

  How pedantic of you, Rob.

Links posts

• Morning Five: 12.26.12 Edition // Rush The Court
• Tom Leach // Wednesday Links

• SEC M5: 12.26.12 Edition // Rush The Court

College football

• Steroids loom in major-college football // Grand Forks, North Dakota

  By comparison, in Kentucky and Maryland, racehorses face tougher testing and sanctions than football players at Louisville or the University of Maryland.

  The next great scandal in college sports is waiting...

• By beating Notre Dame, Alabama can officially become a dynasty // college football - ESPN
  In my mind, it already is.

College basketball

• NCAA basketball rankings: Duke still No. 1 in latest AP poll // SBNation.com
  I note a big drop by the Florida Gators. Weird to see Michigan this high.

• College basketball rankings: Syracuse drops to No. 7 in coaches poll // SBNation.com

Other sports news

• Ankle injury will not keep record setting Randall Cobb off Green Bay special teams // vaughtsviews

• Tebow deserves respect, not scorn, for sticking up for himself // CBSSports.com

  Tebow was a pawn, and finally -- assuming he did in fact refuse to run the Wildcat on Sunday -- he realized it. Days earlier, Ryan had completely laid bare his "no Tebow, no matter what" stance when he benched Sanchez and replaced him with McElroy. The team already had been eliminated from playoff contention. McElroy had done nothing to deserve this shot. But even then, Ryan wasn't going to play the quarterback foisted upon him by owner Woody Johnson.

  Tebow has been treated unethically by the Jets, and I don't blame him for standing up for himself. I like this Doyel article, and recommend it to you.