Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Dusty Baker Edition

Dusty Baker has been either fired, or resigned, as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

Tweet of the Morning:

Who else has a feeling that once Mark Stoops has a team of all players he recruited at Kentucky that they may break out of the cellar?

— Eric (@ERICHAMLIVE) October 4, 2013

If he doesn't, I'd say he might be out of a job.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Joe Mansoor named a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, recognizing the best scholar-athlete in the nation.

• Stoops' comments will be proven one way or the other on Saturday night. South Carolina has the edge almost everywhere.

• KSN takes a stab at several SEC games this weekend.

• Associated press preview of Kentucky-South Carolina

• Ten things you didn't know about Za'Darius Smith. This is funny:

  His name Za’Darius was in fact originally intended to be that of a Greek god, but the Greeks considered the name to be simply too fearsome for just a mere god. They decided to let Za’Darius’ mother use it instead.

• Jadeveon Clowney has injured ribs and did not practice Thursday, but expects to be ready for Kentucky.

• South Carolina defense hopes to get it right against Kentucky. I hope Kentucky's offense finally gets something right.

Kentucky basketball

• Devin Booker plans to announce his decision on October 31st between Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan St., and Missouri.

• Jarrod Polson on this year's team:

  "I've played with a lot of talent in my three years so far, but this year's talent could be even better than that," Jarrod said. "Just the will to win is what I've noticed the most about this team. Even in the pick-up games, everyone's going as hard as they can because they don't want to lose. I think that's the biggest thing that's different about the last few years — we just want to win so bad and expect to win."

• Alex Poythress: "Why not aim at 40-0?"

  Makes sense to me.

• Coach Cal talks to Big Blue Madness campers (Hat tip: Cat Scratches)

• KSR has your Big Blue Madness list of visiting recruits.

• Madness campout sets new record with 755 tents versus a previous high of 595.

• Kentucky announces the television schedule for the remaining games that didn't have times and channels before.

• JLev will love this one. More Randle. Hat tip: Sam Henson

• Kentucky players deliver pizza to campers.

Links posts

• The Leach Report — Friday Wildcat Links

• John Clay's Big Blue Links

• John Clay's SEC Links

College football

• SB Nation gets "all access" to the Longhorn Network. Pretty interesting stuff. I sure wish UK had something similar.

• Texas escapes Iowa State on a controversial call. Mack Brown's seat just hit the temperature required to cause fusion of nickel atoms. Meanwile, the Iowa State head coach may have spent some money, rips officials.

• You've probably heard about this by now. Not good.

• What does Lane Kiffin's exit mean to the rest of the Pac-12? That they don't have to listen to that idiot on Media Days anymore?

College basketball

• Isportsweb takes a look at the impact of Kyle Wiltjer on the Zags.

• Rush The Court &mdash: Morning Five

• Five years after the advent of the new college 3-point line, has it achieved it's desired effect?

• Mississippi St. dismisses senior center Wendell Lewis after the NCAA granted him a fifth year of eligibility.

• Rob Dauster joins most of the rest of the world in denouncing the Pitino abuse of yesterday:

  Folks like that radio host are why "the media" gets a bad name.

• Uh oh. Steve Alford loses a major recruit. Bruins Nation reacts ... typically.

Other sports news

• Philadunkia (love that name) takes a look at Nerlens Noel, and wonders how high his ceiling is:

  It is very rare for a player whose offensive usage was so limited to be in the conversation as a possible first overall pick. Usually highly-hyped college players demand attention for their offensive abilities. However, Noel is unique and doesn’t compare cleanly to many recent collegiate or professional players. He is the breed whose NBA success won’t be measured plainly in points.

• Derrick Rose is looking forward to his return as a "fresh start."

Other news

• Long-time Kentucky fan needs help with a kidney transplant.

• Yeah, this is weird. Kind of cute, in a ... weird way.

  Got my workout in and off to the airport. Minnesota here I come! @Love3d keep the squirrel happy until I get back tomorrow :) #squirrely

  — lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) October 4, 2013