Kentucky Wildcats: Morning Quickies - APR Edition

There are a lot of stories out there about the APR, most of them meaningless. What isn't meaningless are its consequences.

The bottom line is this -- stay above the APR trouble line, and you're fine. Tout your perfect APRs if you want to, but they don't earn you anything. And since I'm in the mood to take shots at people touting their APR's, Louisville football has a 924, which is below the trouble line. They blame it on Kragthorpe, unsurprisingly -- heck, they blame the national debt, gas prices and global warming on Kragthorpe -- but the NCAA doesn't care.

Tweet of the Morning:

Getting ready for UK Kid's Camp this morning ! It's going to be a great day working with little future Wildcats !!

— Bradley Dale Peveto (@UKCoachPeveto) June 12, 2013

Kentucky football coaches are killing it lately.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Here's an interview with Kentucky target TV Williams of McKinney High School in Texas. Drake is one of his favorite artists. Hey, don't we have an "in" with Drake? Coach Cal, coach Stoops on line 1 ... [Via Hank]

• KSR has some further comments about Williams, explaining why we want him. The big reason? Speed. Plus he's said to like Neal Brown's style. [Via Hank]

• John Clay compares Mark Stoops to Calipari. Interesting, but we are talking in relative terms, right? When Stoops starts landing first round NFL draft picks, then we can call him the Calipari of the gridiron. Right now, though, I'll take what he's doing with pleasure. But you have to love this:

  At present, Georgia doesn't have four commitments from players listed in the Rivals 250. Neither does Oklahoma (coached by a fellow named Bob Stoops), or Southern Cal (where Tee Martin escaped to a couple of years back) or Penn State.

  Indeed. But it's early yet, and despite many of us hyping the class so far, when it's all said and done, we are fairly likely to be no better than mid-pack in the SEC. But that's a radical improvement over recent years. Take it and be really, really happy. [Via Hank]

• Football ratings for all 126 FBS teams. Kentucky grades out rather better than you might expect, equal to or ahead of teams like Vanderbilt, Cincinnati, Oregon St., Purdue, and even West Virginia.

  So don't listen to those that tell you UK is going to be truly awful, that seems less likely with every day. We aren't going to win the SEC, and we might not even win five games, but Kentucky may be more competitive than most of our SEC brethren believe.

• Kentucky to spend more on the football program. $3 million dollars more, to be exact.

  So where did that money go? $2.4 million went into the coaching staff. Judging by the recruiting results and the excitement surrounding the program, I'd say that investment may well pay off in Year 1. UK thinks so, too:

  UK expects the Stoops hire to pay off next season in ticket sales. The athletic department budgeted an additional $2 million in expected ticket sales.

  There's more, though. Read the whole thing.

• College football sites are starting to notice Kentucky's recruiting success.

  The addition of Firios makes UK’s 2014 class even stronger and is putting it in brand-new terrain in terms of national team recruiting rankings, although we are still eight months from National Signing Day next February.

  That note of caution there is important.

Kentucky basketball

• John Wall is back in town to do a 3-day camp for kids. Wall calls Lexington his second home:

  "I feel like I've been welcome here ever since I took a visit in the 10th grade," Wall said. "I've always liked the campus, the way the students act and the fan base."

• CoachCal.com talks up APR scores. I have given up trying to make sense of the APR numbers, which never seem to agree with what is published on NCAA.org. My mind is too small, and my time too limited.

• Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis will represent Kentucky in the Kentucky-Indiana high school basketball rivalry games.

  Also, check out the byline -- you might recognize it from here.

• Aaron Harrison doesn't make SI's top ten shooting guards. Louisville's Russ Smith does.

• "Body language screams; it never whispers."

  This is a very interesting article you should take a minute and read. It's worth every minute.

• Nerlens Noel to be hosted by the Wizards. You gotta admit, the idea of Noel and John Wall teaming up has quite a bit of appeal.

Other UK sports

Links posts

• The Leach Report -- Wednesday Wildcat Links

• John Clay's Big Blue Links

• Rush The Court -- Morning Five

College football

• Phil Steele ranks the Louisville Cardinals #7. Ugh. Well, let's see them live up to it.

• Well, as the old saying goes, misery loves company:

  It's not trolling to say that Auburn and Kentucky both had awful sports years in the 2012-13 academic year; it's simply a statement of fact. In the postseasons for "big three" SEC sports of football, men's basketball and baseball, the Tigers and the Wildcats were locked out. Completely.

  Neither school's football team played in a bowl. In a particular shock for Kentucky under John Calipari, both men's basketball teams missed the NCAA tournament. And despite UK's strong start in baseball, the Wildcats and Tigers were left off of the list of teams playing for Omaha as well.

  Well, all I can say is, "Next year, baby!"

College basketball

• Got $7,500 laying around somewhere gathering dust? Use it to be coached by top college coaches, including Coach Cal, while staying at the Wynn Las Vegas and rubbing elbows with Lebron, Carmello, and more.

• David Harten of NBC complains that the APR is unfair, and he's right. It has major flaws, and this is one:

  Though the NCAA did rightfully screw all programs equally in one way: transfers. Take the case of Vince Martin. Martin came to Arkansas-Pine Bluff as a freshman for the 2009-10 season. He lasted one semester, transferring home to Young Harris University, which at the time was transitioning from a junior college program to Division II. Through no fault of UAPB or Martin’s, now the Golden Lions take an APR hit. On any level, a program shouldn’t be punished for an 18-to-22 year-old player making an adult decision to be closer to home.

  Indeed.

• Eamonn Brennan defends the APR as a flawed system that works.

  It does, after a fashion, but it needn't be so flawed. Which is the reason people gripe about it.

• Former Syracuse assistant Bernie Fine is suing ESPN for $11 million.

  I doubt he'll prevail. Bernie needs to go to Amazon.com and purchase a copy of Absence of Malice. Then, he can save himself a few bucks on legal fees. Proving actual malice or extreme negligence is almost never successful.

  Yahoo! has more on the story.

• Richard Pitino left FIU just in time.

Other sports news

• Uh oh, Spurs. Tony Parker has injured his hamstring. I thought that was what happened when I watched the game last night.

• Tim Tebow got no guarantees in his new deal with New England, and is making the veteran league minimum. He's basically like an undrafted guy trying to make a team.

• Patrick Ewing has a new gig as the Bobcats' associate head coach.

  That means he'll be coaching Michael Kidd-Gilchrist next year.