Kentucky Wildcats: Sunday Brunch -- The Return

Apologies for my hiatus. Many thanks to Greg for picking up the ball for the Quickies and running with it while I was unavoidably unable to attend to them.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of communication on my part, you'll be treated to two sets of links today, one in the morning and this one later. We'll be back on a regular schedule Monday.

Tweet of the Morning:

Terrence Jones finishes with 24 and 12 to end the first Summer League game. MVP of the game.

— Kentucky Recruiting (@RecruitKentucky) July 7, 2013

Terrence is going to be really good. He just needs a little time.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Al.com interviews the Courier-Journal's Kyle Tucker about the UK football program. This is pretty much spot on, although I do think that the offensive scheme will overcome some of the personnel deficiencies. The worry remains, though that wide receiver is just too thin.

• The Examiner breaks down Kentucky's schedule.

• Let's hope for another Yahtzee as 2014's T.V. Williams makes his college choice next week. Man, look at that speed. And those grades! He'll be picking his school on the 9th.

• Mark Story writes that there are four programs UK must consistently beat to be successful.

• Kentucky football's 10 year trend.

• Drew Barker's mixtape from The Opening. Hat tip: KSR

Kentucky basketball

• Having been out of the loop for almost a week, I missed this Jerry Tipton article about a fan who was ready to deep-six her membership in the Big Blue Nation if Rupp Arena added private suites for moneyed fans. Her remark was:

  "Very few things are deal-breakers," Hislope said. "That's one. I would never say a word against the Big Blue Nation. But I'd be done. That will ruin what I consider the heart and soul of Rupp Arena."

  This attitude has always troubled me, but that's more a socio-political rant than is a appropriate for this blog. Instead, I'll say the same thing to her as I said to Dana O'Neil below: Embrace change, or be crushed by it. This ship has sailed. Luxury suites are all the rage in big-time college basketball, and whether we like it or not, we'll have to learn to live with it.

  As much as I might be enchanted by her; "I love Rupp because it's where a multi-millionaire can sit next to somebody who just got lucky and was able to scarf a ticket" comment, that is not really true. Multimillionaires usually sit very close to the court, and lucky ticket-scarfers are more likely to wind up in the nosebleeds. The reality is, there is already significant stratification in Rupp Arena. How many times have I heard the younger people on this blog lament the "blue heads" so close to the court?

  I wonder if I should just be accusing Jerry Tipton of stirring up dissent? Probably. Hat tip: NBC Sports

• 2014 top point guard Emmanuel Mudiay and big man Stanley Johnson will be visiting Kentucky for Big Blue Madness.

• I like our chances with Stanley Johnson, and this kind of commentary only gives me a warmer and fuzzier feeling about him being a Wildcat:

  "That means to me they really want me and what they’re saying if valid," he said. "Coach Calipari is one of the most honest coaches I’ve talked to so far, and he’s shown it. That’s big for me. A lot of coaches say it, but they don’t show it. Having me being the only small forward Kentucky has offered is a big deal."

• Dante Exum highlights. He's very interested in UK. Hat tip: Sam Henson

Other UK sports

Links posts

• KSR — Sunday Morning Links

• The Leach Report — Sunday Wildcat Links

College football

• Is this what it's come to? Blaming a college football coach for the behavior of a player later in his career? I know we have largely abandoned personal accountability in our culture, but this is a a new low.

• Land Grant Holy Land points out the same thing Hank did recently, that Ohio St. is not threatened by Kentucky's recruiting.

• I really like this idea. I hope the NBA follows suit.

College basketball

• I heard the news that Brad Stevens has left Butler for the Boston Celtics, but I've had absolutely no time to assimilate it. Dana O'Neil, however, has, and she opines thus:

  This stinks.

  This stinks for college basketball. It stinks because Stevens is one of the good guys, respected, liked and admired by his peers and even the media. And trust me when I say the number of coaches who hit for that cycle is an extremely short list.

  I know where she's coming from, but I'm not quite sure I agree. Stevens was biding his time for the big score, and that's been obvious for a long time. He never once said he was going to coach at Butler forever, and nobody in their right mind believed he would.

  Further, her lament about the state of college basketball is remarkably antediluvian. College basketball isn't decaying, it's changing, and it has been changing throughout it's life. Lamenting the move away from the ideal of pure amateurism is only about 40 years too late. All you have to do is go back to John Wooden's UCLA teams to see that amateurism as O'Neil and others fantasize it to be was well out the door before Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hit his last hook shot in a Bruin uniform.

  Embrace the new reality, or it will run over you.

• More on Brad Stevens. My question is, with the Celtics tearing down and rebuilding their roster, will they be able to give Stevens time to succeed?

  But even if he doesn't, he'd be a hot commodity returning to the college game. Consider:

  More important, he [Stevens] will have what one coach once called, in less delicate terms, "go-to-heck money." It’s possible only Pitino and Calipari really understand how it feels to be sitting on wealth so substantial they do not need their college salaries to fund their lifestyles.

  So perhaps, this is the no-lose scenario for him.

• Five college coaches who could jump to the NBA. Krzyzewski? Really? I doubt that one, he'd likely have to take a pay cut.

• Butler hires Brandon Miller to replace Brad Stevens.

• The P.J. Hairston plot thickens at North Carolina. Any takers on the bet that he doesn't return?

• Bruins Nation details six things that Steve Alford must do in order to be successful. I think these are very good points.

Other sports news

• Crunchology analyzes the effect of celebrity wives and girlfriends on the performance of professional athletes. Who comes up with this stuff, anyway? Weird, but interesting.

• DeMarcus Cousins is set to make bank on his next contract, whether it be an extension or restricted free agent. Hat tip: Aaron's blog

• Is Tim Tebow to take snaps at tight end for the Patriots next year? Don't hold your breath.

• SB Nation speculates about the Rajon Rondo/Brad Stevens relationship.