Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: College Football Kickoff Edition

College football kicks off tonight. Here's your schedule:

• 6:00 – North Carolina vs. South Carolina (ESPN)
• 7:00 – Tulsa at Bowling Green (ESPNU)
• 7:00 – UNLV at Minnesota (BTN)
• 7:00 – Indiana State at Indiana (BTN)
• 8:00 – Utah State at Utah (FS1)
• 9:15 – Ole Miss at Vanderbilt (ESPN)
• 10:30 – Rutgers at Fresno State (ESPNU)
• 11:00 – USC at Hawaii (CBSSN)

Tweet of the Morning:

As I've said we spend 99 pct of our time arguing about the 1 pct of athletes who are going to be millionaires. But by all means carry on.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) August 29, 2013

Seth makes a great point, overlooked far too much.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Rank by Offers has added rankings for the 2013 recruiting class with player rankings and team rankings. See where UK ranks, you'll be very pleased. [Hank]

• Very good interview with lots of information over at KSTV. [Hank]

• Nice piece on TraVaughn Paschal over at the C-J. [Hank]

• Why UK will wait on a decision from Berrios - looks like he's moved back to the QB spot. Is the Honeynut the next Johnny Football or the next Randle Cobb? [Hank]

• Finally..two excellent pieces by Nick Roush and Jonathon Schuette @ KSR... lots of info. [Hank]

• Kentucky talks about game-day logistics.

• The final score won't be the best measure of Kentucky's football opener, according to this C-J writer. I say it is always a good, if not always the best measure, and if UK loses the game to Western, we are in for a very long, difficult season at best.

  I expect UK to win this game, and I'll be disappointed if they don't.

• Former Louisville player Jeff Brohm is the offensive coordinator at Western, and he's talking about the game with Kentucky.

• Star Hilltopper linebacker Andrew Jackson is talking smack. Good.

• Rock M Nation thinks Missouri will handle Kentucky this year, even on the road. This is what I have to say.

• Team Speed Kills still rates our 2-deep talent at the bottom of the SEC.

• Dawg Sports has your SEC Coach Loathability Index. Here's what he says about Mark Stoops:

  9) Mark Stoops: At this point I'm only dimly aware of what a Mark Stoops is. I know he tweets about "Stoops Troops" which kind of reminds me of the "Goof Troop" cartoon. However, like Bielema, his loathability is sure to rise after the first time the Red and Black fiddle fart around with his squad as they seem to do with one out of every three football teams Kentucky fields. In other words, I'm not saying I don't loathe Mark Stoops. I'm just saying I don't loathe Mark Stoops just yet.

• Lots of negativity in this article.

Kentucky basketball

• Ben Roberts talks extensively about Dominic Magee. Magee's AAU coach had this to say:

  "I mean, who wouldn’t want to play for Kentucky? That’s not a hard sale at all."

  No, indeed. Here's a little video on Magee, but it's not particularly helpful:

• Kentucky 2014 recruit Luke Kennard also plays football. In fact, he's an all-state quarterback.

• 2014 recruit James Blackmon Jr. is ready to start making visits. He's coming unofficially to UK today, and is thinking about an official during Big Blue Madness.

• Coach Cal on Kentucky Sports Radio. Not sure about the long lead-in song, but...

• Justise Winslow demonstrates why he is coveted by Kentucky. Via Rob Dauster.

• Good stuff on walkon E.J. Floreal, son of Edrick Floreal, the UK track coach.

• Only four of this year's team make the Draft Express 2014 mock draft.

• The official UK basketball roster has been released.

• Even Big Ten Powerhouse is not buying the Lindy's pre-season poll:

  The surprise here is that Lindy's ranked Michigan State ahead of Kentucky. While Michigan State seems to have the best team in the conference, Kentucky's 2013 squad is looking more like the Wildcats program two years ago instead of last years disappointment. Michigan State may have a loaded roster but it still comes up a bit short versus a roster with possibly six or seven future first rounders.

Other Kentucky sports

• Fifth-year senior Whitney Billings will lead the Wildcats volleyball team.

Links posts

• John Clay's Big Blue Links

• John Clay's SEC Links

• The Leach Report — Thursday Wildcat Links

College football

• SB Nation has some amazing college football assets, like Bill Connelly.

• How to stop Jadeveon Clowney. Does the old saying, "No plan ever survives conflict with the opposition" come to your mind, as it does to mine?

• The NCAA may be looking just a few lockers down from Johnny Football for its next target.

College basketball

• Andy Katz's 3-point shot.

• Remember Rakeem Buckles, one of Louisville's discards? He was denied a wavier to play immediately at Minnesota yesterday.

College football

• More on the Johnny Football first half suspension. I still don't get it.

• Heh:

  We've always known that NCAA rules could be confusing and strange. Now we know the same goes for NCAA punishment.

  Obviously Manziel did something wrong or he wouldn't be suspended. But what exactly was his transgression? Not having enough Sharpies?

Other sports news

• Dumb Crook news. Heh.

• Charles Barkley prefers dumb basketball players:

  "I have a problem with the way the Sixers are running their organization right now," he said. "You know I don’t believe in that analytical crap. If LeBron James couldn’t spell cat, I want him on my team. I always tell people, give me a dumb guy that can really play. Don’t give me no smart guy."