Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Floyd Mayweather Edition

Floyd Mayweather has apologized for his social media taunting of Oscar De La Hoya. I think it's funny when boxers mock each other.

Tweet of the Morning:

You know you're from the Bluegrass when your phone auto corrects Calimari to Calipari 💙 @UKCoachCalipari

— Leticia Koher (@leticia_koher) September 18, 2013

Heh. Indeed.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• I honestly don't see any significant waning of support, although the excitement has waned a bit for Mark Stoops and Kentucky this season. It's hard to convince fans to come out and watch a blowout, and if nothing else, the Louisville game probably did something to convince fans that UK is worth watching, even against highly-ranked teams.

  If the defense continues to improve, and the offense begins to find a rhythm, Kentucky could become a dangerous place to visit. I doubt UK will do any damage on the road this year, but Lexington could become a place where SEC championship hopes go to die for all but the best teams.

• Dime Magazine says that struggling NBA teams should be thinking a lot about Julius Randle. Here's a taste:

  Randle competes and plays like an animal on the court. He has the size of a lion, with the heart of one to complement. He loves to attack the basket and smells when opponents fear him.* Unlike Wiggins, who has been criticized for the lack of a killer instinct*, Randle definitely won’t have this problem. He will keep going and keep attacking until he’s satisfied. The guy is fearless. That is an attribute you can’t teach and something that’ll help Randle in his NBA career. What he lacks in athleticism, Randle picks back up with his strength and aggression.

  My emphasis. Just wanted to make sure you knew that when I pointed out Wiggins was no "alpha male," it wasn't just some offhand perception. He lacks what Randle has in spades. If Wiggins had Randle's mentality, he would be justifed in being compared to LeBron James.

  As an ancillary point, "what [Randle] lacks in athleticism" is almost nothing. He is every inch as athletic as Chris Webber was, and possibly more so.

• Mike Rutherford made this observation yesterday:

  Credit Kentucky's staff for having the Wildcats extremely well-prepared, and credit the young UK secondary for doing about as well as anyone could have hoped against U of L's passing attack. Still, it was obvious that Louisville had the superior players, and the coaches simplified things and allowed that to become more evident after the game's first 20 minutes or so.

  Nice enough, but the pics he took of Commonwealth stadium were either very early or very late. Meanwhile, Kaan Solagan at KSR gives a more reasonable view of the attendance, which jibes with what I've seen.

  As a final point, Louisville will have the right to sneer at Kentucky's attendance when they are coming off a 2-10 season playing a top ten team and have a stadium that seats 70,000 — which they don't.

• Not sure why Mark Stoops is so reluctant to give updates on injuries.

• I have a man-crush on Jojo Kemp.

• SB Nation's NFL draft notes mentions some Kentucky players.

• Check it out: An SEC Power poll ballot in which Kentucky is not last, and get this — it comes from Roll 'Bama Roll.

  And here's another! Respect? Well ... no, not really. Not yet.

• Heh:

  Who you choose to hate defines you. We have a bit of reputation for not being particularly fond of Alabama, but the source of our hatred is pretty easy to spot: they are real good and they win a lot. No one hates Kentucky. At least, not during football season.

Kentucky basketball

• Luke Kennard is drawing the attention of a number of top coaches. Coach Cal has been on him longer, though.

• Tracking John Calipari's travels.

• Could Willie Cauley-Stein become a lottery pick next year? One analyst seems to think so.

Other Kentucky sports

• UK just out of Volleyball Magazine's top 20.

Links posts

• The Leach Report — Wednesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Nick Saban thinks Jonny Manziel has an NFL future.

• The hilarity of these football people touting Oregon's rout of Tennessee in Oregon is gratifying. Look, Oregon is an offensive machine, but the Pac 12 has a long way to go to compete with the SEC overall.

• Heh. The AAC is a disaster and is taking Louisville down with it.

College basketball

• Former Michigan St. player Korie Lucious talks about being kicked off Michigan St.'s team.'

Other sports news

• Nerlens Noel is bulking up. Hat tip: Aaron's blog.