Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Michael Mathis Edition

Kentucky has themselves another Yahtzee! in the form of JUCO cornerback Michael Mathis from Kilgore Junior College in Texas. He's not highly ranked, but he has good size for the position and should give us additional depth where we need it most.

Varsity Preps has an interview with Mathis [Hat tip: Hank] along with some highlights, and Kentucky was apparently his only Division I offer.

Tweet of the Morning:

Tyler Ulis' father: "At UK, they don’t offer everybody, and if they offer you, your game has spoken loudly." http://t.co/4Allf9TvMY

— Steve Jones (@SteveJones_CJ) September 4, 2013

This is so.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Future football players getting behind the Wildcats despite the Western loss. As I said before, very encouraging.

• Wildcat Blue Nation says that we didn't give Western Kentucky enough credit, and I think perhaps he's right.

• Ira Combs:

  With that being said were now officially off on another majic [sic] carpet ride with a new UK football coach . Besides all of the surprise antics that took place down in Nashville we can now thank the UK defense for providing us with a new Heisman candidate this week in WKU quarterback Brandon Doughty who went 27 for 34 tallying up 275 yards with one TD against the inept Kentucky defense .

  Heh. Well, I said the same thing in my postmortem. And last night, I warned the Volunteers not to give Petrino's offense the short routes - press the receivers and force Western to throw over the defense. I'm not sure the way our D-line played if that would have helped us or not, but I sure wish Stoops had given it a go.

• The last time a Mark Stoops defense got torched like UK did against Western Kentucky, it turned out pretty well in the end.

Kentucky basketball

• Tyler Ulis comes to town this Sunday on an official visit. I think it would be great to have a player who expects to be here a while, especially at the point guard position.

  I think toughness is the key. When you are that small, you have to be tough both mentally and physically. We have seen Calipari throw down some of his sacred cows recently. Will another one, namely small point guards, be cast aside as well?

• 2014's Kelly Oubre sets his official visit for Midnight Madness. He's a wing forward out of Texas, which seems to be our new favorite state for basketball players.

• Karl Towns Jr. had a big game against Paraguay playing for Orlando Antigua and the Dominican Republic.

Other Kentucky sports

• Marquis Teague has been helping out Bria Goss of the UK Hoops squad:

  "I am older than him, but I look up to him like he is one of my older brothers because there were times he was on me more than the trainer. He pushed me," Goss said. "He would have these one on one drills where he would be the one to guard me, and he is a lot stronger, faster. He’s a guy. He’s in the NBA. All that really helps me. I don’t know if I would be in the same position I am without him.

Links posts

• The Leach Report — Wednesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Teddy Bridgewater is now the Heisman favorite. That's the good news for Louisville, and I think it's well-earned. On the not so good news side, running back Corvin Lamb has been lost for the season due to an ACL tear. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery.

• Georgia finds itself in a must-win, or go 0 for South Carolina, a prospect that would seriously harm Mark Richt's position and place him on the hot seat, big time.

College basketball

• Tark the Shark and his defining moments. This is definitely worth your time this morning, and isn't that long. Great work as usual by Dana O'Neil.

• Rick Pitino prepares to be inducted into the HOF, along with Tarkanian and Guy Lewis.

• You remember that rumor about Kevin Ware being suspended, and then allegations that the Louisville media was covrering it up? Comes now Rick Pitino to claim that Ware was never suspended.

  I rejected this back when it was being circulated — too tinfoil hat for me. Some in the Big Blue Nation took to Twitter after this was announced by Pitino and pointed out (quite rightly, too) that Pitino was famous for not being entirely truthful in such situations.

  Here's the bottom line: It just doesn't matter, and never will. Even if Pitino is lying, you know that suspension wouldn't have lasted. Pitino would have been pilloried for it unless it was for something very bad because of Ware's circumstances and the very public way he supported the team last year after his grotesque injury.

  So why this was even newsworthy kind of escapes me, and whether Pitino is lying or telling the truth is virtually irrelevant. If Ware is healthy enough to play this year, he will, if only for the feel-good element, and it isn't a feel-good story if the hero is doing wrong things in the off-season.

  So let's all get past this. It was never news, it is very unlikely a competitive Louisville media, who is not as universally enamored of Pitino, or under the thumb of Tommy Turtleneck as many seem to think, was complicit in a coverup. Let's lose our tinfoil hats, stop obsessing over little brother, and move on.

• The myth of the package deal. I think we've all be saying this for a while now. It does happen, but usually the pair splits up unless they are family.

Other sports news

• RIP, Blue II.

• First DeAndre Liggins, now Jared Sullinger. What's this world coming to?

• Speaking of Liggins, this is very uncool. Very.

• Michael Beasley gets a pink slip. Well, he won't stay unemployed long.