:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27019199/20130209_ajw_sj7_113.0.jpg)
Sorry about the late Quickies today. Blame the weather. I had to take my wife to work after shoveling out of about 5" of snow that it seems nobody was ready for.
Tweet of the Morning:
Calipari says Poythress great again in practice, "growing by leaps and bounds ... doing things no one else on our team can do."
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) January 17, 2014
More, faster. Please. He sure was a beast in the Arkansas game. If he can realize his potential, or even close, we may be about to step up a notch.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
-
Big weekend for Kentucky football as 3 offensive linemen and one defensive linemen on their official visit list.
-
Mark Stoops visits Warren East's Eli Brown, a junior running back ranked 4-star by Rivals.com. This could be a theft from the Vanderbilt Commodores:
The 6-foot-2-inch, 192-pound Brown decommitted from Vanderbilt in October after giving the Commodores a verbal pledge in June. He also has scholarship offers from Kentucky, Ohio State and Western Kentucky, and reported interest from Louisville, Florida, Cincinnati and Indiana.
This would be a big in-state get if Stoops can pull it off. It pisses me off that James Franklin was able to out-recruit him in the first place.
Kentucky basketball
-
Tennessee's toughness will provide a test for Kentucky. If Kentucky plays another game similar to the one they played at Arkansas in terms of toughness and physicality, I'm not the least bit concerned.
-
I don't like the idea that Calipari has to repeatedly tell these guys they need to spend more time in the gym. Can you say, "leadership void," boys and girls? I knew you could.
-
Jordan McRay says he hasn't noticed much change in Kentucky's basketball team. Well, he's going to notice tomorrow. Trust me.
-
We'll just have to see who the "bruise brothers" are tomorrow. My money is on Julius Randle and Alex Poythress.
-
Poythress is spending late nights in the gym, according to KSR. Why isn't he dragging his teammates with him? That's what I want to know.
Other Kentucky sports
Links posts
College football
College basketball
-
Rick Pitino talks about NCAA officiating. I think he has a point here:
One official said to me, — We’ve been refereeing one way for 20 years and we’re being asked to referee different. As I watch on television, there are certain conferences that are not being reffed the same way than our conference is, according to the NCAA mandate. It’s quite interesting to see what’s going on. I definitely feel that the charge/block has got to be defined the way the NBA defines it because there’s too much interpretation to it all. It’s something Danny Gavitt needs to address right away — or John Adams or whoever makes those decisions.
...
How much of that is causing an issue on the court with players? Until the charge/block gets reviewed and called differently, I think you’re going to see people recruit more shot blockers. I certainly am. I noticed right away that the old-fashioned step up and draw a charge — you’re better off blocking shots. We’ve had a big premium on that this year. I do think they’ll get it right in the end. I saw the adjustment the NBA had to make and there were a lot of mistakes with that when they first put it in. It’s just an adjustment period. They have to get the interpretation correct of the charge/block.
I am in agreement with him. The officiating is a mess right now, and the officials are blaming the NCAA because they have to do something different. Enough already.
-
Looks like North Carolina is taking retribution on the whistleblower who outed them for the fact that many football players were reading below grade level. The press is not letting this go.
-
The NCAA passes on making changes to the transfer rule. I'm not troubled by this at all.
-
Rob Dauster at NBC Sports says Saturday is the best slate of games all season.
-
Vanderbilt tops Missouri. A quick look at the Four Factors shows why.