Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Anthony Davis Edition (Again)

Anthony Davis is really becoming what we all expected him to be — a bona fide star, and from the look of things, he's going to be hitting the all star game sooner rather than later — maybe even this season.

Consider this. Look out below, Big Baby:

Tweet of the Day:

And the Grammy for Record of the Year goes to Rick Pitino at Louisville vs. John Calipari at Kentucky for "1-5."

— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) January 27, 2014

Nothing like a little smack talk to start off a Monday

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Great job by Brandon Larrabee at Team Speed Kills looking at the reality of Kentucky's football season last year, and what lies ahead for Mark Stoops. My question is, can this program get ahead of schedule? Via Hank

• Here we go. Matt Elam will announce his decision this week:

  I Will Be Making My College Decision On Thursday At 12pm !!! #BBN #Bama ##UK #RollTide

  — Matt Elam™6⃣9⃣ (@FballIsLife69) January 27, 2014

  Cross your fingers (and whatever else you've got that will cross). Via Hank.

• This is not a bad thing:

  Top 5 pic.twitter.com/O2PvI9h5n2

  — Luke Hiers (@lukehiers54) January 26, 2014

  Luke Hiers is a 4-star offensive lineman from Florida. Via Hank.

• Jalen Whitlow's little brother Kalen might have an interest in Kentucky. Via Hank.

• Now, this is how you recruit! Via Hank.

  S/o UK for sending me this big poster that took up a big portion of my wall lol pic.twitter.com/1M8uQ42iIA

  — Eli Brown (@32_brown) January 25, 2014

• Kentucky's National Signing Day promo. This is awesome.

  If Kentucky's football team could only be as good as the media department — wow.

• This will be an exciting day. Getting Elam would not exactly prove that UK has closed the borders, but it would be a step in the right direction

Kentucky basketball

• This week's version of This is Kentucky Basketball is available online at CoachCal.com

• Coach Cal gives Alan Cutler a wet willie. Hilarious. Via Hank

• Tim Sullivan is in the group that suggests not much can be learned from the Georgia beat-down, and that position is certainly defensible. I personally find that a perfunctory and unconvincing analysis. There were many things that were noticeably better, particularly how well Julius Randle shared the basketball and how well the team executed on offense.

  But anyone can be forgiven for insisting on validation, and LSU in Baton Rouge on Tuesday would certainly seem to provide a test of adequate difficulty.

• Aaron Perkins at KSR says Kentucky is improving slowly but surely. I think this is an apt description, but the question I have is, "Is it too slow?" NCAA basketball requires that you reach a certain level by a certain time to compete for the NCAA Championship. Can Kentucky get there in time?

• Kentucky's next opponent, LSU, had a very tough loss against Alabama this weekend. That means we'll be facing a desperate team come Tuesday night:

  Still, this game just slowly twisted the knife in through everything in its path for LSU. Surely the players. Definitely the fans watching, most of whom got sucked back in by LSU's 18-6 run midway through the second half. And most likely the Tigers' postseason aspirations. Already flimsy due to losses against Rhode Island and Ole Miss, LSU's resume will be laughed at for NCAA consideration (barring wins vs. Kentucky and/or Florida) now.

Other Kentucky sports

• Women's tennis falls to #10 Duke.

Links posts

• John Clay's SEC Links

• The Leach Report: Monday Wildcat Links

• Rush The Court: Morning Five

• The Secondary Break

College football

• Bret Musburger may be headed to the SEC Network. or maybe just riding off into the sunset. Via Hank.

• Maybe the talent in Kentucky high school football is on an upswing. Via Hank

• The SEC's 25 best players: #15 Jadeveon Clowney

• The five hardest college football positions to recruit.

College basketball

• Block-charge call still needs work. The really bad call against Villanova is a perfect example. Consider the quote from John Adams, NCAA coordinator of officials:

  "We're just not there yet,'' Adams said. "It's not in the DNA because it's not what they're used to doing. The block-charge call is a hard call to make and then you add in the circle and it's as hard, if not the hardest. We've only had this for two years and we're still trying to get used to looking at feet first.''

  I can see this, the circle makes it hard. I think at some point we're either going to have to institute a challenge rule like the NFL, or something similar. Trying to see three elements at once — the defender's feet, his body position, and the offensive player's body position just doesn't seem possible in a game played at this speed.

  I think the NBA solves this by defaulting to a block call and calling a charge only when it's obvious.

• Scores from last night. UCLA beats Cal, North Carolina beats a good Clemson team, and Arizona survives a close on with Utah.

• I can't blame anybody for cursing at Marshall Henderson. He's eminently curse-worthy. Question for the morning: Can you imagine the outcry if this had been John Calipari instead of Rick Ray?

• Marcus Smart behaved a bit badly yesterday. I don't think it's particularly noteworthy, the kid is a competitor and had a bad game. Moving on.

• Ruh roh.

• Is Florida's Chris Walker on the verge of becoming eligible?

Other sports news

• Archie Goodwin was sent down to the D-League for a very brief stint. After he averaged 29 points and 6 rebounds, he got recalled by the Suns.