Kentucky Wildcats Saturday Quickies: Charlie Strong Edition

The big news, obviously, is that Charlie Strong has been offered the Texas job. If Strong accepts, it will be a big blow to Louisville football in the near term. Of course, Louisville could always re-hire Bobby Petrino and cause instant consternation among the Kentucky faithful.

More from the Dallas Morning News and Card Chronicle, and still more from Hank.

Tweet of the Morning:

4-star DB Erick Smith had a UK hat on the table, but he picked Ohio State over the Cats and three others.

— Ben Roberts (@NextCats) January 4, 2014

So the UK buzz goes by the boards.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Report from the Army Bowl:

  Matt Elam now in the game, and he gets a big tackle-for-loss on his second play from scrimmage. No. 69 in black.

  — Ben Roberts (@NextCats) January 4, 2014

• Ben Roberts has this article talking about the possibility of Kentucky making a recruiting splash on Saturday. Here's the gist: If we only land Matt Elam, we should be very happy. Anything else is a bonus, as Hank and Will recently discussed.

• John Clay has an article yesterday talking about the momentum Mark Stoops is gaining, partially from the success of his more famous brother Bob at Oklahoma.

• So now, Matt Elam has decided to wait and announce his decision on national signing day. I don't see this as particularly good news.

• Drew Barker talks about the Army Bowl and Matt Elam. I like this:

  Do you expect that Matt will end up picking Kentucky?

  Yeah, I think he will. I think he feels most comfortable with us. I couldn’t really be mad at him if he picked Alabama because Alabama is a great school and a great tradition. But at the end of the day, he’s going to make the best decision for him, and I think it’s Kentucky. Just from the signs I’ve seen, I think he’s going to come.

• From the Army Bowl:

  Kentucky boy Drew Barker helps the West team get on the board first. Oregon-bound RB gets the score. West 7, East 0.

  — Ben Roberts (@NextCats) January 4, 2014

Kentucky basketball

• James Pennington says Julius Randle's offense lacks diversity:

  So how diverse has Randle’s game been so far this season? In short: not very. Using gametracker data, a shot chart of Randle’s 75 makes from the field in 132 attempts was created. Of those 75 makes, 59 were classified as being shot at the rim—either dunks, layups or tip-ins. On shots away from the rim, he was 16-of-59 (including 0-for-6 from 3-point range).

  While this is true, we see Randle attempting a fair number of shots away from the rim, and while he hasn't made many, having the confidence to shoot them is a good sign.

• Coach Cal watches some 2015 recruits.

• KSR has a very cool old pic of Tubby Smith shooting free thows for High Point "back in the day."

• Coach Cal, among others, evaluating 2016 wing prospect Jayson Tatum from St. Louis:

  "He's an elite-level wing," Scout analyst Evan Daniels recently told the Herald-Leader. "He shoots the ball pretty well off the catch from three. He's really developed a mid-range game. He has all the intangibles you look for in a wing prospect. He can defend the position well, he rebounds well out of that spot. ... I'm a big, big fan."

• Dakari Johnson gets the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry now. It's kind of a process, really, for those who haven't lived in the Commonwealth.

• Keith Taylor breaks down the SEC.

• Dakari Johnson has a blog over on Cat Scratches. Consider:

  Camp Cal has been a little different for me because I've never spent the whole day with my teammates, eating together, working out together, practicing together and then spending the night hanging out together is making us come together as a team because we're with each other 24/7. I think we've become a lot closer over the last couple of weeks.

  That sounds promising. I expect big things from Dakari in the SEC portion of the schedule.

Other Kentucky sports

• Women's basketball welcomes the Florida Gators on Sunday. We will have the open thread as usual, possibly including a pre-game.

• Azia Bishop enjoying her stint as a starter for the Wildcats while DeNesha Stallworth is recovering from knee surgery. She's been doing a good job, but she really needs to work on her free-throw shooting.

Links posts

• KSR Saturday Morning Links

• The Leach Report: Saturday Wildcat Links

College football

• John Clay talks the football coaching carousel.

• What does Alabama's loss to Oklahoma mean to the SEC brand?

  Excuse my unprofessional french, but not a damn thing. The SEC is still the biggest name in college football and one down year does little to change that. It was obvious after three-four weeks of the season that this wasn't the same SEC as in years past. Alabama was heralded all year long as the best team in the country and that simply wasn't true. Shucks.

  This.

• Speaking of Alabama, you have absolutely got to see this. FAIR WARNING: do not be drinking anything unless you want a nose-cleanout, and for God's sake, don't be drinking anything hot.

• Have you ever wondered why you keep seeing articles about teams losing huge dollars going to bowl games, and yet they always go? This analysis explains that, and as you would expect, the reporting is looking at a tiny slice of a much bigger pie, and trying to convince you that day is night.

  Which just points up a larger issue — anytime you see something that just can't possibly make sense despite the undisputed facts presented, it's a sure bet you aren't seeing all the facts. That's true in life, in the courtroom, and in college sports economics.

• Rivalries. They're just so fun.

• Tony Barnett looks behind the numbers for Auburn in their matchup with Florida St.

College basketball

• Bo Ryan just keeps building one great Wisconsin team after another, and this season is no different. I am simply flabbergasted by how successful Ryan has been, and this may be his best team in years.

• Bad weather forces cancellation of college basketball game between North Carolina Central and Wagner.

Other sports news

• Anthony Davis leads the Pelicans over the Boston Celtics.

Other news

• Federal Prosecutors want former UK player Richie Farmer to spend 27 months in federal prison. Via Aaron's blog.

• Ugh.

• Five mostly irrelevant incredible discoveries of the week. No, I don't really care why my dog has to position himself just so before he defecates.