Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Jadeveon Clowney Edition

Jadeveon Clowney ran an unofficial 4.47 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. That is wide receiver or running back speed, and he's a defensive end.

Twitter has exploded in awe.

Tweet of the Morning

Many were skeptical of the ridiculous Freak #s on Jadeveon Clowney last spring: http://t.co/aSJd1I9haZ His 4.47 at 266 backs it all up.

— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) February 24, 2014

Athletic freak? No doubt.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• This is awesome to hear. Could we wind up with another Jacob Tamme? I sure hope so.

Kentucky basketball

• Florida poised to take #1 spot. I think this is good for Kentucky, especially if we can go down to the O Dome and return the favor they gave us at Rupp Arena.

• LSU better than their record, according to Guy Ramsey at Cat Scratches. I think this is right.

• John Clay has Coach Cal's record in close games (one possession). Not sure what the asterisks represent.

• Wildcats getting close to where they need to be. I'll have more on the "player-driven" vs. "coach-driven" later today.

• Awesome. Calipari deserves a lot of credit for keeping this kind of good works stuff in the news.

• Julius Randle is starting to show his leadership.

Other Kentucky sports

• A.J. Reed is starting out like an All-American.

• Big win for Kentucky hoops over Texas A&M. That puts the Wildcats into position for a bye into the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. Vive la Zone! More here at Vaught's Views.

• Tyler Ulis can't wait to get to Lexington, doesn't care about playing time. Honestly, I'm pretty sure he'll get plenty of playing time. Via Aaron's blog.

• Kentucky in the various computer rankings. I'll add that they're 4th in the BPI.

Links posts

• The Secondary Break

• The Leach Report: Monday Wildcat Links

College football

• Has Georgia recruiting "failed?" Senator Blutarsky doubts the AJC's assertion in the affirmative

• How's this for athleticism:

  South Carolina DE Jadeveon Clowney timed in 40 at an unofficial 4.47 (via @AdamSchefter)

  — College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) February 24, 2014

  This is a defensive end we're talking about here, not a wide receiver. Wow. And:

  Jadeveon Clowney's 4.47 would have made him the 6th fastest RB at the combine.

  — Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) February 24, 2014

College basketball

• Matt Norlander argues the 3-point line should be moved back to the NBA distance. I don't think it's a big deal either way. Moving it back did not open up the game, as many proponents averred. I'm fine leaving it where it is, but I wouldn't object to moving it back — just don't expect much practical effect. Zone defenses will be able to pack it in even more as consistent shooting from the arc becomes more of a specialty and less of an all-around skill.

  Generally speaking, I am somewhat opposed to anything that produces specialization. I like my basketball players to be as well-rounded as possible.

• NIT Bracketology. Anyone but me get a snicker out of seeing Indiana there, and a 4 seed to boot? How's that mocking of last year's Kentucky team working out for ya, Hoosiers? #Karma.

• Rush The Court: Morning Five

• Tennessee bracket math. Consider:

  The relative strength of the SEC can be countered with Tennessee's strength of schedule, currently 17th best in the nation. We've been saying this all year: the Vols have the kind of resume the selection committee wants to reward if at all possible. But now the Vols have truly entered that special place of scoreboard watching and needing help in conference tournaments, including our own.

  The loss to Texas A&M really hurts. The last four games of their season are unbelievably important to their NCAA hopes. If they can get past a dangerous Vanderbilt team at home and Auburn on the road, I like their chances if they win a couple of games in the tournament.

  Historically, teams ranked in Ken Pomeroy's top 30 have an excellent chance of getting an at large bid. In fact, in the last ten years, only nine teams in the KenPom top 30 have missed the tournament by my quick count. Those are pretty fair odds, but teams above 25 have a much higher chance of being left out — I think there has only been one team in the last ten years in the KenPom top 25 that didn't make the tournament — Dayton in 2010.

• John Clay makes some fair points about Syracuse. To be honest, though, this was a game that Syracuse could afford to lose. Perhaps that went into Boeheim's calculus? Nah. He just lost his mind.

Other sports news

• When/where will America host the Olympics again? Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports has thoughts. Myself, I doubt the value of the returns. If the developing world wants to host the games, I'm good with that. Maybe in 15 or 20 years, we can go back to Salt Lake City or Los Angeles where infrastructure already exists.

• KSR's top ten tweets of the weekend. Some are pretty funny.

Other news

• News you can use: How much sleep do you really need?