clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Kentucky Wildcats Sunday Quickies: SEC Tournament Championship Edition

News and commentary from around the Big Blue Internet. Kentucky plays Florida for the SEC Tournament title today. Bat Cats drop series 2-1 at Alabama. Softball drops series 2-1 at Missouri. UK rifle finishes 3rd in NCAA's. More.

Paul Abell-USA TODAY Sports

Today, the Kentucky Wildcats face off against the Florida Gators for the third time this season in the SEC Tournament championship game. Will the third time be a charm for the Wildcats, who are now playing their best basketball of the season?

Tweet of the Morning

Well, what serious watcher of basketball could possibly disagree with either of us? And:

Awesome.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football
Kentucky basketball
  • Gators not really a dominant team, according to Billy Donovan. Well, they sure dominated Kentucky in Gainesville, I'd say. If they can do it again in Atlanta, I think they'd have to re-evaluate that.

  • John Calipari is ambivalent about Kentucky's NCAA seed.

  • Calipari's more serene attitude that he's adopted recently has helped the team, according to the Harrison twins.

  • This is a fascinating, and disturbing, article about how Aaron Harrison Sr. had a long talk with Andrew and explained to him that the NBA can wait if necessary:

    "What I told him was, ‘Son, me and your mother, we’re in a fine financial situation. It’s not like you have to go," Aaron Sr. said by telephone on Saturday night. "If it doesn’t work out, we’ve got next year, the year after that or the year after that. …There’s no pressure for you to go. And I don’t know where he got that in his mind, that pressure. I told him not to worry about it. Relax and have fun."

    And just like that, Andrew felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. Maybe he was worried about disappointing his father. Maybe he just needed to hear from someone he loved that there was nothing to be ashamed about if his time was not now.

    This needs to be addressed at the beginning of the season, not at the end, and it troubles me that Andrew was playing this whole season with that weight of expectations on his shoulders, expectations that are strictly at odds with the right thing to do for his team. This produces cognitive dissonance and an ethical dilemma that no young man his age should have to bear.

    I am most disappointed in both Coach Cal and Aaron Sr. for not getting this out in the open sooner. This is among the most troubling articles I have read about the season, and I hope Calipari realizes what happened here and gets this stuff dealt with early and often from now on. Andrew's self-inflicted burden has been at least partially responsible for setting him back at least six months.

    I'm happy Andrew has been relieved of this millstone, but why did it take so long? I find this most disturbing.

  • SB Nation's Chris Dobberteen has Kentucky at a six seed, which I have no objection to. How he can have their seed as falling is inexplicable. Perhaps an oversight, but if not, clearly a mistake.

  • Roll Bama Roll looks at the SEC Tournament final. At least they tried.

  • Trey Lyles' team, Indianapolis Tech, reaches the state semifinals.

  • Team Speed Kills looks at the Wildcats win over the Georgia Bulldogs.

  • Dawg Sports looks at the game yesterday.

Other Kentucky sports
College basketball
Other sports news