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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
.@ASeaOfBlue is in a postgame happy place and agrees with me about SEC refs being terrible. http://t.co/g6VTam7HFd
— Alligator Army (@AlligatorArmy) March 15, 2014
Well, what serious watcher of basketball could possibly disagree with either of us? And:
#UKSoftball's 21-4 record is its best in program history through the first 25 games of a season. @ASeaOfBlue
— Angi Forsythe (@angiinjackson) March 16, 2014
Awesome.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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Mark Stoops' commemorative Maker's Mark bottle benefits the Gill Heart Institute at UK HealthCare. Stoops' dad died of a heart attack in 1988.
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News from the offensive side Nike Football Training Camp, including one Kentucky recruit. The defensive side is here, also including a Kentucky recruit.
Kentucky basketball
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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.
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Calipari's more serene attitude that he's adopted recently has helped the team, according to the Harrison twins.
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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.
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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.
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Roll Bama Roll looks at the SEC Tournament final. At least they tried.
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Trey Lyles' team, Indianapolis Tech, reaches the state semifinals.
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Team Speed Kills looks at the Wildcats win over the Georgia Bulldogs.
Other Kentucky sports
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Women's track and field earns 9th place in NCAA Indoor event, their best performance in history.
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Kentucky rifle finishes 3rd in the NCAA championships. Connor Davis won the air rifle title.
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Kentucky loses series at Alabama, 2-1. A 5-3 nightcap in the doubleheader sealed the deal for the Crimson Tide.
Links posts
College basketball
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Six things to watch for on Selection Sunday. One team I have absolutely no fear of is Louisville. They are playing great against terrible basketball teams that make the SEC look like world-beaters.
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I agree with this perspective, that conferences should end their tournaments before Selection Sunday.
Other sports news
- UCLA wins the Pac-12 Tournament, defeating Arizona. Bruins Nation is not impressed.