Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Willie Cauley-Stein Edition

The official word on Willie Cauley-Stein is that he's "doubtful." Unfortunately, KSR's Ryan Lemond is reporting it is a stress fracture (or stress reaction.) If that is so, he is likely done for the season.

Tweet of the Morning

'I was the nurse in the delivery room when Julius Randle was born....Julius Randle & I backpacked across Europe' Fake Stephen A Smith on SNL

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 30, 2014

I find this funny for some reason. I can't figure out why. Perhaps that's the nature of humor, in a way.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Rant Sports says the quarterback competition at UK is wide open. I think that's likely correct.

• Mark Stoops: "Change is happening fast."

  "It feels like a football school," the veteran defensive end told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "We’re becoming that much more of a football school and not just a basketball school. Coach Stoops has done everything to change the culture around."

  Faster, please!

• Spring practice has begun.

• Mark Stoops is understandably pleased to get spring practice underway.

Kentucky basketball

• Kentucky incoming freshman Trey Lyles and Indianapolis Tech win the Indiana 4A state championship. Congrats to Trey!

• If you haven't read this column by Gregg Doyel, drop what you're doing and go read it. Here's a taste:

  Before last week Kentucky might not have been a disaster -- but it had been a disappointment, losing nine games in the regular season and a 10th in the SEC tournament, leading to an eighth seed in the NCAA Tournament. Has there ever been a team with this many future first-round draft picks seeded as low as the Wildcats were seeded this year? Hell, has there ever been a team with this many future first-round draft picks ... period?

  That snippet doesn't do it justice. Read the whole thing.

• Complain about John Calipari all you want. All he does is win.

• Dominque Hawkins ready if Coach Cal needs him against the Michigan Wolverines.

• Mike DeCourcy says John Calipari has performed the greatest coaching job of the era. Consider:

  This is where the twin dismissals of Calipari’s ability begin to consume each other. If success with even the most sparkling of the one-and-done players is an aberration but Calipari is advancing through NCAA Tournament games on a routine basis — well, wouldn’t that make him truly extraordinary?

  Read the whole thing, it's worth your investment of time.

• If Kentucky does make the Final Four, they did it the hard way. Indeed, if Kentucky manages to win it all, they will have done so in spite of all the criticism, all the hand-wringing, and proven beyond argument that this was, in fact, the greatest recruiting class ever. They may have already proven it, in fact, given the toughness of the bracket they've faced.

• Leave it to Jerry Tipton to shove a dark cloud over our happy days. I'm not sure why this is worth a column, because other studies have disputed this, but in it's particularly narrow context, it may be spot on, I don't know. Chalk it up to the curmudgeon instinct.

• Dakari Johnson's play was inspired by WCS' injury, or so he says. I don't care where it came from, just get out there and play hard.

• Randle's pass demonstrates the Wildcats' transformation:

  As the final minute of the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region semifinal between Kentucky and Louisville dwindled, Harrison watched from the corner, with certain members of the media now closer to him than any of the five Cardinals defenders. He saw that Randle was surrounded by white jerseys and raised his arms in the air. The universal signal for: "Hey, I’m open!" There was none of the old Kentucky doubt in that gesture, though. There was hope. There was belief.

  "He saw me out of the corner of his eye and just hit me," Harrison said. "And I just got a shot in rhythm."

  "Ah Zatrra, the stories you tell."

• Good grief. Fricking pyromaniac kids.

• Elite Eight preview. College Basketball Talk likes the 'Cats in this one. I do, too, but it will be really hard.

• Great article on Karl Towns Jr.

Other Kentucky sports

• Auburn claims game one versus UK softball. Game two was postponed, and the last two games will be played as a doubleheader today.

• Kentucky wins first game of the series at Vandy on Friday, but Vanderbilt evened the series yesterday in Nashville. The rubber match is today at 2:00.

• Of course you know that the women's basketball team fell to Baylor yesterday in the Sweet Sixteen. Great season, ladies. The Wildcats just couldn't shoot straight yesterday.

Links posts

• John Clay's Big Blue Links

• The Leach Report: Sunday Wildcat News

College football

• Will Johnny Football go to the head of the NFL Draft class?

College basketball

• Kevin Ware is transferring from Louisville. I'd appreciate it if we'd stop the speculation as to why, it is unproductive. I know Louisville is a rival, but I expect us to comport ourselves like quality fans, not try to ape the obnoxiousness of others.

• Florida gets to the Final Four after four straight failed attempts.

• Arizona falls to Wisconsin, students riot in Tuscon. Additionally, Gary Parrish says that Aaron Gordon has most likely played his final game for the Wildcats.

• Two teams from Michigan were in the Elite Eight this year, and there's a chance both of them will wind up in the Final Four.

• In my view, this call was not controversial, it was clearly a charge. Yes, Morgan sold it, perhaps even over-sold it, but I think the call was correct.

• Don't blame Maryland for leaving the ACC. I don't.

• Maybe this is funny to you. I couldn't seem to find it humorous.

Other sports news

• New plan for adjusting the odds for the NBA Draft Lottery.