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It's Preakness day, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation. Time to get your bet on.
Tweet of the Morning
Eron Gordon says John Calipari has spoken with his father and brother -- NBA star Eric Gordon -- multiple times.
— Ben Roberts (@NextCats) May 17, 2014
2016 UK recruit.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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Something to get excited about! (Shout out to AndyPopCat at Cats Illustrated). {Hank}
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More on Daron Payne -BBN needs to show this young man some BBN love on Twitter!
In addition to what you read in the articles above, please note that Nike ranks him as the #45 player in the nation and he's been invited to The Opening. He is a consensus 5* and Rivals rates him as a 6.1, If Brumbaugh, Eliot and Stoops can pull this off, look out! {Hank}
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Jerry Palm predicts 11 SEC teams get to bowls next season. No, Kentucky is not one of them. Hat tip: Saturday Down South
Kentucky basketball
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Kentucky recruit Carlton Bragg:
Hat tip: Ben Roberts and Daren Scarberry
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John Calipari isn't coming to Cleveland, but Julius Randle might be.
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Julius Randle embraces the competition at the NBA Draft Combine:
"I think it was just good for me to be here. I only get this opportunity once, and this is what I wanted, this is my dream. So I’m taking everything in stride," he said. "It was good for me to be here, interact with the (NBA) teams and establish that relationship with them. I wanted to be here, so it was no question, even after they decided not to come."
Anybody that gets this young man will not regret their decision. He truly is an Alpha Dog, and one of the nicest young men that Kentucky has ever had the pleasure of having on their squad.
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James Young is drawing raves in the NBA Draft Combine, being compared to Bradley Beal and a young Ray Allen. Young isn't quite as athletic as Allen, but he's got similar size and more length. Hat tip: Aaron's blog.
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Karl-Anthony Towns and his date wear Kentucky blue to the prom. Very cool pic.
Other Kentucky sports
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Softball defeats Ohio in their first game of the Lexington regional of the NCAA Softball Tournament.
The win advances Kentucky (45-15) to the winner's bracket of the regional with the Wildcats facing James Madison (45-13) on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET for a spot in Sunday's regional final. James Madison started the regional with a 6-1 win over DePaul on Friday night. This will be the first ever meeting between UK and JMU.
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Cally Macumber won the silver medal in the 10K at the SEC Track Championships
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Bat Cats take 2nd in a row off Georgia in Athens, 10-0. They go for the sweep today, and if they get it, they'll get back to .500 in the league.
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In other Bat Cats news, A.J. Reed is a semifinalist for the Howser Trophy, given to the top player in college baseball. If UK were a little better this year, he'd be a shoo-in for the honor.
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Men's golf makes a nice move at the NCAA Raleigh Regional and now sits in 3rd place.
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Men's Tennis falls to Oklahoma in the Sweet Sixteen. Great season for the Kentucky netters. Kentucky was down one of their best players because of an injury.
Links posts
College football
College basketball
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Congratulations to Dick Vitale and his outstanding work to fight cancer for the V Foundation. He was in Sarasota last night, and helped raise $2 million.
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Position battles: Center. Consider:
Kentucky: Dakari Johnson, Willie Cauley-Stein, Marcus Lee versus Karl Towns Jr.: Yes, there are veterans -- three of them -- returning against the young pup. Calipari could figure out how to play all four of them at some point during a game. Johnson, Cauley-Stein and Lee all had their moments in which they shined. Johnson has the best chance to be in the low post, Cauley-Stein can be the top shot-blocker and Lee is a bit of an X factor among the group. Now, enter the newcomer. Towns can do a bit of everything, but he doesn't need to be the primary option. That's key for him and rare for a high-profile Kentucky player. This isn't even mentioning Trey Lyles and Alex Poythress, who are more positioned to play smaller forward positions next to the bigs. This team is loaded.
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ChickenHoops writing for Garnet and Black Attack thinks coaching transition at Tennessee and Missouri open up the door for South Carolina:
Florida and Kentucky don't slump, so there's no reason to worry about climbing those mountains just yet. But the conference can't even settle on a third-best program at this point from the remaining 12 teams, let alone a hierarchy. Last year, Tennessee was the only other relevant program in the conference. In 2013, Ole Miss and Missouri made the tournament on the strength of solid seasons. But there's a gap at the top of the conference once you get past the two best programs.
Absolutely right.
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Mike Krzyzewski is the highest-paid basketball coach in America.
Other sports news
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Roger Groves examines the question, "Why is it taking so long to oust Donald Sterling?" This is a fine read for a layman, and I think he's right about a number of the issues in this controversy.
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Wise Dan is my favorite horse currently running, and he had to have abdominal surgery to address colic. He can return to racing in 6-8 weeks if all goes well.
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There are some things statistics just can't model, like the reasons pitchers get injured in baseball.
Other news
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Well, since we criminalize everything else nowadays, why not start criminalizing animal behavior? < / sarcasm >
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Oh, man, this is sooo true. The whole thing is pretty funny
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Those were the days!
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) May 17, 2014
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This is an eye opener and no mistake.