Kentucky Wildcats Monday Quickies: Kentucky Softball Wins NCAA Regional Edition

Yesterday was a huge day for UK sport fans. UK women's softball won a Regional championship, and the track and field team had their best performance in over two decades, More news and commentary from around The Big Blue Internet

By wamarsh May 19, 2014, 8:15am EDT

Happy Monday morning to you all. Today will see quite a bit of content to help get you through the workday. If your Monday mornings are like mine then you woke up this morning feeling equal parts happiness and regret at staying up late to watch hours of Sunday night television. I do it because otherwise Steve will inevitably, and loudly, spoil anything of significance that occurred on Mad Men and Game of Thrones at my office in the morning. Steve...

Look Ahead

First up today is a post that had me reaching out to several friends and acquaintances who coach HS football in Lexington, Louisville, and western Kentucky for insight into Kentucky's 2016 in-state prep class. I hope you enjoy it. Second will be a post Glenn wrote on his way out the door that analyzes the utility of shortening the shot clock. Nothing is better than Glenn writing about basketball, in my opinion. Finally, batting clean-up, Keith has a post going up that discusses the state of the current quarterback race. He breaks it down from various angles, and it's another great post by him.

To the news...

Tweet Of The Morning

Kentucky defeats DePaul 10-1 to advance to a Super Regional for the third time in four years. UK will play at UCLA next weekend. Dates TBA.
— UK softball (@UKsoftball) May 18, 2014

A tremendous accomplishment for The Hittin' Kittens. Congratulations to them, and all the fans that made the trip out to Cropp Stadium.

Your Quickies

Kentucky Softball

The softball team ended up having to play two games yesterday after dropping the first game to Depaul. Depaul winning that first game proved a mistake for them, as UK easily won the second game.
With the victory the No. 14 Wildcats won their NCAA Regional, and the team now advances to the Super Regional (The Sweet Sixteen) where they will take on No. 3 UCLA in a best of three series out in LA. This is the third year in a row the softball team has made it to a Super Regional.

Bruins will host Kentucky next weekend at Easton for Supers. Days, times, ticket info, etc. to be announced soon.
— UCLA Softball (@UCLASoftball) May 18, 2014

If there are any Wildcat fans living in LA this should be a fun event to attend. Also, can we stay with you?

Kentucky Track and Field

Not to be outdone by the success of the softball team, the Track and Field team had a great day yesterday at the SEC Championship with medals in the men's 1500m, women's 100m, women's 400m hurdles, and men's discus. (via Wild Weasel)
The men's team finished 6th overall and the women's team finished 4th. If your scoring at home, that is the men's best finished since 1996, and the women's best finished since 1983. I'm telling you, Coach Floreal will do big things at Kentucky.

Kentucky Baseball

As previously mentioned, with their series win against UGA, The Bat Cats head to Hoover, AL to take on The Crimson Tide ranked No. 19 Tuesday at 5:30. AJ Reed will start on the mound.

Kentucky Football

Four star linebacker who recently visited UK committed to Michigan yesterday. UK lost out on two kids they would've taken to Clemson and Michigan this weekend. I'm fine with that.
The top outside linebacker in 2015 looks to be trimming his list again soon. Increasingly doubtful he ends up at UK, in my opinion.

Kentucky Basketball

2016 guard shows an interest in BBN.
Carlton Bragg won't be committing anywhere soon.
Dominique Hawkins is doing big things in China.
A recent poll states citizens don't want Rupp renovation to include tax dollars. I was going to bang out a post scrutinizing the poll and its implications, but thankfully Matt Jones has already done the heavy lifting.

Other Sports News

I couldn't agree more.
Could Kevin Love end up in Boston? I always figured he was LA-bound. Personally, I'd love to see him team up with Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic in Phoenix.
The Pacers took it to the Heat. Could home court advantage actually start to mean something in these playoffs?
Roy Hibbert could make all the difference.
California Chrome's co-owner still complaining about Churchill Downs. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. If the allegations are true, then CD does need to improve on some things.
More California Chrome analysis from our SB Nation sister blog that covers horse racing.
Gonzaga basketball lands a big transfer.
Labor issues in Brazil in the lead-up to the World Cup. Unlike the migrant workers in Qatar, the people in Brazil have a voice.
Speaking of Brazil, this future Olympic venue could use some work.

Other News

This is a great read about catching Mexico's most notorious drug trafficker.
I went with a friend to watch Godzilla as a part of his birthday festivities this weekend. It was actually pretty good if you're into giant monsters punching each other.
The age of private space companies is upon us as they demonstrate their increasing capabilities.
Coffee fungus wreaking economic damage in Central America.
What to know about AT&T's proposal for DirectTV.
How Americans like their steak.
So, uh, this happened last night. Don't mind that I missed that.