Kentucky Wildcats Sunday Quickies: California Chrome Edition

California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby convincingly yesterday. I'm not quite sold on him as a Triple Crown contender, but he has a chance. Great race by a fine horse.

Tweet of the Morning

Made it home Saturday. Thanks to the staff & doctors at UK Good Samaritan hospital for everything. Great stay with a boutique atmosphere.

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) May 4, 2014

Get well soon, coach.

• James Young will sign autographs between 4 and 6 PM CDT in Bowling Green Kentucky, today. Via Aaron's blog

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Josh Clemons' rehab was helpd by his dad's experience, who also suffered an Achilles tendon injury. Excellent story by Jen Smith.

• Jon Toth has completed the transition to center, as difficult as it was. Consider:

  "A lot of people talk about, 'Well, he'd be a great center' when they talk about an offensive lineman, but that's not just a natural thing: snapping a ball between your legs and then blocking a 300-pound guy in front of you," [fellow offensive lineman John] Schlarman said. "It takes some getting used to."

  [Jordan] Swindle winced when asked about the challenges of playing center.

  "I hate even thinking about doing that," he said. "It's so awkward, almost like you're leaning forward and have to throw the ball backward, then if you have to step back, you've got to rock. I couldn't imagine."

• Craig Naviar, who replaced Bradley Dale Peveto as special teams coach, is high energy and into 1980's hair bands.

• Five players for Kentucky ready for big roles next season.

Kentucky basketball

• 2012-13 was definitely the Year of the Cardinal, but this season has seen the Wildcats bounce back in a big way. Kentucky has dominated the Cards in sports this season, as Mark Story explains todayzz:

  Overall, in 12 showdowns between Kentucky and Louisville in sports where teams face each other head-to-head (in other words, no multi-team events), UK has won nine of them. The Cats are 4-2 vs. the Cards in men's sports and 5-1 against U of L on the women's side.

  Louisville's only victories so far in 2013-14 over Kentucky have come in football and in both men's and women's swimming.

  Take that, Cardinals.

• Lakers have "zero interest" in hiring John Calipari. Good, I have zero interest in Calipari leaving for a team less talented than he already has. < / end snark >

• Last year's Courier-Journal Super Five lived up to the honor. That would be Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon, Jabari Parker and Andrew Harrison. Yes, I'd say they mostly did.

• Some Vegas oddsmakers have Calipari at 4-1 to become Lakers coach. Was that before or after both parties declared themselves not interested?

• Send your "Get well soon" messages to Coach Cal over at Larry Vaught's site.

• Julius Randle's draft stock is rising due to his "strong motor."

• Carl-Anthony Towns Jr. reaches the top five in all major services except ESPN.

• Tyler Ulis set to play in the Ballislife High School All-American game. Never heard of it, but okay.

Other Kentucky sports

• Andrew Evans and Dezerea Bryant turned in world-class performances in discus and 100m dash respectively.

• Georgia defeats Kentucky softball in Athens.

Links posts

College football

• SB Nation's Washington St. blog Coug Center examines the SEC's decision to stay with eight conference games. This is a pretty fair look, I think, and avoids all the hyperbole we have heard out of the Pac-12. WSU is kind of like Kentucky when it comes to football.

• Quarterback uncertainty is everywhere in the SEC this season.

• SEC schools have put 248 players in the NFL over the last five years. Impressive. Very impressive.

• David Climer does not care for the new SEC scheduling rules.

College basketball

• Can Kim Anderson wen at Missouri by keeping local players at home? I guess that depends on what you mean by "winning." I don't think he can contend for SEC or NCAA championships that way.

Other sports news

• JB Holmes is in the lead at Quail Hollow.

• Should masks be mandatory in softball for players at some infield positions?

• Some in the media are trying to rescue the failed Duke Lacrosse scandal by heaping praise on a new book that might just reach the level of slander against the players.

  Meticulous? Even-handed? Fair and objective? Cohan appears to have quoted only five people for the record: Nifong, one of his lawyers, Mangum, former Duke Chairman Robert Steel, and one of the 47 lacrosse team members. (Because Cohan provided neither endnotes nor a list of his interview subjects, we may have missed one or two other on-the-record interviewees, but we doubt it.) Portraying Nifong as a courageous hero "crucified" for a few forgivable "mistakes," the "even-handed" Cohan did not even attempt to give most of the people he helps Nifong smear a chance to respond.

• NBA results from last night.

• This was a very scary moment yesterday. All the horses are reportedly fine, but a couple of the jocks had non life-threatening injuries.

Other news

• Absolutely amazing. When this pilot loses a wing, you think he's dead. What happens next is either supreme skill or the hand of God — or perhaps a little of both. Via Wild Weasel.

• The best time to do just about anything.