Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Patrick Patterson Edition

The Toronto Raptors have extended a qualifying offer to Patrick Patterson, making him a restricted free agent. That means the Raptors have a right to match any offer made by another team to Patterson. I'd say that's good news for the big guy.

Tweet of the Morning

Hahaha. Not many questions for Martin. Told he's done: "My pleasure. Always great to give you three minutes." I love that man.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) June 30, 2014

From the SEC basketball teleconference this morning.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Patrik Nohe at Fansided has an interview with Erik Korem, plus more on his high-performance conditioning program.

• Kentucky's football camps could bring more commitments. I hope so.

• Kentucky will get one of George Brown's last visits. If you don't know who Brown is, he's a 4-star offensive tackle out of Cincinnati's Winton Woods. His offer sheet includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech. If UK gets this guy, it will be an enormous upset.

• Chad Scott talks about Mikel Horton.

Kentucky basketball

• Sites never tire of speculating on when John Calipari's last season will be, and it always seems to be "next season.""

• Cheick Diallo tweets from inside the Kentucky locker room. He'd be a nice piece if Calipari can sign him.

Other Kentucky sports

• Three Wildcats finish in the top ten in the US Track & Field championships.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Monday Wildcat Links

College football

• Bob Stoops gets paid:

  Oklahoma’s football coach Bob Stoops has just gotten a 13 percent pay increase, to $5.15 million for the coming season.

  He is now the fourth highest salaried coach in college sports behind Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Alabama football coach Nick Saban and Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari.

• Charlie Strong has not exactly been burning up the recruiting trail:

  For those of you who follow recruiting, June was not the best of months.

  Much of the state's top talent committed elsewhere. Questions were raised about the coaching staff's recruiting woes, the future of the Big 12, and SEC mania. ESPN writers lined up to take potshots at Strong, stroking rivals' egos with delightful headlines like the following:

  Texas has a state recruiting problem

  Charlie Strong's poor first impression*

  WRTS; Aggies enjoying significant recruiting success

  et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

  The article goes on to say things are looking up, but still, this is probably not the start that Texas fans hoped for under Charlie Strong.

• Former Auburn tight end killed in car crash. Our prayers go out to the family.

• Top SEC games of the 2013 season.

• Steve Spurrier speaks with Myrtle Beach Online, says "We've got a lot to brag about, but not the SEC."

• At a glance — the last 10 years of football conference realignment.

College basketball

• Why Florida's Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin and Casey Prather were not drafted:

  Like it or not, Florida's seniors, who were good enough to lead the Gators to one of the best seasons in school history, and the precipice of one of the best seasons in college basketball history, were not good enough for 30 NBA teams to use draft picks to pick them up. That doesn't mean that they weren't good at or for Florida, just that the NBA is a different and more difficult game.

  I think this is right. They were great college basketball players, but the NBA is an entirely different game.

• Big Ten Powerhouse asks, "Is Tom Crean on the hot seat?" Consider:

  There are clearly two factions of the fan base here - one which believes Crean will lose his job if the NCAA Tournament is not reached this year , and one which believes Crean saved the program from permanent collapse and therefore deserves much more time.

  Well? What do you think?

Other sports news

• Eric Bledsoe's scouting free agent video.

• The reports of the death of horse racing seem to be premature.

• Undrafted rookies find summer league teams. Good, I hope they impress.

• How the Suns can rise to NBA glory. Note that Eric Bledsoe is expected to draw a max offer, if not from Phoenix then from somewhere else. Amazing for a kid I thought had no business going after his freshman year.

• LeBron James, D-Wade and Chris Bosh working together on salary package:

  Free agency begins at midnight on Tuesday, but the Miami Heat appear to be well on their way toward figuring out the salary cap sheet for next season, according to a report from Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. The reporters say that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh -- all of whom will opt out of their contracts by Monday -- have been discussing how they will split up Miami's record $55 million of salary cap space.

• Vanderbilt just completed their greatest season in athletics. Are you listening, Volunteer fans?

• How the SEC fared in the 2014 NBA Draft. Not that well, I'm afraid.

• One thing Johnny Football absolutely does not lack — confidence.

• Team USA gears up for "knockout round" tomorrow against Belgium.

• Report: Orlando will waive Doron Lamb.

Other news

• Facebook's controversial study. Sounds evil to me.

• Those LED light bulbs you're buying? They might be collecting data from you.

• Trouble in the Big Easy.

• Hmm.