Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Football Bad News Edition

Today was the third practice of the season, and it was not a good one. See the video below, it is short and sour.

Tweet of the Morning

Reading between the lines, defense was the main culprit today. Coaches challenging leaders to step up and hold teammates accountable.

— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) August 6, 2014

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Fansided says Damien Harris should seriously consider Kentucky. Did I miss something? I thought he was.

• Dorian Baker and Blake Bone are catching on quickly, according to the Courier-Journal. That’s good, because we really need some size in our receiver corps this season.

• Day 3 of practice contains mostly bad news. Consider:

  Opening statement: "Average practice today. Not good enough. Just didn’t feel like we had the mentality that we needed. I don’t know. Too early in camp (for) guys feeling sorry about themselves getting up early. Just an average practice. That’s really all I’ve got to say.

  There’s also the Darius West injury to go along with the fact that Stoops thought practice was "Not good enough."

• Can’t really complain when coaches call the receivers a "sure-handed group."

• Bud Dupree on Hendricks Award watch list as the nation’s top defensive end.

Kentucky basketball

• Everything you need to know about the Big Blue Bahamas tour.

• Another open practice, more media praise. What’s to complain about?

• The Women’s Clinic for men’s basketball is sold out.

• Coach Cal has his swagger back. We’ll never know how much that painful hip affected Calipari’s coaching last season. As an arthritis sufferer, I know it can be a distraction, but I’m not as quick as some to assume that was a major factor in his demeanor. I’m sure it was a factor, though, at some level.

  Anyone who has suffered with arthritic joints knows that you can deal with the pain, but it affects people in different ways. When it starts affecting your sleep, and I have no doubt Coach Cal was well into that area, it can really make a negative difference in your life and health. I know he’s glad to be rid of that. Also, consider this:

  Remember all the body language talk about the Harrison twins last season, especially early in the year. None of that at this practice. In fact, they were usually the first to congratulate a teammate after drills and constantly drew praise from Calipari for their effort and decision-making. Both twins seemed to be having a lot of fun, something that might not have always been true last year. Both looked slimmer and trimmer and Andrew seems even more potent going inside.

• Big Blue Madness dates are set, both for the campout and the event itself.

Links posts

• John Clay’s Big Blue Links

• John Clay’s SEC Links

• The Leach Report: Wednesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Paul Feinbaum says Nick Saban is a "joyless winner." Not sure I would call that a compliment, but the "glass half-empty" approach to coaching is probably best epitomized by this guy.

  Contrast Saban to Calipari, who is anything but joyless. Two different approaches to success. Hat tip: Real Clear Sports.

• Heh.

• 2014 college preview: The SEC

College basketball

• Here are a few of ESNP’s bracket reveals of interest so far. There are others, but they don’t have much star power.

  • Bracket reveal: Puerto Rico Tip-off. This is a tournament for basketball junkies only, as every one of these teams has more questions than answers.

  • Bracket reveal: Battle 4 Atlantis. This is a really strong field that everybody should want to watch. With teams like Florida, UCLA, North Carolina and Wisconsin leading the way, it’s hard to get much better.

  • Bracket reveal: Orlando Classic. This is another great pre-season tournament that includes some quality teams. It will be really interesting to see how Tennessee performs in this.

  • Bracket reveal: The Jimmy V. Classic. This is a good field, although Louisville should dominate this bracket.

  • Bracket reveal: Hall of Fame Tip-off Classic. Good, not great field. Mostly second and third tier schools.

• Will a woman be a Division I head coach in the next 25 years? I would say yes. I think it will start at some small school, and grow from there. No, I don’t expect women to make up even 10% of D-1 jobs in my lifetime, but they will break through relatively soon.

Other sports news

• Slow down on crowning Roy McIlroy the new master of golf. For once I agree with Pat Forde. McIlroy is a fine player and I think rightly the favorite to win the PGA this year. Having said that, he is not the dominant player that Tiger Woods and to a lesser extent, Phil Mickelson have been. At least not yet. Let’s give him a chance to mature. Hat tip: Real Clear Sports.

• Coach K calls DeMarcus Cousins’ attitude "tremendous." Well, that should just about do it then, I would think. Isn’t his attitude the main reason put forth as to why Krzyzewski should not pick him over, say, Mason Plumlee?

Other news

• The Sprint/T-Mobile merger is dead.

• Is there anything it can’t do? Aspirin reduces risk of death from some cancers. I’ve been on an aspirin a day for many years now.

• Ten cities running out of water.

• Will you lose your job to a robot? Not me, at least, not in time.