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Kentucky Wildcat Quickies: Basketball Preseason Audio and Video Edition

The football season has been excting and it is far from over, but we are going to focus on basketball for a minute. I promise we will talk a lot about football. Pinky swear.

By James Streble
Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

John Calipari had  a great Q&A session with the media that has just been released. It has 45 minutes worth of Cal speaking about what to expect out of this season and he closes the book a little more on last season. Honestly, I wish he would throw that book into the fireplace, let it burn, and never speak of it again.

Here is the audio in full: 

If you don't have time to listen, here are some of the highlights:

Must Reads

Calipari: Poythress is UK's centerpiece this year Cal shoots down Anthony Davis comparisons for Skal
  • The team is going to start slow and look to be one of the youngest in the country.
  • Alex Poythress is going to be the focal point of the team. He is arguably the most gifted athlete on the team and there aren't many teams in the country that have a guy like Alex at his position.
  • Some of the coaches say that Skal Labissiere is further along than Karl-Anthony Towns was at this point last season, but Cal isn't buying. He has all of the skill and ability in the world, but he has some growing up to do. Which is expected.
  • He talked about platooning. Can we please stop talking about platooning.
  • Tyler Ulis is a general on the court. Me likey.
  • Cal is still trying to figure out what type of team he has.
Again, there is plenty more in the audio, so give it a listen.

Want more Basketball? Well here are some player interviews!

Skal Labissiere

Tyler Ulis

Alex Poythress

Marcus Lee

Jamal Murray

Isaiah Briscoe

H/T to the Courier-Journal for the wonderful video content. Please check out their website for even more.

Tweet of the Day:


Hard to argue this, don't you think?


High School sophomore Kentucky commit Jermaine Eskridge is in a strange situation. He transferred schools on a hardship waiver to be closer to where his mother receives dialysis treatments. A mystery individual texted Eskridge pretending to be a recruiter from USC and asked Eskridge for his address. The 15 year old receiver texted back with his old address, prompting questions as to whether or not he really moved or if he is using an address just to attend a different school. Eskridge has not played in a game this season as the district does an investigation. It appears as if a former coach of his has a grudge and is trying to punish a kid for transferring. Messing with the life of a young man is a sad way for an adult to behave and it certainly looks like that is what is going on here.

Boom WIliams returned to practice yesterday after missing some time due to "personal issues". Coach Mark Stoops did not elaborate on whether or not Kentucky's leading rusher would play Saturday against Eastern Kentucky.

2016 Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Mac Jones is having one helluva season down in Florida. OC Shannon Dawson is very high on this kid because of his accuracy. Watch the video and be rest assured that between Jones and 2015 QB commit Gunner Hoak, Kentucky's future at Quarterback is in good hands.


Five things you should know about EKU.It's Kyle Tucker. Read it.

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball:

2016 guard prospect Kobi Simmons has been high on Kentucky ever since he received a scholarship offer. But lately he has been trending higher for Ohio State. It was once speculated that Simmons would commit early in the fall but for right now there is no official date for his announcement. Much of this may have to do with the fact that De'Aaron Fox is THE point guard in the class and that the communication between Fox and John Calipari has been extremely positive.

College Football:

Here is the slate of great top 25 match ups set to kick off this weekend. The big game this weekend obviously is #13 Alabama at #8 Georgia. Ole Miss at Florida, Kansas State at Oklahoma State, and West Virginia at Oklahoma all should be interesting to watch as well.

I took part in the Team Speed Kills weekly SEC Power Poll. Ole Miss is still at the top even though I voted the Georgia Bulldogs as my top team in the SEC. The Wildcats jump to #9. Check it out here.

Missouri Tigers quarterback Maty Mauk has been suspended for this Saturday's game against the South Carolina Gamecocks for some unspecified violations. He may even be suspended longer than that. This is an extremely important game for both teams if they figure to be in the race for the SEC East title. Freshman QB Drew Lock will start.

Pat Forde (gag) argues that the SEC East has a chance to take the power back from the SEC West this weekend if the Georgia Bulldogs knock off the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tide are an underdog in a game for the first time in seven years. Let that sink in. I hate to agree with the worm, but I agree with the worm.

A hot topic right now is whether or not LSU sophomore running back sensation Leonard Fournette should sit out his junior season in order to protect his investment (his talent) for the lottery ticket of being drafted in the first round of the NFL. Marcus Lattimore has become the Patron Martyr for this cause as we all saw a great talent have his pro career robbed from him as he destroyed his knee at South Carolina. Les Miles wants us to shut up about it.

College Basketball

In a win for the NCAA and the Dark Sith Lord Mark Emmert, the Federal Court decides against further payments to college athletes outside of the cost of attendance. This all began when former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon sued on behalf of college players that had the liknesses used and profited off of in NCAA sports video games. The fact that college athletes are now provided with some money is a win, but I agree that selling jerseys with players' numbers of them stinks to high heaven. If I go out and purchase a #23 Kentucky basketball jersey, everybody knows #23 this season is Jamal Murray. Shouldn't Murray receive something for that? Talk amongst yourselves.

Other Sports

In news similar to that of the Leonard Fournette discussion, Adrian Peterson claims that he was ready for the NFL right out of high school. Look, I know that there may be few, very few, football players that may be ready for the pros out of high school, but the NFL is a violent league for grown men with grown men bodies. This isn't like basketball. I don't ever foresee a rule in which a football player can go to the league straight out of high school or even in a one and done situation. It's too dangerous.

ESPN is currently ranking the top 200 players in the NBA. Former 'Cats Jodie Meeks (#199), Willie Cauley-Stein (#175),  Patrick Patterson (#157), Julius Randle (#155),  and Enes Kanter (#152) have all made the list so far. We will keep you posted on the rankings as more 'Cats will make the list the higher it goes.

That's a lot of Quickies to start your morning. Enjoy and Go Big Blue.








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