Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Craig Sager Edition

Craig Sager, who has been away after having been stricken with acute leukemia, has beaten the disease and will return to the broadcast booth in March. Congratulations, Craig, we’re glad to have you back, and really glad you’re better.

Tweet of the Morning

Duke should never pressure the ball. Their defense shouldn't extend outside of the 3 pt line. Guards are getting blown by left & right.

— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) February 26, 2015

Heh.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Be sure to read Hank’s latest on football recruiting if you haven’t already.

Kentucky basketball

• Here’s something new: Calipari apparently said yesterday on Sirius XM that he thinks coaches are afraid to back a 2-year rule because of Kentucky:

  "Why wouldn’t everybody be for it? Because they’re looking at my team right now and saying, ‘if Cal has that kind of team because guys come back, they have to go for two years, we don’t want that.’ The best solution is two years."

  I also love his comment about freshman ineligibility. It boils down to "You want to do that? Fine, go for it." Heh.

• Yeah, they love us, but it’s all about the $$$$. Which, trust me, is something the Big Blue Nation brings to this here party. But you know this.

• Trey Lyles doing "X-actly" what Calipari wants. I hate this whole "X-factor" thing, it’s trite and boring, but I do understand it. Lyles has been very quietly getting better all season, and it should surprise nobody that he’s taking it to another level after almost a full season of experience.

  I guess he may be the "X-factor" to those who only watch Kentucky occasionally. But for those of us who watch them constantly, this is about as surprising as a sunrise.

• Know your Big Blue history:

  26-FEB-1949 Kentucky destroys @VandyMBB 70-37 at home. During the game Cliff Barker hits a UK-record 63-foot FG. pic.twitter.com/HwLVIrnCME

  — bigbluehistory (@bigbluehistory) February 26, 2015

Other Kentucky sports

• Huge game for Kentucky hoops tonight as they try to snap a 3-game losing streak on the road at Arkansas.

• Bat Cats heading to Florida for the weekend for a four-game swing.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Thursday Wildcat Links

College football

• What if college football were regulated like European soccer?

• The south keeps 91% of their top football talent at home. That’s more than any other region. I get it.

• Here’s a preview of the Sun Belt for next season. Note that Kentucky plays Louisiana-Lafayette in their first game, and it may not be a pushover.

College basketball

• Fan involved in Kansas State incident cited for disorderly conduct, apologizes publicly for his actions. Consider:

  In my excitement, I was not careful of the people I was around. I am sorry that I made the KU basketball team – Jamari Traylor in particular – feel disrespected," Power wrote. "By no means can I change what took place, but in the future, I will be aware of how emotions can impact good judgment."

  This flunks my apology test. He blamed carelessness for his actions. That was a deliberate act, and he should’ve said so — it wasn’t carelessness.

• Freshman Xavier Rathan-Mayes of Florida State went nuts last night, scoring 30 points in the last 4:38 of the game. He wound up with 35. Very impressive, young man.

• Indiana falls to Northwestern, much Crean-bashing ensues.

• Absent a catastrophic loss to Missouri or Auburn, Georgia probably punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament last night by beating Ole Miss in Oxford. Not a good night for the Magnolia State.

• The Chris Jones saga takes a very sinister turn. I can’t help but wonder if this was known at the time of his dismissal. I’m sure we’ll find out about it in due course.

  Please do not take this opportunity to make cheap shots at Louisville or its fans, this is a very serious allegation that does not deserve frivolous commentary.

Other sports news

• Man, it really sucks that Derrick Rose is hurt again. Mike Prada has much more on Rose’s options regarding the injury.

• Rajon Rondo and Rick Carlisle butted heads the other night, and are clearly still figuring things out. Rondo is famously stubborn and willful, and it’s not really all that surprising to see him and his new coach at odds. Let’s hope they work it out.

• Offered without comment.

Other news

• Kashmir is one of my very favorite songs by Led Zeppelin. Here it is performed by the Louisville Leopard Percussionists. Totally awesome.

• Chris Kyle’s killer is found guilty of murder. Very sad story.

• Scientists are learning more about the behavior of supermassive black holes. They apparently produce "winds" of radiation in all directions that can inhibit the formation of new stars within a galaxy.